Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 799

NOTES. 1, 165, 14.
205
X, 14, 1. yamám-havisha duvasya. Worship Yama with an oblation. VI, 15, 6. agním-agnim vah samídhå duvasyata. Worship Agni with your log of wood. Cf. VIII, 44, 1. III, 1, 2. samit-bhih agním námaså duvasyan. They worshipped Agni with logs of wood, with praise.
In the more general and, I suppose, more original sense of caring for, attending, we find duvasyati :
III, 51, 3. anehásah stúbhah Indrah duvasyati. Indra provides for the matchless worshippers. I, 112, 15. kalím yâbhih-duvasyathah. By the succours with which you help Kali. Cf. I, 112,21. I, 62, 10. duvasyánti svásárah áhrayanam. The sisters attend the proud (Agni). I, 119, 10. yuvám pedáve-svetám-duvasyathah. You provide for Pedu the white horse.
If, then, we take duvasyati in the sense of working for, assisting, it may be with the special sense of assisting at a sacred act, like dlakoveïv; and if we take duvás, as it has the accent on the last syllable, as the performer of a sacrifice, we may venture to translate, that he should help, as the singer helps the performer of the sacrifice.' The singer or the poet may be called the assistant at a sacrifice, for his presence was not necessary at all sacrifices, the songs constituting an ornament rather than an essential part in most sacred acts. But though I think it right to offer this conjectural interpretation, I am far from supposing that it gives us the real sense of this difficult verse. Duvasyät may be, as Sayana suggests, an ablative of duvasya; and duvasya, like namasyā, if we change the accent, may mean he who is to be worshipped, or worshipping. In this way a different interpretation might suggest itself, though I confess I do not see that any other interpretation as yet suggested is satisfactory. Some happy thought may some day or other clear up this difficulty, when those who have
a Kar in the sense of officiating at a sacrifice is equally construed with a dative, X, 97, 22. yasmai krinóti brâhmanah, he for whom a Brahmana performs a sacrifice.
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