०१४

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘परेयिवांसम् ’ इति षोडशर्चं चतुर्दशं सूक्तं विवस्वतः पुत्रस्य यमस्यार्षम् ।’ अङ्गिरसो नः पितरो नवग्वाः’ इति षष्ठ्या अङ्गिरःपित्रथर्वभृगुलक्षणा लिङ्गोक्ता देवताः । ‘ प्रेहि’ इत्याद्यास्तिस्रो लिङ्गोक्तदेवताकाः पितृदेवताका वा । ’ अति द्रव सारमेयौ ’ इत्यादिकस्तृचः सरमापुत्रौ यौ श्वानौ परलोकमार्गमभितः स्थितौ तद्देवताकः । शिष्टा यमदेवत्याः । ‘ यमाय सोमम्’ इति त्रयोदश्याद्या अनुष्टुभः । ‘ यमाय मधुमत्तमम्’ इत्येषा बृहती। आदितो द्वादश त्रिष्टुभः । तथा चानुक्रान्तं– ‘परेयिवांसं षोळश यमो यामं षष्ठी लिङ्गोक्तदेवता पराश्च तिस्रः पित्र्या वा तृचः श्वभ्यां परा अनुष्टुभो बृहत्युपान्त्या’ इति । गतः सूक्तविनियोगः । महापितृयज्ञे यमयागाख्या याज्या। सूत्रितं च - ‘ इमं यम प्रस्तरमा हि सीदेति द्वे परेयिवांसं प्रवतो महीरनु’ (आश्व. श्रौ. २. १९) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

14 (840)
Yama, etc.
Yama Vaivasvata
16 verses: triṣṭubh, except anuṣṭubh 13–14, 16 and br̥hatī 15
This is the first of the funeral hymns, and it is dedicated for the most part to Yama, the first to die and the king of the world of the dead, where the forefathers dwell and to which a newly dead person makes his way along the pitr̥yā́na or “way of the forefathers.” Because he was the first to die, Yama discovered this path and blazed the trail, as it were, to the pleasant, well-watered (vs. 9) pasture-land (vs. 2).
The hymn falls into three parts. Verses 1–6 offer praise to Yama as the pathfinder to the ancestral world (vss. 1–2) and then invite him to attend our sacrifice along with others, both gods and ancestors—suggesting implicitly that the pitr̥yā́na is a two-way street. It is also noteworthy that, though the gods and the forefathers respond to slightly different variants of the ritual cry (vs. 3: svā́hā for the gods versus svadhā́ for the forefathers), the mechanisms for the sacrifice to gods and fore
fathers are presented as more or less identical in this section and in verses 13–16, and in particular Yama is offered soma. See also the next hymn, X.15. Verses 7–12 concern not this age-old death but a recent one. A newly dead man is addressed and urged to follow the same path, to join Yama and the ancestors in highest heaven and even to reunite with the body from which he has been temporar ily separated (vss. 7–8). Potential troublemakers along the way are dismissed (vs. 9), and the dead man is escorted by the two formidable guardian dogs of Yama (vss. 10–12).
The last four verses (13–16) are in dimeter meter (save for 15c), instead of the triṣṭubh of the rest of the hymn. The first three are simple exhortations to perform sacrifice to Yama; the final verse (16) is by contrast quite opaque, with some of the typical marks of obscurity: unidentified referents (pādas a and b), numerology (pāda b), and manipulation of names of meters (pāda c). In particular, pāda b pres
ents us with six broad feminine entities and one lofty neuter one. (The contrasting grammatical genders so obvious in the Sanskrit are not easily rendered in transla tion.) The six broad feminines are generally considered to be worlds or realms (on the basis of VI.47.3, which, however, doesn’t have an overt referent either), and the lofty neuter some other superior type of space. Given the extreme uncertainty of the referents, the syntax (should pāda b be construed with pāda a, or with cd, or, as we have done, connected neither to what precedes nor what follows?), and the reason for the presence of this verse as the finale of this hymn, we have chosen to leave the meaning open.

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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 परेयिवांसं प्रवतो - त्रिष्टुप्

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प॒रे॒यि॒वांसं॑ प्र॒वतो॑ म॒हीरनु॑ ब॒हुभ्यः॒ पन्था॑मनुपस्पशा॒नम् ।
वै॒व॒स्व॒तं सं॒गम॑नं॒ जना॑नां य॒मं राजा॑नं ह॒विषा॑ दुवस्य ॥

02 यमो नो - त्रिष्टुप्

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य॒मो नो॑ गा॒तुं प्र॑थ॒मो वि॑वेद॒ नैषा गव्यू॑ति॒रप॑भर्त॒वा उ॑ ।
यत्रा॑ नः॒ पूर्वे॑ पि॒तरः॑ परे॒युरे॒ना ज॑ज्ञा॒नाः प॒थ्या॒३॒॑ अनु॒ स्वाः ॥

03 मातली कव्यैर्यमो - त्रिष्टुप्

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मात॑ली क॒व्यैर्य॒मो अङ्गि॑रोभि॒र्बृह॒स्पति॒रृक्व॑भिर्वावृधा॒नः ।
याँश्च॑ दे॒वा वा॑वृ॒धुर्ये च॑ दे॒वान्त्स्वाहा॒न्ये स्व॒धया॒न्ये म॑दन्ति ॥

04 इमं यम - त्रिष्टुप्

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इ॒मं य॑म प्रस्त॒रमा हि सीदाङ्गि॑रोभिः पि॒तृभिः॑ संविदा॒नः ।
आ त्वा॒ मन्त्राः॑ कविश॒स्ता व॑हन्त्वे॒ना रा॑जन्ह॒विषा॑ मादयस्व ॥

05 अङ्गिरोभिरा गहि - त्रिष्टुप्

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अङ्गि॑रोभि॒रा ग॑हि य॒ज्ञिये॑भि॒र्यम॑ वैरू॒पैरि॒ह मा॑दयस्व ।
विव॑स्वन्तं हुवे॒ यः पि॒ता ते॒ऽस्मिन्य॒ज्ञे ब॒र्हिष्या नि॒षद्य॑ ॥

06 अङ्गिरसो नः - त्रिष्टुप्

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अङ्गि॑रसो नः पि॒तरो॒ नव॑ग्वा॒
अथ॑र्वाणो॒ भृग॑वः सो॒म्यासः॑ ।
तेषां॑ व॒यं सु॑म॒तौ य॒ज्ञिया॑ना॒म्
अपि॑ भ॒द्रे सौ॑मन॒से स्या॑म ॥

07 प्रेहि प्रेहि - त्रिष्टुप्

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प्रेहि॒ प्रेहि॑ प॒थिभिः॑ पू॒र्व्येभि॒र्यत्रा॑ नः॒ पूर्वे॑ पि॒तरः॑ परे॒युः ।
उ॒भा राजा॑ना स्व॒धया॒ मद॑न्ता य॒मं प॑श्यासि॒ वरु॑णं च दे॒वम् ॥

08 सं गच्छस्व - त्रिष्टुप्

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सं ग॑च्छस्व पि॒तृभिः॒ सं य॒मेने॑ष्टापू॒र्तेन॑ पर॒मे व्यो॑मन् ।
हि॒त्वाया॑व॒द्यं पुन॒रस्त॒मेहि॒ सं ग॑च्छस्व त॒न्वा॑ सु॒वर्चाः॑ ॥

09 अपेत वीत - त्रिष्टुप्

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अपे॑त॒, वी॑त॒, वि च॑ सर्प॒तातो॒
ऽस्मा ए॒तं पि॒तरो॑ लो॒कम् अ॑क्रन् ।
अहो॑भिर् अ॒द्भिर् अ॒क्तुभि॒र्(=रात्रिभिः)
व्य॑क्तं य॒मो द॑दात्य् अव॒सान॑म् अस्मै ॥

10 अति द्रव - त्रिष्टुप्

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अति॑ द्रव सारमे॒यौ श्वानौ॑
चतुर्-अ॒क्षौ श॒बलौ॑ सा॒धुना॑ प॒था ।
अथा॑ पि॒तॄन्त् सु॑-वि॒दत्राँ॒(=अभिज्ञान्) उपे॑हि
य॒मेन॒ ये स॑ध॒(ह)-मादं॒ मद॑न्ति ॥

11 यौ ते - त्रिष्टुप्

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यौ ते॒ श्वानौ॑ यम रक्षि॒तारौ॑
चतुर्-अ॒क्षौ प॑थि॒-रक्षी॑ नृ॒-चक्ष॑सौ(=दृश्यमानौ) ।
ताभ्या॑म् एनं॒ परि॑ देहि राजन्त्
स्व॒स्ति चा॑स्मा अनमी॒वं(=रोगाभावं) च॑ धेहि ॥

12 उरूणसावसुतृपा उदुम्बलौ - त्रिष्टुप्

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उ॒रू॒-ण॒साव्(=उरु-नासाव्) अ॑सु॒-तृपा॑(←तृप्) उदुम्(=उरु)-ब॒लौ
य॒मस्य॑ दू॒तौ च॑रतो॒ जनाँ॒ अनु॑ ।
ताव् अ॒स्मभ्यं॑ दृ॒शये॒(=दर्शनाय) सूर्या॑य॒
पुन॑र् दाता॒म् असु॑म् अ॒द्येह भ॒द्रम् ॥

13 यमाय सोमम् - अनुष्टुप्

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य॒माय॒ सोमं॑ सुनुत य॒माय॑ जुहुता ह॒विः ।
य॒मं ह॑ य॒ज्ञो ग॑च्छत्य॒ग्निदू॑तो॒ अरं॑कृतः ॥

14 यमाय घृतवद्धविर्जुहोत - अनुष्टुप्

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य॒माय॑ घृ॒तव॑द्ध॒विर्जु॒होत॒ प्र च॑ तिष्ठत ।
स नो॑ दे॒वेष्वा य॑मद्दी॒र्घमायुः॒ प्र जी॒वसे॑ ॥

15 यमाय मधुमत्तमम् - बृहती

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य॒माय॒ मधु॑मत्तमं॒ राज्ञे॑ ह॒व्यं जु॑होतन ।
इ॒दं नम॒ ऋषि॑भ्यः पूर्व॒जेभ्यः॒ पूर्वे॑भ्यः पथि॒कृद्भ्यः॑ ॥

16 त्रिकद्रुकेभिः पतति - अनुष्टुप्

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त्रिक॑द्रुकेभिः पतति॒ षळु॒र्वीरेक॒मिद्बृ॒हत् ।
त्रि॒ष्टुब्गा॑य॒त्री छन्दां॑सि॒ सर्वा॒ ता य॒म आहि॑ता ॥