१२५

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘अहम्’ इत्यष्टर्चं त्रयोदशं सूक्तम् । अम्भृणस्य महर्षेर्दुहिता वाङ्नाम्नी ब्रह्मविदुषी स्वात्मानमस्तोत् । अतः सर्षिः । सच्चित्सुखात्मकः सर्वंगतः परमात्मा देवता । तेन ह्येषा तादात्म्यमनुभवन्ती सर्वजगद्रूपेण सर्वस्याधिष्ठानत्वेन चाहमेव सर्वं भवामीति स्वात्मानं स्तौति । द्वितीया जगती शिष्टाः सप्त त्रिष्टुभः । तथा चानुक्रान्तम्- अहमष्टौ वागाम्भृणी तुष्टावात्मानं द्वितीया जगती’ इति । गतो विनियोगः ॥

Jamison Brereton

125 (951)
Speech
Vāc Āmbhrṇ̥ a
8 verses: triṣṭubh, except jagatī 2
Another very famous hymn, to the goddess Speech (Vāc), it is couched as an ātmastuti or “self-praise,” and this aspect is certainly quite insistent. The 1st person speaker uses the word “I” (ahám) fifteen times (not counting other cases

of this pronoun), along with numerous 1st-person present-tense verbs. With the fame of the hymn comes a certain carelessness on the part of its many transla tors, who have tended to smooth out the rough and puzzling places. See, for example, verse 3d, where a more fluent and expected expression might be “I have many stations and enter many things” (compare Doniger O’Flaherty’s “I dwell in many places and enter into many forms” and Maurer’s “with many a place and entering upon many a form”), but the undoubted causative verb form in the second phrase makes that easy rendering impossible. The praises that Speech heaps upon herself are not necessarily for the things that we expect her to boast about, and as translators and interpreters we must follow the lead of her own grammatical choices.
She begins by asserting her companionship with, indeed her support for, the primary gods and groups thereof (vss. 1–2), as well as for the mortal sacrificer. In verse 3 she sounds the common theme of the divisions of speech, though not in the usual way; in the phrase noted above (3d), she asserts that not only is she found in many places—that is, she has been much subdivided—but that many things enter her—that is, she also encompasses the many entities that make up the world. These contrastive, mirrored images are part of her totalizing project.
Verse 4 and 5 are the center of the hymn and its crux, defined as an ompha los by the framing forms of ā́-√viś “enter” in 3d and 6d and by the repeated vadāmi “I speak / tell” of 4d and 5a. In the first three pādas of verse 4 she depicts speech as that on which the other operations of life depend, but in a curiously oblique way—not through speech directly but through eating. She identifies eat ing as the central operation and herself as the instrument and facilitator of eat ing (“through me he eats food”), with the other senses (“who sees, who breathes, who hears. . . ”) dependent on the eating. (Other translators tend to elide the distinction between the main clause “he eats food” and the subordinate clauses “who sees,” etc., but the contrast is too marked to ignore.) What can she mean by this odd statement? If we are right, (at least) two different things. On the one hand, she is laying claim to the mouth, the organ that engages in both eating and speaking. The other sense organs—eyes (sight), nose (breathing), ears (hear ing)—are not involved with either operation. Eating is essential to life: one can’t see, breathe, or hear without being alive, which requires food, and so, by their joint location in the mouth, Speech can assert her primary role in eating and thus in staying alive. By this argument, all other sense activities depend on Speech. But we think there is also another, more pointed message here, about the poet, whom she is about to address. The poet makes his livelihood (“eats his food”) by producing poetic speech from the inspiration of the goddess Speech, and his sense activity, including the ways in which he receives inspiration, by seeing and hearing especially, as well as his life depends on her.
In the final pāda of verse 4 she addresses the poet directly, with a tour de force of phonological play, much remarked upon in scholarly literature: śrudhí śruta śraddhiváṃ te vadāmi “Listen, o you who are listened to: it’s a trustworthy thing I tell you.” The poet is the one who is “listened to” in the world: his verbal products have a privileged status, and she makes him a conduit of her own message. In the following verse (5) she explains how she chooses and anoints her choice as poet and what qualities she invests him with.
After the omphalos verses she returns (vss. 6–8) to a more general and wider focus, asserting her pervasion of Heaven and Earth, indeed of all the worlds, both horizontally and vertically, and even beyond them. Quite striking, and also super ficially unclear, is her statement in verse 7a, literally “I give birth to the/a father on his head” (aháṃ suve pitáram asya mūrdhán). In contrast to most interpretations of this statement, we interpret it in light of a common use of the phrase “the head of heaven” in the R̥gveda as an epithet for Agni (e.g., III.2.14 agním mūrdhā́naṃ diváḥ). The father is “Father Heaven” (Dyaus Pitar), but “his head” is then actually a reference to fire, most particularly the ritual fire in its deified form Agni. If we are correct, Vāc is returning to the notion of sacrificial speech found earlier in the hymn, implying that speech produced on the ritual ground beside the sacrificial fire in a sense creates and sustains the cosmos. From this restricted space, namely the locus of the sacrifice, speech spreads across all realms and up to heaven. (Under this interpretation, the womb in the waters of 7b could refer to the waters of the soma sacrifice, though this is not necessary.)
In sum, our version of a beloved hymn to a beloved goddess is stranger and perhaps less lovable than its usual interpretations, but also reflects the crafty indi rection of the goddess herself.

01 अहं रुद्रेभिर्वसुभिश्चराम्यहमादित्यैरुत - त्रिष्टुप्

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अहं᳓ रुद्रे᳓भिर् व᳓सुभिश् चराम्य्
अह᳓म् आदित्यै᳓र् उत᳓ विश्व᳓देवैः ।
अहं᳓ मित्रा᳓व᳓रुणोभा᳓+++(←“देवताद्वन्द्वे च।”)+++ बिभर्म्य्
अह᳓म् इन्द्राग्नी᳓ अह᳓म् अश्वि᳓नोभा᳓ ॥ १॥

02 अहं सोममाहनसम् - जगती

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अहं᳓ सो᳓मम् आहन᳓सं +++(=मर्दयित्वोत्पादितं)+++ बिभर्म्य्
अहं᳓ त्व᳓ष्टारम् उत᳓ पूष᳓णं भ᳓गम् ।
अहं᳓ दधामि द्र᳓विणं हवि᳓ष्मते
सुप्राव्ये३᳓+++(←अव् रक्षणतृप्त्यादौ)+++ य᳓जमानाय +++(सोमं)+++ सुन्वते᳓ ॥ २॥
+++(सुप्राव्ये - चतुर्थ्येकवचने यणि ‘उदात्तस्वरितयोर्यणः स्वरितोऽनुदात्तस्य’ इति सुपः स्वरितत्वम्।)+++᳓

03 अहं राष्थ्री - त्रिष्टुप्

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अहं᳓ रा᳓ष्ट्री+++(=राज्ञी)+++ संग᳓मनी व᳓सूनां
चिकितु᳓षी +++(=ज्ञात्री)+++ प्रथमा᳓ यज्ञि᳓यानाम् ।
तां᳓ मा देवा᳓ व्यदधुः पुरुत्रा᳓ +++(=बहुविधं)+++
भू᳓रिस्थात्रां भू᳓र्या वेश᳓यन्तीम् ॥ ३॥

04 मया सो - त्रिष्टुप्

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म᳓या सो᳓ अ᳓न्नम् अत्ति यो᳓ विप᳓श्यति
यः᳓ प्रा᳓णिति य᳓ ईं शृणो᳓त्य् उक्त᳓म् ।
अमन्त᳓वो मा᳓न् त᳓ उ᳓पक्षियन्ति +++(=उपवसन्ति)+++
श्रुधि᳓ श्रुत श्रद्धिवं᳓ ते वदामि ॥ ४॥

05 अहमेव स्वयमिदम् - त्रिष्टुप्

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अह᳓म् एव᳓ स्वय᳓म् इदं᳓ वदामि
जु᳓ष्टं देवे᳓भिर् उत᳓ मा᳓नुषेभिः ।
यं᳓ काम᳓ये तं᳓-तम् उग्रं᳓ कृणोमि
तं᳓ ब्रह्मा᳓णं त᳓म् ऋ᳓षिं तं᳓ सुमेधा᳓म् ॥ ५॥

06 अहं रुद्राय - त्रिष्टुप्

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अहं᳓ रुद्रा᳓य ध᳓नुर् आ᳓तनोमि
ब्रह्म-द्वि᳓षे श᳓रवे ह᳓न्तवा᳓+++(6.1.200 इति स्वरः)+++ उ ।
अहं᳓ ज᳓नाय सम᳓दं कृणोम्य्
अहं᳓ द्या᳓वा-पृथिवी᳓ आ᳓विवेश ॥ ६॥

07 अहं सुवे - त्रिष्टुप्

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अहं᳓ सुवे पित᳓रम् अस्य मूर्ध᳓न्
म᳓म यो᳓निर् अप्स्व् अ᳓१᳓न्तः᳓ समुद्रे᳓ ।
त᳓तो वि᳓तिष्ठे भु᳓वना᳓नु वि᳓श्वो-
ऽता᳓मूं᳓ द्यां᳓ वर्ष्म᳓णा+++(=vertex)++++उ᳓पस्पृशामि ॥ ७॥

08 अहमेव वात - त्रिष्टुप्

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अह᳓म् एव᳓ वा᳓तऽइव प्र᳓वाम्य्
आर᳓भमाणा भु᳓वनानि वि᳓श्वा ।
परो᳓ दिवा᳓ पर᳓ एना᳓+++(=अनया)+++ पृथिव्या᳓
+एता᳓वती महिना᳓ स᳓म्बभूव ॥ ८॥