APPENDIX I.
PAGE 87, HYMN CXXVI.
I subjoin a Latin version of the two stanzas omitted in my
trauslation. They are in a different metre from the rest of the hymn, have no
apparent connexion with what precedes, and look like a fragment of a liberal
shepherd's love-song. The seventh stanza should, it seems, precede the sixth:
6 [Ille loquitur]. Adhaerens, arcte adhaerens, illa quac
mustelae similis se abdidit, multum humorem effundens, dat mihi complexuum
centum gaudia.
7 [Illa loquitur]. Prope, prope accede; molliter me tange.
Ne putes pilos corporis mei-paucos esse: tota sum villosa sicut Gandharidum
ovis.
Professor Ludwig thinks that (multurn humorem, i.e., semen
genitale, effundens) may be the name of a slave-girl. Gandharidun ovis: a ewe
of the Gandharis. The country of Gandhara is placed by Lassen to the west of
the Indus and to the south of the Kophen or Kabul river. King Darius in a
rock-inscription mentions the Ga(n)dara together with the Hi(n)du as people
subject to him, and the Gandarii, together with the Parthians, Khorasmians,
Sogdians, and Dadikae, are said by Herodotus to have formed part of the army of
Xerxes. The name of the country is preserved in the modern Kandahar. See Muir,
O.S. Texts, ii. 342, and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 30.
PAGE 221, HYMN CLXXIX.
The deified object of this omitted hymn is said to be Rati or
Love, and its Rsis or authors are Lopamudrd, Agastya, and a disciple. Lopamudra
is represented as inviting the caresses of her aged husband Agastya, and
complaining of his coldness and neglect. Agastya responds in stanza 3, and in
the second half of stanza 4 the disciple or the poet briefly tells the result
of the dialogue. Stanza 5 is supposed to be spoken by the disciple who has
overheard the conversation, but its connexion with the rest of the hymn is not
very apparent. In stanza 6 'toiling with strong endeavour' is a paraphrase and
not a translation of the original khanamanah khanitraib (ligonibus fodiens)
which Sayana explains by 'obtaining the desired result by means of lauds and
sacrifices.'
M. Bergaigne is of opinion that the hymn has a mystical meaning,
Agastya being identifiable with the celestial Soma whom Lopamudra, representing
fervent Prayer, succeeds after long labour in drawing down from his secret
dwelling place. See La Religion Vedique, ii. 394 f.
1 'Through many autumns have I toiled and
laboured, at night and morn, through age-inducing dawnings.
Old age impairs the beauty of our bodies. Let husbands still
come near unto their spouses.
2 For even the men aforetime, law-fulfillers, who with the
Gods declared eternal statutes,- -
They have decided, but have not accomplished: so now let
Wives come near unto their husbands.
3 Non inutilis est labor cui Dii favent: nos omnes aemulos
et aemulas vincamus.
Superemus in hac centum artium pugna in qua duas partes
convenientes utrinque commovemus.
4 Cupido me cepit illius tauri [viri] qui me despicit, utrum
hinc utrum illinc ab aliqua parte nata sit.
Lopamudra taururn [mariturn suum] ad se detrahit: insipiens
illa sapientem anhelantern absorbet.
5 This Soma I address that is most near us, that which hath
been imbibed within the spirit,
To pardon any sins we have committed. Verily mortal man is
full of longings.
6 Agastya thus, toiling with strong endeavour, wishing for
children, progeny and. power,
Cherished - a sage of mighty strength - both classes, and
with the Gods obtained his prayer's fulfilment.
By 'both classes' probably priests and princes, or
institutors of sacrifices, are meant. M. Bergaigne understands the expression
to mean the two forms or essences of Soma, the celestial and the terrestrial.
5 Membrum suum virile, quod vrotentum fuerat, mas ille
retraxit. Rursus illud quod in juvenem filiam sublatum fuerat, non aggressurus,
ad se rerahit.
6 Quum jam in medio connessu, semiperfecto opere, amorem in
puellam pater impleverat, ambo discedentes seminis paulum in terrae superficiem
sacrorum sede effusum emiserunt.
7 Quum pater suam nilam adiverat, cum ed congressus suum
semen supra wrrarn effudit. Tum Dii benigni precem (brahma) prgeduerunt, et
Vastoshpatim, legum sacrarum custodem, formaverunt.
8 Ille tauro similis spumam in certamine jactavit, tunc
discedens pusillaximis huc profectus est. Quasi dextro pede claudus processit,
"inutiles fuerunt illi mei complexus," ita locutus.
9 'The fire, burning the people, does not approach quickly
(by day): the naked (Rakasas approach) not Agni by night; the giver of fuel,
and the giver of food, he, the upholder (of the rite), is born, overcoming
enemies by his might.'
PAGE 619, HYMN CVI
I borrow Wilson's translation of the omitted stanzas.
5 'You are like two pleasantly moving well-fed (hills) like
Mitra and Varuna, the two bestowers of felicity, veracious, possessors of
infinite wealth, happy, like two horses plump with fodder, abiding in the
firmament, like two rams (are you) to be nourished with sacrificial food, to be
cherished (with oblations).
6 'You are like two mad elephants bending their forequarters
and smiting the foe, like the two sons of Nitosa destroying (foes), and
cherishing (friends); you are bright as two water-born (jewels), do you, who
are victorious, (render) my decaying mortal body free from decay.
7 'Fierce (Asvins), like two powerful (heroes), you enable
this moving, perishable mortal (frame) to cross over to the objects (of its
destination) as over water; extremely strong, like the Rbhus, your chariot,
attained its destination swift as the wind, it pervaded (everywhere), it
dispensed riches.
8 'With your bellies full of the Soma, like two saucepans,
preservers of wealth, destroyers of enemies. (you are) armed with hatchets,
moving like two flying (birds) with forms like the moon, attaining success
through the mind, like two laudable beings, (you are) approaching (the
sacrifice).'
PAGE 645, HYMN CLXII.
1. MAY Agni, yielding to our prayer, the Raksas-slayer,
drive away
The malady of evil name that hath beset thy labouring womb.
2 Agni, concurring in the prayer, drive off the eater of the
flesh,
The malady of evil name that hath attacked thy babe and
womb.
3 That which destroys the sinking germ, the settled, moving
embryo,
That which will kill the babe at birth,even this will we
drive far away.
4 That which divides thy legs that it may lie between the
married pair,
That penetrates and licks thy side,-even this will we
exterminate.
5 What rests by thee in borrowed form of brother, lover, or
of lord,
And would destroy thy Progeny,-even this will we
exterminate.
6 That which through sleep or darkness hath deceived thee
and lies down by thee,
And will destroy thy progeny,--even this will we exterminate.
PAGE 645, HYMN CLXIII
1. FROM both thy nostrils, from thine eyes,
from both thine ears and from thy chin,
Forth from thy head and brain and tongue I drive thy malady
away.
2 From the neck-tendons and the neck, from the breast-bones
and from the spine,
From shoulders, upper, lower arms, I drive thy malady away.
3 From viscera and all within, forth from the rectum, from
the heart,
From kidneys, liver, and from spleen, I drive thy malady
away.
4 From thighs, from knee-caps, and from heels, and from the
forepart of the feet,
From hips ' frorn stomach, and from groin I drive thy malady
away.
5 From what is voided from within, and from thy hair, and
from they nails,
From all thyself from top to toe, I drive thy malady away.
6 From every member, every hair, disease that comes in every
joint,
From all thyself, from top to toe, I drive thy malady away.
PAGE 650, HYMN CLXXXIV.
1. MAY Visnu form and mould the womb, may
Tvastar duly shape the forms,
Prajapati infuse the stream, and Dhatar lay the germ for
thee.
2 O Sinivali, set the germ, set thou the germ, Sarasvati:
May the Twain Gods bestow the germ, the Asvins crowned with
lotuses.
3 That which the Asvins Twain rub forth with the
attrition-sticks of gold, -
That germ of thine we invocate, that in the tenth month thou
mayst bear.
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