०१८

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘परं मृत्यो ’ इति चतुर्दशर्चं द्वितीयं सूक्तं यमपुत्रस्य संकुसुकस्यार्षम् । एकादशी प्रस्तारपक्तिः । आद्यौ जागतौ ततो द्वौ गायत्रौ । ‘प्रस्तारपक्तिः पुरतः ’ ( पि. सू. ३. ४१ ) इति । त्रयोदशी जगती चतुर्दश्यनुष्टुप् । शिष्टास्त्रिष्टुभः । तत्रादौ चतस्रो मृत्युदेवत्याः । पञ्चमी धातृदेवताका । षष्ठी त्वष्टृदेवत्या । सप्तम्याद्याः शिष्टाः पितृमेधाभिधायिन्यः । अतस्तद्देवताकाः । अन्त्या त्वनिरुक्तत्वात प्राजापत्या वा । तथा चानुक्रान्तं – परं मृत्यो संकुसुकश्चतस्रो मृत्युदेवताः परा धात्री परा त्वाष्ट्री पराः पितृमेधा एकादशी प्रस्तारपङ्क्तिर्जगत्युपान्त्यान्त्यानुष्टुप् प्राजापत्या वा सानिरुक्ता ’ इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

18 (844)
Death, etc.
Saṃkusuka Yāmāyana
14 verses: triṣṭubh, except 11 prastārapaṅkti, 13 jagatī, 14 anuṣṭubh
This lovely hymn falls into several sections, each treating the end of the funeral service. The first six verses depict the mourners leaving the service and returning to their lives. Death is dismissed in verse 1, and in verses 2–3 the living turn back to an enhanced life, full of “dancing and laughter” (vs. 3). They are separated from death by a barrier (vs. 4); in the later ritual a stone is set down near the grave. Verses 5–6 are especially concerned with the orderly sequence of life and death, in particular the fear that the younger will die before their elders and disrupt the proper sequence (see esp. 5cd).
The next three verses (7–9) have been much discussed, especially in the context of “suttee” (satī) or widow-burning, though the verses are emphatically not a depic tion thereof. From verse 8 it appears that the widow lies down, temporarily, beside her dead husband, but is summoned back to life and indeed symbolically reborn to become the wife of a new husband (quite possibly her brother-in-law, in levirate marriage). The happy women in verse 7 apparently approach the funeral pyre to adorn the widow for her return to life. A similar “return to life” is granted the dead man’s bow in verse 9, where someone, quite possibly the dead man’s son, repossesses the bow to put it to future use.

The burial is the subject of verses 10–13, with an emphasis on the softness and gentleness of the welcoming earth, both mother and bride, which lies lightly on the dead man. Verse 13 forms a sort of ring with verse 1, with both expressing a prohibition against harm with the same construction and the same root √riṣ (1d mā́…rīriṣaḥ, 13b mā́…riṣam). This ring defines the final verse (14) as outside the hymn proper, and other indications support this extra-hymnic status. It is in dimeter meter, instead of the trimeter that prevails elsewhere, and the Aśvalāyana Gr̥hya Sūtra, which treats the ritual usage of all the other verses, ignores it, as does the medieval commentator Sāyaṇa. The sense of this verse is also much disputed. Many scholars think that the poet is predicting his own future death, on a day that is approaching him, in the first hemistich, and in the second he restrains his speech in anticipation. (As Geldner says, rather more dramatically than usual, “der Rest ist Schweigen” [the rest is silence].) In contrast, we consider this to belong to the typi cal genre of hymn-final meta-poetic verses, in which the poet comments on his own skill in producing the poem that precedes. By this interpretation, the first half-verse concerns the well-conducted funeral that has just taken place, while the second refers specifically to the poet’s taming and controlling the speech that accompanied that ritual.

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 परं मृत्यो - त्रिष्टुप्

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प᳓रम् मृत्यो अ᳓नु प᳓रेहि प᳓न्थां
य᳓स् ते सुव᳓ इ᳓तरो देवया᳓नात्
च᳓क्षुष्मते शृण्वते᳓ ते ब्रवीमि
मा᳓ नः प्रजां᳓ रीरिषो मो᳓त᳓ वीरा᳓न्

02 मृत्योः पदम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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मृत्योः᳓ पदं᳓ योप᳓यन्तो य᳓द् अइ᳓त
द्रा᳓घीय आ᳓युः प्रतरं᳓ द᳓धानाः
आप्या᳓यमानाः प्रज᳓या ध᳓नेन
शुद्धाः᳓ पूता᳓ भवत यज्ञियासः

03 इमे जीवा - त्रिष्टुप्

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इमे᳓ जीवा᳓ वि᳓ मृतइ᳓र् आ᳓ववृत्रन्न्
अ᳓भूद् भद्रा᳓ देव᳓हूतिर् नो अद्य᳓
प्रा᳓ञ्चो अगाम नृत᳓ये ह᳓साय
द्रा᳓घीय आ᳓युः प्रतरं᳓ द᳓धानाः

04 इमं जीवेभ्यः - त्रिष्टुप्

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इमं᳓ जीवे᳓भ्यः परिधिं᳓ दधामि
मइ᳓षां नु᳓ गाद् अ᳓परो अ᳓र्थम् एत᳓म्
शतं᳓ जीवन्तु शर᳓दः पुरूची᳓र्
अन्त᳓र् मृत्युं᳓ दधताम् प᳓र्वतेन

05 यथाहान्यनुपूर्वं भवन्ति - त्रिष्टुप्

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य᳓था᳓हानि अनुपूर्व᳓म् भ᳓वन्ति
य᳓थ र्त᳓व ऋतु᳓भिर् य᳓न्ति साधु᳓
य᳓था न᳓ पू᳓र्वम् अ᳓परो ज᳓हाति
एवा᳓ धातर् आ᳓यूंषि कल्पयैषाम्

06 आ रोहतायुर्जरसम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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आ᳓ रोहता᳓युर् जर᳓सं वृणाना᳓
अनुपूर्वं᳓ य᳓तमाना य᳓ति ष्ठ᳓
इह᳓ त्व᳓ष्टा सुज᳓निमा सजो᳓षा
दीर्घ᳓म् आ᳓युः करति जीव᳓से वः

07 इमा नारीरविधवाः - त्रिष्टुप्

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इमा᳓ ना᳓रीर् अविधवाः᳓ सुप᳓त्नीर्
आ᳓ञ्जनेन सर्पि᳓षा सं᳓ विशन्तु
अनश्र᳓वो अनमीवाः᳓ सुर᳓त्ना
आ᳓ रोहन्तु ज᳓नयो यो᳓निम् अ᳓ग्रे

08 उदीर्ष्व नार्यभि - त्रिष्टुप्

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उ᳓द् ईर्ष्व नारि अभि᳓ जीवलोकं᳓
गता᳓सुम् एत᳓म् उ᳓प शेष ए᳓हि
हस्तग्राभ᳓स्य दिधिषो᳓स् त᳓वेद᳓म्
प᳓त्युर् जनित्व᳓म् अभि᳓ स᳓म् बभूथ

09 धनुर्हस्तादाददानो मृतस्यास्मे - त्रिष्टुप्

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ध᳓नुर् ह᳓स्ताद् आद᳓दानो मृत᳓स्य
अस्मे᳓ क्षत्रा᳓य व᳓र्चसे ब᳓लाय
अ᳓त्रैव᳓ त्व᳓म् इह᳓ वयं᳓ सुवी᳓रा
वि᳓श्वा स्पृ᳓धो अभि᳓मातीर् जयेम

10 उप सर्प - त्रिष्टुप्

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उ᳓प सर्प मात᳓रम् भू᳓मिम् एता᳓म्
उरुव्य᳓चसम् पृथिवीं᳓ सुशे᳓वाम्
ऊ᳓र्णम्रदा युवति᳓र् द᳓क्षिणावत
एषा᳓ त्वा पातु नि᳓रृतेर् उप᳓स्थात्

11 उच्छ्वञ्चस्व पृथिवि - प्रस्तारपङ्क्तिः

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उ᳓च् छ्व् अञ्चस्व पृथिवि, मा᳓ नि᳓ बाधथाः
सूपायना᳓ ऽस्मै भव +++(हास्यैः)+++ सूप-वञ्चना᳓ ।
माता᳓ पुत्रं᳓ य᳓था सिचा᳓
ऽभ्य् एनं भूम ऊर्णुहि +++(kurgan-श्मशाने स्थापितम्)+++॥+++(5)+++

12 उच्छ्वञ्चमाना पृथिवी - त्रिष्टुप्

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उच् छ्व् अ᳓ञ्चमाना पृथिवी᳓ सु᳓ तिष्ठतु
सह᳓स्रं मि᳓त उ᳓प हि᳓ श्र᳓यन्ताम् ।
ते᳓ गृहा᳓सो घृतश्-चु᳓तो भवन्तु विश्वा᳓हास्मै +++(kurgan-श्मशाने स्थापिताय)+++ शरणाः᳓ सन्त्व् अ᳓त्र ॥

13 उत्ते स्तभ्नामि - जगती

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उ᳓त् ते स्तभ्नामि पृथिवीं᳓ त्व᳓त्-प᳓रि
+इ᳓मं᳓ लोगं᳓ निद᳓धन् मो᳓ अहं᳓ रिषम् ।
एतां᳓ स्थू᳓णां पित᳓रो धारयन्तु
ते᳓ऽत्रा यमः᳓ सा᳓दना+++(←षद्लृ)+++ ते मिनोतु ॥

14 प्रतीचीने मामहनीष्वाः - अनुष्टुप्

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प्रतीची᳓ने मा᳓म् अ᳓हनि
इ᳓ष्वाः पर्ण᳓म् इवा᳓ दधुः
प्रती᳓चीं जग्रभा वा᳓चम्
अ᳓श्वं रशन᳓या यथा