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DECEMBER, 1926 ]
VEDIO STUDIES
229
3, 53, 24 : imá indra bharatásya putra'
apapitvám cikitur ná prapitvám hinvánty á óvam áranam na nityam
jya'vajam pári nayanty djaú This verse is the last of a quartet of verses known as vasishthadveshinyah as they have been written, it is said, in disparagement of the Vasishțbas. It is clear that the verse speaks of the stupidity of the Bharatas; but, for the rest, its exact sense has not yet been made out; see Oldenberg, RV. Noten I, p. 256. I translate tentatively as follows: "These sons of Bharata, O Indra, know neither the time for resting nor that for going. They ride their own horse as if it were another's ; in battle, they carry round ceremoniously the (bow) strengthened with bow-string." "Riding their own horse as if it were another's' means, not so much so unges. chickt und dem Tier ungewohnt wie ein fremder Jockey' (Geldner in Ved. St. 2, p. 160, n. 5) as * using the horse unsparingly as if it were another's ; not taking proper care of the horse;' for, it is natural on the part of the owner of the horse to use it carefully and not to beat it cruelly or make it strain its powers and go beyond its strength, while it is as natural for one who is not the owner to pay no attention to the horse or its capacity but to make it go as fast as it can be made by blows and other similar means to go. Compare the saying current in the Kannada country, bitti kuduro dvarikē cabbě, another's horse, and a rod cut from the Avarikě (cassia auriculata, Lin.; a shrub that is found almost everywhere; the rods cut from it are regarded as unusually tough) shrub (to beat it with so as to make it go faster)' and the English proverb Set a beggar on horseback and he will ride it to death'. In the fourth pada, the European interpreters have understood the word jyávaja as referring to a horse and meaning strong (swift) as bow-string. This may perhaps be looked upon as an ordinary figure of speech in European languages in which things or persons are commonly described as being as tough or as strong as 'whipcord ' or 'wire', as being wiry', etc.; but, I do not know of any instance in Indian literature where the upameya is described to be as strong (or as swift) as bow-string. The idea in fact is, I believe, quite unknown and wholly foreign not only to Sanskrit literature but to other Indian literatures as well. I believe therefore that Sayana is right in regarding the word as an epithet of dhanus understood here. The verb pari-nf does not mean simply 'to lead round; to carry round'a thing or person but to do so ceremoniously (hence, pari-ņi means also 'to marry 'as in the ceremony the bride is led by hand thrice round the fire). The sense therefore of the fourth pada is 'These stupid Bharatas, instead of using a bow, that is strung and ready for use, in battle to shoot arrows with, carry it ceremoniously in procession'! Compare the first pada of the preceding verse, ná sd'yakasya cikite jandsah an arrow was not thought of, O men (by these Bharatas when they brought the strung bow to the battle-field).'
This closes the list of passages in the RV in which the word nitya ocours. It will have been noticed that I have interpreted this word either as (1) sviya, sahaja, own' or as (2) priya, 'dear' and that such interpretation has everywhere yielded good sense. It is however true that the meaning (3) dhruva also (which the word nitya has in the Brahmanas and in later literature) is not inappropriate in some of the above passages, for instance, in 4, 4,7; 4, 41, 10; 9, 12, 7; 1 73, 4 and 7,1,2; but I have felt it unnecessary to adopt that meaning for the RV inasmuch as it is quite necessary to make use of the first two meanings in the RV and these two meanings are enough to explain all the passages (in the RV) in which the word nitya occurs. The assumption of the third meaning dhruva also for the RV would, in these circumstances, mean a needless multiplication of meanings.
As regards the first two meanings, too, it must be observed that in some passages it is difficult to choose between the two as either will do equally well in them. Thus, for instance, one can also interpret nityam kshayam nah in 7, 1, 12 as our own house,' nityena havisha in 4, 4,
