००५

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘ एकः समुद्रः’ इति सप्तर्चं पञ्चमं सूक्तम् । ऋष्याद्याः पूर्ववत्। विनियोगश्च । “एकः ’ इत्यनुक्रान्तम् ॥

Jamison Brereton

5 (831)
Agni
Trita Āptya
7 verses: triṣṭubh
A mystical and enigmatic hymn, with a number of conceptual and phraseological connections with other such hymns in the R̥gveda. There are numerous conflicting interpretations of this hymn, not surprisingly. We will just present our own, with all due caution. In our view the standard theme of the birth of Agni/the ritual fire, its growing strength, and the rise of its flames and smoke to heaven is grafted onto a treatment of the mysteries of creation and a claim that poets (or, to be more explicit, “sage poets,” kaví) have special access to these mysteries and indeed antici
pate and direct the natural processes.
We should start by noting that the name Agni occurs only once in the hymn, at the beginning of the last half-verse (7c), though he is present in every verse. The hymn begins with a reference to the sea, but various parallels make it clear that this “sea” is really the sea in our heart and the source of poetic insight. The poet claims that this sea is a single entity, but that Agni, who has many births, emerges from it. Already the poet is establishing the priority of poetry over even the god Agni and the ritual he represents. Pāda c seems to describe the birth of Agni from the kindling sticks (or possibly also the two world-halves, or night and day). His later journey to heaven is anticipated by his identification with a bird in pāda d.
In verse 2 the bullish buffaloes in the same nest and the mares with which they unite are presumably the flames of the fire, mingling and twisting in the fireplace. The birth of the fire is further described in verse 3, where again the two parents referred to are probably the kindling sticks but may also represent cosmic pairings. The cosmic aspect becomes clear in verse 4, where the fire rises between the two world-halves, which nourish it. The fire rises in the midspace with its flames in verse 5, while in verse 6 it is pictured as a pillar stretching to very highest heaven. Verse 6 reprises some of the vocabulary of the beginning of the hymn: the foundation (dharúṇa) of verse 1 and the nest (nīḍá) of verse 2 and thus transports the original earthly birthplace of fire to a new location.
The final verse (7) connects this heavenward journey of the fire [/Agni] with the issue of creation. The paradoxical phrase “both the nonexistent and the existent” that famously begins the creation hymn X.129 is a signal that the undifferentiated mass of matter (for want of a better word) that precedes real creation is present in the highest heaven where the male Dakṣa, the “skillful one” (in this case identified with Agni), and the female Aditi, the pair that set the processes of creation into motion in another famous creation hymn (X.72; see esp. vss. 4–5), are born. Agni is also identified with the androgynous bovine (both bull and milk-cow) that pre sides over creation in another treatment thereof (III.38; see esp. vs. 7). Thus “our” just-born ritual fire is identified as both the first created thing and the creator itself, and ritual time, as so often, recapitulates cosmic time.
We have not yet said anything about the poets’ role, beyond noting the assertion of priority in verse 1. In verses 2–3 the poets oversee “the track of truth” and control the thread that others (priests? gods?) are pursuing; we interpret this to mean that the poets are directing or at least keeping safe the cosmic progress of the fire (see the trails in vs. 4), and in verse 6 it is the poets who establish the boundaries that define its journey. Also in verse 2 they anticipate the endpoint of the fire’s journey by setting in a secret place “the highest names.” Since creation is generally viewed as the differentiation of the mass mentioned above into individual entities with “name and form,” the poets’ control of the hidden names in verse 2 signals their participation in the creative process.
There is much that remains unclear in this hymn, particularly the seven boundaries in verse 6. But the connection between the birth of the ritual fire and the Ur-creation, mediated by the poets, seems to be the conceptual focus of this hymn.

01 एकः समुद्रो - त्रिष्टुप्

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एकः॑ समु॒द्रो ध॒रुणो॑ रयी॒णाम॒स्मद्धृ॒दो भूरि॑जन्मा॒ वि च॑ष्टे ।
सिष॒क्त्यूध॑र्नि॒ण्योरु॒पस्थ॒ उत्स॑स्य॒ मध्ये॒ निहि॑तं प॒दं वेः ॥

02 समानं नीळम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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स॒मा॒नं नी॒ळं वृष॑णो॒ वसा॑नाः॒ सं ज॑ग्मिरे महि॒षा अर्व॑तीभिः ।
ऋ॒तस्य॑ प॒दं क॒वयो॒ नि पा॑न्ति॒ गुहा॒ नामा॑नि दधिरे॒ परा॑णि ॥

03 ऋतायिनी मायिनी - त्रिष्टुप्

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ऋ॒ता॒यिनी॑ मा॒यिनी॒ सं द॑धाते मि॒त्वा शिशुं॑ जज्ञतुर्व॒र्धय॑न्ती ।
विश्व॑स्य॒ नाभिं॒ चर॑तो ध्रु॒वस्य॑ क॒वेश्चि॒त्तन्तुं॒ मन॑सा वि॒यन्तः॑ ॥

04 ऋतस्य हि - त्रिष्टुप्

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ऋ॒तस्य॒ हि व॑र्त॒नयः॒ सुजा॑त॒मिषो॒ वाजा॑य प्र॒दिवः॒ सच॑न्ते ।
अ॒धी॒वा॒सं रोद॑सी वावसा॒ने घृ॒तैरन्नै॑र्वावृधाते॒ मधू॑नाम् ॥

05 सप्त स्वसछर्’थ६श्ररुषीर्वावशानो - त्रिष्टुप्

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स॒प्त स्वसॄ॒ररु॑षीर्वावशा॒नो वि॒द्वान्मध्व॒ उज्ज॑भारा दृ॒शे कम् ।
अ॒न्तर्ये॑मे अ॒न्तरि॑क्षे पुरा॒जा इ॒च्छन्व॒व्रिम॑विदत्पूष॒णस्य॑ ॥

06 सप्त मर्यादाः - त्रिष्टुप्

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स॒प्त म॒र्यादाः॑ क॒वय॑स्ततक्षु॒स्तासा॒मेका॒मिद॒भ्यं॑हु॒रो गा॑त् ।
आ॒योर्ह॑ स्क॒म्भ उ॑प॒मस्य॑ नी॒ळे प॒थां वि॑स॒र्गे ध॒रुणे॑षु तस्थौ ॥

07 असच्च सच्च - त्रिष्टुप्

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अस॑च्च॒ सच्च॑ पर॒मे व्यो॑म॒न्दक्ष॑स्य॒ जन्म॒न्नदि॑तेरु॒पस्थे॑ ।
अ॒ग्निर्ह॑ नः प्रथम॒जा ऋ॒तस्य॒ पूर्व॒ आयु॑नि वृष॒भश्च॑ धे॒नुः ॥