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Ancient Sanskrit Online

Lesson 8

Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum

In many of the poems of the Rigveda divine powers are addressed devó-devaḥ 'god after god'. In this lesson text the poet's song praises gods of creation, weather and earthly provision in turn, concluding with an appeal to the twin horsemen, who of all gods are gámiṣṭha 'most willing to come', to convey all resulting gifts to man safely.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The text is verses 13-18 of V, 42 (396), an eighteen-verse poem addressed to víśve devā́ḥ 'all the gods'. The metre is triṣṭubh, with the exception of the penultimate verse, which is a rare ekapadā ('one-line') virāj. The god of the first verse is unnamed, as often in such litanies, but the riddle is easily solved. The 'good shelterer' is the divine artificer Tvashtar (see example 267 in section 39), who moulds the 'forms' of existence, from Heaven and Earth to the beasts of the field: yá imé dyā́vapr̥thivī́ jánitrī, rūpaír ápiṃṣad bhúvanāni víśvā (X, 110, 9) 'who fashioned this Heaven and Earth, the two parents, with the forms, all living things'; tváṣṭā rūpā́ṇi hí prabhúḥ, paśū́n víśvān samānajé (I, 188, 9) 'for Tvashtar presides over the forms, he has made manifest all the beasts'.

The rain god of the next verse is often attended by the Maruts, the lightning-speared warriors of the storm (I, 168, 5 and V, 52, 13), named in the verse that follows. The Maruts inspire fear - prá vepayanti párvatān, ví viñcanti vánaspátīn (I, 39, 5) 'they make the mountains tremble, tear the trees apart', but when accompanied by the god of rain bring welfare: prá vā́tā vā́nti patáyanti vidyúta, úd óṣadhīr jíhate pínvate svàḥ, írā víśvasmai bhúvanāya jāyate, yát parjányaḥ pr̥thivī́ṃ rétasā́vati (V, 83, 4) 'the winds blow forth, the lightnings fall; the plants shoot up, heaven yields abundance; nourishment is born for all living things when Parjanya quickens the earth with seed'.

Although severally named in poems of this kind, the power of the gods is ultimately one, and the divine parents moulded by Tvashtar, dyaúṣ pitā́ (Greek Ζεὺς πατήρ, Latin Iupiter) and mātā́ pr̥thivī́, are united as the source of all saúbhagāni 'gifts of fortune': ū́rjaṃ no dyaúś ca pr̥thivī́ ca pinvatām, pitā́ mātā́ viśvavídā sudáṃsasā (VI, 70, 6) 'power for us, may Heaven and Earth yield abundance, the Father, Mother, all-providing, wonderful'.

prá sū́ mahé suśaraṇā́ya medhā́ṃ
gíram bhare návyasīṃ jā́yamānām
yá āhanā́ duhitúr vakṣáṇāsu
rūpā́ minānó ákr̥ṇod idáṃ naḥ

prá suṣṭutí stanáyantaṃ ruvántam
iḷás pátiṃ jaritar nūnám aśyāḥ
yó abdimā́m̐ udanimā́m̐ íyarti
prá vidyútā ródasī ukṣámāṇaḥ

eṣá stómo mā́rutaṃ śárdho áchā
rudrásya sūnū́m̐r yuvanyū́m̐r úd aśyāḥ
kā́mo rāyé havate mā suastí
úpa stuhi pŕ̥ṣadaśvām̐ ayā́saḥ

praíṣá stómaḥ pr̥thivī́m antárikṣaṃ
vánaspátīm̐r óṣadhī rāyé aśyāḥ
devó-devaḥ suhávo bhūtu máhyam
mā́ no mātā́ pr̥thivī́ durmataú dhāt

uraú devā anibādhé siyāma

sám aśvínor ávasā nū́tanena
mayobhúvā supráṇītī gamema
ā́ no rayíṃ vahatam ótá vīrā́n
ā́ víśvāni amr̥tā saúbhagāni

Lesson Text

prá sū́ mahé suśaraṇā́ya medhā́ṃ
gíram bhare návyasīṃ jā́yamānām
yá āhanā́ duhitúr vakṣáṇāsu
rūpā́ minānó ákr̥ṇod idáṃ naḥ

prá suṣṭutí stanáyantaṃ ruvántam
iḷás pátiṃ jaritar nūnám aśyāḥ
yó abdimā́m̐ udanimā́m̐ íyarti
prá vidyútā ródasī ukṣámāṇaḥ

eṣá stómo mā́rutaṃ śárdho áchā
rudrásya sūnū́m̐r yuvanyū́m̐r úd aśyāḥ
kā́mo rāyé havate mā suastí
úpa stuhi pŕ̥ṣadaśvām̐ ayā́saḥ

praíṣá stómaḥ pr̥thivī́m antárikṣaṃ
vánaspátīm̐r óṣadhī rāyé aśyāḥ
devó-devaḥ suhávo bhūtu máhyam
mā́ no mātā́ pr̥thivī́ durmataú dhāt

uraú devā anibādhé siyāma

sám aśvínor ávasā nū́tanena
mayobhúvā supráṇītī gamema
ā́ no rayíṃ vahatam ótá vīrā́n
ā́ víśvāni amr̥tā saúbhagāni

Translation

Verily I offer up a wise thought, a newer song being born,
To the great one, the good shelterer,
Who, abundantly productive, in the fertile places of the daughter
Varying the forms made this world for us.
May a fine hymn of praise now reach the roaring thunder-maker,
Lord of refreshment, O singer,
Who goes, storm-clouded, rich in water,
With a lightning flash deluging the two worlds.
This eulogy goes out to the Maruts' troop,
May it reach up to the ever-young sons of Rudra;
Longing for treasure with wellbeing calls to me,
Send praise up to the nimble ones with white-flecked horses.
May this eulogy reach the earth, the atmosphere,
The lords of the forest, the plants, for treasure;
May god after god be easily invoked for me,
Let not Mother Earth place us in disfavour.
We would be in spacious liberty, O gods.
May we partake of the present help of the two horsemen,
Bringing happiness with safe guidance;
Convey to us treasure, bring us strong sons,
Bring us all gifts of fortune, O immortal pair.

Grammar

36. Secondary stems in -ín.

Like the stems in -vant and -mant, this suffix, which carries the accent, usually has the sense 'possessing' (occasionally a v is interposed before the suffix). The majority of these adjectives are masculine; a feminine form is made, as with the -vant and -mant stems, using the secondary suffix -ī described in section 17.3. Examples of this formation are vajrín 'armed', from vájra 'weapon', manīṣín 'thoughtful' from manīṣā́ 'thought', pakṣín 'winged' from pakṣá 'wing', aśvín 'horseman' from áśva 'horse', and śatín 'a hundredfold', sahasrín 'a thousandfold'; with v interposed ádvayāvin 'not duplicitous', with the accent lost to the privative prefix. The table uses vājín 'strong', possessing vā́ja, to show the masculine forms that occur.

    Singular   Dual   Plural
Nom   vājī́   vājínā   vājínas
Acc   vājínam   vājínā   vājínas
Ins   vājínā   vājíbhyām   vājíbhis
Dat   vājíne   vājíbhyām    
Gen   vājínas   vājínos   vājínām
Abl   vājínas        
Loc   vājíni   vājínos   vājíṣu
Voc   vā́jin       vā́jinas
37. Introduction to the Aorist System: the aorist tense.

The aorist tense is used to describe an event in the immediate past. Like the imperfect, which is used to describe events in the distant past ("Indra destroyed the dragon"), it has a prefixed augment á- and the secondary verbal endings described in section 23. There are three distinct kinds of aorist: the simple, reduplicating, and the sigmatic aorist.

Many modal forms, that is, forms of moods like the subjunctive and optative, are assigned to the Aorist System, but of the aorist tense itself only six examples have so far been encountered in the lesson texts. Four of these are found in Lesson 2, where the poet is describing an event that he has just observed. Savitar "has proffered his gift to us" (úd ayān, a sigmatic aorist), "has filled the airy spaces" (aprās, a sigmatic aorist), "has stretched out his arms" (asrāk, another sigmatic aorist) and "has created (ájijanat, a reduplicating aorist) a boon worthy of holy song", which is the immediate cause of his poem, the 'holy song' itself. In the Lesson 3 text, similarly, the exchange between the poet and the streams is brought about by the appeal that the poet has just made: "Desiring help, I, son of Kushika, have made the invocation (ahve, a simple aorist)"; and the poem to dawn, the Lesson 4 text, is composed on the waking of the poets -- "You, O daughter of heaven, we have wakened (abhutsmahi, a sigmatic aorist) eager to meet, O dawn".

37.1. The simple aorist.

The simple aorist either adds the endings with a connecting -a- or directly to the root. Forms of the aorist can be distinguished from forms of the imperfect in that there is no corresponding present tense form. The following elementary table distinguishes sample forms of the third person active singular from those of the imperfect.

    Present   Imperfect   Aorist
√gam   gáchati   ágachat   ágam-a-t
√gā   jígāti   ájigāt   ágā-t
√dhā   dádhāti   ádadhāt   ádhā-t
√sthā   tíṣṭhati   átiṣṭhat   ásthā-t
√bhū   bhávati   ábhavat   ábhū-t

These are the forms that would occur if made from √vid, vindáti 'find', which adds the endings with a connecting -a-.

        Active           Middle    
    Singular   Dual   Plural   Singular   Dual   Plural
1   ávidam   ávidāva   ávidāma   ávide   ávidāvahi   ávidāmahi
2   ávidas   ávidatam   ávidata   ávidathās   ávidethām   ávidadhvam
3   ávidat   ávidatām   ávidan   ávidata   ávidetām   ávidanta

Third person plural endings can vary. In roots which add the ending without connecting -a- the active ending is frequently -ur, águr, ádhur, ásthur (but ábhūvan), and the middle ending is often -ran, as ádr̥śran (from √dr̥ś) in example 250 below.

Forms of the simple aorist that have already occurred in examples are assembled below.

37.2. The reduplicating aorist.

The reduplicating vowel of this aorist is long, and is most often -ī-; compare the short -i- of the reduplicating syllable of desideratives. The endings are attached to the root with a connecting -a-. The table shows the active forms that would occur if made from √jan 'produce, create, bear'. No dual form occurs, and middle forms are rare. This aorist often has a causative sense.

Active   Singular   Plural
1   ájījanam   ájījanāma
2   ájījanas   ájījanata
3   ájījanat   ájījanan
37.3. The sigmatic aorist.

The sigmatic aorist adds a sibilant to the root, sometimes with a connecting -i-. As with the imperfect, the endings of the 2nd and 3rd person singular active often disappear because of the phonological law described in section 18 of Lesson 3. In the Lesson 2 text aprās 'he has filled' occurs for the phonologically impossible *aprāst, and asrāk and ayān, two more sigmatic aorists, have lost both the -s- and the -t. Where the sigmatic form is -iṣ- the second and third persons singular active ending becomes -īs (for iṣ-s) and -īt (for iṣ-t). The 3rd person plural active regularly ends in -ur. Middle forms, like ábhutsmahi in the Lesson 4 text, are of frequent occurrence. Dual forms are rare.

These are the middle forms of √stu 'praise' that would occur.

Middle   Singular   Plural
1   ástoṣi   ástoṣmahi
2   ástoṣṭhās   ástoḍhvam
3   ástoṣṭa   ástoṣata

The penultimate example below illustrates both simple and sigmatic aorists, and the last the three different types. Both verses conclude the poem in which they occur.

38. Omission of the verb.

Omission of the verb 'be' is a regular feature of the language of the Rigveda, as it is of Homeric Greek. A simple example was given in lesson 2: yó no dātā́ sá naḥ pitā́ (VIII, 52, 5) 'He who (is) a giver to us (is) a father to us' (example 39). Another regular characteristic is the omission, or elision, of the preceding verb. In the first example in the last section, ní grā́māso avikṣata, ní padvánto ni pakṣíṇaḥ, ní śyenā́saś cid arthínaḥ (X, 127, 5), the sense of the verb avikṣata is carried through all three lines of the verse simply by the repetition the preverb ní. Compare the use of út in the verse quoted in the introduction to Lesson 6, úd [út] īratām ávara út párāsa, ún [út] madhyamā́ḥ pitáraḥ somyā́saḥ (X, 15, 1), literally 'may they rise up, the more recent, up the distant, up those from the middle past, the inspired fathers', and of ā́ in the last line of the lesson text: ā́ no rayíṃ vahatam ótá [ā́ utá] vīrā́n, ā́ víśvāni amr̥tā saúbhagāni.

In the Rigveda elision of the verb is frequent, even when the elided verb has not just appeared, if it can be understood from the context. A preverb is often present to suggest the missing verb, as in the Lesson 3 text: prá síndhum áchā br̥hatī́ manīṣā́ 'a lofty poem (goes) forth to the river', and as in this lesson text, again with ácha: eṣá stómo mā́rutaṃ śárdho áchā.

The vitality of preverbs is used to sophisticated poetic effect in the Lesson 5 text, where in two verses they indicate a change of verbal direction:

39. Three nouns with mixed stems.

The word naú (f), Greek ναυ̃ς, 'boat' declines as if from two stems, naú- and nā́v-, showing elements of both the vowel and consonantal declensions. These are the forms that occur in the Rigveda.

    Singular   Plural
Nom   naús   nā́vas
Acc   nā́vam    
Ins   nāvā́   naubhís
Gen   nāvás    
Loc   nāví    

The word rayí 'treasure, precious thing', is usually masculine, but can also be of feminine gender. It declines as if from two stems, rayí- and rāy-. In the Rigveda the word is usually used in a non-material sense, and desire for treasure and offspring frequently go together, as in the lesson text. The table gives the usual forms.

    Singular   Plural
Nom   rayís   rā́yas
Acc   rayím   rāyás, rā́yas
Ins   rāyā́   rayíbhis
Dat   rāyé    
Abl   rāyás    
Gen   rāyás   rāyīṇā́m

Of the ancient complex of meaning given as dyú, dív (m) 'sky, heaven, day' in the glossary the forms dyaús, dívam, divás (genitive singular), diví and dívas (an anomalous feminine accusative plural form) have occurred in the lesson texts, all with the meaning 'heaven, sky'. In the second verse of the Lesson 7 text Heaven and Earth appear together in the dual compound dyā́vāpr̥thivī́, and in the third the iterative compound divé-dive 'day after day' demonstrates the other, related sense of the word. The meaning 'day' has also been encountered in the fixed form dívā 'by day', often juxtaposed, as in the Lesson 1 text, with the accusative náktam 'by night'.

The alternative accusative plural dyū́n most frequently occurs in the formula ánu dyū́n, like divé-dive with the meaning 'day after day'. The dual dyā́vā is also occasionally found as an abbreviated form of the compound dyā́vāpr̥thivī́, as in example 270.

    Singular   Plural
Nom   dyaús   dyā́vas, dívas
Acc   dyā́m, dívam   dyū́n, dívas
Ins   divā́   dyúbhis
Dat   divé    
Abl   dyós, divás    
Gen   dyós, divás    
Loc   dyávi, diví    
40. Formulaic cadences and repetitions.

The conclusion of this lesson text is formulaic in nature, and its lines are repeated elsewhere. The poem that immediately follows this one, V, 43, is also addressed to a range of divinities, and has the same coda, repeating the text from mā́ no mātā́ pr̥thivī́ durmataú dhāt to the end. The last verse of the lesson text, verse 18, is also used to conclude two poems to the Ashvins later in the same book, V, 76 and V, 77. This use of formulae has already been encountered, in the introduction to Lesson 4, where two lines describing dawn in VII, 81 also occurred in I, 48. The last two lines of the first lesson text, I, 98, are a familiar refrain: tán no mitró váruṇo māmahantām, áditiḥ síndhuḥ pr̥thivī́ utá dyaúḥ concludes 19 poems between I, 94 and I, 115, and supplies the end of the last verse of IX, 97, indicating that it originally also belonged with the poems in the first book.

Repetition frequently takes place within the same poem, as in example 212 in the last lesson. Each of the first six verses of a seven-verse supplication, I, 106, has as its last line víśvasmān no áṃhaso níṣ pipartana 'from all trouble deliver us', the seventh ending with the usual refrain of this group described in the last paragraph.