०५५

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘दूरे तत्’ इत्यष्टर्चं त्रयोदशं सूक्तम् । ऋष्याद्याः पूर्ववत् । “दूरे’ इत्यनुक्रान्तम् । गतः सूक्तविनियोगः ॥

Jamison Brereton

55 (881)
Indra [or the All Gods?]
Brhaduktha V ̥ āmadevya
8 verses: triṣṭubh
A puzzling and enigmatic hymn, with close ties to the previous hymn, especially at the beginning. The first puzzle is that this, the second of the three Br̥haduktha hymns (X.54–56), is assigned Indra as its deity in the Anukramaṇī, but is longer (eight verses) than the previous hymn (X.54, six verses), which is also dedicated to Indra. Bergaigne (per Oldenberg 1888: 226) suggests that the ascription is incor
rect, and that this is really an All God hymn, as is the next one (X.56, seven verses). Although Oldenberg rejected this suggestion (1888: 238–39) on grounds of content, we are inclined to accept it. Although Indra is the clear or likely deity of most of the verses (1–3, 7–8), the center part of the hymn (vss. 4–6) is not, in our view, Indraic. Moreover, the numerology (see esp. vss. 2–3, 5) and the riddling phraseol
ogy throughout, without expressed referents, are quite reminiscent of a certain type of speculative All God hymn.
The first verse of the hymn exactly matches that of X.54 in structure (with X.55.1 somewhat clearer syntactically), and their second pādas are almost identical. Both concern the call that Heaven and Earth issued to Indra in fright, and go on, in the second hemistich, to recount other of Indra’s deeds. And this verse also takes up the theme of the “hidden name” found also in X.54.4. But already in X.55.1 we meet an unidentified referent: “the sons of your (or a?) brother,” especially puzzling because, as far as we know, Indra has no brother.
The name theme continues in verse 2, but introduces a light, into which five unidentified dear ones merge. Nothing further is made of this merger, but the same lexeme “merge into” (sáṃ √viś) is used in the next hymn (X.55.1) for the merger of the body of the dead with light in some unspecified distant place, and it seems likely that our passage touches on the same theme of death and transfiguration. Though verse 3 begins with a conventional deed of Indra, filling the world-halves, it pursues both the numerology of verse 2 and the light, now both fragmented and unified. Although various identifications of the referents here have been proposed, none is entirely convincing; moreover, the poet seems more interested in keeping us guess ing than in providing a clear roadmap.
What does seem clear is that the cosmic context of Heaven and Earth and the focus on light(s) have led us to astronomical imagery, which occupies the next three verses of the hymn. We begin (vs. 4) with Dawn, explicitly identified, and celebrated in a for mulaic final pāda that is modeled on the refrain of a famous mystical All God hymn, III.55, where the “one and only lordship” is that of the gods. The next verse (5) has no identified referents at all, and the language is difficult and cryptic. Nonetheless it seems to refer to the moon traveling among the stars, until swallowed up by a gray one—perhaps the gray twilight of dawn or the smoke of the ritual fire kindled at dawn. The poet seems to recognize the hyper-“poetic” quality of this description (5c) and provides a simply phrased (though not simply interpreted) gloss in pāda d. Verse 6 is most easily interpretable as referring to the sun, who is called a “ruddy eagle” elsewhere in the R̥gveda, but it could also be Agni or Indra; if the latter, it provides a transition to the final two verses (7–8), which belong more clearly to Indra.

01 दूरे तन्नाम - त्रिष्टुप्

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दू॒रे तन्नाम॒ गुह्यं॑ परा॒चैर्यत्त्वा॑ भी॒ते अह्व॑येतां वयो॒धै ।
उद॑स्तभ्नाः पृथि॒वीं द्याम॒भीके॒ भ्रातुः॑ पु॒त्रान्म॑घवन्तित्विषा॒णः ॥

02 महत्तन्नाम गुह्यम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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म॒हत्तन्नाम॒ गुह्यं॑ पुरु॒स्पृग्येन॑ भू॒तं ज॒नयो॒ येन॒ भव्य॑म् ।
प्र॒त्नं जा॒तं ज्योति॒र्यद॑स्य प्रि॒यं प्रि॒याः सम॑विशन्त॒ पञ्च॑ ॥

03 आ रोदसी - त्रिष्टुप्

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आ रोद॑सी अपृणा॒दोत मध्यं॒ पञ्च॑ दे॒वाँ ऋ॑तु॒शः स॒प्तस॑प्त ।
चतु॑स्त्रिंशता पुरु॒धा वि च॑ष्टे॒ सरू॑पेण॒ ज्योति॑षा॒ विव्र॑तेन ॥

04 यदुष औच्छः - त्रिष्टुप्

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यदु॑ष॒ औच्छः॑ प्रथ॒मा वि॒भाना॒मज॑नयो॒ येन॑ पु॒ष्टस्य॑ पु॒ष्टम् ।
यत्ते॑ जामि॒त्वमव॑रं॒ पर॑स्या म॒हन्म॑ह॒त्या अ॑सुर॒त्वमेक॑म् ॥

05 विधुं दद्राणम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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वि॒धुं द॑द्रा॒णं सम॑ने बहू॒नां युवा॑नं॒ सन्तं॑ पलि॒तो ज॑गार ।
दे॒वस्य॑ पश्य॒ काव्यं॑ महि॒त्वाद्या म॒मार॒ स ह्यः समा॑न ॥

06 शाक्मना शाको - त्रिष्टुप्

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शाक्म॑ना शा॒को अ॑रु॒णः सु॑प॒र्ण आ यो म॒हः शूरः॑ स॒नादनी॑ळः ।
यच्चि॒केत॑ स॒त्यमित्तन्न मोघं॒ वसु॑ स्पा॒र्हमु॒त जेतो॒त दाता॑ ॥

07 ऐभिर्ददे वृष्ण्या - त्रिष्टुप्

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ऐभि॑र्ददे॒ वृष्ण्या॒ पौंस्या॑नि॒ येभि॒रौक्ष॑द्वृत्र॒हत्या॑य व॒ज्री ।
ये कर्म॑णः क्रि॒यमा॑णस्य म॒ह्न ऋ॑तेक॒र्ममु॒दजा॑यन्त दे॒वाः ॥

08 युजा कर्माणि - त्रिष्टुप्

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यु॒जा कर्मा॑णि ज॒नय॑न्वि॒श्वौजा॑ अशस्ति॒हा वि॒श्वम॑नास्तुरा॒षाट् ।
पी॒त्वी सोम॑स्य दि॒व आ वृ॑धा॒नः शूरो॒ निर्यु॒धाध॑म॒द्दस्यू॑न् ॥