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But it is Agni himself, not Mâtarisvan, who is very frequently mentioned as víbhrita or the like. As we read here, vibhritah.. grihé-grihe, it is said in V, II, 4. agním nárak ví bharante grihé-grihe, 'the men carry Agni hither and thither, to every house;' comp. I, 70, 10; III, 55,4; X, 1, 2; 45, 2; 80, 4. Thus I believe the poet means to say that Mâtarisvan first kindled Agni, in one place of course, and that Agni then was brought to many places, to all human dwellings. I think that the text indeed can be understood in this way, if we suppose that the author, for the sake of the metre, allowed himself a hyperbaton or synchysis.
We must not omit to mention that the first Pâda of I, 148, 1 is nearly identical with our passage: máthît yát îm vishtáh mâtarísvå. This Pâda is deficient by one syllable. If we were to read víbhritah, as in our passage, this would lead indeed to the conclusion that there is no hyperbaton in our verse-for the verse, I, 148, 1, could not be explained in that way-but that vibhritah refers to Mâtarisvan. I think, however, that it is more than doubtful that the verse, I, 148, 1, really ought to be corrected in this way; whatever may have been the original form of that verse, it is quite possible, and even probable, that it differed from our passage just in that one word.
VEDIC HYMNS.
Note 2. The exact meaning of Bhrígavâna is doubtful. It is, of course, derived from Bhrigu as vásavâna, tákavâna, from vásu, táku. Agni is called Bhrigavâna also in IV, 7, 4. Comp. Bergaigne, I, 54.
Note 3. With the words a dûtỹam vivâya comp. IV, 9, 6. véshi ít u asya dutyam.
Verse 5.
Note 1. This difficult verse evidently treats of the incest which the father Dyaus has committed with his daughter. Compare on this subject Bergaigne, Rel. Véd. II, 109 seq. Agni seems to be represented here as stimulating the desire of the father; the 'sap' (rása) probably is the sperm, comp. I, 105, 2.
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