११९

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

‘ इति वै ’ इति त्रयोदशर्चं सप्तमं सूक्तं गायत्रम् । इन्द्रो लबरूपमास्थाय सोमपानं कुर्वन् तदानीमृषिभिः दृष्टः सन् स्वात्मानमनेन सूक्तेनास्तावीत् । अतो लबरूपापन्न इन्द्र ऋषिः । स एव देवता । तथा चानुक्रम्यते – ’ इति वै सप्तोनैन्द्रो लब आत्मानं तुष्टाव ’ इति । गतो विनियोगः ॥

Jamison Brereton

119 (945)
Self-Praise of the “Lapwing” [laba]
Laba Aindra
13 verses: gāyatrī
A famous and often translated 1st-person account of the experience of soma-drink ing. Who the 1st-person speaker is meant to be has generated much discussion. The Anukramaṇī calls this the ātmastuti “self-praise” of a laba (a word that does not appear in the hymn or in the R̥gveda), a particular type of bird, the lapwing—while commentators have generally identified the speaker either as the poet or as a par ticular god, usually Indra or Agni. We are inclined toward a version of the interpre tation of George Thompson (2003). Thompson situates the hymn in the genre of ātmastuti, with its boastful self-assertion and the impersonation, or role-playing, by a poet of “a divine agent.” Under this interpretation, the speaker is fundamentally the poet, but the poet consciously taking on the voice and identity of another entity
or entities—in our view, both that of a bird and that of a god, indeed of Indra. The presence of the poet is clearest in his claims about his mind and the thought that approaches him and that he shapes (vss. 1, 4–5). It is even possibly visible in the spirited refrain—“Have I drunk of the soma? Yes!”—in which the speaker inter rogates himself and only after this internal verbal exchange asserts that he has con sumed soma. (One might suggest, only partially in jest, that Indra would not need this verbal self-reassurance.) To characterize the soma-drinking experience the poet borrows the identity of a bird, suggesting that the overwhelming sensation is that of flight, lifting him up (vss. 2–3), making the people on the ground seem impossibly small and insignificant (vs. 6) and his own wings large enough to cover the cosmos (vss. 7, 11). But this prodigious creature cannot be only a bird, for the speaker boasts of his control of the cosmic spaces and his ability to move the earth at will (vss. 8–10). These boasts are most appropriate to Indra, who commonly manipulates cosmic enti ties, who is most likely to engage in self-vaunting ātmastuti (cf., e.g., X.48–49), and who is the archetypal soma-drinker among the gods. The hymn ends (or almost ends) with the apparent epiphany of Indra in verse 12, triumphantly announced by “here I am” (ahám asmi) and calling attention to his presence in the ritual arena. The final verse (13) seems an anticlimax, and its contents also sit uneasily in the rest of the hymn. The identity that this 1st-person speaker claims, that of oblation-carrier (havyavā́hana), is responsible for the view that the speaker throughout the hymn is Agni, for havyavā́hana and its variant havyaváh are always epithets of that god. But the fact that Agni speaks this verse does not require that he be the speaker in the rest of the hymn. In our view this verse, like many final verses, marks a shift of subject or a coda. The speaker is indeed Agni. It seems possible that Indra’s epiphany in the pre ceding verse has brought him face to face with the principal god of the ritual and the ritual ground, namely Agni, and that Agni borrows the rhetoric of Indra to make his own counter-boast and assert the importance of his own role—though his somewhat pedestrian self-comparison to a well-equipped household contrasts almost comically with the soaring and exuberant language of the rest of the hymn.

01 इति वा - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

इति॒ वा इति॑ मे॒ मनो॒ गामश्वं॑ सनुया॒मिति॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

02 प्र वाता - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

प्र वाता॑ इव॒ दोध॑त॒ उन्मा॑ पी॒ता अ॑यंसत ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

03 उन्मा पीता - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

उन्मा॑ पी॒ता अ॑यंसत॒ रथ॒मश्वा॑ इवा॒शवः॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

04 उप मा - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

उप॑ मा म॒तिर॑स्थित वा॒श्रा पु॒त्रमि॑व प्रि॒यम् ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

05 अहं तष्थेव - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

अ॒हं तष्टे॑व व॒न्धुरं॒ पर्य॑चामि हृ॒दा म॒तिम् ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

06 नहि मे - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

न॒हि मे॑ अक्षि॒पच्च॒नाच्छा॑न्त्सुः॒ पञ्च॑ कृ॒ष्टयः॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

07 नहि मे - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

न॒हि मे॒ रोद॑सी उ॒भे अ॒न्यं प॒क्षं च॒न प्रति॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

08 अभि द्याम् - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

अ॒भि द्यां म॑हि॒ना भु॑वम॒भी॒३॒॑मां पृ॑थि॒वीं म॒हीम् ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

09 हन्ताहं पृथिवीमिमाम् - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

हन्ता॒हं पृ॑थि॒वीमि॒मां नि द॑धानी॒ह वे॒ह वा॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

10 ओषमित्पृथिवीमहं जङ्घनानीह - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

ओ॒षमित्पृ॑थि॒वीम॒हं ज॒ङ्घना॑नी॒ह वे॒ह वा॑ ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

11 दिवि मे - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

दि॒वि मे॑ अ॒न्यः प॒क्षो॒३॒॑ऽधो अ॒न्यम॑चीकृषम् ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

12 अहमस्मि महामहोऽभिनभ्यमुदीषितः - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

अ॒हम॑स्मि महाम॒हो॑ऽभिन॒भ्यमुदी॑षितः ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥

13 गृहो याम्यरङ्कृतो - गायत्री

विश्वास-प्रस्तुतिः ...{Loading}...

गृ॒हो या॒म्यरं॑कृतो दे॒वेभ्यो॑ हव्य॒वाह॑नः ।
कु॒वित्सोम॒स्यापा॒मिति॑ ॥