This thy car is strong, O Indra, and thy bays are strong; thou art strong, O omnipotent, our call is strong. The stone is strong, the draught is strong, the Soma is strong, which is here poured out; the sacrifice which thou orderest is strong, our call is strong. I, the strong, call thee, the strong, thou holder of the thunderbolt, with manifold blessings; for thou hast desired our praise; our call is strong.

There are other passages of the same kind, but they are too tedious to be here repeated. The commentator, throughout, gives to each vríshan its full meaning either of showering down or bounteous, or male or-bull; but a word which can thus be used at random has clearly lost its definite power, and cannot call forth any definite ideas in the mind of the listener. It cannot be denied that here and there the original meaning of vríshan would be appropriate even where the poet is only pouring out a stream of majestic sound, but we are not called upon to impart sense to what are verba et praeterquam nihil. When we read, I, 122, 3, vâ´tah apâ´m vrishan-vân, we are justified, no doubt, in translating, 'the wind who pours forth water;' and X, 93, 5, apâ´m vrishan-vasû (íti) sû´ryâmâ´sâ, means 'Sun and Moon, givers of water.' But even in some passages where vríshan is followed by the word vrish, it is curious to observe that vrish is not necessarily used in the sense of raining or pouring forth, but rather in the sense of drinking.

VI, 68, 11. índrâvarunâ mádhumat-tamasya vríshnah sómasya vrishanâ a â´ vrishethâm.

Indra and Varuna, you strong ones, may you drink of the sweetest strong Soma.

That â-vrish means to drink or to eat, was known to Sâyana and to the author of the Satapatha-brâhmana, who paraphrases â vrishâyadhvam by asnîta, eat.

The same phrase occurs I, 108, 3.

I, 104, 9. uru-vyákâh gatháre â´ vrishasva.

Thou of vast extent, drink (the Soma) in thy stomach.

The same phrase occurs X, 96, 13.

VIII, 61, 3. â´ vrishasva—sutásya indra ándhasah.

Drink, Indra, of the Soma that is poured out.

In conclusion, a few passages may be pointed out in which vríshan seems to be the proper name of a pious worshipper:

I, 36, 10. yám tvâ devâ´sah mánave dadhúh ihá yágishtham havya-vâhana, yám kânvah médhya-atithih dhanasprítam yám vríshâ yám upa-stutáh.

Thee, O Agni, whom the gods placed here for man, the most worthy of worship, O carrier of oblations, thee whom Kanva, thee whom Medhyâtithi placed, as the giver of wealth, thee whom Vrishan placed and Upastuta.

Here the commentator takes Vrishan as Indra, but this would break the symmetry of the sentence. That Upastutáh is here to be taken as a proper name, as Upastuta, the son of Vrishtihavya, is clear from verse 17:

agníh pra âvat mitrâ´ utá médhya-atithim agníh sâtâ´ upastutám.

Agni protected also the two friends, Medhyâtithi and Upastuta, in battle.