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324
VEDIC HYMNS.
Sterblichen hatten die Urvasis Mitleid.' But I do not think that krip means 'having compassion.' In my opinion we should, with Ludwig, supply gánimâ to mártânâm, so that devấnâm gánimâ in the second Pâda corresponds with mártânâm (gánimâ) in the third. This gánimâ is an accusative which depends on akripran ('they pined after ,' cf. IX, 85, 11. nake suparnám upapaptivamsam gírah venánâm akripanta pûrvih; X, 74, 3. yé kripánanta rátnam). Thus the meaning seems to be: When the cows had been conquered, and when Agni looked over the generations of the gods that were near him, the Urvasîs, i. e. the Apsarases such as Urvasi, longed for the love of mortals such as Purûravas, and for the propagation of the human generations; they gave birth to children such as Âyu.
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Note 5. Or of the indigent'? Or is aryák nom. plur. fem. referring to the Urvasis? Or nom. sing. masc. referring to Agni?
Note 6. On Âyu, see note 4. But I cannot tell why he is called the nearer Âyu. Is this nearer Âyu opposed, as a nearer or later (úpara) ancestor, to the pitárak párásah pratnasah, the Angiras, mentioned in verse 16? The same nearer Âyu (úpara which stands there in opposition to parvabhi) is mentioned also in I, 104, 4, connected, as it seems, with some Apsarases. I do not pretend to be able to interpret that very difficult verse, but I am convinced that it has been misinterpreted both by Roth (Siebenzig Lieder, p. vii) and by Bergaigne (I, 60).
Verse 19.
Note 1. I. e. the dawns have sent forth their shine, which is a visible manifestation of the eternal law of Rita.
Note 2. The construction is: we have been good workers, brightening &c. The words, 'the brilliant dawns have shone out Rita,' are a parenthesis.
Verse 20.
Note 1. The text is nearly identical with the first hemistich of I, 73, 10 (see above).
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