Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 117

JUNE, 1920]
VEDIC STUDIES
107
from the root van 'to wish, to long for 'with the suffix ad. vanadah therefore means 'longing, eager', and denotes, I conceive, the 'eager,' i.e., swift-moving flames of Agni; compare 6, 66, 10: trgu-cyávaso juhvò nd' gnéh 'greedily, i.e., swiftly, moving like the tongues (i.e., flames) of Agni' and the other verses referred to on p. 227, vol. LVI ante. I therefore translate the stanza as: "He produced (i.e., put on) splendour as if for the Uśijs when the eager (flames) proclaimed his might to me; he shone with brilliant joyous light, he who having grown old, became again and again young."
Compare in connection with the first pada, 6, 12,5: ádha smasya panayanti bha' so vp'thà yát tálsad anuyd'ti prthvilm, then his splendours (i.e., flames) proclaim his greatness as he, cutting, goes along the earth.' The expressions a pananta and panayanta in the above verses refer to the sound made by Agni's flames which are here represented as bards attending on kings and heralding their approach, that is, as the vandinah, mågadhah or sútah that are mentioned in later literature as preceding kings and sounding their praises ; compare 9, 10, 3: ra'jano ná prášastibhih sómáso gobhir ajyate ; 9, 65, 6: ra'ja medha' bhir fyate. In 1, 87, 3: svayám mahit. vám panayanta dhatayah, on the other hand, it is said of the Maruts that they themseives proclaimed their greatness, that is, that they were their own bards.
amimita in pâda b is derived, as pointed out by Geldner in Ved. St. 3, 119, from the root mi, mi and not from md. The expression varnam amimsta is synonymous with the expression varpah karikrat that we have met with above in 1, 140, 5 and means 'he produced, i.e., put on splendour or brilliance. Compare 2, 13, 3 rûpd' minán táda på éka iyate and 5, 42, 13 : rûpå minano ákrnod idám nah. With regard to muhuh, see Pischel. Ved. St., 3, 186 ff. 6, 4, 3: dya'vo ná yásya panáyunty ábhvam
bha' sdmsi vaste sú ryo ná sukráh vi yá indty ajárah pdvako
nasya cic chibnathat parvyd'ni | “Whose might they praise like that of Dyaus, he (sc. Agni), brilliant like the sun, clothes himself in splendour; he who, bright and unaging, drives away (enemies) and destroyed the old (fortresses) of Asna even". The sense of the first pada is not quite clear, and the explanations given of it by Pischel (Ved. St., 1,201) and Geldnor (ibid., 3, 121) are not very satisfactory. If dydvah is to be taken as nominative plural (as it has to be in the other RV passages where it ooours) the meaning would be whose greatness the heavens (i.e., the sky) praise as it were.' This is the course followed by Ludwig who has translated the pâda as des gewalt die himmel gleichsam bewundern', which is sufficiently close to the translation given by me above; compare 8, 15, 8: táva dyaúr indra paúmsyam prthivi' vardhati Srávah, The sky, O Indra, magnifies thy valour and the earth thy renown.' I believe however that the passage yields better sense if the word dydvah is taken as genitive singular and the pada interpreted as of whom they praise the greatness as of Dyaus.' The greatness of Dyaus is referred to in 4, 21, 1: dyaúr ná ksatrám abhibhati púšydt, May he (sc. Indra) flourish, like Dyaus, in might surpassing those of others', KS. 7,13: dyaur mahnasi bhúmir bhúmna, 'Thou art Dyaus (the sky) with (in ?) greatness, the earth with (in) vastness and in 1, 131, 1; 1, 122, 1 etc., where the epithet asurah, mighty, is applied to Dyaus. Compare also in this connection 1, 131, 1; 1, 63, 1 and other similar passages, which describe the might of Indra and other deities by saying that even the sky and the earth quaked with fear or drew back with fear at their approach.
This closes the list of passages in which abhva occurs. It will be noted that, like the word yakşa, this word too is used in the masculine as well as in the neuter gender; and there can be no doubt that, like its synonym yaksah (see p. 147 in vol. LVII. ante), the word abhvah too denotes "being concrete); a class of superhuman beings; evil being' while abhva neuter has, like yaksa neuter, these as well as the other meanings mentioned on p. 101 above.
(To be continuerl.)