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of the prayer made by the gods. 5. May these ancient immortals make this our hymn acceptable to the immortal," etc.

viii. 13, 7. Pratna-vaj janaya giraḥ sṛinudhi jaritur havam | "As of old, generate hymns; hear the invocation of thy worshipper." viii. 52, 4. Sa pratnathā kavi-vṛidhaḥ Indro vākasya vakshaniḥ | "Indra was of old the promoter of the poet, and the augmenter of the song."

viii. 78, 6. Yaj jāyathā apūrvya Maghavan Vṛittra-hatyāya | tat pṛithivīm aprathayas tad astabḥnāḥ uta dyām | 7. Tat te yajno ajāyata tad arkaḥ uta haskritiḥ | tad viśvam abhibhūr asi yaj jātam yach cha jantvam|

"When, o unparalleled Maghavan, thou wast born to slay Vṛittra, thou didst then spread out the earth (the broad one) and sustain the sky: then thy sacrifice was produced, then the hymn, and the haskṛiti: (since) then thou surpassest everything that has been, or shall be, born."

Here therefore the hymn is asserted to be as old as Indra; though nothing more need be meant than that hymns then began to be produced. The hymn in which this verse occurs is not necessarily meant.

x. 112, 9. Ni shu sīda ganapate ganeshu tvām āhur vipratamaṁ kavinām | na rite tvat kriyate kinchana āre mahām arkam Maghavan chitram archa |

"Lord of assemblies, sit amid our multitudes; they call thee the wisest of poets. Nothing is done without, or apart from thee; sing, o Maghavan, a great and beautiful hymn." (Already quoted in p. 252.)

Indra and Vishnu.-R.V. vi. 69, 2. Yā viśvāsām janitārā matīnām Indra-Vishnu kalaśā soma-dhānā | Pra vām giraḥ śasyamānāḥ avantu pra stomāso giyamānāsaḥ arkaiḥ |

"Indra and Vishnu, ye who are the generators of all hymns, who are the vessels into which soma is poured, may the praises which are now recited gratify you, and the songs which are chaunted with encomiums."

Indra and Varuna.-The following passage is not, properly speaking, a portion of the Rig-veda, as it is part of one of the Valakhilyas or apocryphal additions (described in Vol. II. p. 210), which are found inserted between the 48th and 49th hymns of the 8th Mandala. From its style, however, it appears to be nearly as old as some parts of the R.V.

xi. 6. Indrāvarunā yad ṛishibhyo manishām vācho matim śrutam adattam agre | yuni sthānāny asṛijanta dhīrāḥ yajnam tanvānās tapasā 'bhyapasyam |

"Indra and Varuna, I have seen through austere-fervour that which ye formerly gave to the rishis, wisdom, understanding of speech, sacred lore, and all the places which the sages created, when performing sacrifice." (See Vol. II. p. 220.)

The Maruts.-R.V. viii. 78, 3. Pra vaḥ Indrāya bṛihate Maruto brahma archata |

"Sing, Maruts, your hymn to the great Indra." (Compare verse 1, of the same hymn, and the words brahmakṛitā Mārutena ganena in iii. 32, 2.)

Pushan.-R.V. x. 26, 4. Mañsimahi tvā vayam asmākam deva Pūshan matīnām cha sādhanam viprāṇām̃ cha ādhavam |

"We have called thee to mind, divine Pushan, the accomplisher of our hymns, and the stimulator of sages." (The first clause of this, however, may merely mean that the god gives effect to the wishes expressed in the hymns. Compare vi. 56, 4: Yad adya tvā purushṭuta bravāma dasra mantumaḥ | tat su no manma sādhaya | "" Accomplish for us the (objects of the) hymn, which we utter to thee to-day, o powerful and wise god."

Savitri.-R.V. iii. 62 (= S.V. ii. 812, and Vāj. S. iii. 35). Tat Savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi | dhiyo yo naḥ prachodayat | "We have received that excellent glory of the divine Savitri; may he stimulate our understandings [or hymns, or rites]."

(This is the celebrated Gayatri, the most sacred of all the texts in the Veda. See Colebrooke's Misc. Ess. i. pp. 29, 30, 127, and 175; or pp. 14, 15, 78, and 109 of Williams and Norgates ed. Benfey (S.V. p. 277) translates the Gayatri thus: "May we receive the glorious brightness of this, the generator, of the god who shall prosper our works." On the root from which the word dhimahi is derived, and its sense, see also Böhtlingk and Roth's Lexicon, 8.vv. dha and dhi; and compare my article "On the Interpretation of the Veda," Journ. Roy. As. Soc. p. 372.

The Linga Purana (Part II. sec. 48, 5 ff., Bombay lithographed ed.) gives the following "varieties" of the Gayatri, adapted to modern Saiva worship:

Gayatri-bhedāḥ | Tatpurushāya vidmahe vāg-viśuddhāya dhimahi | Tan naḥ S'ivaḥ prachodayat | Gaṇāmbikāyai vidmahe karma-siddhyai cha dhimahi | Tan no Gauri prachodayat | Tatpurushāya vidmahe Mahā

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devaya dhimahi | Tan no Rudraḥ prachodayat | Tatpurushāya vidmahe Vaktratunḍāya dhimahi | Tan no Dantiḥ prachodayāt | Mahāsenāya vidmthe vāg-viśuddhāya dhīmahi | Tan naḥ Skandaḥ prachodayāt | Tīkshnaśringaya vidmahe Vedapādāya dhimahi | Tan no Vrishaḥ prachodayād ityādi |

"1. We contemplate That Purusha, we meditate 28 him who is pure in speech; may That S'iva stimulate us. 2. We contemplate Gaṇāmbikā, and we meditate Karmasiddhi (the accomplishment of works); may That Gauri stimulate us. 3. We contemplate That Purusha, and we meditate Mahadeva; may that Rudra stimulate us. 4. We contemplate That Purusha, and we meditate Vaktratunḍa (Ganesa); may That Danti (the elephant) stimulate us. 5. We contemplate Mahasena (Kārtikeya, and we meditate him who is pure in speech; may That Skanda stimulate us. 6. We contemplate Tikshnaśṛinga (the sharphorned), and we meditate the Veda-footed; may Vṛisha (the bull) stimulate us."

Soma.-R.V. vi. 47, 3. Ayam me pitaḥ udiyartti vācham ayam manishum uśatim ajīgaḥ |

"This [soma], when drunk, stimulates my speech [or hymn]; this called forth the ardent thought."

It may be said that this and the other following texts relating to Soma, should not be quoted as proofs that any idea of divine inspiration was entertained by the ancient Indian bards, as they can mean nothing more than that the rishis were sensible of a stimulating effect on their thoughts and powers of expression, produced by the exhilarating draughts of the juice of that plant in which they indulged. But the rishis had come to regard Soma as a god, and apparently to be passionately devoted to his worship. See the Second Volume of this work, pp. 470 ff., and especially pp. 474, 475; and my account of this deity in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1865, pp. 135 ff.

Compare what is said of the god Dionysus (or Bacchus) in the Baccha of Euripides, 294:

Μάντις δ ̓ ὁ δαίμων ὅδε· τὸ γὰρ βακχεύσιμον

Καὶ τὸ μανιώδες μαντικὴν πολλὴν ἔχει.
Οταν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸ σῶμ ̓ ἔλθῃ πολύς,

Λέγειν τὸ μέλλον τοὺς μεμηνότας ποιεί.

20 I retain here this sense of the word, which is probably the most commonly received.

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"And this deity is a prophet. For Bacchic excitement and raving have in them much prophetic power. For when this god enters in force into the body, he causes those who rave to foretell the future."

R.V. viii. 48, 3. Apāma somam amṛitāḥ abhūma aganma jyotir avidāma devān | kim̃ nūnam asmān kṛinavad arātiḥ kim u dhūrttir amṛita martyasya |

"We have drunk the soma, we have become immortal, we have entered into light, we have known the gods; what can an enemy now do to us? what can the malice of any mortal effect, o immortal god?" 29

(This passage is quoted in the commentary of Gauḍapāda on the Sānkhya Kārikā, verse 2, and is translated (incorrectly as regards the last clause), by Prof. Wilson, in p. 13 of his English version.)

A curious parallel to this last Vedic text is to be found in the satirical drama of Euripides, the Cyclops, 578 ff.; though there, of course, the object is merely to depict the drunken elevation of the monster Polyphemus:

Ὁ δ' ουρανός μοι συμμεμιγμένος δοκέι

Τῇ γῇ φέρεσθαι, τοῦ Διός τε τὸν θρόνον
Λεύσσω τὸ πᾶν τε δαιμόνων ἁγνὸν σέβας

"The sky, commingled with the earth, appears

To whirl around; I see the throne of Jove,
And all the awful glory of the gods."

R.V. ix. 25, 5. Arusho janayan giraḥ Somaḥ pavate ȧyushag Indram gachchan kavikratuḥ |

"The ruddy Soma, generating hymns, with the powers of a poet (or with the understanding of a sage), united with men, is purified, resorting to Indra."

ix. 76, 4. . . . . Pitā matīnām asamashṭa-kāvyaḥ |

"[Soma] father of our hymns, of incomparable wisdom."

ix. 95, 2. Hariḥ sṛijānaḥ pathyām ṛitasya iyartti vacham ariteva nāvam | devo devānāṁ guhyāni nāma āviskkṛinoti barhishi pravache |

29 This text may be versified as follows:

We've quaffed the soma bright,
And are immortal grown;
We've entered into light,
And all the gods have known.
What foeman now can harm,
Or mortal vex us, more?
Through thee, beyond alarm,
Immortal god, we soar.

"The golden [Soma] when poured out along the path of the ceremony, sends forth his voice, as a rower propels a boat. A god, he reveals the mysterious natures of the gods to the bard upon the sacred grass." (See R.V. ii. 42, 1, and x. 116, 9, quoted in p. 240.)

ix. 96, 5 (S.V. ii. 293-5). Somaḥ pavate janitā matīnām janitā divo janita prithivyāḥ | janitā Agner janitā sūryasya janita Indrasya janitā uta Vishnoḥ | 6. Brahmā devānām padavīḥ kavīnām ṛishir viprāṇām mahisho mṛigānām | śyeno gṛidhrāṇām svadhitir vanānām Somaḥ paritram ati eti rebhan | 7. Prāvivipad vāchaḥ ūrmim na sindhur giraḥ somaḥ pavamāno manishāḥ ityādi¦

"Soma is purified, he who is the generator of hymns, of Dyaus, of Prithivī, of Agni, of Surya, of Indra, and of Vishnu. 6. Soma, who is a brǎhmăn-priest among the gods (or priests),30 a leader among the poets, a rishi among sages, a buffalo among wild beasts, a falcon among vultures, an axe amid the forests, advances to the filter with a sound. The purified Soma, like the sea rolling its waves, has poured forth songs, hymns, and thoughts," etc. (See Benfey's translation of this passage in his Sama-veda, pp. 238 and 253; and Nirukta-parisishta, ii. 12, 13.)

Varuna.-R.V. viii. 41, 5, 6. Yo dhartta bhuvanānāṁ yaḥ usrāṇām apichyā veda nāmāni guhyā | sa kaviḥ kāvyā puru rūpam dyaur iva pushyati.... | Yasmin viśvāni kāvyā chakre nābhir ivi śritā ityādi | "He who is the upholder of the worlds (Varuna), who knows the secret and mysterious natures of the cows, he, a sage [or poet], manifests sage [or poetical] works, as the sky does many forms. In him all sage works abide, as the nave within a wheel," etc. 87, 4, in p. 248, and ix. 95, 2, above, in this page.)

....

(See R.V. vii.

Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman.-R.V. vii. 66, 11. Vi ye dadhuḥ śaradam māsam ad ahar yajnam aktum cha ad richam | anapyam Varuno Mitraḥ Aryamā kshatram rājānaḥ āśata |

"The kings, Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman, who made the autumn, the month, and then the day, the sacrifice, night, and then the Rich, possess an unrivalled power."

9 31

30 It appears from Prof. Benfey's note on S.V. ii. 294 (=R.V. ix. 96, 6, quoted nere), that the scholiast on that passage makes devānām = ritvijām, "priests."

31 As this verse ascribes the formation of the Rich to the gods who are named in it, my remark, in p. 3 above, that the Purusha Sūkta contains "the only passage in

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