________________
208
VEDIC HYMNS.
| VI, 57, 5 tấm pushnah su-matím vayạm vrikshasa prả vayẩm-iva Indrasya ka å rabhamahe.
Let us reach this favour of Pashan and of Indra, as one reaches forth to the branch of a tree.
There remain some doubtful passages in which vaya occurs, VII, 40, 5, and X, 92, 3; 134, 6. In the first passage, as in our own, vayah is trisyllabic.
If vayã can be used in the sense of offshoot or sprout, we may conclude that the same word, used in the singular, might mean offspring, particularly when joined with tanvē.
Give a branch to our body,' would be understood even in languages less metaphorical than that of the Vedas; and as the prayer for 'olive branches' is a constant theme of the Vedic poets, the very absence of that prayer here, might justify us in assigning this sense to vayấm. In VI, 2, 5, the expression vayāvantam kshayam, a house with branches, means the same as nrivántam, a house with children and men. See M. M., On Bíos and váyas, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xv, p. 215. Benfey (Endungen in ians, p. 37) takes vayâm as a genitive plural, referring it to the Maruts, as closely connected with each other, like branches of a tree. This is much the same interpretation as that of Mahidhara (VS. XXXIV, 48), who translates 'come near for the body, i.e. for the bodily strength of the fellows, the Maruts.' Ludwig takes it as a possible instrumental of vayam.
It is preferable, however, to take yâsîshta as a precative Åtm., in order to account for the long î, and to accept it as a third person singular, referring to stómah.
Note 3. Vrigana means an enclosure, a rouós, whether it be derived from vrig, to ward off, like arx from arcere, or from vrig, in the sense of clearing, as in vrikta-barhis, barhih prá vriñge, I, 116, 1. In either case the meaning remains much the same, viz. a field, cleared for pasture or agriculture,-a clearing, as it is called in America, or a camp, enclosed with hurdles or walls, so as to be capable of defence against wild animals or against enemies. In this sense, however, vrigana is a neuter, while as a masculine it means powerful, invigorating. See Preface, p. xx,
Digitized by
Digized by Google