vârkâryâ´ is, of course, unknown. Sâyana's interpretation as 'what is to be made by means of water' is merely etymological, and does not help us much. It is true that the object of the hymn, which is addressed to the Maruts, is rain, and that literally vârkâryâ´ might be explained as 'that the effect of which is rain.' But this is far too artificial a word for Vedic poets. Possibly there was some other word that had become unintelligible and which, by a slight change, was turned into vârkâryâ´, in order to give the meaning of rain-producing. It might have been karkârya, glorious, or the song of a poet called Vârkara, or, as Ludwig suggests, Vrikâri. The most likely supposition is that vârkâryâ´ was the name given to some famous hymn, some pæan or song of triumph belonging to the Gotamas, possibly to some verses of the very hymn before us. In this case the epithet devî´ would be quite appropriate, for it is frequently used for a sacred or sacrificial song: IV, 43, 2: devî´m su-stutím; III, i 8, 3. imâ´m dhíyam sata-séyâya devî´m. See, however, the note to verse 6.

The purport of the whole line would then be that many days have gone for the Maruts as well as for the famous hymn once addressed to them by Gotama, or, in other words, that the Gotamas have long been devoted to the Maruts, an idea frequently recurring in the hymns of the Veda, and, in our case, carried on in the next verse, where it is said that the present hymn is like one that Gotama composed when he saw the Maruts or spoke of them as wild boars with iron tusks. The pushing up the lid of the well for to drink, means that they obtained rain from the cloud, which is here, as before, represented as a covered well.

See another explanation in Haug, Über die ursprüngliche Bedeutung des Wortes Brahma, 1868, p. 5.

Verse 5.

Note 1. Yógana commonly means a chariot:

VI, 62, 6. arenû-bhih yóganebhih bhugántâ.

You who possess dustless chariots.

VIII, 72, 6. ásva-vat yóganam brihát.

The great chariot with horses.

It then became the name for a distance to be accomplished without unharnessing the horses, just as the Latin jugum, a yoke, then a juger of land, 'quod uno jugo boum uno die exarari posset,' Pliny XVIII, 3, 3, 9.

In our passage, however, yógana means a hymn, lit. a composition, which is clearly its meaning in

VIII, 90, 3. bráhma te indra girvanah kriyánte ánatidbhutâ, imâ´ gushasva hari-asva yóganâ índra yâ´ te ámanmahi.

Unequalled prayers are made for thee, praiseworthy Indra; accept these hymns which we have devised for thee, O Indra with bright horses!