००७

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सायण-भाष्यम्

’ श्रेष्ठं यविष्ठ ’ इति षडृचं सप्तमं सूक्तं सोमाहुत्यार्षम् आग्नेयं गायत्रम् । प्रातरनुवाकाश्विनशस्त्रयोर्गायत्रे छन्दसि अस्य विनियोगः पूर्वसूक्ते एवोक्तः । श्रावणीकर्मण्याद्या विनियुक्ता ।।

Jamison Brereton

7 (198)
Agni
Somāhuti Bhārgava
6 verses: gāyatrī
In this short hymn Agni is twice (vss. 1 and 5) identified as a Bhārata, “son of Bharata” or “belonging to the Bharata lineage,” a name and designation that becomes very prominent in later times and, of course, furnishes the name of the great epic, the Mahābhārata. The family is less prominent in the R̥gveda, but is mentioned in telling passages in Maṇḍalas III, VI, and VII; the Bhārata fire is mentioned in several other passages like the ones in this hymn. As Proferes argues (2007: 36–37), Agni is often identified with the tribal king, and “the most com
monly mentioned tribal fire is that of the Bharata,” which is “specifically linked to the military power of the tribe.” Although that theme is not insistent here, the hostilities and hatreds mentioned in verses 2–3 against which Agni’s aid is besought evoke this idea.

The hymn also illustrates, more clearly than usual, the poetic use of the meta phorical extension of ritual practices. In verse 4 the fire is “bepoured” (ā́hutaḥ) with streams of melted butter, a standard ritual action, which therefore would arouse no special interest in the audience; in verse 5 it is also “bepoured”—the same adjective in the same position in the verse—but with entities considerably less liquid: vari ous bovines, expressed in technical stock-breeding language, which serve as animal sacrifices in the later śrauta ritual. The audience would certainly take note of this clash of concepts and metaphorically extend either the adjective (from “bepoured” to “offered to”) or the offerings (not the cows, but their product, the ghee). What is unusual in this hymn is that verse 4 explicitly provides the normal template against which verse 5 must be interpreted. Ordinarily we encounter only the off-balance expression, and must ourselves summon the normal one from the formulaic and conceptual stock held in common by the audience.

Jamison Brereton Notes

Agni

01 श्रेष्टं यविष्ट - गायत्री

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श्रे᳓ष्ठं यविष्ठ भारत᳓
+अ᳓ग्ने द्युम᳓न्तम् आ᳓ भर ।
व᳓सो पुरु-स्पृ᳓हं रयि᳓म् ॥

02 मा नो - गायत्री

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मा᳓ नो अ᳓रातिर् ईशत
देव᳓स्य म᳓र्तियस्य च
प᳓र्षि त᳓स्या उत᳓ द्विषः᳓

03 विश्वा उत - गायत्री

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वि᳓श्वा उत᳓ त्व᳓या वयं᳓
धा᳓रा उदन्या᳙+++(=उदक-सम्बन्धिनीः)+++ इव ।
अ᳓तिगाहेमहि द्वि᳓षः ।+++(५)+++

04 शुचिः पावक - गायत्री

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शु᳓चिः पवाक+ व᳓न्दियः
अ᳓ग्ने बृह᳓द् वि᳓ रोचसे
तुवं᳓ घृते᳓भिर् आ᳓हुतः

05 त्वं नो - गायत्री

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तुवं᳓ नो असि भारत
अ᳓ग्ने वशा᳓भिर् उक्ष᳓भिः
अष्टा᳓पदीभिर् आ᳓हुतः

06 द्र्वन्नः सर्पिरासुतिः - गायत्री

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द्रु᳓अन्नः सर्पि᳓रासुतिः
प्रत्नो᳓ हो᳓ता व᳓रेणियः
स᳓हसस् पुत्रो᳓ अ᳓द्भुतः