Madhuvidya

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

Page 75

SURE DUHITA
súre (údite] duhita' a ruhad rátham "when the sun had risen, the daughter mounted the chariot". We may note in the first instance that the expression sura udite occurs quite often in the Rgveda (3.15.2; 7.63.5; 7.65.1; 7.66.4,7,12; 8.1.29; 8.13.13; 8.27.21). Secondly, there are a few cases where a loc. sūrye has been interpreted as loc. abs. sūrye udite by Indian commentators and by Geldner. In RV. 1.135.3 we read the following:
táváyáñ bhagá ștvíyah sdraśmiḥ súrye sdca /
Here Sayaņa interprets sürye = sürye udite. cf. (ayam tava bhägah bhajanīyaḥ sūrye udite sali lasya raśmibhiḥ sacả saha saraśmir bhavati samanadiptir bhavati/yad vä taiḥ sahilo bhavati/yataḥ sürye udite sati rasmir bhavaty ataḥ/. Also Madhava: udite sūrye. Geldner refers to Sayana and has similar interpretation: "Dies ist dein zeitgemässer Anteil, der bei (aufgehender) Sonne bestrahlte".
In RV, 4.31.5 where ábhakşi súrye sácă occurs, Mādhava again renders it as sūrye udite. Geldner offers similar translation: "Ich habe meinen Anteil an der (aufgehenden) Sonne bekommen". 10 Sāyaṇa, however, has: he Indra tvām ahar sūrye sūryena saca saha abhahşi bhaje.
Oldenberg first remarked that whether we should regard sü're as loc. or dat. sg. could be decided if we had more exact knowledge of the mythology (Ob nun Dativ oder Lokativ könnte nur konkretere Kenntnis des Mythus, als wir besitzen, entscheiden). But then he also felt that RV 7.69.4 would perhaps show that the event of mounting the chariot of Aśvina by Surya occurred at night 'for the sake of the sun', thus indicating his preference for the dative. In RV. 7.69.4 occurs the word pa'ritakmyā (for full citation see below) which Oldenberg took to mean 'night'.
Now in the first instance the meaning of pa'rilakmy, itself is not certain (See Mayrhofer's Kurz. Wört.). And on the other hand we have the following references to show that when Sūryā or the daughter of the sun mounts the chariot of Asvină, the horses (or the winged horses called the birds) yoked to their chariot rush to avoid the heat (of the sun), which means that the event did not occur at night but at sun-rise. 1. RV. 4.43.6:
sindhur ha vam nasa'ya siñcad ásván ghrņa' váyo 'ruşă'saħ pári gman/
tád ū șú vám ajirám ceti ya'nañ yéna páli bhávathaḥ sūrya'yaḥ // "Der Sindhu netzte zusammen mit der Rasă eure Rosse, die roten Vögel entgingen den Gluten. Diese eure rasche Fahrt ward hochberühmt, durch die ihr die Gatten der Sürya wurdet." (Lüders, Varuna I. 139). -
Geldner in his note on this verse says: "Sie (i.e. the winged horses) entgehen der Hitze, die das Rennen oder die Nähe der Tochter der Sonne verursachte". This is very doubtful. More running will cause more heat; and however fast the horses may run that will not help them to get away from Surya's heat once she had mounted the 9 It is not necessary to consider this as an instance of word haplology by adding stro before
duhita: *sure [u'dite suro) duhitá > sü're duhita'. See the remark on p. 72 about
duhità in this context meaning daughter of the sun'. 10 In view of the fact that in these two cases we get sûrye saca, it is tempting to suggest
that in the passage under discussion we understand sure to stand for súre saca.
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Madhu Vidyā/50