०१७

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सायण-भाष्यम्

द्वितीयेऽनुवाके त्रयोदशसूक्तानि । तत्र त्वष्टा दुहित्रे इत्येतच्चतुर्दशर्चं प्रथमं सूक्तम् । यमपुत्रो देवश्रवा नामर्षिः । आदितो द्वादश त्रिष्टुभः त्रयोदशीचतुर्दश्यावनुष्टुभौ । यद्वा। त्रयोदशी पुरस्ताद्बृहती। आदितो द्वयोः सरण्यूर्देवता। पूषा त्वेतः’ इत्याद्याश्चतस्रः पूषदेवत्याः । ‘सरस्वतीं देवयन्तः’ इत्याद्यास्तिस्रः सरस्वतीदेवताकाः । आपो अस्मान् इत्याद्याः पञ्चर्चोऽब्देवताकाः । तत्र ‘द्रप्सश्चस्कन्द इत्याद्यास्तिस्रः सोमदेवत्या वा । तथा चानुक्रान्तं – त्वष्टा देवश्रवा द्वे सरण्यूदेवते पौष्ण्यश्चतस्रः सारस्वत्यस्तिस्रः पञ्चाप्यो द्रप्सस्तिस्रः सौम्यो वान्त्ये अनुष्टुभावुपान्त्या पुरस्ताद्बृहती वा’ इति । गतः सूक्तविनियोगः ॥ अत्रेतिहासमाचक्षते - त्वष्टृनामकस्य देवस्य ‘सरण्यूस्त्रिशिराश्चेति स्त्रीपुंसात्मकमपत्यद्वयमभूत् । ततस्त्वष्टा सरण्यूनामिकां पुत्रीं विवस्वते प्रायच्छत् । ततस्तस्या विवस्वतश्च सकाशात् यमयम्यौ विजज्ञाते । ततः कदाचित् आत्मसदृश्या देवजनितायाः स्त्रियः समीपे तदपत्यद्वयं निधाय स्वयमाश्वं रूपं कृत्वोत्तरान् कुरून प्रतिजगामः। अथ विवस्वानेतां स्त्रियं सरण्यूमिति मत्वा तामरंसीत्। तस्यां मनुर्नाम राजर्षिरजायत । ततो विवस्वानेषा सरण्यूर्न भवतीति विज्ञाय स्वयमप्यश्वो भूत्वा तामश्वरूपिणीं प्रत्यासीत् । ततः संक्रीडमानयोस्तयोः स्वभूतं रेत पृथिव्यां पपात । अथ सा गर्भकामनया तत् पतितं रेत आजघ्रौ । ततस्तस्याः सकाशान्नासत्यो दस्रश्चेत्युभावश्विनावजायेतामिति ॥

Jamison Brereton

17 (843)
Various Divinities: Saraṇyū (1–2), Pūsan (3–6), ̣
Sarasvatı (7–9), the Waters (10, 14), the Waters or Soma (11–13) ̄
Devaśravas Yāmāyana
14 verses: triṣṭubh, except anuṣṭubh or purastādbr̥hatī 13, anuṣṭubh 14
This hymn consists of a disparate collection of segments, which do not seem to form a coherent whole and which do not always have an obvious connection to the death/funeral context of this cycle of hymns.
The first two enigmatic verses may well be the most discussed of all R̥gvedic mythological sketches, although this wide-ranging and ongoing discussion has not brought as much clarity as could be desired. The verses provide us with a skeletal three-generation mythological family tree, with a father, the god Tvaṣṭar, and his daughter, who is identified as both mother of Yama and wife of Vivasvant. All this is fairly clearly set out in the first verse: it opens with a Svayaṃvara (“self-choice marriage”) invitation issued by the father for his daughter, to which the whole world responds (1ab), and the second half (1cd) appears to summarize the results of that marriage—the husband chosen apparently being Vivasvant, and the child issuing from the marriage apparently being Yama. (It should be noted, though, that the identity of Tvaṣṭar’s daughter [1a] with the mother of Yama [1c] and wife of Vivasvant [1d] is only implicit from context, not expressly stated, and her name is not given in vs. 1.) The only disquieting part of this verse comes with the last word: “she disappeared” (nanāśa). This word sets the stage for its companion verse.
The second verse considerably muddies the clean lines of our initial family tree. It turns out that the vanished woman of verse 1 was actually hidden away (2a) by an unnamed set of individuals—perhaps the gods, who create and pass off on (the unsuspecting?) Vivasvant a simulacrum of his wife (2b). In the second half of the verse the neat maternal line of 1c is likewise made obscure: someone (the origi
nal woman? the simulacrum?) bears the Aśvins (2c), and she (or the other female) leaves behind (abandons? leaves as a legacy?) two unnamed paired ones (2d). Yama, the son in 1c, is not mentioned by name, but he may lurk as part of the two in 2d (Yama and Yamī? Yama and Manu?), who could on the other hand be the afore
mentioned Aśvins. Each of these possibilities has had its scholarly champions (and it has in fact also been argued that 2d refers to two pairs, that is four in all). The last word of verse 2 is the feminine name Saraṇyū (lit., “hastening”), seeming to identify our protagonist, but the name provides little help, and could, in principle, belong to either the original or the duplicate woman.
All in all, the two verses seem deliberately and cleverly designed to mislead and confuse, and in that they have admirably succeeded, beginning with the retellings of the story in the later Vedic tradition and continuing to this day. The myth has also often been invoked in a comparative Indo-European context. (For a recent discus
sion of the history of scholarship and for his own Indo-European interpretation, see Jackson 2006: Part II: esp. 72–93.) This is not the place to produce a full treat ment of the myth behind the verses or its various interpretations; suffice it to say that we are inclined to see the paired two in 2d as Yama and Yamī, in part because a connection with Yama’s history is the only way to make sense of the inclusion of these verses here.
The relevance of the next set of verses (4–6), to Pūṣan, is considerably clearer. Pūṣan as the good guide and finder of lost livestock makes an excellent psycho pomp, leading the dead along the dangerous path to the next world.
The goddess, and river, Sarasvatī is addressed in the next three verses (7–9), with a final verse (10) to the Waters in general. Sarasvatī here seems especially connected with the dead forefathers and the offerings to them at the ritual (esp. vss. 8–9); this may be an early foreshadowing of the later ritual offering of water to the dead, or, as verse 10 suggests, connected with the general purificatory power of waters (see X.9.6–9 earlier in this maṇḍala).

Verses 10–13 concern the “drop” (drapsá) and are addressed in the 2nd person to Soma, who is never named but clearly identifiable from his characteristic vocabu lary. There is no mention of the forefathers or of anything related to a funeral, and there is no obvious reason why these verses should have been attached to this hymn. Indeed, the final purificatory verse (14) would follow better directly on verse 10.

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 त्वष्था दुहित्रे - त्रिष्टुप्

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त्वष्टा॑ दुहि॒त्रे व॑ह॒तुं कृ॑णो॒तीती॒दं विश्वं॒ भुव॑नं॒ समे॑ति ।
य॒मस्य॑ मा॒ता प॑र्यु॒ह्यमा॑ना म॒हो जा॒या विव॑स्वतो ननाश ॥

02 अपागूहन्नमृतां मर्त्येभ्यः - त्रिष्टुप्

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अपा॑गूहन्न॒मृतां॒ मर्त्ये॑भ्यः कृ॒त्वी सव॑र्णामददु॒र्विव॑स्वते ।
उ॒ताश्विना॑वभर॒द्यत्तदासी॒दज॑हादु॒ द्वा मि॑थु॒ना स॑र॒ण्यूः ॥

03 पूषा त्वेतश्च्यावयतु - त्रिष्टुप्

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पू॒षा त्वे॒तश् च्या॑वयतु॒ प्र वि॒द्वान्
अन॑ष्ट-पशु॒र् भुव॑नस्य गो॒पाः ।
स त्वै॒तेभ्यः॒ परि॑ ददत् पि॒तृभ्यो॒
ऽग्निर् दे॒वेभ्यः॑ सुविद॒त्रिये॑भ्यः ॥

04 आयुर्विश्वायुः परि - त्रिष्टुप्

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आयु॑र्वि॒श्वायुः॒ परि॑ पासति त्वा पू॒षा त्वा॑ पातु॒ प्रप॑थे पु॒रस्ता॑त् ।
यत्रास॑ते सु॒कृतो॒ यत्र॒ ते य॒युस्तत्र॑ त्वा दे॒वः स॑वि॒ता द॑धातु ॥

05 पूषेमा आशा - त्रिष्टुप्

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पू॒षेमा आशा॒ अनु॑ वेद॒ सर्वाः॒ सो अ॒स्माँ अभ॑यतमेन नेषत् ।
स्व॒स्ति॒दा आघृ॑णिः॒ सर्व॑वी॒रोऽप्र॑युच्छन्पु॒र ए॑तु प्रजा॒नन् ॥

06 प्रपथे पथामजनिष्थ - त्रिष्टुप्

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प्रप॑थे प॒थाम॑जनिष्ट पू॒षा प्रप॑थे दि॒वः प्रप॑थे पृथि॒व्याः ।
उ॒भे अ॒भि प्रि॒यत॑मे स॒धस्थे॒ आ च॒ परा॑ च चरति प्रजा॒नन् ॥

07 सरस्वतीं देवयन्तो - त्रिष्टुप्

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सर॑स्वतीं देव॒यन्तो॑ हवन्ते॒ सर॑स्वतीमध्व॒रे ता॒यमा॑ने ।
सर॑स्वतीं सु॒कृतो॑ अह्वयन्त॒ सर॑स्वती दा॒शुषे॒ वार्यं॑ दात् ॥

08 सरस्वति या - त्रिष्टुप्

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सर॑स्वति॒ या स॒रथं॑ य॒याथ॑ स्व॒धाभि॑र्देवि पि॒तृभि॒र्मद॑न्ती ।
आ॒सद्या॒स्मिन्ब॒र्हिषि॑ मादयस्वानमी॒वा इष॒ आ धे॑ह्य॒स्मे ॥

09 सरस्वतीं याम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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सर॑स्वतीं॒ यां पि॒तरो॒ हव॑न्ते दक्षि॒णा य॒ज्ञम॑भि॒नक्ष॑माणाः ।
स॒ह॒स्रा॒र्घमि॒ळो अत्र॑ भा॒गं रा॒यस्पोषं॒ यज॑मानेषु धेहि ॥

10 आपो अस्मान्मातरः - त्रिष्टुप्

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आपो॑ अ॒स्मान् मा॒तरः॑ शुन्धयन्तु
घृ॒तेन॑ नो घृत॒प्वः॑ पुनन्तु ।
विश्वं॒ हि रि॒प्रं प्र॒वह॑न्ति दे॒वीर्
उद् इदा॑भ्यः॒ शुचि॒रा पू॒त ए॑मि ॥

11 द्रप्सश्चस्कन्द प्रथमाँ - त्रिष्टुप्

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द्र॒प्सश्च॑स्कन्द प्रथ॒माँ अनु॒ द्यूनि॒मं च॒ योनि॒मनु॒ यश्च॒ पूर्वः॑ ।
स॒मा॒नं योनि॒मनु॑ सं॒चर॑न्तं द्र॒प्सं जु॑हो॒म्यनु॑ स॒प्त होत्राः॑ ॥

12 यस्ते द्रप्स - त्रिष्टुप्

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यस्ते॑ द्र॒प्सः स्कन्द॑ति॒ यस्ते॑ अं॒शुर्बा॒हुच्यु॑तो धि॒षणा॑या उ॒पस्था॑त् ।
अ॒ध्व॒र्योर्वा॒ परि॑ वा॒ यः प॒वित्रा॒त्तं ते॑ जुहोमि॒ मन॑सा॒ वष॑ट्कृतम् ॥

13 यस्ते द्रप्स - अनुष्टुप्पुरस्ताद्बृहती वा

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यस्ते॑ द्र॒प्सः स्क॒न्नो यस्ते॑ अं॒शुर॒वश्च॒ यः प॒रः स्रु॒चा ।
अ॒यं दे॒वो बृह॒स्पतिः॒ सं तं सि॑ञ्चतु॒ राध॑से ॥

14 पयस्वतीरोषधयः पयस्वन्मामकम् - अनुष्टुप्

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पय॑स्वती॒रोष॑धयः॒ पय॑स्वन्माम॒कं वचः॑ ।
अ॒पां पय॑स्व॒दित्पय॒स्तेन॑ मा स॒ह शु॑न्धत ॥