१०२

सर्वाष् टीकाः ...{Loading}...
सायण-भाष्यम्

‘प्र ते रथम् ’ इति द्वादशर्चं तृतीयं सूक्तम् । भर्म्यश्वपुत्रो मुद्गल ऋषिः। आद्या तृतीयान्त्या चेति तिस्रो बृहत्यः । शिष्टा नव त्रिष्टुभः । दुघणो नाम मुद्गरः । तद्देवत्यमिदमिन्द्रदेवत्यं वा । तथा चानुक्रान्तं– प्र ते मुद्गलो भार्म्यश्व ऋषभेण द्रुघणेन चाजिं जिगायेति द्रौघणं वाद्या तृतीयान्त्या च बृहत्यः’ इति । गतो विनियोगः । अत्राहुः– मुद्गलस्य हृता गावश्चोरैस्त्यक्त्वा जरद्गवम् । स शिष्टं शकटे कृत्वा गत्वैक ऋजुराहवम् । द्रुघणं युयुजेऽन्यत्र चोर मार्गानुसारकः । द्रुघणं चाग्रतः क्षिप्त्वा चोरेभ्यो जगृहे स्वगाः’ इति । तथा निरुक्तेऽपीयं कथा सूचिता—-’ मुद्गलो भार्म्यश्व ऋषिर्वृषभं च द्रुघणं च युक्त्वा संग्रामे व्यवहृत्याजिं जिगाय’ (निरु. ९. २३ ) इति ॥ प्र ते रथे मिथूकृतमिन्द्रोऽवतु धृष्णुया ।।

Jamison Brereton

102 (928)
The Race of Mudgala and Mudgalānı̄
Mudgala Bhārmyaśva
12 verses: triṣṭubh, except br̥hatī 1, 3, 12
We two translators have differing interpretations of some of the details and more especially of the ritual application of this hymn. These contrasting views are set out in separate signed discussions in the following introduction.
SWJ
This famous and famously enigmatic hymn presents an intriguing scenario: a char iot race (or a chariot drive) in which a man named Mudgala decisively wins the stakes, with the help of Indra, despite using unorthodox equipment and personnel that seem destined to fail him. His charioteer is his wife Mudgalānī (see vs. 2) and the team drawing the chariot seems to consist of a boisterous and ill-controlled bull yoked with an inert piece of wood (see esp. vss. 9–10). Or so is our best guess; the depiction of the race is oblique and narratively shattered.
Not surprisingly the hymn has provoked much discussion, both about the bare “facts” of the chariot race and about the meaning and purpose of the hymn as a whole. There are two major and interconnected thematic strands motivating the hymn, and these converge in the figure of Mudgalānī and are expressed especially clearly in verse 11, where Mudgalānī recovers her husband, and the pair burgeon with apparent fertility—he “dripping” and she “swelling.” She is there also identi
fied as a “(once) avoided wife,” in later śrauta ritual a technical term for one of the king’s wives, avoided presumably because she failed to produce offspring. So, on

one level the hymn depicts the recovery of fertility and the future production of offspring in Mudgala’s line. The hovering presence and aid of the hyper-virile Indra and the emphasis throughout the hymn (see esp. vss. 4–6) on his animal stand-in, the bull pulling the chariot, reinforces this message. Mudgalānī’s sexual nature is suggested by our first glimpse of her, with the wind lifting her garment (vs. 2a), and in a particularly startling verse (6) the droppings of the defecating bull keep hitting the woman who is driving him—an image that suggests, as it subverts, sexual con
tact between the bull and the woman. If this bull stands in for Indra, its yokemate, the wooden club, may represent an impotent Mudgala, and the announcement in verse 10 that the wooden club has now been “made to mount” may signal that Mudgala has, paradoxically, recovered his sexual potency by association with the bull/Indra.
The other thematic strand is a ritual one. In my opinion this hymn takes part in the disguised dialogue in the late R̥gveda about the ritual innovation, the introduc tion of the Sacrificer’s Wife, the ritual patnī, into solemn sacrificial practice. As we have discussed elsewhere, various hymns and sections thereof seem to favor or oppose this innovation, but always in the guise of another discourse. This hymn seems strongly in favor of the introduction of the patnī. It begins with a pun, whose implications are worked out through the rest of the hymn. The first pāda of the hymn introduces Mudgala’s chariot, which is mithūkŕ̥tam. This word is generally translated “wrongly functioning, falsely made” or the like, and that is surely one of its implications here: the chariot is defective. But it can also mean “making/forming a sexual pair,” and this is a very apt description of the new ritual model, with the Sacrificer and his Wife the pair associated with the chariot, a common metaphor for the sacrifice. The rest of hymn can be read as an extended metaphorical treatment of the new ritual model, using the same image of the sacrifice as chariot—with the Wife is charioteer, not yokemate of the Sacrificer as in some other contributions to the discussion (see, e.g., VIII.33.18). The emphasis throughout the hymn on the unorthodox and makeshift nature of the equipment and the surprising outcome in victory signals that the ritual partnership between husband and wife is a new, untried model, which nonetheless brings even more success than the old one. The happy outcome of the hymn, the recovery of her husband and the swelling fertility of Mudgalānī (vs. 11), reminds us of the relentless stress on the Wife’s raison d’être in classical śrauta ritual as representative of sexuality and fertility in all their forms (see Jamison 1996a: esp. ch. 3, sect. C–E).
JPB
Alternatively, the hymn may have been composed to accompany a rite of niyoga, in which a surrogate is appointed as a substitute for an impotent or dead husband. Mudgala is the dead or impotent husband, but Mudgalānī has been able win off spring for him by finding a “bull,” a potent man, who can impregnate her and secure the continuation of Mudgala’s lineage. In this interpretation, the “wooden club” in verse 9 is a symbol of the potency of the surrogate, rather than the impotence of Mudgala, especially if the “racecourse” in the middle of which it lies is a figure for the body of Mudgalānī. Verse 6 provides a possible clue to the application of this hymn. If the praise of Indra in verse 12 is taken as extra-hymnic, verse 6 is the center of the hymn, the place where the secrets of hymn are often disclosed (or buried even more deeply). It begins kakárdave vr̥ṣabhó yuktá āsīt. Unfortunately, as noted below, the meaning of kakárdave is uncertain. (It might be dative “for making kaka” as translated below, but it might also be locative “in the creaking one,” referring to the cart driven by Mudgalānī.) But the rest of the pāda is simple and clear: “the bull was yoked.” Again in pāda c, the poet repeats that the bull was “yoked.” The reason for poet’s insistence on this detail may be that yuktá “yoked” in this key verse points to the etymologically related “niyoga,” the hymn’s ritual context.
For further discussion of this hymn see Brereton (2002) and Jamison (2011 and forthcoming a).

01 प्र ते - बृहती

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

प्र᳓ ते र᳓थम् मिथूकृ᳓तम्
इ᳓न्द्रो अवतु धृष्णुया᳓
अस्मि᳓न्न् आजउ᳓ पुरुहूत श्रवा᳓यिये
धनभक्षे᳓षु नो अव

02 उत्स्म वातो - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

उ᳓त् स्म वा᳓तो वहति वा᳓सो अस्या
अ᳓धिरथं य᳓द् अ᳓जयत् सह᳓स्रम्
रथी᳓र् अभून् मुद्गला᳓नी ग᳓विष्टौ
भ᳓रे कृतं᳓ वि᳓ अचेद् इन्द्रसेना᳓

03 अन्तर्यच्छ जिघांसतो - बृहती

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

अन्त᳓र् यछ जि᳓घांसतो
व᳓ज्रम् इन्द्राभिदा᳓सतः
दा᳓सस्य वा मघवन्न् आ᳓रियस्य वा
सनुत᳓र् यवया वध᳓म्

04 उद्नो ह्रदमपिबज्जहृड़्षाणः - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

उद्नो᳓ ह्रद᳓म् अपिबज् ज᳓र्हृषाणः
कू᳓टं स्म तृंह᳓द् अभि᳓मातिम् एति
प्र᳓ मुष्क᳓भारः श्र᳓व इछ᳓मानो
अजिर᳓म् बाहू᳓ अभरत् सि᳓षासन्

05 न्यक्रन्दयन्नुपयन्त एनममेहयन्वृषभम् - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

नि᳓ अक्रन्दयन्न् उपय᳓न्त एनम्
अ᳓मेहयन् वृषभ᳓म् म᳓ध्य आजेः᳓
ते᳓न सू᳓भर्वं शत᳓वत् सह᳓स्रं
ग᳓वाम् मु᳓द्गलः प्रध᳓ने जिगाय

06 ककर्दवे वृषभो - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

कक᳓र्दवे वृषभो᳓ युक्त᳓ आसीद्
अ᳓वावचीत् सा᳓रथिर् अस्य केशी᳓
दु᳓धेर् युक्त᳓स्य द्र᳓वतः सहा᳓नस
ऋछ᳓न्ति ष्मा निष्प᳓दो मुद्गला᳓नीम्

07 उत प्रधिमुदहन्नस्य - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

उत᳓ प्रधि᳓म् उ᳓द् अहन्न् अस्य विद्वा᳓न्
उ᳓पायुनग् वं᳓सगम् अ᳓त्र शि᳓क्षन्
इ᳓न्द्र उ᳓द् आवत् प᳓तिम् अ᳓घ्नियानाम्
अ᳓रंहत प᳓दियाभिः ककु᳓द्मान्

08 शुनमष्थ्राव्यचरत्कपर्दि वरत्रायाम् - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

शुन᳓म् अष्ट्रावि᳓ अचरत् कपर्दी᳓
वरत्रा᳓यां दा᳓रु आन᳓ह्यमानः
नृम्णा᳓नि कृण्व᳓न् बह᳓वे ज᳓नाय
गाः᳓ पस्पशान᳓स् त᳓विषीर् अधत्त

09 इमं तम् - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

इमं᳓ त᳓म् पश्य वृषभ᳓स्य यु᳓ञ्जं
का᳓ष्ठाया म᳓ध्ये द्रुघणं᳓ श᳓यानम्
ये᳓न जिगा᳓य शत᳓वत् सह᳓स्रं
ग᳓वाम् मु᳓द्गलः पृतना᳓जियेषु

10 आरे अघा - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

आरे᳓ अघा᳓ को᳓ नु᳓ इत्था᳓ ददर्श
यं᳓ युञ्ज᳓न्ति त᳓म् उ आ᳓ स्थापयन्ति
ना᳓स्मै तृ᳓णं नो᳓दक᳓म् आ᳓ भरन्ति
उ᳓त्तरो धुरो᳓ वहति प्रदे᳓दिशत्

11 परिवृक्तेव पतिविद्यमानथ् - त्रिष्टुप्

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

परिवृक्ते᳓व पतिवि᳓द्यम् आनट्
पी᳓पियाना कू᳓चक्रेणेव सिञ्च᳓न्
एषैषि᳓या चिद् रथि᳓या जयेम
सुमङ्ग᳓लं सि᳓नवद् अस्तु सात᳓म्

12 त्वं विश्वस्य - बृहती

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

तुवं᳓ वि᳓श्वस्य ज᳓गतश्
च᳓क्षुर् इन्द्रासि च᳓क्षुषः
वृ᳓षा य᳓द् आजिं᳓ वृ᳓षणा सि᳓षाससि
चोद᳓यन् व᳓ध्रिणा युजा᳓