०५६

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘ इदं ते ’ इति सप्तर्चं चतुर्दशं सूक्तम् । वामदेवपुत्रो बृहदुक्थ ऋषिः । चतुर्थीपञ्चमीषष्ठ्यो जगत्यः । आदितस्तिस्रः सप्तमी च त्रिष्टुभः । विश्वे देवा देवता । तथा चानुक्रान्तम् - इदं ते सप्त वैश्वदेवं तु चतुर्थ्याद्यास्तिस्रो जगत्य: ’ इति । गतः सूक्तविनियोगः । आहवनीये वाय्वादिकारणेनायतनान्निष्क्रम्य शम्यापरासादर्वाचीने देशे दीप्यमाने सति तमग्निमनया पुनरायतने संवपेत् । सूत्रितं च - ‘ आहवनीयमवदीप्यमानमर्वाक् शम्यापरासादिदं त एकं पर ऊ त एकमिति संवपेत् । (आश्व. श्रौ. ३. १०) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

56 (881)
All Gods
Brhaduktha V ̥ āmadevya
7 verses: triṣṭubh 1–3, 7; jagatī 4–6
Traditionally this hymn was interpreted as Br̥haduktha’s funeral hymn for his son Vājin (the name extracted from vājín- “prizewinner” in vss. 2–3). More recently it has been taken as the funeral hymn for a horse, either the horse sacrificed in the Aśvamedha (Oldenberg) or simply a particularly distinguished racehorse (Geldner). We find all these interpretations unduly restrictive. Though it is undoubtedly a funeral hymn, or, to be more general, undoubtedly refers to what happens after death, there are no particularly equine features in it, since vājín can be used of humans and gods as well as horses. Nor is there any trace of the personal grief a poet might express for his son. Instead the hymn has taken some of the cosmic speculation of the last hymn (esp. X.55.2) and directed it to the more focused topic of the afterlife.
The first two verses urge the dead to merge his body with a light in an unspeci fied but very distant place, presumably even beyond heavenly lights like the sun, but associated with the gods. This merger is considered a kind of birth (see vs. 1d). The distance traveled on this good journey is treated in verse 3.
The meter changes in the next three verses (4–6) and so, to some extent, does the topic. Verse 4 is quite unclear and quite disputed, in part because the ref erent of the pronoun “their” (eṣām) is not specified. In our opinion the verse asserts that the ancestors (“forefathers”) do not control the fate of the recently dead: “their” greatness (i.e., that of the recently dead) is not in the power of their predecessors, the ancestors (4a); rather, the gods transfer the mental spirit of the dead to the realm of the gods (4b), where they, the dead, incorporate animating motion (4c) and re-enter their bodies (4d). In other words, the verse is an attempt to describe the mechanism whereby the dead regain their bodies, joining mental power with physical activity within the envelope of the old body. As such, it is more detailed than the simple, reassuring command to the dead in the funeral hymn X.14.8 “Unite with your body in your full luster,” which gives no directions as to how to go about it.
The happy result of this heavenly reincarnation is expressed in the first half of verse 5, but in the second half a more certain, because more visible, means to life after death is depicted—the familiar one of extending one’s own life in the lives of one’s progeny. This R̥gvedic truism is, in our view, developed in the following very difficult verse (6) in two complementary ways. On the one hand, sons can make their “lord” (in our view, their father) into a “finder of the sun”—here we take “sun” to be equivalent to the light in verse 1, with which the dead are to merge—in two ways. The father can merge with the highest light by being provided with a proper funeral, and he can have further life on earth, continue to see the sun, as it were, by being propagated in his children and grandchildren. Viewed from the opposite direction, the forefathers, already in the heavenly afterlife, established their paternal dominion by placing descendants in later generations. The final verse, returning to triṣṭubh meter, simply sums up in simpler language Br̥haduktha’s understanding of this process. For a more detailed interpretation of this hymn as a funeral hymn, see Brereton (forthcoming a).

01 इदं त - त्रिष्टुप्

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इ॒दं त॒ एकं॑ प॒र ऊ॑ त॒ एकं॑ तृ॒तीये॑न॒ ज्योति॑षा॒ सं वि॑शस्व ।
सं॒वेश॑ने त॒न्व१॒॑श्चारु॑रेधि प्रि॒यो दे॒वानां॑ पर॒मे ज॒नित्रे॑ ॥

02 तनूष्थे वाजिन्तन्वण्ट् - त्रिष्टुप्

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त॒नूष्टे॑ वाजिन्त॒न्वं१॒॑ नय॑न्ती वा॒मम॒स्मभ्यं॒ धातु॒ शर्म॒ तुभ्य॑म् ।
अह्रु॑तो म॒हो ध॒रुणा॑य दे॒वान्दि॒वी॑व॒ ज्योतिः॒ स्वमा मि॑मीयाः ॥

03 वाज्यसि वाजिनेना - त्रिष्टुप्

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वा॒ज्य॑सि॒ वाजि॑नेना सुवे॒नीः सु॑वि॒तः स्तोमं॑ सुवि॒तो दिवं॑ गाः ।
सु॒वि॒तो धर्म॑ प्रथ॒मानु॑ स॒त्या सु॑वि॒तो दे॒वान्त्सु॑वि॒तोऽनु॒ पत्म॑ ॥

04 महिम्न एषाम् - जगती

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म॒हि॒म्न ए॑षां पि॒तर॑श्च॒नेशि॑रे दे॒वा दे॒वेष्व॑दधु॒रपि॒ क्रतु॑म् ।
सम॑विव्यचुरु॒त यान्यत्वि॑षु॒रैषां॑ त॒नूषु॒ नि वि॑विशुः॒ पुनः॑ ॥

05 सहोभिर्विश्वं परि - जगती

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सहो॑भि॒र्विश्वं॒ परि॑ चक्रमू॒ रजः॒ पूर्वा॒ धामा॒न्यमि॑ता॒ मिमा॑नाः ।
त॒नूषु॒ विश्वा॒ भुव॑ना॒ नि ये॑मिरे॒ प्रासा॑रयन्त पुरु॒ध प्र॒जा अनु॑ ॥

06 द्विधा सूनवोऽसुरम् - जगती

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द्विधा॑ सू॒नवोऽसु॑रं स्व॒र्विद॒मास्था॑पयन्त तृ॒तीये॑न॒ कर्म॑णा ।
स्वां प्र॒जां पि॒तरः॒ पित्र्यं॒ सह॒ आव॑रेष्वदधु॒स्तन्तु॒मात॑तम् ॥

07 नावा न - त्रिष्टुप्

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ना॒वा न क्षोदः॑ प्र॒दिशः॑ पृथि॒व्याः स्व॒स्तिभि॒रति॑ दु॒र्गाणि॒ विश्वा॑ ।
स्वां प्र॒जां बृ॒हदु॑क्थो महि॒त्वाव॑रेष्वदधा॒दा परे॑षु ॥