The real difficulty lies in ágani. Can it mean he begot, as Bergaigne (Religion Védique, III, 35) interprets it? Wherever ágani occurs it means he was born, and I doubt whether it can mean anything else. It is easy to suggest aganît, for though the third person of the aorist never occurs in the RV., the other persons, such as aganishta, ganishthâh, are there. But, as the verse now stands, we must translate, 'When Rudra was born for you, he the strong one in the bright udder of Prisni.' Could Rudra be here conceived as the son, he who in other passages is represented as the husband of Prisni? There is another passage which may yield the same sense, VI, 66, 3. vidé hí mâtâ´ maháh mahî´ sâ´, sâ´ ít prísnih subhvẽ gárbham â´ adhât, 'for she, the great, is known as the mother of the great, that very Prisni conceived the germ (the Maruts) for the strong one.'

Verse 3.

Note 1. Ukshánte is explained by washing, cleaning the horses, before they start for a new race. See V, 59, I. ukshánte ásvân, followed by tárushante â´ rágah; IX, 109, 10. ásvah ná niktáh vâgî´ dhánâya; Satap. Br. XI, 5, 5, 13. Pischel (Ved. Stud. I, 189) supposes that it always refers to the washing after a race.

Note 2. Nadásya kárnaih is very difficult. Sâyana's explanation, meghasya madhyapradesaih, 'through the hollows of the cloud,' presupposes that nada by itself can in the RV. be used in the sense of cloud, and that karna, ear, may have the meaning of a hole or a passage. To take, as BR. propose, kárna in the sense of karná, eared, with long ears, would not help us much. Grassmann's

translation, 'mit der Wolke schnellen Fittigen,' is based on a conjectural reading, nadasya parnaih. Ludwig's translation, 'mit des fluszes wellen den raschen eilen sie,' is ingenious, but too bold, for karna never means waves, nor nada river in the Rig-veda. The Vedârthayatna gives: 'they rush with steeds that make the roar,' taking karnaih for kartribhih, which again is simply impossible. The best explanation is that suggested by Pischel, Ved. Stud., p. 189. He takes nada for reed, and points out that whips were made of reeds. The karna would be the sharp point of the reed, most useful for a whip. I cannot, however, follow him in taking âsúbhih in the sense of accelerating. I think it refers to asva in the preceding pâda.