Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of
the American Oriental Society.
http://www.jstor.org
long life with the gods?'I I am sure that in this way the
word kiri in the sense of 'poet,' with the implication that poets,
in contrast with their employers, are, as a rule, poor men, will
be finally placed upon solid ground. And so kirn and kdr4'
and kista, all from the set- root kari (cf. kirti, 'act of praising:'
I. E. type kiti), need not be separated etymologically. In RV.
5. 4. 10, yas tvd hrda kiinid mrnyamano . . . j'havimi, means
'I, who remember thee with a heart full of praise, fervently
call upon thee.' Geldner, in his R1V Glossary, under kin,
remarks that Savana takes kinr in the sense of 'poet.' Geldner
believes in Sayana more than I do: it would have been well
to have listened to him in this instance, not because Sayana
knows anything special about the word, but because it is
antecedently unlikely that a Hindu could err in the case of
word which must suggest to him the root kari, 'praise.'
5. The Bull-Cow.
4. 3. 10 (Vamadeva; to Agni)
rtena hi sma vrsabha' cid akta'h pum.aAagnih plyasa prsthy'na,
aspandamano acarad vayodha visd Vukralrh duduhlepr`nir udhah.
'In accord with the divine law, indeed, Agni, the bull, the
man, has been annointed with the heavenly fluid. Unwavering
he moved, strength-bestowing; he the bull, the Pr~ni-cow, has
milked his bright udder.' The paradox in pada d between
vrs` , 'bull,' and pr`fni, 'heavenly cow' (especially, 'mother of the
Maruts') has led the interpreters in various directions. Ludwig,
330, changes pr`nir to pr`iver, 'es melkte der stier der Prqni
helles euter;' in his commentary he retains Jpfnir but takes
iytsinzm-::. ............yatinam
IO. A solecism.
1. 8. 5 (Madhuchandas Vaicvamitra; to Indra)
mabafi indrah parkc ca nfi mahitvam astu vajrine,
dyaur na4prathin&ai
Qavah.
'Great is Indra, aye more than great: may greatness be to
him that wields the club, strength extensive as the sky.' Pada c
is repeated in the following Valakhilya stanza:
8. 56 (VYl. 8). 1 (Prsadhra Kanva; Danastuti of Praskanva)
pralti te dasyave vrka radho adargy Ahrayam,
dyaur na prathznd $avah.
Ludwig, 1018: '0 Dasyave vrka! deine unerschopfliche gabe
zeigte sich, als ffille wie der himel an breite.' Grassmann,
ii, 503: 'Es hat sich gezeigt, 0 Dasyavevrka, dein reichliches
geschenk, wie der Himmel breitet sich dein Ruhm aus.' Since
Qatavhmeans neither 'ftille,' nor 'ruhm,' the secondary application
of the Valakhilya pada is clear. The use of the pada is a
mere solecism in this connection. The words rcdho a4hrayarn
are best rendered by 'gift that is not shabby.'
22, 25. The fourth pada is of the very essence of the Rbhu
myth (see especially 4. 33. 4; 4. 35. 2, 7, 8); there can be no
question as to its primary character. This pada, with a single,
obviously ritualistic variant, appears again, to wit:
10. 94. 2 (Arbuda Kadraveya Sarpa; to the Press-Stones)
et6 vadanti cathvat sabaisravad abhi krandanti haritebbir
AsAbhih,
vistv gravinah suktrtah sutkrtyagi h6tuq cit puirve haviradyam
Aqata.
They speak a hundredfold, a thousandfold, shout to us with
their yellow mouth; the press-stones, laboring, they the pious
workers, through their pious work, have come to the eating of
the havis before even the Hotar.' Exact technical proof that
the repeated pada is here modulated secondarily cannot be
rendered, but I am, nevertheless, certain that of the two
phrases vistvi Qafmlbhihin 3. 60. 3, and vistvi gravanah in
10. 94. 2, the former is the mother; cf. vivesa... Qamnibhih in
5. 77. 4, and the interesting epithets of the Rbhus in their
nivid, Hi. 8. 20, vistvi svapasah, and VamydVamistldih. The
expression sukrtah sukrtyalya also belongs primarily to divine
beings; secondarily to a ritualistic instrument like the press-
stones.