०८३

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘पवित्रं ते ’ इति पञ्चर्चं षोडशं सूक्तमाङ्गिरसस्य पवित्रस्यार्षं जागतं पवमानसोमदेवताकम् । तथा चानुक्रान्तं-’ पवित्रं ते पवित्रः’ इति । अभिष्टव आद्ये ऋचौ वक्तव्ये । सूत्रितं च—’ पवित्रं ते विततं ब्रह्मणस्पत इति द्वे वि यत्पवित्रं धिषणा अतन्वत ’ ( आश्व. श्रौ. ४, ६) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

83 (795)
Soma Pavamāna
Pavitra Āṅgirasa
5 verses: jagatī
A well-known hymn, whose manifold difficulties are also well known. It in many ways resembles the famous Vena hymn, X.123, which also involves a mystical iden tification between Soma and the sun. The double meanings and enigmas are, as often, fostered by the suppression of overt reference. Crucial verbs lack expressed subjects, and unidentified asya “of him/it” substitutes for expressed possession (see 2b, 2c, 3c, 4a). The word sóma does not appear in the hymn at all, nor do his com mon epithets. The hymn has elicited many different and contradictory interpreta tions, to which we add our own.
Attributed to the same poet as IX.73, this hymn shares with that earlier one the mystical metaphor of the filter (pavítra), which is also the name of the poet. Indeed, the words “outstretched” and “filter,” construed with each other in the last verse of IX.73 (vs. 9), open this hymn, and the two verses (73.9 and 83.1) both con
cern the qualities required to attain the filter and what it represents. In this hymn the necessary quality is being cooked, rather than raw; it is somewhat startling to encounter this whiff of Claude Lévi-Strauss very much avant la lettre. In this con text “cooked” must refer in the first instance to the ritual preparation of soma. Although this preparation does not involve literal cooking, via application of heat, it clearly turns the raw material extracted from the natural plant into a cultural product, both through physical manipulation and through verbal accompaniment.
But the filter metaphor has a cosmic dimension, as is especially clear in verse 2, where it is compared to the sun with its rays spread across the sky like the tracks of the soma across the filter. The “cooking” of verse 1 provides a neat transition to the “hot one” of verse 2, heat being an obvious characteristic of the sun.
Verse 3 and the first half of verse 4 are quite enigmatic—not surprisingly, given their position in the middle of the hymn. Both the “dappled one” and the “ox” can refer both to the Sun and to Soma, each of whom is also associated with dawn, and the first half of the verse thus continues the Sun/Soma identification of verse 2. The second half of verse 3 appears to contain one of those paradoxes beloved of R̥gvedic bards. In our (very tentative) interpretation, the forefathers are the ancestral poet-sacrificers or their divine prototypes. They both “set” the embryo of Soma/Sun, that is, engendered it, and they were themselves made into poets by the magic power or artifice (māyā́) of the same Soma/Sun. In this way the Soma/ Sun is both progenitor of the forefathers in their ritual role and, as they fulfill their ritual role, their child. The identity of the Gandharva in verse 4 is not entirely clear, but on the basis of parallels, especially in the Vena hymn mentioned above, it seems likely that it is again a double reference to Soma and the Sun, each guarding his track (or perhaps the track of the other), thus taking up the theme of the track found in verse 2.
With the second half of verse 4 we return to a much clearer ritual context and to the filter with which we began. The filter traps the impurities of the soma as the liquid passes over it, and the priests attain (a reprise of the verb found twice in vs. 1) the prepared soma. The final verse (5) returns to the 2nd-person address to the ritual Soma, last found in the first half of verse 1. But the Soma thus addressed has achieved a much-elevated status: he is proclaimed a king, outfitted with cosmic garments and traveling a cosmic course, with the filter, the focus of the hymn, as his chariot. The very last words of the hymn attribute to him “lofty fame.”
The omphalos structure of the hymn is quite pronounced. The outermost verses (1ab, 5) are couched in the 2nd person and have a clear ritual content, with an inner ring (vss. 1cd/2ab, 4cd) serving as transition between the ritual context and the mystical identifications. There are a number of formal responsions that mark these rings, besides the 2nd versus 3rd person of verses 1 and 5: pavítram (1a, 2a) / pavítra(-ratha) (5c); páry eṣi (1b) / pári yāsi (5b); āśata (1d, 4d); padá- (2a, 4a). Enclosed within these rings are the mysterious and shifting identifications that make the hymn both aggravating and mesmerizing.

Jamison Brereton Notes

On the structure of this hymn and my interpr. of its enigmatic contents, see the published introduction. Here I will not treat in detail the interpr. of others.

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Jamison Brereton Notes

The trimeter portion of the IXth Maṇḍala begins with IX.68, and the Jagatī section goes through IX.86.

01 पवित्रं ते - जगती

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प॒वित्रं॑ ते॒ वित॑तं ब्रह्मणस्पते प्र॒भुर्गात्रा॑णि॒ पर्ये॑षि वि॒श्वतः॑ ।
अत॑प्ततनू॒र्न तदा॒मो अ॑श्नुते शृ॒तास॒ इद्वह॑न्त॒स्तत्समा॑शत ॥

02 तपोष्पवित्रं विततम् - जगती

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तपो॑ष्प॒वित्रं॒ वित॑तं दि॒वस्प॒दे शोच॑न्तो अस्य॒ तन्त॑वो॒ व्य॑स्थिरन् ।
अव॑न्त्यस्य पवी॒तार॑मा॒शवो॑ दि॒वस्पृ॒ष्ठमधि॑ तिष्ठन्ति॒ चेत॑सा ॥

03 अरूरुचदुषसः पृश्निरग्रिय - जगती

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अरू॑रुचदु॒षसः॒ पृश्नि॑रग्रि॒य उ॒क्षा बि॑भर्ति॒ भुव॑नानि वाज॒युः ।
मा॒या॒विनो॑ ममिरे अस्य मा॒यया॑ नृ॒चक्ष॑सः पि॒तरो॒ गर्भ॒मा द॑धुः ॥

04 गन्धर्व इत्था - जगती

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ग॒न्ध॒र्व इ॒त्था प॒दम॑स्य रक्षति॒ पाति॑ दे॒वानां॒ जनि॑मा॒न्यद्भु॑तः ।
गृ॒भ्णाति॑ रि॒पुं नि॒धया॑ नि॒धाप॑तिः सु॒कृत्त॑मा॒ मधु॑नो भ॒क्षमा॑शत ॥

05 हविर्हविष्मो महि - जगती

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ह॒विर्ह॑विष्मो॒ महि॒ सद्म॒ दैव्यं॒ नभो॒ वसा॑नः॒ परि॑ यास्यध्व॒रम् ।
राजा॑ प॒वित्र॑रथो॒ वाज॒मारु॑हः स॒हस्र॑भृष्टिर्जयसि॒ श्रवो॑ बृ॒हत् ॥