०२८

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘ अग्ने जुषस्व ’ इति षडृचं षोडशं सूक्तं वैश्वामित्रमाग्नेयम् । अत्रानुक्रमणिका –‘अग्ने जुषस्व षट् तृतीयाद्युष्णिक्त्रिष्टुब्जगत्यः’ इति । पूर्वसूक्ते • गायत्रं तु ’ इत्युक्तत्वादेतदपि गायत्रम् । तृतीया तूष्णिक चतुर्थी त्रिष्टुप् पञ्चमी जगती । ’ अग्ने जुषस्व ’ इति सवनीयपुरोडाशे स्विष्टकृतः प्रातःसवनीयानुवाक्या । सूत्रितं च –’ अथ स्विष्टकृतोऽग्ने जुषस्व नो हविः’ (आश्व. श्रौ. ५. ४ । इति । अतिरात्रे आश्विनशस्त्रे परिहिते सति चमसगणैः सहाश्विनोर्द्विकपालः पुरोडाशः सर्वहुतो होतव्यः । यदि पुरोडाशमवशेष्य स्विष्टकृतं कुर्युस्तस्य स्विष्टकृतः ‘ पुरोळा अग्ने’ इत्येषा याज्या । यद्येतस्य पुरोडाशस्य स्विष्टकृता चरेयुः पुरोळा अग्ने पचतः ’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ६. ५) इति सूत्रितम् । माध्यंदिने सवने सवनीयपुरोडाशे स्विष्टकृतोऽनुवाक्या माध्यंदिने सवने ’ इत्येषा । सूत्रितं च - अग्ने जुषस्व नो हविर्माध्यंदिने सवने जातवेदः ( आश्व. श्रौ. ५. ४ ) इति । तृतीयसवने सवनीयपुरोडाशस्य स्विष्टकृतोऽनुवाक्या • अग्ने तृतीये सवने ’ इत्येषा । सूत्रितं च — ‘ अग्ने तृतीये सवने हि कानिष इत्यनुसवनमनुवाक्याः ’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ५. ४ ) इति । आश्विनपुरोडाशस्य स्विष्टकृतो याज्या ‘ अग्ने वृधानः इत्येषा । सूत्रितं च – अग्ने वृधान आहुतिमिति संयाज्ये ’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ६. ५ ) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

28 (262)
Agni
Viśvāmitra Gāthina
6 verses: gāyatrī 1, 2, 6; uṣṇih 3; triṣṭubh 4; jagatī 5
The hymn has three divisions that correspond to the offering of the puroḷāś, the “sacrificial cake” in the three soma-pressings: verses 1–2 belong to the Morning Pressing, verse 4 to the Midday Pressing, and verse 5 to the Third Pressing. The hymn is metrically mixed in an arrangement corresponding to the later tradition that assigns the gāyatrī meter to the first pressing, the triṣṭubh to the second, and the jagatī to the third. In part because the hymn is so closely tied to a specific parts of the liturgy, it likely represents a more advanced stage in the development of the Vedic ritual than is found in most R̥gvedic hymns. In the classical rite there is an offering of rice cakes—in the earlier period they were barley cakes—to Indra at each of the three soma-pressings. After each cake offering, there is an additional offering to Agni Sviṣṭakr̥t, and, as Oldenberg (1897: 301) points out, Āśvalāyana Śrauta Sūtra V.4.6 prescribes III.28.1, 4, and 5 for these offerings, according to the order of the soma-pressings. See also III.52, which also concerns the sacrificial cakes offered to Indra offered in the three pressings.
The remaining two verses (3 and 6) cannot be so readily connected with the three daily pressings. Verse 3 is not in any of the meters associated with the pressings, but rather in the rare uṣṇih meter. Verse 6 is in gāyatrī, but it is at the end of the hymn, not at the beginning where we would have expected the “morning” verses to appear. These are also the only two verses in which the description tiróahnya appears. The term means “aged overnight,” or more literally, “having passed through the day.” This word describes soma that is offered to the Aśvins in the early morning of the day following the soma-pressing day. In the classical Atirātra or “overnight” soma ritual, an offering of a puroḷāś accompanies this soma offering to the Aśvins, and these offerings of soma and puroḷāś may also be followed by a sviṣṭakr̥t offering of puroḷāś to Agni. These two verses thus likely refer to one or another of these final offerings of an Atirātra rite. Indeed, according to ĀśvŚS V.6.25, verse 6 is the yājyā or “offering” verse of the sviṣṭakr̥t rite for exactly this final offering.
If the term tiróahnya helps locate the ritual context of verses 3 and 6, it also poses an interpretive problem. Geldner and Renou both understand tiróahnya as an adjective describing the puroḷāś-cake. However, it is unlikely to be literally true that the cake is “aged overnight.” Rather, as is the case in the classical rite, it would have been prepared on the morning it was offered. Recognizing this problem,

Elizarenkova understood tiróahnya to mean the soma “aged overnight,” in accord with the consistent usage of the term elsewhere. But soma is not mentioned in the hymn, and neither verse gives any indication that tiróahnya describes something other than the puroḷāś. Therefore, we think that tiróahnya describes the puroḷāś
but is not intended to describe it literally. Rather, it associates the puroḷāś with the accompanying offering of the soma “aged overnight.”
In the classical Atirātra, the Āśvinaśastra, the recitation that accompanies the final soma offering to the Aśvins, follows the form of Prātaranuvāka, the early-morning litany, which opens the soma-pressing day (cf. Staal 1983 I: 683). The two recitations thus create a ritual ring, in which the end recapitulates the begin
ning. In this hymn verse 3, although connected with the end of the rite, is located immediately after the verses that mark the rite’s beginning, and thus it becomes an icon of the conjunction of the beginning and end of the rite. This is reflected in its meter as well. Like gāyatrī, the meter associated with the morning rite, the uṣṇih meter of verse 3 consists of three pādas, but its final pāda has twelve syllables like jagatī, the meter associated with the end of the rite. The metrical form thus com
bines the morning and evening liturgies. Verse 6 is in gāyatrī, which again brings the hymn metrically back to the beginning of the rite, although the verse is placed at the end. For a more detailed discussion of this hymn, see Brereton (forthcoming b).
Another incongruous description appears in verse 5, which characterizes the rite (adhvará) as “bearing treasure” (rátnavant) and “wakeful” (jā́gr̥vi). Especially the latter is an adjective that often describes Agni (e.g., I.31.9, III.2.12) and Soma (e.g., IX.36.2, 44.3, 71.1). Here it is an epithet transferred from the sacrificial fire or from the priests who have drunk the soma to the rite, which both Agni and the priests wakefully maintain through the night. See also III.39.1, 2, in which the “thought” of the poet is “wakeful.”

01 अग्ने जुषस्व - गायत्री

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अ᳓ग्ने जुष᳓स्व नो हविः᳓
पुरोळा᳓शं जातवेदः
प्रातःसावे᳓ धियावसो

02 पुरोळा अग्ने - गायत्री

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पुरोळा᳓ अग्ने पचत᳓स्
तु᳓भ्यं वा घा प᳓रिष्कृतः
तं᳓ जुषस्व यविष्ठिय

03 अग्ने वीहि - उष्णिक्

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अ᳓ग्ने वीहि᳓ पुरोळा᳓शम्
आ᳓हुतं तिरो᳓अह्नियम्
स᳓हसः सूनु᳓र् असि अध्वरे᳓ हितः᳓

04 माध्यन्दिने सवने - त्रिष्टुप्

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मा᳓ध्यंदिने स᳓वने जातवेदः
पुरोळा᳓शम् इह᳓ कवे जुषस्व
अ᳓ग्ने यह्व᳓स्य त᳓व भागधे᳓यं
न᳓ प्र᳓ मिनन्ति विद᳓थेषु धी᳓राः

05 अग्ने तृतीये - जगती

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अ᳓ग्ने तृती᳓ये स᳓वने हि᳓ का᳓निषः
पुरोळा᳓शं सहसः सूनव् आ᳓हुतम्
अ᳓था देवे᳓षु अध्वरं᳓ विपन्य᳓या
धा᳓ र᳓त्नवन्तम् अमृ᳓तेषु जा᳓गृविम्

06 अग्ने वृधान - गायत्री

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अ᳓ग्ने वृधान᳓ आ᳓हुतिम्
पुरोळा᳓शं जातवेदः
जुष᳓स्व तिरो᳓अह्नियम्