१३५

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘यस्मिन्’ इति सप्तर्चं सप्तमं सूक्तं यमगोत्रस्य कुमारस्यार्षमानुष्टुभं यमदेवत्यम्। तथा चानुक्रान्तं- यस्मिन् कुमारो यामायनो याममानुष्टुभं तु ’ इति ॥

Jamison Brereton

135 (961)
Yama
Kumāra Yāmāyana
7 verses: anuṣṭubh
Both baffling and deeply engrossing, this hymn has given rise to a multitude of interpretations, none of which produces a completely satisfactory reading. Without discussing previous interpretations in detail, we will add our own, with no expectation that it will meet with any more acceptance than those that preceded it.
It is generally (but not universally) agreed that it concerns a death, either that of a boy or that of his father, and the journey to (or from) the realm of Yama, the ruler of the dead (see, e.g., X.14). Both a boy (kumārá, vss. 3–5) and a father (vs. 1) are explicitly mentioned in the hymn, and we follow those who consider the dead man to be the father. The pleasant place over which Yama has domain is described in the first and last (7) verses; in the first verse the dead person is traveling there, while in the last he seems to have reached it successfully.
The first two verses appear to be spoken by the boy whose father has just died. He imagines his father’s journey to Yama (vs. 1), and in verse 2 he displays a psy chologically plausible ambivalence: he longs to see his father again, but recoils from even the thought of following him on his road to the realm of the dead. The solu tion to his psychological dilemma seems to be given in verses 3–4: the boy creates a mental chariot without wheels that he mounts without seeing it, and presum ably this vehicle carries him to his father without the rigors of the journey. To us this mental conveyance suggests a dream, and many of us have experienced such reunions with the beloved dead in dreams. But the chariot can also be (and in vs. 4 more likely is) the ritual, quite possibly the correctly performed funeral service for his father.
The real problems in this hymn are found in verses 5–6 and in particular the word anudéyī, found in both verses (5d, 6a) in identical phrases. Although the word is a transparent gerundive, in the feminine, formed to the lexeme ánu-√dā “hand over, concede” and should therefore mean “to be handed over, conceded,” its exact usage is completely unclear. Its only other occurrence is in the wedding hymn (X.85.6), where it appears to refer to a bridesmaid or female servant of the bride, who is to accompany her to her new home. Interpretations of the word in this hymn vary wildly, an indication of the problems it poses: Grassmann “Braut” (bride); Geldner “Amme” (nurse); Renou “viatique” (provisions for a journey; EVP), but “chargement” (cargo; Hymnes spéculatives [1956]); Oldenberg (following Caland) “Anustaraṇīkuh” (cow to be killed at the funeral rite); Griffith “funeral gift”; Macdonell “equipment”; Doniger O’Flaherty “gift for the journey.” Our own interpretation is informed by the use of the lexeme ánu-√dā in an Atharvaveda pas sage (AVŚ VI.118.1–2), a passage found in various versions also in the Paippalāda recension of the Atharvaveda, in the Maitrāyaṇa Saṃhitā, and in the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka. In this passage the speaker asks for his offenses, his debts (r̥ṇá), to be forgiven, using the verb ánu-dā (vs. 1: “let the two Apsarases forgive this r̥ṇá of ours today”), and he seeks for this to happen before he enters “Yama’s world.” The part of the passage concerning Yama’s world is read variously in the various texts and has clearly been subject to corruption, but in most readings the person in ques tion fears entering Yama’s world “with a rope on” (ádhirajju), a rope presumably imposed by his debts.
Reading our passage with these passages in mind, we may speculate that verses 5 and 6 find the father arriving at Yama’s world with the same anxiety apparent in the passages just referred to: that he will be called to account for the debts he owes and must prove that they have been repaid or forgiven (ánu-√dā) before he enters that realm. The Taittirīya Saṃhitā (VI.3.10.5) already knows the three debts (also r̥ṇá) with which a brahmin is born: studentship to the r̥ṣis, sacrifice to the gods, and sons for his ancestors. Although we see no trace of studentship in this hymn, the two questions in the first half of verse 5 provide implicit answers about the other two debts: the dead man begat a son, and he (and/or the son) also sent forth the chariot of sacrifice. Satisfactory answers about these debts clear the way for the father to enter Yama’s realm in verse 6, and it may in fact be Yama who is asking the questions.
Several questions remain, however. Since r̥ṇá “debt” is a neuter noun, why is ánudeyī feminine in gender? There are no obvious feminine referents in this hymn that could underlie this adjective. For this problem the Atharvaveda passage

provides a clue. As was noted above, the protagonist in that passage fears entering Yama’s world “with a rope on,” with the rope representing his unpaid debts. The word rájju “rope” is feminine, and we suggest that this symbolic representation is the referent of ánudeyī. A more literal rendering than that given in the translation below would be “(the rope/fetter of debt) to be forgiven.”
Even in this interpretation verse 6 remains somewhat puzzling, though the over all impression made by the last three pādas is that of the enlargement of space. Here the clue is found in the final pāda, in the word niráyaṇam “coming forth.” The lexeme nír-√i (and closely related nír-ā́-√i) is almost entirely confined in the R̥gveda to birth contexts, to “coming forth” from the womb or a womblike container. In X.60.7 it is used not of an original birth, but of a symbolic rebirth, recalling a sick man to life. We suggest that here, too, a rebirth is at issue, but this time it is the rebirth into a happy life in Yama’s world, where the dead man will be reunited with his body and partake of the pleasures hinted at in verses 1 and 7, as well as in, for example, X.14 (esp. vss. 7–9). The reuniting with the body after death in a distant realm is treated at length in X.56, where it is also likened to birth (X.56.1). The rebirth in our verse is somewhat graphically depicted, with the top (the head of the infant) coming out first, then the rest of his body, until the coming forth is completed. (Or, alternatively, the nirayaṇam may actually refer to the afterbirth.)
The last verse announces the dead and now reborn man’s arrival at Yama’s delightful seat, with the emphatic annunciatory pronouns idám (7a), iyám (7c), ayám (7d), all meaning “here is, this one right here.” The promise of verse 1 has finally been fulfilled.
For a detailed presentation of this interpretation of X.135, see Jamison (forthcoming d).

Geldner

Der Sohn:

01 यस्मिन्वृक्षे सुपलाशे - अनुष्टुप्

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यस्मि॑न्वृ॒क्षे सु॑पला॒शे दे॒वैः स॒म्पिब॑ते य॒मः ।
अत्रा॑ नो वि॒श्पतिः॑ पि॒ता पु॑रा॒णाँ अनु॑ वेनति ॥

02 पुराणाँ अनुवेनन्तम् - अनुष्टुप्

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पु॒रा॒णाँ अ॑नु॒वेन॑न्तं॒ चर॑न्तं पा॒पया॑मु॒या ।
अ॒सू॒यन्न॒भ्य॑चाकशं॒ तस्मा॑ अस्पृहयं॒ पुनः॑ ॥

03 यं कुमार - अनुष्टुप्

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यं कु॑मार॒ नवं॒ रथ॑मच॒क्रं मन॒साकृ॑णोः ।
एके॑षं वि॒श्वतः॒ प्राञ्च॒मप॑श्य॒न्नधि॑ तिष्ठसि ॥

04 यं कुमार - अनुष्टुप्

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यं कु॑मार॒ प्राव॑र्तयो॒ रथं॒ विप्रे॑भ्य॒स्परि॑ ।
तं सामानु॒ प्राव॑र्तत॒ समि॒तो ना॒व्याहि॑तम् ॥

05 कः कुमारमजनयद्रथम् - अनुष्टुप्

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कः कु॑मा॒रम॑जनय॒द्रथं॒ को निर॑वर्तयत् ।
कः स्वि॒त्तद॒द्य नो॑ ब्रूयादनु॒देयी॒ यथाभ॑वत् ॥

06 यथाभवदनुदेयी ततो - अनुष्टुप्

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यथाभ॑वदनु॒देयी॒ ततो॒ अग्र॑मजायत ।
पु॒रस्ता॑द्बु॒ध्न आत॑तः प॒श्चान्नि॒रय॑णं कृ॒तम् ॥

07 इदं यमस्य - अनुष्टुप्

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इ॒दं य॒मस्य॒ साद॑नं देवमा॒नं यदु॒च्यते॑ ।
इ॒यम॑स्य धम्यते ना॒ळीर॒यं गी॒र्भिः परि॑ष्कृतः ॥