substantive with which sveta is most frequently combined in the Rig-veda, namely asva; comp. I, 116, 6; 118, 9 [119, 10]; VII, 77, 3; X, 39, 10. In V, 1, 4 it is said of Agni: svetah vagi' gayate agre ahnam, 'the white racer is born in the beginning of the days.'

Verse 8.

Note [1:66:8:1]1. The traditional text is yamah ha gatah yamah ganitvam. Ludwig translates 'bewaltiger des gebornen, bewaltiger auch des, was erst geboren wird.' It will scarcely be necessary to state the reasons which make against this translation. Yamah ... yamah evidently means: 'the one twin ... the other twin.' Now if we leave the text unchanged, we cannot but translate: 'the one twin is he who has been born, the other twin is that which will be born'--which sounds very strange. In I, 89, to we have aditih gatam aditih ganitvam; IV, 18, 4. antah gateshu uta ye ganitvah; X, 45, 10. ut gatena bhinadat ut ganitvaih. In all these cases gata and ganitva stand parallel; there is no such difference as in our passage, according to the traditional text, between him (masc.) who is ... and that (neuter) which will be ... Thus I propose to read ganitvah, of which conjecture Ludwig has thought also (see his note, IV, 259): that present Agni who has been born, and that future Agni who will be born, are twins.--Prof. Max Muller has discussed this passage in his Science of Language, II, 630 seqq. He interprets the twin who has been born as Agni representing the morning; the twin who will be born as the evening.

Note [1:66:8:2]2. The maidens very probably are the dawns (comp. Prof. Max Muller's discussion quoted in the last note). Are the wives the sacrificial ladles which approach Agni, or the offerings of ghee, or the prayers? See Bergaigne, Rel. Vedique, II, 9 seqq.

Verse 9.

Note [1:66:9:1]1. This verse is very obscure, and I am quite aware of the merely tentative character of the translation which

[paragraph continues] I propose. I leave vah untranslated (comp. Delbruck, Altindische Syntax, 206), which must be done in most of the numerous verses beginning with the words tam vah. I then read karatha (comp. 68, 1; 70, 3. 7). Vasatya' seems to be either a dative similar to the newly-discovered datives in -a of a-stems, or we possibly should read vasatyai (vasatya' in the Samhita-patha).--Prof. Max Muller thinks of a correction karamah and would translate: 'To him (whom you know--vah) when lighted we go for our dwelling, as the cows reach their home.'

Verse 10.

Note [1:66:10:1]1. Comp. above, 65, 6.

Note [1:66:10:2]2. Or the downwards-streaming libations of Ghrita and the like? Comp. below, I, 72, 10 with note 4.

Note [1:66:10:3]3. Comp. below, 69, 10.