Note 1. In interpreting this obscure verse we must begin with what is clear. The arunâ´h añgáyah are the well-known ornaments of the Maruts, mentioned I, 37, 2, note; I, 64, 4, note, &c. The Maruts shine in these ornaments or paints, I, 85, 3; 87, 1; V, 56, 1; X, 78, 7. Though we do not know their special character, we know that, like the daggers, spears, and bracelets of the Maruts, they were supposed to contribute to their beautiful appearance. Again, we know that when the Maruts are said to grow (vavridhuh), that means that they grow in strength, in spirits, and in splendour, or, in a physical sense, that the storms increase, that the thunder roars, and the lightnings flash, see V, 55, 3; 59, 5. Now if it is said that the Rudras grew with kshonîs, as if with bright red ornaments, we must have in these kshonîs the physical prototype of what are metaphorically called their glittering ornaments. And here we can only think either of the bright morning clouds (referring to ushâ´h ná râmî´h arunaíh ápa ûrnute in the preceding verse), or lightnings. These bright clouds of heaven are sometimes conceived as the mothers (III, 9, 2. apáh mâtrî´h), and more especially the mothers of the Maruts, who are in consequence called Síndhu-mâtarah, X, 78, 6, a name elsewhere given to Soma, IX, 61, 7, and to the Asvins, I, 46, 2. It is said of a well-known hero, Purûravas (originally a solar hero), that as soon as he was born the women (gnâh) were there, and immediately afterwards

that the rivers increased or cherished him, X, 95, 7. In other passages too these celestial rivers or waters or clouds are represented as women, whether mothers or wives (X, 124, 7). A number of names are given to these beings, when introduced as the companions of the Apsaras Urvasî, and it is said of them that they carne along like añgáyah arunáyah, like bright red ornaments, X, 95, 6. It seems clear therefore that the arunâ´h añgáyah of the Maruts have to be explained by the bright red clouds of the morning, or in more mythological language, by the Apsaras, who are said to be like arunáyah añgáyah. Hence, whatever its etymology may have been, kshonî´bhih in our passage must refer to the clouds of heaven, and the verse can only be translated, 'the Rudras grew with the clouds as with their red ornaments,' that is, the clouds were their red ornaments, and as the clouds grew in splendour, the Maruts grew with their splendid ornaments.