Verse 6.

Note 1. One of the meanings of nírriti is sin. It is derived from the same root which yielded ritá, in the sense of right. Nírriti was conceived, it would seem, as going away from the path of right, the German Vergehen. Nírriti was personified as a power of evil and destruction.

VII, 104, 9. áhaye vâ tâ´n pra-dádâtu sómah â´ vâ dadhâtu níh-riteh upá-sthe.

May Soma hand them over to Ahi, or place them in the lap of Nirriti.

I, 117, 5. susupvâ´msam ná níh-riteh upá-sthe.

Like one who sleeps in the lap of Nirriti.

Here Sâyana explains Nirriti as earth, and he attaches the same meaning to the word in other places which will have to be considered hereafter. Cf. Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 562.

Wilson treats Nirriti as a male deity, and translates the last words, 'let him perish with our evil desires.'

Note 2. Padîshtá is formed as an optative of the Âtmanepada, but with the additional s before the t, which, in the ordinary Sanskrit, is restricted to the so-called benedictive (Grammar, § 385; Bopp, Kritische Grammatik, ed. 1834,

[paragraph continues] § 329, note). Pad means originally to go. Thus RV. IX, 73, 9, átra kartám áva padâti áprabhuh, may the impotent go down into the pit. In certain constructions it gradually assumed the meaning of to perish, and native commentators are inclined to explain it by pat, to fall. One can watch the transition of meaning from going into perishing in such phrases as VS. XI, 46, ma pâdy âyushah purâ, literally, 'may he not go before the time,' but really intended for 'may he not die before the time.' In the Rig-veda padîshtá is generally qualified by some words to show that it is to be taken in malam partem. Thus in our passage, and in III, 53, 21; VII, 104, 16; 17. In I, 79, 11, however, padîshtá sáh is by itself used in a maledictory sense, pereat, may he perish! In another, VI, 20, 5, pâ´di by itself conveys the idea of perishing. This may have some weight in determining the origin of the Latin pestis (Corssen, Kritische Beiträge, p. 396), for it shows that, even without prepositions, such as â or vi, pad may have an ill-omened meaning. In the Aitareya-brâhmana VII, 14 (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 471), pad, as applied to a child's teeth, means to go, to fall out. With sam, however, pad has always a good meaning, and this shows that originally its meaning was neutral. Another translation, suggested by Ludwig, might be: 'Let not one dreadful Nirriti (sin) after another strike us.'

Verse 7.