Wordmarks for UT and College of Liberal Arts
Winfred P. Lehmann, Director :: PCL 5.112, 1 University Station S5490 :: Austin, TX 78712 :: 512-471-4566
LRC Links: Home | About | Books Online | EIEOL | IE Lexicon | IE Maps | IE Texts | Pub. Indices | SiteMap



Ancient Sanskrit Online

Lesson 7

Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum

The opening verse of this passage to the sun turns on two important words of complex meaning in the Rigvedic vocabulary, vratá and krátu. The word vratá (related to Greek ῥῆμα, and English word) previously occurred in the Lesson 2 text, where Savitar, the driving force behind the solar cycle, both guarded the vratā́ni and protected us with them, a passage that gives an indication of the double sense of the word. On the one hand it describes the unfathomable system that regulates the universe: amī́ yá ŕ̥kṣā níhitāsa uccā́, náktaṃ dádr̥śre kúha cid díveyuḥ, ádabdhāni váruṇasya vratā́ni, vicā́kaśac candrámā náktam eti (I, 24, 10) 'that far off constellation set on high that shows itself at night, wherever does it go by day? Inviolate are the holy laws of Varuna; the shining moon goes keeping watch by night'. But the vratā́ni are also divine commandments, obeyed not only by the waters and the wind in II, 38, 2 (see the introduction to Lesson 2) but also by man if he is wise, as indicated in X, 2, 4, quoted in example 199 in the last lesson.

The second verse of VII, 61, the two halves of which have appeared as examples 56 and 184, describes how a poet can acquire krátu with the help of the gods: prá vāṃ sá mitrāvaruṇāv r̥tā́vā, vípro mánmāni dīrghaśrúd iyarti, yásya bráhmāṇi sukratū ávātha, ā́ yát krátvā ná śarádaḥ pr̥ṇaíthe 'to you, Mitra and Varuna, he, the far-famed holy poet, lifts up his thoughts; whose prayers, O very able pair, you may favour, so that you will fill his autumns with krátu, as it were'. The word is cognate with Greek κράτος 'strength', but significantly in the Rigveda has the sense of reasoning power or intellectual ability, not bodily strength. In another passage, X, 64, 2, the noun krátu is turned into a verb (see section 33.4 in this lesson), kratūyánti krátavo hr̥tsú dhītáyaḥ 'conceptual powers, thoughts, have power in our hearts'.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The lesson text forms the central section, verses 5-10, of X, 37 (863), a poem of 12 verses addressed to the sun. The name sū́rya, from svàr 'sunlight', is related to Old English svegle and also to Homeric Greek ἠέλιος. The poem is in the jagatī metre with the exception of verse 10, the last verse here, which is in triṣṭubh. The sun, which is víśvasya sthātúr jágataś ca gopā́ 'guardian of all that stands and moves' in VII, 60, 2, in protecting víśvasya vratám in this passage merits the praise of men, praise which will, thanks to their krátu, be commendable to all the gods.

víśvasya hí préṣito rákṣasi vratám
áheḷayann uccárasi svadhā́ ánu
yád adyá tvā sūrya upabrávāmahai
táṃ no devā́ ánu maṃsīrata krátum

táṃ no dyā́vāpr̥thivī́ tán no ā́pa
índraḥ śr̥ṇvantu marúto hávaṃ vácaḥ
mā́ śū́ne bhūma sū́riyasya saṃdŕ̥śi
bhadráṃ jī́vanto jaraṇā́m aśīmahi

viśvā́hā tvā sumánasaḥ sucákṣasaḥ
prajā́vanto anamīvā́ ánāgasaḥ
udyántaṃ tvā mitramaho divé-dive
jiyóg jīvā́ḥ práti paśyema sūriya

máhi jyótir bíbhrataṃ tvā vicakṣaṇa
bhā́svantaṃ cákṣuṣe-cakṣuṣe máyaḥ
āróhantam br̥hatáḥ pā́jasas pári
vayáṃ jīvā́ḥ práti paśyema sūriya

yásya te víśvā bhúvanāni ketúnā
prá cérate ní ca viśánte aktúbhiḥ
anāgāstvéna harikeśa sūriya
áhnāhnā no vásyasā-vasyasód ihi

śáṃ no bhava cákṣasā śáṃ no áhnā
śám bhānúnā śáṃ himā́ śáṃ ghr̥ṇéna
yáthā śám ádhvañ chám ásad duroṇé
tát sūriya dráviṇaṃ dhehi citrám

Lesson Text

víśvasya hí préṣito rákṣasi vratám
áheḷayann uccárasi svadhā́ ánu
yád adyá tvā sūrya upabrávāmahai
táṃ no devā́ ánu maṃsīrata krátum

táṃ no dyā́vāpr̥thivī́ tán no ā́pa
índraḥ śr̥ṇvantu marúto hávaṃ vácaḥ
mā́ śū́ne bhūma sū́riyasya saṃdŕ̥śi
bhadráṃ jī́vanto jaraṇā́m aśīmahi

viśvā́hā tvā sumánasaḥ sucákṣasaḥ
prajā́vanto anamīvā́ ánāgasaḥ
udyántaṃ tvā mitramaho divé-dive
jiyóg jīvā́ḥ práti paśyema sūriya

máhi jyótir bíbhrataṃ tvā vicakṣaṇa
bhā́svantaṃ cákṣuṣe-cakṣuṣe máyaḥ
āróhantam br̥hatáḥ pā́jasas pári
vayáṃ jīvā́ḥ práti paśyema sūriya

yásya te víśvā bhúvanāni ketúnā
prá cérate ní ca viśánte aktúbhiḥ
anāgāstvéna harikeśa sūriya
áhnāhnā no vásyasā-vasyasód ihi

śáṃ no bhava cákṣasā śáṃ no áhnā
śám bhānúnā śáṃ himā́ śáṃ ghr̥ṇéna
yáthā śám ádhvañ chám ásad duroṇé
tát sūriya dráviṇaṃ dhehi citrám

Translation

Since you, sent forth, protect the holy law of all,
And, not invidious, rise according to your own powers;
When we address you today, O sun,
May the gods commend that wisdom of ours.
That call of ours may Heaven and Earth and the waters, hear,
Indra and the storm gods hear that speech;
Let us not be in want in the sight of the sun,
May we, living, reach a happy old age.
Always with good minds, with good sight
Rich in progeny, free from sickness and from guilt,
May we behold you rising day after day,
Living a long time, O many-friended sun.
Bringing great light, O far-seeing one
With brightness, a joy to every eye,
Rising all around from out the lofty radiance,
May we, living, look upon you, O sun.
With whose appearance all living things set out,
And come to rest with your twilight rays;
With innocence, O gold-tressed sun,
Rise up for us every day with better and better light.
Bless us with sight, bless with daylight,
Bless us with brightness, with frost and with warmth;
That there may be blessing on the way, or at home,
Grant that radiant provision, O sun.

Grammar

31. Iteration.

Iterative compounds, where the same word -- regularly in inflected form -- is repeated, express succession in time or space or repetition, and are a common feature of the Rigveda. Of the four in this lesson text divé-dive 'day after day' is ancient and occurs many times. Such compounds are however freely formed, and often appear only once. The dative cákṣuse-cakṣuse 'to every eye' from cákṣus 'eye, sight' (compare cákṣas 'seeing, sight', and its derivative sucákṣas in the third verse), and the instrumental áhnā-ahnā 'with repeated daylight', together with adjectival vásyasā-vasyasā, 'better and better', are only found in this passage. Any part of speech is capable of being compounded in this way: ihéha [ihá-iha] '(here-here) here and there, everywhere'; yád-yat [yát-yat] 'whatever'.

The same word may also be repeated in the sentence in a different case to convey a superlative sense, as in English 'king of kings'. In the last verse of X, 112 sákhe sákhīnām 'O friend of friends / best of friends' is addressed to Indra, and at VI, 61, 10 Sarasvati is described as priyā́ priyā́su 'dear among the dear (f)/ dearest of all streams'. Filial piety is praised as vápuṣo vápuṣṭaram 'more marvellous than a marvel' in X, 32, 3, and the example svādóḥ svā́dīyaḥ 'sweeter than the sweet', describing speech, was given in the last lesson (number 187).

32. Adjectives with pronominal declension.

Some adjectives displaying elements of the pronominal declension that ressemble comparatives and superlatives in form, like ávara 'more recent' and avamá 'most recent', were described in section 29.2 of the last lesson. Another, similarly temporal in meaning and exhibiting both pronominal and adjectival forms, is pū́rva 'former, previous'. The adjectives víśva 'every, all' and sárva 'whole, all' (Latin salvus), like éka 'one', follow the pronominal declension with the exception of the nominative/accusative singular neuter forms, víśvam and sárvam. The usual Rigvedic word meaning 'all', víśva, which is superseded in the later language by sárva, has appeared four times in the lesson texts, twice here and twice in Lesson 1, in forms that could be either pronominal or adjectival. In a passage quoted in the Introduction to the Lesson 5 text however it shows its pronominal nature: áditir mātā́ sá pitā́ sá putráḥ, víśve devā́ áditiḥ (I, 89, 10) 'Aditi is mother, father, son; Aditi is all the gods'.

The adjective anyá 'other' in the feminine iterative compound anyā́-anyā in example 208 above, like katará and katamá described in the last section of Lesson 6, follows the pronominal declension throughout. Further pronominal forms are illustrated below. The last example is from the second verse of the lesson text poem.

33. Derivative verbs.

There are three derivative conjugations which give the verbal root an extended sense, forming tenses, moods and participles. By far the most common of these is the causative, which, by means of a suffix added to the root, turns 'he goes' into 'he causes to go'. Intensives and desideratives similarly extend the meaning of the root to something like 'he insists on going', and 'he wishes to go'. Allied to these is a class of verbs called denominatives which make verbs out of nouns, like English to holiday (to vacation), or to fish.

33.1. The causative.

Causatives are formed by adding -áya to the root, which is often in strengthened form. They are inflected like verbs of the thematic conjugation of the Present System. Several examples have already appeared in the lessons. Two masculine causative active participles described Savitar in the Lesson 2 text: from the root √prath 'spread' pratháyan 'extending', and from √viś with preverb ní, niveśáyan 'bringing to rest'. The feminine causative participle prabodháyantī 'causing to wake', from √budh 'wake' with preverb prá, described dawn in example number 99. Causative forms of the imperfect tense occurred in example 113, aprathayas 'you caused to spread' from √prath again, and example 143, arocayan 'they caused to shine' from √ruc; both verbs have lost the accent as the main verb in the sentence. Another masculine causative active participle describes the sun in the first verse of this lesson text, áheḷayan 'not causing hostility', where the causative element -áya has lost the accent to the privative prefix.

Some verbs which are causative in form however lack a causative sense, like mādayante 'they delight in' from √mad 'delight in' in example 213 in the last section. Two participles which are causative in appearance but have no causative sense have also occurred in the examples: the first element of the compound dhārayát-kṣiti 'sustaining the races of man' in example 205 at the beginning of this lesson is from the root √dhr̥ 'hold fast, sustain', and in example 192, máno jáviṣṭham patáyatsu antáḥ (VI, 9, 5) 'among flying things the understanding is swiftest', patáyatsu is locative plural of patáyant, from √pat 'fly, fall' (compare Greek πέτομαι). The verse that follows this, VI, 9, 6, quoted below in section 34, gives another example of patáya- without a causative sense, and √jan 'produce, create, bear', similarly uses the causative form without distinction of meaning, as in example 216.

33.2. The intensive.

The intensive, like the subgroup of athematic verbs described in section 13.1 and most verbs of the Perfect System, is marked by reduplication of the root. The distinguishing feature of the reduplication of the intensive is that the reduplicating vowel is usually strong: i and u reduplicate as e and o, a generally reduplicates as ā, and r̥ as ar. An example of an intensive participle occurred in the last lesson text, where Indra is described as véviṣat 'indefatigable', from √viṣ 'be active'. The inflection of intensives follows that of the reduplicating athematic verbs. Some verbs add a connecting i or ī before the endings, as in the first example below.

33.3. The desiderative.

Desiderative forms are uncommon, and only one example, íyakṣantas 'desiring to worship' in the Lesson 6 text, has occurred so far. Like intensives they are marked by reduplication. The reduplicating syllable is in this case usually i, and carries the accent. Desiderative forms add the suffix -sa, often -ṣa, before the endings, which, as with causatives, are those of the thematic conjugation of the Present System.

33.4. The denominative.

Most nouns in Sanskrit are derived from verbal roots with the addition of suffixes: mánas, mánman, manīṣā́ and mántra, from which the compound satya-mantrá in example 216 above is formed, are all derivatives of the verbal root √man 'think'. Denominatives are formed the other way round; they are verbal formations made from nouns with the suffix -ya. Like causatives and desideratives, denominatives follow the inflection of thematic verbs of the Present System.

The first two examples below illustrate the chief functions of the twin horsemen, the Ashvins.

34. The Future System.

The future tense is rare in the Rigveda, as its function is usually supplied by the subjunctive. It is formed by adding the suffix -syá or -iṣyá to the root, the inflection then again following the thematic conjugation of the Present System. Future participles, like kariṣyánt 'going to do', and the feminine vakṣyántī 'being about to speak' at VI, 75, 3, are only slightly less rare. Only one modal form (the subjunctive kariṣyā́s) is found in the Rigveda.

35. Further notes on the accent.
35.1. Finite verbs.

Verbs are accented if they begin the line or sentence, or if they are in subordinate clauses. In the first verse of the lesson text we know that the verb in the second line, 'you rise', is, like 'you protect' in the first line, dependent on hí 'since' because it too is accented. In addition, as a sentence is regarded as only able to have one main verb, subsequent main verbs tend to be accented, as in the first two examples.

In the third example the verb is accented because it is preceded only by a vocative, which is not considered to be part of the sentence. The verb becomes the first true word in the sentence.

35.2. Verbs and participles with preverbs.

When a verb in a subordinate clause is immediately preceded by a preverb the two words are compounded and the preverb loses its accent, as in uccárasi and upabrávāmahai in the first verse of the lesson text. In the same way, when present participles and preverbs combine the preverb loses the accent, as illustrated by āróhant and udyánt in the lesson text, and the middle participle āśuṣānás 'breathing deeply' in example 132. The same is true of perfect participles: compare ātasthivā́ṃs in example 224 above.

The opposite however is generally the case when past participles combine with preverbs or prefixes. The verbal form then loses the accent, as with préṣita [prá-iṣita] in the first line of this lesson text, and níhitāsas in the introduction to this lesson and ā́hita in example 228, both of which are formed with the irregular past participle of √dhā 'place', hitá.

35.3. Compounds with irregular double accentuation.

Most words are singly accented, even when they are compounds formed by combining two accented words: so from examples in this lesson dharayát-kṣiti (205), kaví-kratu (206), devá-śiṣṭa (208), satyá-mantra (216), and candrá-mās 'shining moon' in the lesson introduction. In such compounds the first word has the form of the uninflected stem. Iterative compounds, as described in section 31, always drop the accent from the second element: divé-dive, anyá-anya.

The names of deities that are regularly addressed together are often combined into ancient dual compounds, like the vocative mitrāvaruṇā in the lesson introduction, and when these compounds show the dual ending on both elements, as dyā́vā-pr̥thivī́ in the lesson text also does, some retain both accents (but not all: see example 238). Similarly vánas-páti 'forest-lord, tree', where the first element has preserved the genitive ending, is doubly accented, as is bŕ̥has-páti, perhaps an earlier form of bráhmaṇas páti 'lord of prayer', leading to the triply-accented dual compound índrā-bŕ̥haspátī at IV, 49, 5.