________________
III, I. COMMENTARY.
325
which makes good sense, in order to obtain the love of a husband.'
Stanza 8.
The second nayatu seems superfluous, derived, perhaps, from some parallel expression in which nayatu was the last word. The entire stanza is loosely connected with the hymn; the plant addressed seems to have no reference to the proceedings in hand. Cf. AV. III, 18.
III, 1.
COMMENTARY TO PAGE 121.
In accordance with our title for this and the following hymn is their designation in the ritual as mohanâni (sc. sûktâni)," 'charms for causing bewilderment;' see Kaus. 14. 17. With them go in the subsequent Sûtras (18-21) the following performances: 18. 'Chaff (of rice), underlaid with porridge, is sacrificed from a mortar. 19. (Or) in the same way small grain1 (is offered). 20. Twenty-one pebbles are shaken (in a winnowing-basket 2) against (the enemy). 21. (A pot of rice) is offered to the goddess Apvâ.' The symbolism is obvious: the chaff or the small grain symbolises the dispersion of the enemy; the pebbles shaken against them the destructive attack of the sacrificing king. offering is made to the goddess of evacuation (from the body). See the note on III, 2, 5. The present hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 518; Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 180 ff. The Anukramanî, senâmohanam.
An
Stanza 1.
Agni, the fire, figures largely as the typical leader of the vanguard of armies, e. g. in the battle-hymn, RV. X, 84, 2, and in Tait. S. I, 8, 9, 1; Tait. Br. I, 7, 3, 4. A special 'army-fire,' senâgni, is mentioned at Kaus. 60, 5, and in the
1 Dârila, kanikvikâh; Kesava, kanikâh; Sâyana, kanikikâm. 2 Cf. Dârila and Kesava on the Sûtra, and emend sûrye in both texts to sûrpe.
Digitized by Google
