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50
VEDIC HYMNS.
Either from the earth, or from the light of the great heaven, increase, O Indra!
Rokaná also occurs in the plural: I, 146, 1 vísvâ divák rokana.
All the bright regions of heaven.
Sâyana: All the bright palaces of the gods.' See III, 12, 9.
The same word rokaná, and in the same sense, is sometimes joined with surya and naka.
Thus, I, 14, 9. suryasya rokanất vísvân devan-hótâ ihá vakshati.
May the Hotar bring the Visve Devas hither from the light of the sun, or from the bright realm of the sun.
III, 22, 3. yah rokané parástât suryasya.
The waters which are above, in the bright realm of the sun, and those which are below.
I, 19, 6. yé nakasya ádhi rokané, diví devasah asate.
They who in the light of the firmament, in heaven, are enthroned as gods.
Here diví, in heaven, seems to be the same as the light of the firmament, nakasya rokané.
Thus rokaná occurs also frequently by itself, when it clearly has the meaning of heaven.
It is said of the dawn, I, 49, 4; of the sun, I, 50, 4; and of Indra, III, 44, 4.
vísvam a bhâti rokanám, he lights up the whole sky. We also read of three rokanas, where, though it is difficult to say what is really meant, we must translate, the three skies. The cosmography of the Veda is, as I said before, somewhat vague and varying. There is, of course, the natural division of the world into heaven and earth (dyú and bhumi), and the threefold division into earth, sky, and heaven, where sky is meant for the region intermediate between heaven and earth (prithivi, antáriksha, dyú). There is also a fourfold division, for instance,
VIII, 97, 5. yát và ási rokané divah
samudrásya ádhi vishťápi,
yát parthive sádane vritrahan-tama, yát antarikshe a gahi.
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| SR No. | 007685 |
| Book Title | Grihya Sutras |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1886 |
| Total Pages | 2642 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |