MANDALA V, HYMN 20.

ASHTAKA IV, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 12.

1 . Whatever good, O Agni, best acquirer of gain, thou thinkest (fit), praise thou that (good), which is celebrated in songs, among the gods as our share.

2. They, Agni, who do not set into motion for thee (prayers or offerings), when grown full of mighty strength , turn away to encounter the hatred and the tricks of him who follows another (i. e. a wrong) law .

3. We choose thee as our Hotri, Agni, the giver of skill; offering delight (to thee) we call with our prayer (thee), the foremost at the sacrifices.

4. So that we, O strong one, (may be ready) for thy favour, for wealth and Rita, O highly wise one: thus may we day by day rejoice with cows and rejoice with heroes.

NOTES.

The Rishi is Prayasvanta Atreya (cf. verse 3. prayasvantah havamahe), the metre Anushtubh, verse 4 Pankti.--Verse 1 = VS. XIX, 64.

Verse 1.

Note [5:20:1:1]1. Professor Max Muller proposes to read vagasa'tamam, as in IX, 98, 1. Pischel (Vedische Studien, I, 200) translates this verse: 'O Agni, das ruhmenswerte Gut, das du fur geeignet haltst, das preise du zugleich mit unsern Liedern (no girbhir yugam) den Gottern an (diis vendita).' He explains: 'Agni soll den Gottern Gut bringen and sie

veranlassen, es den Menschen fur die Lieder zu schenken.' I cannot follow Pischel's theory about the identity of the roots pan and pan (comp. about pan the quotations collected by Bartholomae, Indogermanische Forschungen, III, 180); and the paraphrase 'diis vendita' seems inadmissible to me. I differ from Pischel, besides, in the interpretation of yugam; cf. rayim ... yugam, IV, 37, 5; raya' yuga', VII, 43, 5; 95, 4.

Note [5:20:1:2]2. Neisser, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XX, 55, explains panaya as standing for panayama, and compares V, 56, 2 (?).

Verse 2.

Note [5:20:2:1]1. On vridh with the genitive, compare Delbruck; Altindische Syntax, p. 158; Macdonell, Journal Roy. As. Soc., 1893, p. 433. Grassmann's conjecture vriddha(v) is a failure.

Note [5:20:2:2]2. With the second hemistich compare VS. XXXVIII, 20 (Satapatha Brahmana XIV, 3, 1, 9); TAr. IV, 11, 4 (cf. V, 9, 7).

Verse 4.

Note [5:20:4:1]1. Syama stands, as the accent shows, in an independent clause. Prof. Max Muller proposes to change the accent: 'So that we ... may for thy favour, for wealth and Rita day by day rejoice with cows.'