Madhuvidya

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

Page 76

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M. A. MEHENDALE
chariot. The heat referred to is not that of Sūry, but of the sun, and the horses try to avoid it by running away swiftly from him (“Die sengende Glut hat sicherlich ihren Grund in der Nähe der Sonne". (Lüders, Varuna I. 139). 2. RV. 5.73. 5:
äyád vam sürya' rátham tisthad raghuşyádam sada /
pári vám aruşu' vayo ghrna' varanta atápah // "Stets, wenn die Sürya euren rasch dahinfahrenden Wagen bestieg, hielten sich eure roten Vögel die Gluten ab, so dass sie nicht versengten." (Lüders, Varuņa I. 139). The epithet raghuşyád becomes significant since the chariot would be quick in getting away from the (sun's) heat. 3. RV. 7.69.4 (referred to by Oldenberg):
yuvóh śríyarie pári yóşāvrnita sū'ro duhita' pásitakmyāyām / yad devayándam
ávalhaḥ śácībhih pári ghransám omd'nå vam va'yo gal // "The maiden chose your beauty over that of others (pari), the daughter of the sun ........
..... When you helped the devoted one with (your) strengths, the bird (i.e. the winged horse) of yours escaped with your help the heat (of the sun)."1? (Weil ihr dem Gottergebenen mit euren Kräften halfet, ist euer Vogelgespann durch euren Schutz der Hitze entgangen-Lüders, Varuna I. 139 f.n.2. He does not give the translation of the first two quarters). 4. RV. 1.119.2 :
svádami ghar mám práti yanty utdya a' vám ürja'm rátham aśvinaruhal / "I prepare (your) hot drink, your protections approach (me, the worshipper). Ürjāni (ie. Surya) has mounted your chariot, oh Aśvina." The context of mounting the chariot clearly indicates that urjānī stands for Sūryă (cf. Sayaņa). One wonders why Geldner chooses to interpret it as die personifizierte úrj (Stärkung),' when in the following verse - yád aśviná váhathaḥ sūrim a' vúram which he translates 'da ihr Aśvin die Herrin nach Wunsch fahret'-in sūri he sees wordplay with Sūryā (also Oldenberg).
The word gharmá clearly indicates that the verse refers to the pravargya which is offered in the forenoon and afternoon (pārvāhme and aparalme), and not at night.
All these references indicate that sūryā mounted the chariot of Aśvină when the sun had appeared. This lends support to the interpretation of súre= súre údite.
In the end we will take note of an opinion expressed by Wilhelm Havers in his Untersuchungen zur Kasussyntax der indogermanischen Sprachen.13 In this book he
11 Probably the one offering pravargya, cf. 1.119.2. 12 The translation follows Lüders. A different translation is proposed by H. D. Velankar,
Indological Studies in Honor of W. Norman Brown, p. 235. He takes vayah as the
invigorating food of Alvina. 13 Strassburg, 1911.
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