MANDALA I, HYMN 77.

ASHTAKA I, ADHYAYA 5, VARGA 25.

1. How shall we sacrifice to Agni? What words, agreeable to the god, shall be addressed to him, the luminous one, who, being immortal and righteous, the Hotri, the best sacrificer, conveys the gods to the mortals ?

2. Bring hither by adoration the Hotri who is most beneficial in sacrifices and righteous. When Agni repairs to the gods on behalf of the mortal , may he be attentive in his mind, and may he perform the sacrifice .

3. For he is wisdom , he is manly, he is straightforward; like Mitra he has become the charioteer of the mysterious . Therefore the Aryan clans , longing for the gods, address him, the wonderful one, as the first at the sacrifices.

4. May that Agni, the manliest of men, triumphant with riches [?] , come with help to our words, to our devotion, and (to the devotion) of those most powerful liberal givers who bent on the prize have constantly stirred up our prayers .

5. Thus Agni, the righteous Gatavedas, has been praised by the priestly Gotamas . May he augment their splendour and their strength. He the knowing one gains increase according to his desire.

NOTES.

The same Rishi and metre.

Verse 1.

Note [1:77:1:1]1. The construction is yah krinoti deva'n martyeshu. Comp., for instance, X, 40, 2. kah vam ... krinute sadhasthe

[paragraph continues] a'. Ludwig translates: der unter den sterblichen der unsterbliche hotar ... schafft die gotter.--'Could it be ishkrinoti?' M. M.

Verse 2.

Note [1:77:2:1]1. The third Pada of this verse has nine syllables instead of eleven. If we read, as several times must be done, martyaya for martaya, we get ten syllables, and the Pada may belong to the defective type mentioned above, 76, 1, note 2.

Note [1:77:2:2]2. Ka seems to me to stand here, as it several times does, in the first of the members of sentence connected by it. See Delbruck, Altindische Syntax, 475. Prof. Max Muller believes that it depends on yat: yat veh, yat ka sa bodhati, 'Bring hither the Hotri ... so that Agni may invite the gods ... and that he (the mortal or Agni) may be attentive, &c.'

Verse 3.

Note [1:77:3:1]1. Grassmann gives to kratu here and in a number of other passages the meaning 'der Starke.' This is inadmissible; comp. Bergaigne, III, 304.

Note [1:77:3:2]2. Here we have again a Pada of ten syllables (see verse 2, note I), unless bhut has dissyllabic value. Prof. Max Muller translates this Pada: 'like a friend he is the charioteer of enormous wealth.'

Note [1:77:3:3]3. Comp. I, 96, 3 (see below).

Verse 4.

Note [1:77:4:1]1. On risa'das, comp. above, I, 26, 4, note 1.

Note [1:77:4:2]2. Comp. I, 92, 8. There Ushas receives the epithet va'gaprasuta.

Note [1:77:4:3]3. Comp. VII, 87, 3. spasah Varunasya ... ye ishayanta manma.

Verse 5.