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 992

398
VEDIC HYMNS.
remember that in the hymns to the Maruts the poets speak occasionally of the countries, far and near, visited by the storm-winds. We must also bear in mind that in our very passage the poet asks the Maruts to come to him, and not to tarry with other people. When, therefore, he says, that they went to Saryanâvat, &c., is that likely to be meant for a tank of Soma at his own or any other sacrifice ?
Saryanavat is derived from sarya, this from sara. Sara means reed, arrow; sarya, made of reeds, sarya, an arrow, but also reeds tied together and used at the sacrifice for carrying Soma-oblations. From it, saryana, which, according to Sảyana, means lands in Kurukshetra (RV. VIII, 6, 39), and from which Saryanavat is derived, as the name of a lake in that neighbourhood (not a Landstrich, B.-R.). When this saryanavat occurs in the Rig-veda, the question is, does it mean that lake, evidently a famous lake and a holy place in the early settlements of the Vedic Åryas, or does it mean, as others suppose, a sacrificial vessel made of reeds ? It occurs in the Rig-veda seven times.
In I, 84, 14, Indra is said to have found the head of the horse, which had been removed among the mountains (clouds) at Saryanavat. This seems to me the lake in which the sun sets. In the 8th Mandala saryanavat occurs three times. In VIII, 6, 39, Indra is invoked to rejoice at Saryanâvat, or, according to others, in a vessel full of Soma. In our passage the Maruts went to Saryanavat, to Sushoma, Argika, and Pastyávat, countries, it would seem, not vessels. In VIII, 64, 11, after saying that the Soma had been prepared among the Parus, it is added that the Soma is sweetest in Saryanavat, on the Sushoma, and in Årgikîya. In IX, 65, 22, we read of Somas prepared far and near, and at Saryanavat, and in the next verse we read of Somas to be found either among the Argîkas, among the Pastyås, or among the Five Tribes. In IX, 113, 1; 2, Indra is asked to drink Soma at Saryanavat, and the Soma is asked to come from Årgîka. In X, 35, 2, the aid is implored of heaven and earth, of the rivers and the mountains, and these mountains are called saryanavatah.
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