१३६

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सायण-भाष्यम्

‘केशी ’ इति सप्तर्चमष्टमं सूक्तमग्निसूर्यवायुदेवताकम् । वातरशनपुत्रा जूतिवातजूतिप्रभृतयः प्रत्यृचं क्रमेणर्षयः । तथा चानुक्रान्तं- केशी मुनयो वातरशना जूतिर्वातजूतिर्विप्रजूतिर्वृषाणकः करिक्रत एतश ऋष्यशृङ्गश्चैकर्चाः कैशिनम्’ इति । गतो विनियोगः ॥

Jamison Brereton

136 (962)
Muni [the Kesins “Long-Haired Ones”] ́
Vātaraśana’s seven sons, the munis Jūti 1, Vātajūti 2, Viprajūti 3, Vrṣḁ̄ ṇaka 4, Karikrata 5, Etaśa 6, R̥śyaśrṅ̥ ga 7
7 verses: anuṣṭubh
This short hymn about the long-haired (keśin) ascetic (muni) has gained a certain measure of fame as an apparent precursor of later extreme ascetic practices and of the Rudra-Śiva cult (based especially on the mention of Rudra in the last verse, where the ascetic drinks an apparent cultic substance in company with Rudra). From the R̥gvedic point of view its closest analogue is the Labasūkta (X.119), describing the sensations of a soma-drinker, with its refrain “Have I drunk of the soma? Yes!” Both hymns depict the experience as flight, especially flight sped by the wind (here see vss. 2–6) and affording a bird’s eye view of the earth and its inhabit ants (here vs. 4–5), and also emphasize the subject’s sense of power over cosmic entities (here esp. vss. 1, 5).
The difference seems to be the identity of the drink that produces these sensa tions: soma in I.119, “poison” (viṣá) in this hymn. The mention of the latter sub stance begins and ends this hymn (vss. 1a, 7c) in ring composition. It is unclear what the liquid in question is. However, it should be noted that the drinker himself/itself is provided with characteristic somian vocabulary (“sweet, most exhilarating”) in the last pāda (6d) before the final verse depicting the preparation and drinking of the poison, and furthermore that the preparation of this poison by churning/stir ring (√manth) and crushing (√piṣ) seems to mimic the preparation of soma: “crush” is semantically close to “press” (√su), and a certain type of soma, mixed with meal, is technically called manthín. The prominence of the wind-god Vāyu (vss. 5, 7) is also reminiscent of the soma sacrifice, for Vāyu, along with Indra, is the first recipi ent of the soma drink. Thus, the cultic practice here is either being presented as a mirror-image analogue of the orthodox soma sacrifice, or in fact is the soma sacri fice, but in esoteric guise.

01 केश्यट्ग्निं केशी - अनुष्टुप्

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के॒श्य१॒॑ग्निं के॒शी वि॒षं के॒शी बि॑भर्ति॒ रोद॑सी ।
के॒शी विश्वं॒ स्व॑र्दृ॒शे के॒शीदं ज्योति॑रुच्यते ॥

02 मुनयो वातरशनाः - अनुष्टुप्

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मुन॑यो॒ वात॑रशनाः पि॒शङ्गा॑ वसते॒ मला॑ ।
वात॒स्यानु॒ ध्राजिं॑ यन्ति॒ यद्दे॒वासो॒ अवि॑क्षत ॥

03 उन्मदिता मौनेयेन - अनुष्टुप्

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उन्म॑दिता॒ मौने॑येन॒ वाताँ॒ आ त॑स्थिमा व॒यम् ।
शरी॒रेद॒स्माकं॑ यू॒यं मर्ता॑सो अ॒भि प॑श्यथ ॥

04 अन्तरिक्षेण पतति - अनुष्टुप्

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अ॒न्तरि॑क्षेण पतति॒ विश्वा॑ रू॒पाव॒चाक॑शत् ।
मुनि॑र्दे॒वस्य॑देवस्य॒ सौकृ॑त्याय॒ सखा॑ हि॒तः ॥

05 वातस्याश्वो वायोः - अनुष्टुप्

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वात॒स्याश्वो॑ वा॒योः सखाथो॑ दे॒वेषि॑तो॒ मुनिः॑ ।
उ॒भौ स॑मु॒द्रावा क्षे॑ति॒ यश्च॒ पूर्व॑ उ॒ताप॑रः ॥

06 अप्सरसां गन्धर्वाणाम् - अनुष्टुप्

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अ॒प्स॒रसां॑ गन्ध॒र्वाणां॑ मृ॒गाणां॒ चर॑णे॒ चर॑न् ।
के॒शी केत॑स्य वि॒द्वान्त्सखा॑ स्वा॒दुर्म॒दिन्त॑मः ॥

07 वायुरस्मा उपामन्थत्पिनष्थि - अनुष्टुप्

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वा॒युर॑स्मा॒ उपा॑मन्थत्पि॒नष्टि॑ स्मा कुनन्न॒मा ।
के॒शी वि॒षस्य॒ पात्रे॑ण॒ यद्रु॒द्रेणापि॑बत्स॒ह ॥