how many they are, O Gâtavedas, accept the well-made sacrifice with the sacrificial portions. 14. They who, whether burnt by fire or not burnt by fire, rejoice in their offering in the midst of heaven, give to them, O king, that life, and thy (their) own body, according to thy will.

III, 4, 7. saptá prikshâ´sah svadháyâ madanti.

The seven horses delight in their food.

X, 14, 7. ubhâ´ râ´gânâ svadháyâ mádantâ.

The two kings delighting in their food.

IX, 113, 10. yátra kâ´mâh ni-kâmâ´h ka, yátra bradhnâsya vishtápam, svadhâ´ ka yátra tríptih ka tátra mâ´m amrítam kridhí.

Where wishes and desires are, where the cup of the bright Soma is (or, where the highest place of the sun is), where there is food and rejoicing, there make me immortal.

I, 154, 4. yásya trî´ pûrnâ´ mádhunâ padâ´ni ákshîyamânâ svadháyâ mádanti.

He (Vishnu) whose three places, full of sweet, imperishable, delight or abound in food.

V, 34, 1; II, 35, 7; I, 168, 9; I, 176, 2.

In the tenth book svadhâ is used very much as it occurs in the later Sanskrit, as the name of a peculiar sacrificial rite.

X, 14, 3. yâ´n ka devâ´h vavridhúh yé ka devâ´n svâ´hâ anyé svadháyâ anyé madanti.

Those whom the gods cherish, and those who cherish the gods, the one delight in Svâhâ, the others in Svadhâ; or, in praise and food.

Note 3. The expression garbha-tvám â-îrire is matched by that of III, 60, 3, saudhanvanâ´sah amrita-tvám â´ îrire, the Saudhanvanas (the Ribhus) obtained immortality, or became immortal. I do not think that punar erire can mean, as Ludwig supposes, they pushed away their state of garbha. The idea that the Maruts assumed the form of a garbha, lit. of an embryo or a new-born child, is only meant to express that they were born, or that the storms burst forth from the womb of the sky as soon as Indra arises to do battle against the demon of darkness. Thus we read, I, 134, 4, áganayah marútah vakshánâbhyah, Thou, Vâyu, hast produced the Maruts from the bowels (of the sky).

[paragraph continues] As assisting Indra in this battle, the Maruts, whose name retained for a long time its purely appellative meaning of storms, attained their rank as deities by the side of Indra, or, as the poet expresses it, they assumed their sacred name. This seems to be the whole meaning of the later legend that the Maruts, like the Ribhus, were not originally gods, but became deified for their works. See also Kern, Translation of Brihat-samhitâ, p. 117, note.

Other explanations are: they made that which was born within the cloud into a garbha or embryo; or, they arose with Âditya, proceeded with Savitar, and when Savitar set, they became again garbhas; see Sâma-veda II, 2, 7, 2, comm.

Váhni.

Verse 5.

Wilson: Associated with the conveying Maruts, the traversers of places difficult of access, thou, Indra, hast discovered the cows hidden in the cave.