In VIII, 100, 10 and 11, after it has been said that the thunderbolt lies hidden in the water, the poet says: yát vâ´k vádantî avi-ketanâ´ni râ´shtrî devâ´nâm ni-sasâ´da mandrâ, when the voice, the queen of the gods, the delightful, uttering incomprehensible sounds, sat down. If, in our verse, we take Vâk in the sense of thunder, but as a feminine, it seems to me that the poet, speaking of the lightning and thunder as the two companions of the Maruts, represents the first, Rodasî, or the lightning, as the recognised wife.. hiding herself in the house, while the other, the loud thunder. is represented as a more public companion of the Maruts, distinctly called vidatheshu pagrâ (verse 6), a good speaker at assemblies. This contrast, if it is really what the poet intended, throws a curious light on the social character of the Vedic times, as it presupposes two classes of wives, not necessarily simultaneous, however,—a house-wife, who stays at home and is not much seen, and a wife who appears in

public and takes part in the society and conversation of the sabhâ, the assembly-room, and the vidathas, the meetings. The loud voice of the thunder as well as the usual hiding of the lightning might well suggest this comparison. That good manners, such as are required in public, and ready speech, were highly esteemed in Vedic times, we learn from such words as sabhéya and vidathyã. Sabhéya, from sabhâ, assembly, court, comes to mean courtly, polite; vidathyã, from vidatha, assembly, experienced, learned.

VIII, 4, 9. kandráh yâti sabhâ´m úpa.

Thy friend, Indra, goes brilliant towards the assembly.

X, 34, 6. sabhâ´m eti kitaváh.

The gambler goes to the assembly.

VI, 28, 6. brihát vah váyah ukyate sabhâ´su.

Your great strength is spoken of in the assemblies.

Wealth is described as consisting in sabhâs, houses, IV, 2, 5; and a friend is described as sabhâsaha, strong in the assembly, X, 71, 10.

Sabhéya is used as an epithet of vipra (II, 24, 13), and a son is praised as sabheya, vidathya, and sadanya, i. e. as distinguished in the assemblies.

Vidathyã, in fact, means much the same as sabheya, namely, good for, distinguished at vidathas, meetings for social, political, or religious purposes, IV, 21, 2; VII, 36, 8, &c.

Note 3. Úparâ ná rishtih. I do not see how uparâ can here mean the cloud, if it ever has that meaning. I take ûpara as opposed to pûrva, i. e. behind, as opposed to before. In that sense ûpara is used, X, 77, 3; X, 15, 2; 44, 7, &c. It would therefore mean the spear on the back, or the spear drawn back before it is hurled forward.

B. R. propose to read sam-vâk, colloquium, but they give no explanation. The reference to VS. IX, 2, is wrong.

Verse 4.