०११

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

‘वृषा’ इति नवर्चमेकादशं सूक्तमाङ्गेर्हविर्धानस्यार्षमाग्नेयम् । सप्तम्याद्यास्तिस्रस्त्रिष्टुभः शिष्टा जगत्यः । तथा चानुक्रान्तं- वृषा नवाङ्गिर्हविर्धान आग्नेयं तु त्रित्रिष्टुबन्तम्’ इति । गतः सूक्तविनियोगः ।।

Jamison Brereton

11 (837)
Agni
Havirdhāna Āṅgi
9 verses: jagatī 1–6, triṣṭubh 7–9
This hymn, which has some phraseological echoes of X.10 but lacks its mythologi cal content, falls into two metrical parts, which correspond to its thematic structure. The last three verses (7–9), in triṣṭubh, are fairly straightforward, describing the benefits that accrue to a mortal who serves the ritual fire and calling on Agni to bring the divinities to the sacrifice and let it begin.
The first six verses, in jagatī, are far more complex, and, when viewed as a piece, without the three triṣṭubh verses at the end, turn out to have an omphalos struc ture: the middle pair of verses (3–4) are parallel in structure, have the phrase agníṃ hótāram “Agni (as) Hotar” opening their final pādas, and together treat both the1384 X.11
initiation of the current sacrifice and the charter myths for the introduction of the two ritual substances, fire and soma (with concomitant juggling of verb tenses). In verse 3 the first sacrificer, Manu, is present at the kindling of the ritual fire; verse 4 sketches the famous tale of the falcon’s theft of soma from heaven.
The outer verse pairs, 1–2 and 5–6, treat these two substances and their deified counterparts, fire/Agni and soma/Soma, both simultaneously and in parallel, with the referent often left unclear. The final verse of this section (6) is especially busy, with both Agni and Soma actively performing their ritual tasks at the same time (and perhaps under the same descriptions; see esp. 6c). The tentative identifications in that verse are made on the basis of the use of the phraseology in other parts of the R̥gveda. For example, the exact phrase “he trembles with his thought” is used of Soma in IV.71.3, and the verb translated as “he displays his power” (taviṣyá) in that same pāda has Soma as its subject in its two other occurrences. However, it is very likely that the poet expected the audience to consider both possibilities for the referent in each case and to grasp thereby the underlying commonalities of the two ritual substances. The first section of the hymn is thus a simpler example of the conflation of Agni and Soma found in the fiendish hymn V.44.

010-019 ...{Loading}...
Jamison Brereton

The next ten hymns (X.10–19) form a Yama cycle, though the subject matter found in the individual hymns is quite various. Yama, the son of Vivasvant, is king of the land of the dead because he was the first mortal to die. Yet he was apparently born immortal (see esp. I.83.5) and chose to become mortal, subject to death, “for the sake of the gods…and for the sake of offspring” (X.13.4). The opening hymn in the cycle, the dialogue of Yama and his twin sister Yamī, on the fraught topic of embarking on incestuous sex in order to produce offspring, addresses Yama’s change of status and his choice, but in a deliberately oblique and misleading fashion, as Yama spurns the sexual advances of his sister, and at the end of their bitter argument there seems little likelihood of children. The last six hymns in this cycle (X.14–19) are collectively known as funeral hymns. The first, X.14, is devoted especially to Yama in his role as king of the realm of the dead, while the others, especially 15–18, concern various aspects of death and the treatment of the dead—for example, the forefathers who preceded us to Yama’s realm in X.15, the cremation fire in X.16, the funeral itself in X.

The intermediate hymns, X.11–13, have less superficially clear connections to the Yama saga, but both X.12 (vss. 6–7) and X.13 (vss. 4–5) make important comments on Yama and on Yama’s choice.

There is also an underlying unifying theme, that of duality and twinned-ness: the absolute disjunction between and the ultimate complementarity and unity of the mortal and the immortal, life and death, men and gods, men and women, heaven and earth, sacred and profane. It is appropriate that the cycle should begin with the dialogue between the primal twins, Yama and Yamī, whose very names mean “twin” and who bridge the gap between mortal and immortal.

01 वृषा वृष्णे - जगती

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

वृषा॒ वृष्णे॑ दुदुहे॒ दोह॑सा दि॒वः पयां॑सि य॒ह्वो अदि॑ते॒रदा॑भ्यः ।
विश्वं॒ स वे॑द॒ वरु॑णो॒ यथा॑ धि॒या स य॒ज्ञियो॑ यजतु य॒ज्ञियाँ॑ ऋ॒तून् ॥

02 रपद्गन्धर्विरप्या च - जगती

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रप॑द्गन्ध॒र्वीरप्या॑ च॒ योष॑णा न॒दस्य॑ ना॒दे परि॑ पातु मे॒ मनः॑ ।
इ॒ष्टस्य॒ मध्ये॒ अदि॑ति॒र्नि धा॑तु नो॒ भ्राता॑ नो ज्ये॒ष्ठः प्र॑थ॒मो वि वो॑चति ॥

03 सो चिन्नु - जगती

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सो चि॒न्नु भ॒द्रा क्षु॒मती॒ यश॑स्वत्यु॒षा उ॑वास॒ मन॑वे॒ स्व॑र्वती ।
यदी॑मु॒शन्त॑मुश॒तामनु॒ क्रतु॑म॒ग्निं होता॑रं वि॒दथा॑य॒ जीज॑नन् ॥

04 अध त्यम् - जगती

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अध॒ त्यं द्र॒प्सं वि॒भ्वं॑ विचक्ष॒णं विराभ॑रदिषि॒तः श्ये॒नो अ॑ध्व॒रे ।
यदी॒ विशो॑ वृ॒णते॑ द॒स्ममार्या॑ अ॒ग्निं होता॑र॒मध॒ धीर॑जायत ॥

05 सदासि रण्वो - जगती

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सदा॑सि र॒ण्वो यव॑सेव॒ पुष्य॑ते॒ होत्रा॑भिरग्ने॒ मनु॑षः स्वध्व॒रः ।
विप्र॑स्य वा॒ यच्छ॑शमा॒न उ॒क्थ्यं१॒॑ वाजं॑ सस॒वाँ उ॑प॒यासि॒ भूरि॑भिः ॥

06 उदीरय पितरा - जगती

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उदी॑रय पि॒तरा॑ जा॒र आ भग॒मिय॑क्षति हर्य॒तो हृ॒त्त इ॑ष्यति ।
विव॑क्ति॒ वह्निः॑ स्वप॒स्यते॑ म॒खस्त॑वि॒ष्यते॒ असु॑रो॒ वेप॑ते म॒ती ॥

07 यस्ते अग्ने - त्रिष्टुप्

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यस्ते॑ अग्ने सुम॒तिं मर्तो॒ अक्ष॒त्सह॑सः सूनो॒ अति॒ स प्र शृ॑ण्वे ।
इषं॒ दधा॑नो॒ वह॑मानो॒ अश्वै॒रा स द्यु॒माँ अम॑वान्भूषति॒ द्यून् ॥

08 यदग्न एषा - त्रिष्टुप्

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यद॑ग्न ए॒षा समि॑ति॒र्भवा॑ति दे॒वी दे॒वेषु॑ यज॒ता य॑जत्र ।
रत्ना॑ च॒ यद्वि॒भजा॑सि स्वधावो भा॒गं नो॒ अत्र॒ वसु॑मन्तं वीतात् ॥

09 श्रुधी नो - त्रिष्टुप्

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श्रु॒धी नो॑ अग्ने॒ सद॑ने स॒धस्थे॑ यु॒क्ष्वा रथ॑म॒मृत॑स्य द्रवि॒त्नुम् ।
आ नो॑ वह॒ रोद॑सी दे॒वपु॑त्रे॒ माकि॑र्दे॒वाना॒मप॑ भूरि॒ह स्याः॑ ॥