१०६

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सायण-भाष्यम्

॥ श्रीगणेशाय नमः ॥

यस्य निःश्वसितं वेदा यो वेदेभ्योऽखिलं जगत् ।

निर्ममे तमहं वन्दे विद्यातीर्थमहेश्वरम् ॥

अष्टमे पञ्चमाध्यायं व्याख्याय श्रुतिकोविदः ।

सायणार्यस्ततोऽध्यायं षष्ठं च व्याचिकीर्षति ।

तत्र ‘उभा उ नूनम्’ इत्येकादशर्चमाद्यमनुवाकापेक्षया सप्तमं सूक्तं त्रैष्टुभमश्विदेवत्यम् । कश्यपपुत्रो भूतांशो नामर्षिः । तथा चानुक्रम्यते–’ उभौ भूतांशः काश्यप आश्विनम्’ इति । अप्तोर्यामेऽच्छावाकातिरिक्तोक्थ एतत्सूक्तम् । सूत्रितं च-’ उभा उ नूनं दैव्या होतारा प्रथमा पुरोहितेति परिधानीया’ (आश्व. श्रौ. ९. ११) इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

106 (932)
Aśvins
Bhūtāṃśa Kāśyapa
11 verses: triṣṭubh
There is no question that this is the most frustrating hymn in the R̥gveda. Structured like another Aśvin hymn, II.39, it presents a blizzard of similes—generally one each pāda, four to a verse—with the two gods compared to all manner of animals, people, body parts, and cosmic features. Unfortunately the style goes far beyond the recon
dite to the utterly incomprehensible, with impossible hapaxes of unusual morpho logical structure, seemingly in part driven by phonological play. These words may be archaic or dialectal or slang or belong to specific technical fields or borrowed/ adapted from a substrate language or playfully generated from morphological tem plates—or, as has been suggested, the middle section may be written in a kind of
code, with phoneme-by-phoneme substitution. Or all of the above, and more. In any case, following the eminently sensible lead of Geldner (implicitly endorsed by Oldenberg and Renou), we have simply left the middle verses (5–8) untranslated, while attempting to wring sense from the outer frame. Although many ingenious attempts have been made to interpret the baffling lexical items in this hymn and more could have been made, such attempts remain just that—exercises in ingenuity. It seems more honest, as well as truer to the spirit of the hymn, evidently designed to challenge the decoding skills of the most proficient and experienced hearers, to acknowledge its impenetrable center. From this several observations emerge. First, this appears to be the ultimate omphalos hymn. In most omphalos hymns the center holds the mystery, but the mystery is expressed in words whose purport can be puz zled out. Here that mysterious center deliberately defies analysis by being expressed in words that are tantalizingly close to familiar word-types, but whose code cannot be cracked—and rendered all the more frustrating by the presence of real, analyz able words in the midst of the semi-gibberish. The hymn takes the notion of an omphalos and carries it as far as it can go, suggesting that many mysteries will remain beyond our apprehension, or at least our apprehension by verbal means. The outer verses (1–4, 9–11) reveal further traces of poetic structure, espe cially when compared with II.39 mentioned above. The parallels between the two hymns seem to be deliberate and self-consciously generated. They begin almost identically: the first pāda of II.39.1 (minus the opening simile) reads. . .tád íd árthaṃ jarethe “you two awaken to just this aim,” in sense and verbal expression almost identical to our ubhā́ u nūnáṃ tád íd arthayethe “Now you both have just this as your aim,” with the “awaken” postponed until pāda c. The final verses of both hymns (II.39.8, X.106.11) are summary verses, announcing the hymn just completed (interestingly called a mantra in this hymn) and urging the Aśvins to drive to the hymn and the sacrifice. In between are a varying number of verses, constructed as webs of similes, most of which are more complex and clever than the general run of R̥gvedic similes. It thus seems that this hymn-type provides a

template, which could generate within it an unlimited number of inventive com parisons. It is not hard to imagine this process as a competitive one, with poets vying to use the most outré words and over-strained and mannered images, all contained and controlled by the overall structure of the template. In our hymn we return to discipline from the unruly center via several verses of reasonably com prehensible similes (vss. 9–10) to reach, with some relief, the safe shore of verse 11. (It may not be entirely fanciful to suggest that the first simile in the return verses [9a] promises “firm standing in the depths”—something the audience has surely been seeking, in vain.)

01 उभा उ - त्रिष्टुप्

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उ॒भा उ॑ नू॒नं तदिद॑र्थयेथे॒ वि त॑न्वाथे॒ धियो॒ वस्त्रा॒पसे॑व ।
स॒ध्री॒ची॒ना यात॑वे॒ प्रेम॑जीगः सु॒दिने॑व॒ पृक्ष॒ आ तं॑सयेथे ॥

02 उष्थारेव फर्वरेषु - त्रिष्टुप्

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उ॒ष्टारे॑व॒ फर्व॑रेषु श्रयेथे प्रायो॒गेव॒ श्वात्र्या॒ शासु॒रेथः॑ ।
दू॒तेव॒ हि ष्ठो य॒शसा॒ जने॑षु॒ माप॑ स्थातं महि॒षेवा॑व॒पाना॑त् ॥

03 साकंयुजा शकुनस्येव - त्रिष्टुप्

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सा॒कं॒युजा॑ शकु॒नस्ये॑व प॒क्षा प॒श्वेव॑ चि॒त्रा यजु॒रा ग॑मिष्टम् ।
अ॒ग्निरि॑व देव॒योर्दी॑दि॒वांसा॒ परि॑ज्मानेव यजथः पुरु॒त्रा ॥

04 आपी वो - त्रिष्टुप्

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आ॒पी वो॑ अ॒स्मे पि॒तरे॑व पु॒त्रोग्रेव॑ रु॒चा नृ॒पती॑व तु॒र्यै ।
इर्ये॑व पु॒ष्ट्यै कि॒रणे॑व भु॒ज्यै श्रु॑ष्टी॒वाने॑व॒ हव॒मा ग॑मिष्टम् ॥

05 वंसगेव पूषर्या - त्रिष्टुप्

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वंस॑गेव पूष॒र्या॑ शि॒म्बाता॑ मि॒त्रेव॑ ऋ॒ता श॒तरा॒ शात॑पन्ता ।
वाजे॑वो॒च्चा वय॑सा घर्म्ये॒ष्ठा मेषे॑वे॒षा स॑प॒र्या॒३॒॑ पुरी॑षा ॥

06 सृण्येव जर्भरी - त्रिष्टुप्

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सृ॒ण्ये॑व ज॒र्भरी॑ तु॒र्फरी॑तू नैतो॒शेव॑ तु॒र्फरी॑ पर्फ॒रीका॑ ।
उ॒द॒न्य॒जेव॒ जेम॑ना मदे॒रू ता मे॑ ज॒राय्व॒जरं॑ म॒रायु॑ ॥

07 पज्रेव चर्चरम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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प॒ज्रेव॒ चर्च॑रं॒ जारं॑ म॒रायु॒ क्षद्मे॒वार्थे॑षु तर्तरीथ उग्रा ।
ऋ॒भू नाप॑त्खरम॒ज्रा ख॒रज्रु॑र्वा॒युर्न प॑र्फरत्क्षयद्रयी॒णाम् ॥

08 घर्मेव मधु - त्रिष्टुप्

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घ॒र्मेव॒ मधु॑ ज॒ठरे॑ स॒नेरू॒ भगे॑विता तु॒र्फरी॒ फारि॒वार॑म् ।
प॒त॒रेव॑ चच॒रा च॒न्द्रनि॑र्णि॒ङ्मन॑ऋङ्गा मन॒न्या॒३॒॑ न जग्मी॑ ॥

09 बृहन्तेव गम्भरेषु - त्रिष्टुप्

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बृ॒हन्ते॑व ग॒म्भरे॑षु प्रति॒ष्ठां पादे॑व गा॒धं तर॑ते विदाथः ।
कर्णे॑व॒ शासु॒रनु॒ हि स्मरा॒थोंऽशे॑व नो भजतं चि॒त्रमप्नः॑ ॥

10 आरङ्गरेव मध्वेरयेथे - त्रिष्टुप्

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आ॒र॒ङ्ग॒रेव॒ मध्वेर॑येथे सार॒घेव॒ गवि॑ नी॒चीन॑बारे ।
की॒नारे॑व॒ स्वेद॑मासिष्विदा॒ना क्षामे॑वो॒र्जा सू॑यव॒सात्स॑चेथे ॥

11 ऋध्याम स्तोमम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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ऋ॒ध्याम॒ स्तोमं॑ सनु॒याम॒ वाज॒मा नो॒ मन्त्रं॑ स॒रथे॒होप॑ यातम् ।
यशो॒ न प॒क्वं मधु॒ गोष्व॒न्तरा भू॒तांशो॑ अ॒श्विनोः॒ काम॑मप्राः ॥