Note 1. Hiranyagarbha a has been translated in different ways, and it would perhaps be best to keep it as a proper name, which it is in later times. It means literally the golden embryo, the golden germ or child, or born of a golden womb, and was no doubt an attempt at naming the sun. Soon, however, that name became mythological. The golden child was supposed to have been so called because it was Pragâpati, the lord of creation, when dwelling as yet in the golden egg, and Hiranyagarbha became in the end a recognised name of Pragâpati, see Say. on X, 121, 1. All this is fully explained by Sâyana, TS. IV, 1, 8, 3; IV, 2, 8, 2; by Mahîdhara, VS. XIII, 4.

Verse 2.

Muir: He who gives breath, who gives strength, whose command all, [even] the gods, reverence, whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death: to what god shall we offer our oblation?

Ludwig: Geber des lebendigen hauches, geber der kraft, zu des unterweisung alle Otter sich einfinden, des glanz die unsterblichkeit, dessen der tod ist, Ka, dem gotte, möchten wir mit havis aufwarten.

Note 1. In order to account for the repetition of yasya, Sâyana and Mahidhara take visve for men, and devâh for gods.

Note 2. It is difficult to say what is meant by khâyâ, shadow. I take it in the sense of what belongs to the god, as the shadow belongs to a man, what follows him, or is determined by him. In that sense Sâyana also takes it, TS. IV, 1, 8, 4, yasya pragâpates khâyâvat svâdhînam amritam, moksharûpam, mrityuh, prâninâm maranam api, yasya khâyeva svâdhinah; and, though not quite so clearly, in RV. X, 121, 2. Mahîdhara on the contrary takes khâyâ in the sense of refuge, and says, whose shadow, i. e. whose worship, preceded by knowledge, is amrita, immortality, a means of deliverance a, while ignorance of him is death, or leads to samsâra.

Verse 3.

Muir: Who by his might became the sole king of the breathing and winking world, who is the lord of this two-footed and four-footed [creation]: to what god shall we offer our oblation?

Ludwig: Der des atmenden, augenbewegenden lebendigen durch seine grösze der einzige könig geworden; der verfügt über disz zwei- und vier-füszige, Ka, dem gotte, möchten wir mit havis aufwarten.

Note 1. It is difficult to say whether nimishatah means twinkling or sleeping. It has both meanings as to wink has in English. Sâyana (X, 121, 3; TS. IV, 1, 8, 4) and Mahidhara (VS. XXIII, 3 b) explain it by winking. This may be right as expressing sensuous perception, in addition to mere breathing. In X, 190, 2, vísvasya misható vasî´ means, lord of all that winks, i. e.

lives. The later idea, that the gods do not wink, has nothing to do with our passage.

Verse 4.

Muir: Whose greatness these snowy mountains, and the sea with the Rasâ (river), declare,—of whom these regions, of whom they are the arms: to what god shall we offer our oblation?