Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 68

Mehendale: Vanargú
the two arms. Similarly the number ten has a reference to the number of the fingers.16
We read the following in the AV. 4.36.7 :
ná piśācaíh sám saknomi ná stenair ná vanargúbhih/ piśācás tásmin naśyanti yám ahán grámam avisel/
Whitney's translation : "I cannot (bear) with piśācás, nor with thieves, nor with savages (? vanargú); the piśācás disappear from that village which I enter." The hymn in which the verse occurs is supposed to drive away all evil-minded beings, especially the piśīcas (cf. sáhe piśācăn sáhaså verse 4, tápano asmi piśācānām vcrse 6, and piśācās tásmān naśyanti verses 7-8). In our verse although only the piśācás are mentioned in the second line, there is little doubt that the reciter felt confident of being able to drive away from the village also the stenás and the vanargús mentioned in line 1. These three words seem to stand for three classes of harmful beings. When vanargú appears in this situation there is good reason to believe that it refers to a class different from stená and hence means 'a forest-bull'. But the reciter of the spell may have wished the village to be free from the nuisance not only of the forest bulls but also of all wild animals, 17 and therefore in this instance vanargú appears to stand for all wild animals.
Sämaveda 6.4.9 runs as
hári ta indra smáśrüny utó te haritau hári/ tár två stuvanti kaváyah parusäso vanárgavaḥ||
The reading parusåso is found in the citation given by BR18 which is apparently based on the text of the Aranyakasamhită of the Sāmaveda published by Goldschmidt (Monatsber. d. Kgl. Preuss. Akad. d. Wiss zu Berlin 1868, 228-248).10. It also occurs in Bloomfield's Concordance which is based on the text of the Aranyasamhită published with the commentary of Sāyaṇa and a Bengali translation by Satya Brata Samasrami, Calcutta, 1873.29 But the Bibl. Ind. edition of the Sama
16 Cf. ĶV 3. 23. 3; 1. 144.5; 1. 95. 2 ; 3. 29. 12-13.
17 AV. 4. 3; 12. 1. 49. Sometimes táskara appears by the side of stená (cf. AV. 19. 50. 5; 19. 47. 6-7 : 4.21.3 and 7), and hence one may be inclined to consider that vanargé(=panagani) refers to him. Thus c. g. Sayana : vanargu sabdas coranāma (as listed in the Nighantu 3. 24) ...............vanagamibhis corair api. Bloomfield prowlers in the forest.' But as mentioned above vanargu is better taken to refer to a class different from that of the stenás.
18 qera: in BR's citation to be read as a . Their abbreviation S.V. Naigh. also to be corrected as Sv. Naig. (Naigeya Sukha as callech in Goldschmidt's edition).
19 Also in the Aranyaka gāna edited by Nárāyanasvami Diksita (Aundh, 1942). Aran. yakasainhitā is not published in Benfey's edition of the SV (Leipzig, 1848).
20 Sayana's commentary in this edition, however, has purunds, as in the text of the commentary published in the Bibl. Ind. edition,
Madhu Vidya/43