V, 9

MANDALA V, HYMN 9.

ASHTAKA IV, ADHYÂYA 1, VARGA 1.

1. Thee, O Agni, the god, mortals bringing offerings magnify. I deem thee the Gâtavedas. Carry then the offerings (to the gods) in thy due way.

2. Agni is the Hotri of the dwelling where they offer gifts and spread the sacrificial grass, he with whom sacrifices, with whom glorious gains assemble.

3. And he whom the kindling-stick has born, the young one, like a young (calf), the supporter of human clans, Agni the best sacrificer—

4. And thou showest thyself hard to seize like a son of … 1, thou who art a burner of many woods, O Agni, like an animal (that consumes all grass) on a meadow 2.

5 1. And he whose smoky 2 flames come together, when Trita in heaven blows upon him like a smelter, sharpens (him) as in smelting (him) 3…

6. May I through thy protection, O Agni, and through the praises of Mitra—may we 1, like dispellers of malice, overcome the dangers of mortals.

7. Bring this wealth to us, O powerful Agni, to (these our) men. May he 1 give us dwelling; may he 1 give us prosperity; may he 1 help us in winning booty. And help us to grow strong in fights!

NOTES.

The Rishi is Gaya Âtreya (cf. V, 10, 3); the metre is Anushtubh (verses 4 and 7, Paṅkti).—Verse 1 = TB. II, 4, 1, 4.

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Verse 4.

Note 1. Putráh ná hvâryâ´nâm. The meaning of hvâryá is conjectural. Cf. on hvârá, to which it very probably is related, I, 141, 7, note 1; 11, 24 4, note 1. Does hvâryá mean 'serpent,' or a kind of horse (VI, 2, 8. átyah ná hvâryáh sísuh)?

Note 2. The last Pâda is identical with VI, 2, 9. Considering the occurrence of the word hvâryá here and in VI, 2, 8 (see note 1) we cannot believe that this is merely a casual coincidence.

Verse 5.

Note 1. On this verse, compare Neisser, Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XX, 40; Macdonell, Journal Roy. As. Soc., 1893, p. 446.

Note 2. Dhûmínah may be gen. sing.: 'he whose, the smoky (god's), flames.'

Note 3. Ludwig and Neisser (Bezz. Beitr., loc. cit.) regard dhmâtárî (Padap. dhmâtári) as a nom. sing. masculine. I think that Geldner (Vedische Studien, I, 146, note 1) and Bartholomae (Indogermanische Forschungen, I, 496, note 2) are right in explaining it as a locative infinitive. Compare also Johansson, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXX, 415; Joh. Schmidt, Pluralbildungen der Indogermanischen Neutra, p. 247. Macdonell translates, 'as in a smelting furnace.'

Verse 6.

Note 1. The poet, who has begun his sentence in the first person singular ('may I'), goes on in the plural.

Verse 7.

Note 1. ‘He,’ i. e. Agni, or ‘it,’ i. e. the wealth?