Note 1. Sâyana takes Parushnî as the name of one of the rivers of the Punjâb, called the Irâvatî, and at present the Ravi. Parushnî might mean speckled, muddy, as a synonym of prisni. Roth has suggested that parushnî might here mean cloud. But what is the meaning of parushnî in a similar passage, IV, 22, 2. (Índrah) sriyé párushnîm ushámânah–û´rnâm yásyâh párvâni sakhyâ´ya vivyé? If it means that Indra clothed himself in speckled wool, that wool might be intended for what we call woolly or fleecy clouds. As the Maruts often perform the same acts as Indra, we might read in our verse utá sma té párushnîs û´rnâh, and pronounce utá sma té párushnia û´rnâh, though Lanman, p. 395, objects to ias for îs in the acc. plur. See, however, hetî´h ádevîh in VIII, 61, 16. The instrumental singular is possible, but again unusual with vas, párushnyâ û´rnâ. Possibly the original meaning of parushnî may have been forgotten, and if the name of the river Parushnî was generally known, it might easily have taken the place of parushnî, the cloud. For other explanations see Roth, Über gewisse Kürzungen, Wien, 1887; Bartholomae, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXIX, 583; Schmidt, Die Pluralbildungen der indogermanischen Neutra, 1889, p. 307.

Verse 10.

Note 1. Vishtâráh does not occur again, and Lanman is therefore quite justified in assigning to it the meaning of straw (p. 339). He paraphrases: 'Let their customs carry them where they may, yet when I sacrifice, they wait quietly on the straw, i. e. the altar, for it.' He reads in the Pada text vi-stâré for vi-stâráh. Vishtârín, which occurs AV. IV, 34, 1, does not throw much light on the exact meaning of vishtâra in this place. If we retain Vishtâráh, the nominative, we must assign to it the meaning of crowd, and refer it to the Maruts.

Verse 11.

Note 1. Pârâvata is a turtle-dove (VS. XXIV, 25), and it is just possible that the Maruts might have been compared to them. But pârâvata is used in VIII, 100, 6, as an epithet of vasu, wealth, and in VIII, 34, 18, we read of râtis (not râtris), i. e. gifts of Pârâvata. The river Sarasvatî is called pârâvataghnî, killing Pârâvata, VI, 61, 2, and in the Pañkav. Br. IX, 4, 1I, we hear that Turasravas and the Pârâvatas offered their Somas together. I am therefore inclined to take Pârâvata, lit. distant people, extranei, strangers, as a name of an Aryan border clan with whom the Vedic Aryas were sometimes at war, sometimes at peace. In that case the frontier-river, the Sarasvatî, might be called the destroyer or enemy of the Pârâvatas. As their wealth and gifts have been mentioned, to compare the Maruts with the Pârâvatas may mean no more than that the Maruts also are rich and generous. Ludwig thinks of the Παρυῆται, which seems more doubtful. For a different interpretation see Delbrück, Syntax, p. 531.

Verse 12.