Note 2. Whatever the etymology of sûnritâ may be, in our passage, which describes the morning sacrifice and the arrival of Vâyu as the first of the gods, it can hardly mean anything but dawn. Ûrdhvâ sthâ is an expression applied frequently to the rise of the dawn or the morning, see III, 55, 14; 61, 3; VIII, 45, 12. In the last passage sûnritâ is simply the dawn. Ludwig translates, 'deine treflichkeit erhebe sich, günstig aufnemend die absicht.' He, like Bergaigne, III, 295, takes sûnritâ as su-nri-tâ, virtue. It seems to me that sûnrita may be formed irregularly in analogy to an-rita, and then mean true, good. In other places sûnritam seems to mean hymn, like ritavâka, IX, 113, 2. In places where it occurs as a name of Ushas, one feels tempted to conjecture su-nritûs. See also Bartholomae, in Bezzenb. Beitr. XV, 24.

Note 3. On makhásya dâváne, see note to I, 6, 8; but also note to VIII, 7, 27.

Verse 2.

My translation is purely tentative, and I doubt whether the text can be correct. I have taken krâna here in the sense of made, but I am quite aware that this meaning becomes incongruous in our very verse, when repeated for the third time. On its other meanings, see Pischel, Ved. Stud. p. 67. For the whole verse, compare VI, 36, 3. Grassmann translates:

Die lust’gen Indu’s mögen, Vâyu, dich erfreuen,
Die starken, die wir schön gebraut, die himmlischen,
Die milchgemischten, himmlischen;
Wenn Tränke tüchtig deinen Sinn p. 447
Uns zu gewinnen, bei dir sind,
Dann fordere Lieder die vereinte Rosseschar,
Die Speisen zu empfangen auf.

Ludwig: Erfreuen sollen dich die frohen tropfen, Vâyu, von uns bereitet, die morgendlichen, mit milch bereitet, die morgendlichen, dasz der (opfer) tüchtigkeit zukomen hilfleistungen zum gelingen, gewärt, die insgesammt herwärts gerichteten gespanne (antworten) zur (mit) beschenkung den liedern, ihn sprechen an die lieder.

These translations may serve to show that certain verses in the Veda are simply hopeless, and that the translators must not be held responsible if they cannot achieve the impossible.

Verse 3.

Note 1. Purandhi may have meant originally doorkeeper or bar-holder (cardo), from pûh and dhi, being formed like ishudhí, vríshandhi, sevadhí, &c. Purandhrî also may have been πυλωρός, janitor, or rather janitrix, then housewife. Grassmann translates it by Segensfülle, Ludwig by Fülle; Bergaigne, III, 476, has a long note on purandhi, as one of the many names of 'la femelle.' Whatever it meant etymologically, in our passage, where she is to be woke by the wind in the morning (cf. ushásah budhí, I, 137, 2), it is again a characteristic epithet of the dawn, πολιοῦχος, πολιάς, ποαῖτις. See also Pischel, Vedica, p. 202; Hillebrandt, Wiener Zeitschrift, III, 188; 259.

Verse 4.