०८४

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘बळित्था’ इति तृचात्मकं द्वादशं सूक्तं भौमस्यात्रेरार्षं पृथिवीदेवताकमानुष्टुभम् । अनुक्रान्तं च— बळित्था तृचं पार्थिवमानुष्टुभम् ’ इति । सूक्तविनियोगो लैङ्गिकः। आद्या देवानां हविःषु पृथिव्या अनुवाक्या । ‘बळित्था पर्वतानां दृळ्हा चिद्या वनस्पतीन्’ (आश्व. श्रौ. ६. १४ ) इति हि सूत्रितम् । भूमिस्तोमे चैषा मरुत्वतीयशस्त्रे सूक्तमुखीया ( आश्व. श्रौ.९. ५) ।

Jamison Brereton

84 (438)
Earth
Atri Bhauma
3 verses: anuṣṭubh
This tiny hymn is attributed to the same poet as the preceding hymn to Parjanya and complements that hymn. The poem is a sort of riddle: the first verse establishes that Earth is the addressee, and in the next verse the address to a feminine being (the word “earth” is feminine in gender and conceived of as female) continues. But none of the characteristics mentioned in that verse seem particularly Earth-like. She is addressed as oscillating and silvery; she is associated with the nights; she “flings” moisture. The riddle is—under what circumstances could Earth be so described? The answer: under the darkness of the monsoon clouds, when thunder causes her to shake (thus “oscillating”; see V.83.5) and she is “silvery” with rain, which she “flings” in the forms of streams and rivulets down her slopes, mentioned in verse 1. This solution was adumbrated by Thieme (1964: 58) and is discussed further in Jamison (2013).
If the audience doesn’t solve the riddle in verse 2, verse 3 provides the answer.

Jamison Brereton Notes

Earth For a discussion of this hymn as an implicit riddle, see my “A Sanskrit Riddle in Three Movements: Rig Veda V.84,” in Beyond Hatti: A Tribute to Gary Beckman, ed. Billie Jean Collins and Piotr Michalowski, 2013, pp. 155-58. Its placement immediately after the Parjanya hymn, to which it is attached as a kind of pendant, is important. Note also that all three standard words for ‘earth’ are found in the hymn: pṛthivī́(1b), bhū́mi- (1c), and kṣám- (3b), though in different cases and usages. The riddling middle vs. lacks such a word.

01 बळित्था पर्वतानाम् - अनुष्टुप्

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ब᳓ळ् इत्था᳓ प᳓र्वतानां᳐
खिद्र᳓म् बिभर्षि पृथिवि
प्र᳓ या᳓ भू᳓मिम् प्रवत्वति
मह्ना᳓ जिनो᳓षि महिनि

02 स्तोमासस्त्वा विचारिणि - अनुष्टुप्

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स्तो᳓मासस् त्वा विचारिणि
प्र᳓ति ष्टोभन्ति अक्तु᳓भिः
प्र᳓ या᳓ वा᳓जं न᳓ हे᳓षन्तम्
पेरु᳓म् अ᳓स्यसि अर्जुनि

03 दृळ्हा चिद्या - अनुष्टुप्

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दॄळ्हा᳓+ चिद् या᳓ व᳓नस्प᳓तीन्
क्ष्मया᳓ द᳓र्धर्षि ओ᳓जसा
य᳓त् ते अभ्र᳓स्य विद्यु᳓तो
दिवो᳓ व᳓र्षन्ति वृष्ट᳓यः