१००

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘ अयं ते ’ इति द्वादशर्चं सप्तमं सूक्तं भृगुगोत्रस्य नेमस्यार्षम् । ‘अयमस्मि जरितः’ इति द्वृचेनेन्द्रो नेमसमीपमेत्य स्वकीयं माहात्म्यमवोचत् अतस्तस्य द्वृचस्य स एवर्षिः यस्य वाक्यं स ऋषिः’ (अनु. २. ४) इति न्यायात् । षष्ठी जगती । सप्तम्याद्यास्तिस्रोऽनुष्टुभः । शिष्टास्त्रिष्टुभः । इन्द्रो देवता। ‘यद्वाग्वदन्ती, देवीं वाचम्’ इत्येते वाग्देवत्ये शिष्टा ऐन्द्र्यः । तथा चानुकान्तम्– अयं ते द्वादश नेमो भार्गवस्त्रैष्टुभं षष्ठी जगती परास्तिस्रोऽनुष्टुभोऽयमिति द्वृचेनेन्द्र आत्मानमस्तौदुपान्त्ये वाच्यौ ’ इति । वाग्देवत्ये पशौ ‘यद्वाग्वदन्ती’ इति वपाया अनुवाक्या । सूत्रितं च – ‘ यद्वाग्वदन्त्यविचेतनानि पतङ्गो वाचं मनसा बिभर्ति ’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ३. ८) इति । पूर्वोक्त एव पशौ देवीं वाचम्’ इति हविषो याज्या । सूत्रितं च – देवीं वाचमजनयन्त देवा जनीयन्तो न्वग्रव इति तिस्रः’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ३. ८) इति । प्रयाणसमये वयसाममनोज्ञा वाचः श्रुत्वैतां जपेत् । सूत्रितं च – कनिक्रदज्जनुषं प्रबुवाण इति सूक्ते जपेद्देवीं वाचमजनयन्त देवा इति च (आश्व. गृ. ३. १०. ९) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

100 (709)
Indra (1–9, 12), Vāc (10–11)
Nema Bhārgava (1–3, 6–12), Indra (4–5)
12 verses: triṣṭubh, except jagatī 6, anuṣṭubh 7–9
A vivid but baffling hymn, consisting in great part of snatches of dialogue or direct speech that may or may not be connected with each other. Needless to say, it has been much discussed and disagreed upon, and our own interpretation of it is not entirely secure.
The first two verses are a brief dialogue between an unidentified speaker and his addressee, Indra. The first speaker demands that Indra obtain a portion of the sac rifice for him before he will assist Indra in his deeds (vs. 1). In verse 2 Indra promises him the soma and proposes an active partnership. The first speaker has been vari ously identified, but we are in agreement with Oldenberg (Noten ad loc.), inter alia, that it is Vāyu, the god who along with Indra receives the first soma-offering at the soma sacrifice. (The word ágre “at the beginning” in vs. 2 gives strong support to this view.)
Thus we seem to have embarked, in mythical time, on the ritual day of real time. Such blending of mythical and current ritual time is not uncommon. And, in our view, what happens next, in the next snatch of dialogue (vss. 3–6), is the emergence of the real-time ritualist. A singer (who may, or may not, be named Śarabha [vs. 6]), addresses his colleagues (vs. 3), urging them to praise Indra, even as he raises doubts about Indra’s existence—doubts that Indra counters directly (vs. 4) by his epiphany and self-praise. The scene has shifted from the mythical dialogue between Indra and Vāyu to the ritual dialogue between Indra and the singer.
Indra continues to speak in verse 5, though the contents of the speech are rather unclear. In our view the verse concerns the relationship between Indra and the Maruts, often called Indra’s “companions” (sákhāyaḥ) as here, and the verse is here both because of the progress of the ritual day and because of an association of ideas with verses 1–2. The second or Midday Pressing of the soma sacrifice is dedicated to Indra and the Maruts, but the Maruts’ share of the pressing was only established mythically when they reminded Indra of their help to him in the Vr̥tra battle and demanded from him a share in the soma—a scene effectively dramatized in the famous hymn I.165. Thus, we have moved from the Morning Pressing with Indra and Vāyu to the Midday Pressing with Indra and the Maruts, and the covert thematic connection is that both Vāyu and the Maruts demanded a share of the sacrifice from Indra. What makes the mental association even more complex is the fact that in verse 5 Indra remains in dialogue with the singer, while remembering and recounting to the singer his side of a dialogue with the Maruts. In any case the singer is now convinced of Indra’s reality and declares that Indra’s deeds are to be praised.

The following three verses (7–9) in dimeter meter (as opposed to the trimeter meter of the rest of the hymn) are in our opinion the contents of the singer’s praise hymn to Indra, highlighting the Vr̥tra battle (vss. 7 and 9) and the fal con’s theft of soma for Indra (vs. 8). But, not surprisingly, the narration is far from straightforward. Most strikingly, in verse 7 there is a further layer of ven triloquism: in this verse the singer imitates the speech of yet another speaker, a witness or participant in the Vr̥tra battle, urging the waters, freed by Indra’s slaying of Vr̥tra, to flow forth. The speaker whom the singer is quoting might be Indra, speaking of himself in the 3rd person or perhaps the Maruts. But in either case we the audience are three levels down: we are listening to the hymn’s poet (supposedly Nema Bhārgava) imitating an unnamed singer in dialogue with Indra, and the singer is in turn imitating Indra or some other eyewitness of the mythical scene. The following verse (8) returns to straight narration, of the falcon’s flight with the soma. In verse 9 we are back to the Vr̥tra battle, but notably the description is in the present tense, as if still from the point of view of an eyewitness, and it depicts a curious, indeed unprecedented episode, Indra’s mace lying covered with water—a scene that reminds us of the dead Vr̥tra, who is famously described as lying defeated with the waters streaming over him in I.32.8, 10.
As complex and uncertain as our reading of these first nine verses is, the fol lowing two verses (10–11) are considerably more mystifying. It is not that the language or the content is difficult in itself; the verses concern the goddess Speech (Vāc) and present the common image of Speech as a milk-cow (vss. 10–11) and the common theme of the four divisions of speech (vs. 10). The perplexing part is why Vāc should make her appearance at this point in the hymn. The best answer to this question was given by Oldenberg well over a century ago (1885): he cited a story in later Vedic prose (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa IV.1.3) relating a dispute between Indra and Vāyu after the Vr̥tra battle. Vāyu, as the swiftest god, was sent to make certain that Vr̥tra was dead, and he was rewarded with the first offering. Indra wanted a share of it (thus the opposite of the issue in our first two verses) and promised Vāyu in return that speech would be intelligible. The two gods then wrangled over their proper shares, and Indra received only a quarter, not the half he was expecting. Therefore he decreed that only a quarter of speech would be intelligible. The details of the story match in many ways those in the two verses in question, and it may well be that with these verses we return to the beginning of our hymn and the bargaining between Vāyu and Indra, in a sort of thematic ring composition. However, the Brāhmaṇa story is narratively confused and, as just noted, assigns the roles of petitioner and share-giver exactly opposite. It could therefore also be an after-the-fact attempt to rationalize the peculiari ties of this part of the R̥gvedic hymn. We reserve judgment, and also point out that the cow in association with speech is celebrated at the end of the next hymn (VIII.101.15–16). And then there is the final verse, addressed to Viṣṇu and echoing the first two verses verbally: the initial vocative “comrade” matches Indra’s offer of comradeship to Vāyu in verse 2c, and the promise “we two will smite Vr̥tra [/the obstacle]” matches the almost identical phrase in 2d “we two will keep smashing obstacles.” The close similarity of these verses led Geldner to assume that Viṣṇu is the speaker in verse 1, not Vāyu. In our opinion this assumption is unnecessary. We think rather that the final verse is an attempt to identify Viṣṇu with Vāyu, or to transform the older god Vāyu (who has a good Indo-Iranian pedigree) into the emergent and increasingly important god Viṣṇu, whose roots are not so deep.
Like many late R̥gvedic hymns, the difficulties here lie not in the language or the imagery, as is the case in earlier hymns. A major question in this hymn is what ties all the parts together. If we are correct that the first nine verses mark the progress from the morning to the midday rituals, via the gods (Vāyu, Maruts) associated with Indra at those occasions and their negotiations with Indra about their sacrificial share, and if Oldenberg is correct that the verses concerning Speech (vss. 10–11) conceal the story about the dispute between Indra and Vāyu after the Vr̥tra slaying, then we confront two different and superficially contradictory possibilities of hymnic unity. On the one hand, it may be a ritual unity—the progress of the ritual day—but then the Speech part awkwardly returns us to the beginning of the day. Or it may be a mythological unity, with the Vr̥tra battle viewed from different angles by different partici pants—but this leaves the ritual real time, with the prominent role of the singer, out of consideration. It is possible, but extremely speculative, that the final Viṣṇu verse gives us a way to reconcile these two approaches. As we have noted frequently elsewhere, the Third Pressing of the soma sacrifice was most likely a ritual innovation, slowly adopted by various clans at different times through the R̥gvedic period and after. Viṣṇu’s most famous deed, the most prominent theme associated with him in the R̥gveda, is the cosmogonic taking of “three strides,” which define and measure out the three worlds. It is possible that because of his association of “three,” the introduction of Viṣṇu at the end of this hymn brings us to the end of the new ritual day, to the Third Pressing, while maintaining the mythic focus on the Vr̥tra slaying.
We do not claim to have solved the manifold difficulties of this hymn, but we hope that readers can still enjoy and respond to the intense directness of the dia logues and the stimulating if destabilizing rapidity of the transitions from one vignette to another.

Jamison Brereton Notes

Indra On the hymn in general see the published introduction, as well as Oldenberg (Noten ad loc. and “Indra, Vāyu, der Vrtrakampf ̥ und die Erschaffung der Sprache” [pp. 54-60 in “Ākhyāna Hymnen im Ṛigveda,” ZDMG 39 (1885): 52-90 = KlSch. 474-512]) and Geldner’s long and rather despairing introduction.

01 अयं त - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ॒यं त॑ एमि त॒न्वा॑ पु॒रस्ता॒द्विश्वे॑ दे॒वा अ॒भि मा॑ यन्ति प॒श्चात् ।
य॒दा मह्यं॒ दीध॑रो भा॒गमि॒न्द्रादिन्मया॑ कृणवो वी॒र्या॑णि ॥

02 दधामि ते - त्रिष्टुप्

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दधा॑मि ते॒ मधु॑नो भ॒क्षमग्रे॑ हि॒तस्ते॑ भा॒गः सु॒तो अ॑स्तु॒ सोमः॑ ।
अस॑श्च॒ त्वं द॑क्षिण॒तः सखा॒ मेऽधा॑ वृ॒त्राणि॑ जङ्घनाव॒ भूरि॑ ॥

03 प्र सु - त्रिष्टुप्

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प्र सु स्तोमं॑ भरत वाज॒यन्त॒ इन्द्रा॑य स॒त्यं यदि॑ स॒त्यमस्ति॑ ।
नेन्द्रो॑ अ॒स्तीति॒ नेम॑ उ त्व आह॒ क ईं॑ ददर्श॒ कम॒भि ष्ट॑वाम ॥

04 अयमस्मि जरितः - त्रिष्टुप्

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अ॒यम॑स्मि जरितः॒ पश्य॑ मे॒ह विश्वा॑ जा॒तान्य॒भ्य॑स्मि म॒ह्ना ।
ऋ॒तस्य॑ मा प्र॒दिशो॑ वर्धयन्त्यादर्दि॒रो भुव॑ना दर्दरीमि ॥

05 आ यन्मा - त्रिष्टुप्

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आ यन्मा॑ वे॒ना अरु॑हन्नृ॒तस्यँ॒ एक॒मासी॑नं हर्य॒तस्य॑ पृ॒ष्ठे ।
मन॑श्चिन्मे हृ॒द आ प्रत्य॑वोच॒दचि॑क्रद॒ञ्छिशु॑मन्तः॒ सखा॑यः ॥

06 विश्वेत्ता ते - जगती

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विश्वेत्ता ते॒ सव॑नेषु प्र॒वाच्या॒ या च॒कर्थ॑ मघवन्निन्द्र सुन्व॒ते ।
पारा॑वतं॒ यत्पु॑रुसम्भृ॒तं वस्व॒पावृ॑णोः शर॒भाय॒ ऋषि॑बन्धवे ॥

07 प्र नूनम् - अनुष्टुप्

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प्र नू॒नं धा॑वता॒ पृथ॒ङ्नेह यो वो॒ अवा॑वरीत् ।
नि षीं॑ वृ॒त्रस्य॒ मर्म॑णि॒ वज्र॒मिन्द्रो॑ अपीपतत् ॥

08 मनोजवा अयमान - अनुष्टुप्

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मनो॑जवा॒ अय॑मान आय॒सीम॑तर॒त्पुर॑म् ।
दिवं॑ सुप॒र्णो ग॒त्वाय॒ सोमं॑ व॒ज्रिण॒ आभ॑रत् ॥

09 समुद्रे अन्तः - अनुष्टुप्

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स॒मु॒द्रे अ॒न्तः श॑यत उ॒द्ना वज्रो॑ अ॒भीवृ॑तः ।
भर॑न्त्यस्मै सं॒यतः॑ पु॒रःप्र॑स्रवणा ब॒लिम् ॥

10 यद्वाग्वदन्त्यविचेतनानि राष्थ्री - त्रिष्टुप्

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यद् वाग् वद॑न्त्य् अविचेत॒नानि॑
राष्ट्री॑ दे॒वानां॑ निष॒साद॑ म॒न्द्रा (अस्मत्कर्मणि)।
चत॑स्र॒ (दिग्देवताः) ऊर्जं॑ दुदुहे॒ पयाँ॑सी
क्व॑स्विद् अस्याः पर॒मं ज॑गाम ।

11 देवीं वाचमजनयन्त - त्रिष्टुप्

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दे॒वीं वाच॑म् अजनयन्त दे॒वास्
तां वि॒श्वरू॑पाः प॒शवो॑ वदन्ति ।
सा नो॑ म॒न्द्रेष॒म् ऊर्जं॒ दुहा॑ना
धे॒नुर् वाग् अ॒स्मान् उप॒सुष्टु॒तैतु॑ ।

12 सखे विष्णो - त्रिष्टुप्

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सखे॑ विष्णो वित॒रं वि क्र॑मस्व॒ द्यौर्दे॒हि लो॒कं वज्रा॑य वि॒ष्कभे॑ ।
हना॑व वृ॒त्रं रि॒णचा॑व॒ सिन्धू॒निन्द्र॑स्य यन्तु प्रस॒वे विसृ॑ष्टाः ॥