०२९

सर्वाष् टीकाः ...{Loading}...
सायण-भाष्यम्

‘बभ्रुरेकः’ इति दशर्चं नवमं सूक्तम् । मरीचिपुत्रः कश्यपो वैवस्वतो मनुर्वा ऋषिः । तथा चानुक्रम्यते— बभ्रुर्दश कश्यपो वा मारीचो द्वैपदम् ’ इति । दशापि द्विपदा विंशत्यक्षरा विराजः । पूर्ववद्विश्वे देवा देवता । तृतीये छन्दोमे वैश्वदेवशस्त्रे वैश्वदेवसूक्तात् पूर्वमेव द्वैपदं सूक्तं शंसनीयम्। सूत्र्यते हि – बभ्रुरेक इति द्विपदासूक्तानि पुरस्ताद्वैश्वदेवसूक्तानाम् ’ (आश्व. श्रौ. ८. ७) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

29 (649)
All Gods
Manu Vaivasvata or Kaśyapa Mārīca
10 verses: dvipadā virāj (so Anukramaṇī), but really dvipadā satobr̥hatī

A very tightly and intricately structured riddle hymn. (See discussion in Jamison 2007: 75–77.) Each short verse (dvipāda satobr̥hatī verses contain only twenty syllables apiece) identifies a god (or pair of gods) by attributes or behavior, but not by name—though the referents would be clear to the audience. It is thus, in the first instance, a list hymn. However, the poet has devised a method to endow the list template with both internal structure and forward momentum.

In second position of each of the verses is a numeral. In the first seven verses it is ékaḥ “one,” but verses 8 and 9 have dvā́ “two” and the last verse plural éke “some” or, literally, “the ones,” so that the verse structure builds through the categories of grammatical number, culminating in the only plural—though since éke belongs to the same stem as ékaḥ, there is also a sense of symmetry and return.

There is further structure within the subsections of the hymn. The éka verses, the first seven in the hymn, show an omphalos structure, with the three middle verses (3–5) having the identical sequence … éko bibharti háste “the one bears in his hand.”

The poet plays with number in other ways in this hymn:

  • verse 7, the final verse containing “one,” begins trī́ṇi ékaḥ “three the one….” The referent is Viṣṇu and his three strides, so the poet, by introducing a new number, prepares us for our departure from the singular.
  • Similarly, the next verse, the first with “two,” also contains “one”: VIII.29.8a víbhir dvā́ carata ékayā sahá “With the birds the two wander along with the one” [=the two Aśvins plus Sūryā], with the feminine instrumental ékayā providing a transition between the “one” verses and the “two” verses.

If we are correct, the lone and climactic plural éke in verse 10 also has a different status from the apparently parallel numerals in the previous verses. As previously noted, each riddling verse defines a god, but in this last verse the identity of the éke is not entirely clear: the Aṅgirases or Atri(s) have been suggested (see Geldner’s note ad loc.). I would suggest instead that this verse now turns to the world of men by presenting the poets’ self-identification. The poets themselves (or their ancestors) are the solution to this final riddle. They draw attention to their own creative activity (or that of their ancestors), and as often in final verses they make a sort of meta-reference to the rest of the hymn that precedes this announcement: it is this same hymn that they are chanting now. At the same time the rigid poetic parallel structure implicitly claims for the mortal poets the same status as the gods they have just celebrated, since they are numerically identified in the same type of riddle as the gods of verses 1–9.

In favor of the view that human poets/ ritualists are the subject of verse 10 is the presence of the words árcanta(ḥ)…sā́ma “chanting…melody.” Joining these two words in the same clause seems intended to evoke the technical terms r´̥c “verse” (of the R̥gveda) and the sā́man “melody” (of the Sāmaveda) to which it is set, major components of Vedic ritual utterance, and therefore to mark the event depicted as a contemporary ritual of the present Vedic community.+++(4)+++ “Causing the sun to shine” may ascribe a cosmogonic act to the original performance of the ritual, or (more likely in our view) simply suggest that the hymns uttered at the daily dawn ritual actually ensure the rising and shining of the sun, rather than simply celebrating it.

Thus the poem skillfully combines and balances architectonic structures with forward, developing movement, and does so in a remarkably economical package. The development is not only formal, for the order in which the gods are presented takes us from the here-and-now of the ritual ground (Soma and Agni), through the mythical space where gods perform deeds that have effects on men (Tvaṣṭar, Indra, Rudra, Pūṣan), to the airy and heavenly spaces (Viṣṇu, Aśvins and Sūryā, Mitra and Varuṇa), ending specifically “in heaven” (diví).

Yet, despite all this clever machinery, the hymn wears its structure lightly, and the mechanisms that provide so much pleasure are essentially invisible to the audience.

Jamison Brereton Notes

All Gods On the intricate structure of this hymn see published introduction. and my Rigveda between Two Worlds (75-77).

01 बभ्रुरेको विषुणः - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(सोमः)+++
बभ्रु᳓र् ए᳓को वि᳓षुणः+++(=विष्वगञ्चनः)+++ सून᳓रो+++(←सुनरः?)+++ यु᳓वा
+अ᳓ञ्ज्य् +++(द्रववर्णं स्वस्मिन् निपीडनसमये)+++ अङ्क्ते हिरण्य᳓यम् ॥

02 योनिमेक आ - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

यो᳓निम् ए᳓क आ᳓ ससाद द्यो᳓तनो +++(ऽग्निः)+++
ऽन्त᳓र् देवे᳓षु मे᳓धिरः+++(=मेधावी)+++ ॥

03 वाशीमेको बिभर्ति - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(त्वष्टा?)+++
वा᳓शीम्+++(←वाशृ शब्दे, कुठारम्)+++ ए᳓को बिभर्ति ह᳓स्त आयसी᳓म्
अन्त᳓र् देवे᳓षु नि᳓-ध्रुविः ॥

04 वज्रमेको बिभर्ति - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(इन्द्रः!!)+++
व᳓ज्रम् ए᳓को बिभर्ति ह᳓स्त आ᳓हितं
ते᳓न वृत्रा᳓णि जिघ्नते ॥

05 तिग्ममेको बिभर्ति - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(रुद्रः)+++
तिग्म᳓म् ए᳓को बिभर्ति ह᳓स्त आ᳓युधं
शु᳓चिर् उग्रो᳓ ज᳓लाष+++(=सुखकृत्?)+++-भेषजः ॥

06 पथ एकः - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(पूषा)+++
पथ᳓ ए᳓कः पीपाय+++(←प्या वृद्धौ)+++ त᳓स्करो यथाँ
एष᳓ वेद निधीना᳓म् ॥

07 त्रीण्येक उरुगायो - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(विष्णुः)+++
त्री᳓ण्य् ए᳓क उरु-गायो᳓+++(=गन्ता)+++ वि᳓ चक्रमे
य᳓त्र देवा᳓सो म᳓दन्ति ॥

08 विभिर्द्वा चरत - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(अश्विनौ)+++
वि᳓भिर्+++(=पक्षिभिः)+++ द्वा᳓ चरत ए᳓कया +++(→सूर्यया)+++ सह᳓
प्र᳓ प्रवासे᳓व+++(→प्रवासवत्?)+++ वसतः ॥

09 सदो द्वा - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(मित्रावरुणौ)+++
स᳓दो द्वा᳓ चक्राते उपमा᳓ दिवि᳓
सम्रा᳓जा सर्पि᳓र्-आसुती+++(←सु सवने)+++ ॥

10 अर्चन्त एके - द्विपदा विराट्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

+++(विश्वे देवाः, ऋत्त्विजोऽपि वा!)+++
अ᳓र्चन्त ए᳓के म᳓हि सा᳓म +++(अ)+++मन्वत
ते᳓न सू᳓र्यम् अरोचयन् ॥
+++(अर्चन-रोचनयोः प्रासः। गतिभेदायादौ त्र्यक्षरपदम् इह। )+++