brown, w. norman - agni, sun, sacrifice, and vāc - a sacerdotal ode by dīrghatamas (rig veda...

8/13/2019 Brown, W. Norman - Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vc - A Sacerdotal Ode by Drghatamas (Rig Veda 1.164)

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Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vc: A Sacerdotal Ode by Drghatamas (Rig Veda 1.164)

Author(s): W. Norman BrownSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1968), pp. 199-218Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/597195 .Accessed: 03/08/2011 17:38

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AGNI, SUN, SACRIFICE, AND VAC: A SACERDOTAL ODE BY DIRGHATAMAS(RIG VEDA 1.164)

W. NORMAN ROWNUNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

TRANSLATORS AND COMMENTATORS ho havedealt with the asy4 vdmasya hymn (Rig Veda1.164) have generally characterized it as difficult,or obscure, or a series of riddles loosely connectedor disconnected, or in other terms expressed agreater or less degree of frustration. It may bepresumptuous to offer another treatment of it butthe excuse is that, even if the total conception of

the hymn presented here should not be accepted,there may at least be some difficulties which thestudy clarifies and to that extent the understandingof the hymn may be advanced.

SUMMARY OF SUBJECT MATTER TREATEDIN T:inI HYMN

The hymn has three great themes, which areAgni, the Sun, and the Sacrifice, all closely inter-connected, while the treatment of them is aug-mented by statements about VWc as the Absolute.The Sun is necessary for the continued operation,

even the original existence itself, of the originalcosmos, and in creating and regulating time itdetermines the all-important sacrificial year. TheSun was brought into being by means of the Sacri-fice and is reborn every morning by renewed cele-bration of the Sacrifice. Agni, "the firstborn of

* During the academic year 1965-66 my Vedic Seminarworked with me on the well-known Rigvedic hymn 1.164(asyt vrdm48ya). The membership of the Seminar be-sides myself was: my colleague Professor Royal W.Weiler, Dr. Noriko Mayeda, who is a recent Ph. D. ofthe University of Pennsylvania, and the following gradu-ate students: Robert P. Goldman, Koji Kamioka, StephanH. Levitt, Barbara Stoler Miller, Ralph Morgan

Morrison,and Sakari Yamnadda. The paper presented here owesmuch to every member of the Seminar. W. N. B.

Some abbreviations used in this paper are: GrW forH. Grassmann, Wbrterbuch zum Rig-Veda; KRPV forA. B. Keith, Religion and Philosophy of the Veda, HOSvols. 31, 32; MVM for A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology,RVR for M. Bloomfield, Rig-Veda Repetitions, HOS vols.20, 24: VeInd for A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith,Vedic Index.

the rta" (prathamaj'a rtsya), learned the sacri-ficial ritual from VAc, taught it to the firstsacrificers, and teaches it to worthy priests today.Behind and over the cosmos and the Sacrifice isVic. She is the One Real (neut.). From heremanated the unorganized material of the universeand the sacrificial ritual needed to organize it,which Agni learned. Vac, having been partitioned,is known in all four of her parts to immortals.To mortals only one fourth is known as variousVedic deities. The Vedic f i Dirghatamas, namedas author of the hymn, learned all this in mysticvision.

METHOD OF STUDYING THiE HYMN

In working with the hymn certain ideas aboutit have seemed pertinent in interpreting it andthese constitute the method of treatment in thispaper. They are the following.

First, the hymn does not seem so much a seriesof riddles as a

highly figurativeand

allusive pre-sentation of ideas, which the author (or possiblyauthors; see below under "Structure of the Hymn")expected the well-informed priesthood of the timeto comprehend easily and admire. The only obviousritualistic riddle (brahmodya) of the usual typeis found in stanzas 34, 35, while two other stanzas(16, 48 ) use a riddle-like form of statement. Insome other stanzas there are questions about majormysteries which the author presents as subjectsof inquiry. Most of the puzzles that post-VedicIndian commentators, modern Indian scholars,and Western scholars have found baffling wouldprobably have been understood by them with rela-tive ease if they had been familiar with all theintricacies of the Vedic ritual contemporary withthe hymn, the full intellectual equipment of thewell-educated priesthood, the current mythologyand doctrine, and the familiar-perhaps in manycases clich&-expressions, figures of speech, intel-lectual assumptions, and hieratic idiosyncrasies

199


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200 BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vac

then in vogue. Much of all this probably does notappear in the preserved Vedic literature or is notexplicitly expounded or clearly reproduced. AsProfessor Kunhan Raja put it (Asya VdmasyaHymn, p. xxxviii), "The contents of the poemturn out to be a riddle to us because we have lostthe clue to the correct interpretation of the poem."We can perhaps visualize the situation if we thinkof someone not fully steeped in the Christian faithtrying to interpret church hymns. Even manyChristians with a fair background of Christian doc-trine, legend, and practice might be mystified bymuch in Christian hymnology. The author (orauthors) of RV 1.164 endeavored to use poetic-orreligiously or philosophically poetic-language of ahighly self-conscious and pedantic kind rather thanto practise intentional obfuscation. The problem,

therefore, is to find in the preserved early Vedicliterature parallel passages, clarifying allusions,or merely obscure hints with which to sense theauthor's thought and then use them as a basis forlogical analysis and deduction to give his meaningprecision.

Secondly, the hymn has a unity, which has beenbriefly stated above in the " Summary of SubjectMatter treated in the Hymn." The notions com-bined in that summary were not all immediatelyobvious at the beginning of this study, but asthey developed they seemed to give the hymnconsistency and purpose and explain why it wascomposed.

The idea that the hymn has a unity and is notjust a series of disconnected or poorly connectedriddles has been previously advanced loosely andby implication rather than explicitly or verycoherently by Haug (1875) 1 and Henry (1894).2It has been developed much more explicitly andin detail by Deussen (1894),3 Kunhan Raja (1956,1963),4 and the late Professor Agrawala (1963).5

Haug looked upon the hymn as intentionallyand consistently given to riddles and riddlesomequestions, which are left to the hearers to resolve(p. 459). Only one of the riddles, he said, isanswered in the text, namely the brahmodya ofstanzas 34, 35 (pp. 461, 464), though the hiera-tically educated, he believed, could doubtless pene-trate them all, and he ventured the suggestionthat the author's name or nickname Dirghatamas"Long (or Deep) Darkness" may refer to theobscurity caused by the mystical covering in whichhe encased his meaning. In pointing out the pre-vailing impenetrability Haug gave the hymn akind of stylistic unity but did not trace a unityof thought.

Henry found in the hymn a series of smallreligio-magical riddles on natural phenomena

(C"petites devinettes naturalistes"), often of anaive character such as would appeal, he said, toa primitive taste like that of the Iroquois or theAfrican negroes. The best way to solve them, hethought, was to put them in plain terms so as tocompare them with analogous specimens offeredby universal folklore (p. 143). Therefore, he said,he translated them in the spirit of artless natural-ism ("dans l'esprit de naturalisme ingenu," p.144). This produces a kind of unity in primi-tivism, which, however, fails to reveal much ofthe hymn's sacerdotal purpose of exalting theSacrifice, the Sun, and Agni, and proclaiming Vdcas the Absolute.

Deussen considered the hymn devoted to anexposition of monism, but this view surely needssome qualification. There is indeed monism inthe hymn centered on VAc, but that is not theprimary message of the hymn. Rather, the hymnpresents monism as background to its presentationof the Sun, the Sacrifice, and Agni and not as itsdominant theme. Further in expressing monismthe hymn seems to affirm that VYc herself is theOne Real (e7.am s4t, 46), a point which Deussendoes not make clear. Nor does he appear to get

the full significance of the emission by Vdc ofthe salilani, the samudrah, the pradigah, and the

I M. Haug, " Vedische Rilthselfragen und Riithsel-spruche (Uebersetzung und Erklarung von Rigv. 1.164),"Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen Classe

d. bairischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Miinchen,1875, pp. 457-515.2 Victor Henry, Les Livres VIII et IX de l'Atharva-

Veda, traduits et comment6s, Paris, J. Maisonneuve,1894, 107-114, 143-157.

8 Paul Deussen, Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie,erste Band, erste Abteilung, erste Teil: Die Philosophieder Inder, erste Periode, die Hymnenzeit 111.3. " DasEinheitslied der Dirghatamas, Rigv. 1.164." Vierte Au-flage, Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1920, 11, pp. 105-119.

4 C. Kunhan Raja, Asya Vdmasya Hymn (The Riddle

of the Universe) 1.?gveda 1.164, Madras, Ganesh and Co.,1956. See also a later work, Poet-Philosophers of the1?gveda, Vedic and Pre-Vedic, Madras, Ganesh and Co.,Private Ltd., 1963, pp. 1-49.

5 V. S. Agrawala, The Thousand-Syllabled Speech. Vol.1. Vision in Long Darkness, Varanasi, VeddranyakaAshram (Distributor, Prithivi Prakashan, Varanasi 5),1963.


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vac 201

aksdram (41, 42). Nevertheless he dealt sug-gestively and informatively and correctly with anumber of difficult passages.

Professor C. Kunhan Raja says, "It is possibleto trace some continuity and to detect some unityin the whole poem . . . One thing is certain; thisis not a haphazard jumble of verses in a singlehymn. There is a unity and there is continuityof thought also, within the whole poem."8 Yethe does not demonstrate a clear unity nor tracea continuity, apparently finding himself unable todo so because of the many missing links he foundin the thought.

Professor Agrawala considers the hymn to be acosmogonic work. As he puts it, Dirghatamas" grapples with Long Darkness, or Mystery ofCreation."7 He quotes from Keith (KRPV, HOS32.435): "In this long hymn of Dirghatamas, wehave a great series of riddles, but there is to beseen in them some degree of cohesion, the influenceof the doctrine of the unity of the world." Pro-fessor Agrawala gives his own interpretation of thehymn: 8 "What the 1gishi has done in this hymnof 52 verses should be clearly understood. Hissingle purpose is to bring together a number ofVedic doctrines about cosmogony which, in oneword, we may say was Srishti VidyA. He has bychoice employed the whole gamut of Vedic ideasabout the cosmos and its creation and has adopted

a symbolical language, constituted by the entirealphabet of the many Vidyds or lores relating tothe gods, metres, time, the universal Cow, TwoBirds, Speech, the Upper and the Lower, theIndestructible One, Heated Boiler, Father-MotherPrinciple, Sacrifice, and several others." In hiselucidation of the separate stanzas Professor Agra-wala draws from post-Rigvedic literature evenmore extensively than from Rigvedic and refers tomany ideas and teachings which cannot be overtlysupported from the Rigveda or even from the otherSamhitds, involving varieties of mysticism forwhich the Samhitds offer no evidence unless onereads into Vedic terms esoteric or unexpressedimplications based upon much later usage of thoseterms or of what Professor Agrawala takes to berelated terms.

Continuity in the hymn is less clearly observable

than unity. There is a certain amount of repeti-tion, and digressive material seems to be intro-duced in several places without indication of thereason for introducing it. It seems necessary,however, to seek the reason for the apparent di-gressions, and for this see below under " Structureof the Hymn."

Thirdly, in trying to penetrate the author'smeaning it seems important to rely to the maxi-mum upon material found in the Rigveda itselfand to use later material sparingly, and only asconfirmatory, rather than primary, evidence, thatis, to use it with extreme caution.

Fourthly, we should be prepared to find thesame phenomenon or personality referred to byvarying epithets or in varying allusions, or, veryoccasionally, to find the same epithet used of morethan one personality. Ambiguities arise from thisfact, especially in the case of Agni and the Sun,for whose assimilation see MVM 93 and elsewhere.A number of stanzas in our hymn might be iiter-preted as applying to either one of the two, e. g.,stanzas 1, 7, 22. In such cases an effort is madehere to interpret according to context. Again,statements are sometimes made which might referto VYc or to Agni or to the Sun; here again whatappears to be the logic of the context governs theinterpretation.

Finally, we may note some general Vedic atti-

tudes which have a bearing upon notions ofcosmogony. One could be called the principle ofpriority. When something precedes another, eitherin time or in space, it is likely to be called thelatter's father or mother or source. Anothergeneral attitude is the value, in many cases magicvalue, attached to numbers, especially three, four,five, seven, which may lead at any time to a forceduse of them. Numbers themselves seem to havea special religious or magical potency which makesthem attractive to Vedic poets.

STRUCTURE F THE HYMNTextual criticism appears important in under-

standing the hymn. Stanzas 1-47 are reproducedwith some variations, omissions, and additionsin AV as hymns 9.9 (RV stanzas 1-22) and9.10 (RV stanzas 23-47), while stanzas 48-52 areomitted. These facts have led to two assump-tions: first, that the RV version is a blend of twohymns which were orginally separate; and, second,

8Asya Vdmasya Hymn, p. xxxvi.7Agrawala, op. cit., Preface, p. i; Introduction, p. 1.8 Ibid., p. 4.


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202 BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and VYc

that stanzas 48-52 are a later, irrelevant additionto the original form of RV 1.164. Neither assump-tion is capable of proof.

With respect to the view that stanzas 1-47 wereoriginally two separate hymns, a division afterstanza 22 seems less logical than a division wouldbe after stanze 25. Stanzas 20-25 constitute a unitdealing with the attainment of immortality, aproblem raised in stanza 20 and answered instanzas 21-22 as lying in instruction received fromAgni, which instruction is made specific in stanzas24-25. Even if it were conceded that 24-25 couldbe separated from 20-23, it would remain true thatthey do not provide a good prelude to stanzas 26-30, which deal with the pravargya rite. It seemsmore reasonable to assume that the AV foundstanzas 1-47 together in a single hymn but sep-

arated them, and the likelihood that this is thecase is heightened by the fact that the AV hasthe two supposed separate hymns in immediatesequence.

With respect to the other assumption-thatstanzas 48-52 are an accretion-we may view thosestanzas by starting with the last of them andworking forward. Stanzas 51-52 are a prayer orcharm to bring rain. In addition, stanza 51 isin a different metre from the rest of the hymn,though that point should not be overstressed. Theprayer could well enough be an addition. Stanza50 may be borrowed from RV 10.90.16-there isother parallelism between our hymn and RV 10.90,as in the case of our stanza 45 (cf. RV 10.90.3).Stanza 49 of our hymn is a prayer to Sarasvat(Vdc?) for blessing, as stanza 40 is also a prayerto Vaic (for identification of Vdc with Sarasvatin the Brahmanas see note to stanza 49). Stanza48 deals with the Sun's function of creating andmaintaining time, as does stanza 11 but with somevariation, and could be an echo or amplificationof the latter. It is possibly meant to reinforcethe view expressed in stanzas 10-12 that it is Vac,not Time, which is the Absolute. The stanzas

48-52 as a group, then, could be an addition tostanzas 1-47, which in their turn may be viewedas representing three levels of reporting, as willnow be suggested in specific terms.

The hymn would be in three Parts, with a Colo-phon, this last consisting of at least stanzas 51-52and possibly, in fact probably, some or all ofstanzas 48-50. The three Parts are: first, stanzas1-30; second, stanzas 31-42; third, stanzas 43-47,

with possibly, but not probably, some or all ofstanzas 48-52. Each of the three Parts purportsto be a part of Dirghatamas's transcendental visionor conceivably a separate vision, and is introducedby the verb apaiyam "I have seen, I saw." TheColophon seems to be unoriginal.

Stanzas 1-30, constituting Part I, would be theoldest portion of the hymn.

Stanzas 31-42, as Part II, would be the nextreport, a supplement to Part I. The first stanzaof Part II (31) carries us back to a topic treatedin stanza 2 of Part I, which is a description ofthe Sun. Stanza 32 speaks of the daily death ofthe Sun, a new topic, while stanzas 33-36 tell ofthe parentage and conception of Dawn, anothernew topic. Stanzas 37-38 treat of the Sun's doublequality as being both immortal and mortal, still

another new topic, leading to an allusion to theimportance of Vac, again a new topic. This lasttheme is amplified in stanzas 39-42, where VAc'ssupremacy and creative activity are affirmed.

Part III (43-47) opens with a description of asacrifice (43-44), possibly repeating the theme ofstanza 3, which concerns the first sacrifice, buthere the sacrifice is described differently. It is asacrifice of the partition of VYc, which is describedin stanzas 45-46. The partition is a new topic,not mentioned in Parts I and II. Stanza 47supplements and amplifies the material in stanza7 about the source of rain.

Parts II and III, therefore, fill in gaps inPart I, as though to answer questions which lis-teners might have raised on hearing Dirghatamas'sfirst report and which he answers here with furtherdetails of his vision.

The important part of the Colophon, whateverits original extent, lies in the two prayers it con-tains-one to Sarasvat (Vdc?) for prosperity (49),the other constituting a charm to bring rain (52).These give the hymn an immediate, concrete, andpractical application, a feature frequently appear-ing in Rig Vedic and other Vedic literature.

In the accompanying Table the stanzas of thethree Parts and the Colophon with their themesare shown in parallel vertical columns. Corres-pondences are on the same horizontal alignment.New topics treated in Parts II and III are shownopposite gaps in Part I which they fill in. It willbe seen that the total material of the three parts,if they were telescoped and presented in a singlecolumn, would follow a continuous logical sequence.


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vdc 203

COSMOLOGY AND COSMOGONY

The cosmological and cosmogonic notions of thehymn do not constitute an integrated system anddo not conform as a whole to any other set ofviews exposed in the Rig Veda. In expressingmonism in stanzas 41-43, 45-46 the hymn presentsa view that might be called intellectually "ad-vanced" or "late" but along with that the hymnalso echoes ideas that belong intellectually to" early" levels of Vedic thought,, as, for example,in what appear to be allusions to the seven cosmicWaters (3, 36) and the heroic feats of Indra andSoma (19). The exaltation of the sacrifice through-out the hymn might be looked upon as belongingto an intellectually "middle" stage of speculativedevelopment.

The description of Dirghatamas's ideas whichnow follows is restricted to this hymn without anybut sporadic comparisons with, or contrasts to,other Vedic material.

The hymn views the universe as consisting oftwo antithetical parts, to which it does not givenames. It is clear that one part is above the other,for the Sun rises each morning from the lowerpart to the upper and in the evening descends tothe lower part. The upper part is the realm ofmen and gods and consists of two worlds, earthand sky, each of which is tripartite. In conse-quence the hymn speaks of the six worlds (6).

The two worlds are propped apart or supportedor sustained or stabilized by the Sun, that is, theyare not chaotic and unsteady but have a fixed formand a definite relationship to each other, whichis maintained by the Sun (10, 14, possibly 6, 13).In the upper part of the universe the rta, cosmicorder or truth, exists, though the hymn does notsay so specifically. It does, however, refer to therta (8, 11, 37, 47). The two worlds, sky andearth, are called the Father and the Mother or thesix Mothers and Fathers (6, 10, 13, 14, 31, 33).Between these two worlds is the atmosphere (33).There is some reason to think that surroundingthe earth is an ocean, from which the Sun emergesevery morning, when light rays carrying waterascend to the sky (7). Though each of the twoworlds is tripartite, that characterization has littlesignificance in the hymn, but another conception,namely, that heaven is in two parts, has an impor-tant relation to the hymn's thought. Heaven isdivided into those two parts by a vault (ni1ka),which is impenetrable to mortals. The upper part

is the abode of Vac, the gods, and the other im-mortals (for the foregoing data see 10, 18, 39, 41,45, 50). The lower heaven, up to the vault, isthe limit of the Sun's ascent (12), doubtless becauseof its mortality.

Below the realm of sky, atmosphere, and earthis the lower of the two parts of the universe, aplace of chaos, the realm of Nirrti "Destruction."This the Sun enters every evening and dies (32),but emerges from it newborn every morning (26-30, 38). The Sun not only keeps heaven and earthin place but also provides light, heat, and moistureto both earth and heaven (7, 47, 51, 52). Butpresumably because the Sun dies every evening onentering the underworld while only its life-force(Ayus) being immortal remains alive, and returnsto life only on emerging the next morning, the

underworld is a tumultuous chaos, wherein nothinghas a fixed place, and is devoid of light, heat, andmoisture.

The two realms are the Sat and the Asat of theIndra-Vrtra myth (cf. JAOS 61.76 ff. and JAOS85.24) and are recognized in somewhat differentguise in RV 10.72.2-4 and RV 10.129.1.

The supreme authority in this universe is VYc,whose place is in the upper heaven (10). Fromher, who is mistress of the aksdra "(creative)syllable," and possessses a thousand, that is, all,syllables (sahasraksard, 1), came the potent soundsused in the

first sacrifice. This sacrifice has to bereproduced every morning to make the Sun riseand keep the universe in operation, and the ritualfor this is known to priests who are qualified tocomprehend it. The ritual comes to priests fromAgni, who received it from VYc. Agni, the first-born of the rta (37), directed the first sacrifice(1) and communicates about the sacrifice withpriests today (21).

The origin of the whole cosmic structure is inVYc. The hymn offers no information about theorigin of Vac or description of her qualities, ifindeed they are describable, or wherein lies hermetaphysical power. She is, however, the OneReal (45, 46). She fashioned the salilkni "tumul-tuous chaotic floods" (41), which recalls the state-ment in RV 10.129.3 that the salikI (sg.) waspresent at the beginning, but no question is raisedthere about its origin. Next the (heavenly) oceansflowed forth from her, in consequence of whichthe four directions exist (42), and then the akpira"syllable" flowed from her, on which this entire


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204 BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vdc

TABLE. Topics treated in separate stanzas of RV 1. 164, shown according to theory that the hymn consists of threeparts, and a colophon, which are complementary. Sequences are shown vertically, correspondenceshorizontally.

Part I (1-30) Part II (31-42) Part III (43-47) Colophon (48-52)

1. Vision of Agni2. Vision of Sun 31. Vision of Sun3. Vision of First

Sacrifice4. Origin of Agni(?)5. Agni as warp of

First Sacrifice6. What was the One

that took formof Sun?

32. (Daily) death of Sun7. Where was Sun

before birth?Source of rain

33. Parentage of Dawn34-35. Ceremony at

Dawn's conception36. Dawn's conception

8. Dawn conceives Sun9. Dawn deserts Sun

10. Sun rises to sky37-38. Sun is both

immortal and mortal11. Sun establishes 48. Sun establishes Year

Year and Time39. Power of the akfara40. May Vdc prosper 49. May Sarasvati (VAc)

favor us41. Vac employs potent

sounds

42. Vdc emits chaoticfloods and unorganizedmaterial of universe

43-44. Sacrifice to producepartition of Vac

45-46. Partition of Vae12. Is Time the Absolute

or dependent?13-14. Sun supports worlds15-16. Sun produces Months,

which determine sacri-ficial year

17-18. Where was Sun born?19. First rites valid today 50. First rites valid today20-25. How to win immor-

tality26-29. Pravargya ceremony30. Sun rises 47. Sun rises; theory of

rain51. Sacrifice as rainmaker52. Prayer for rain


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vac 205

universe has its existence (42). At this point"the heroes" (virdh) took over to perform thefirst sacrifice (43), but who they were or whattheir origin the hymn does not say. It seems thatthe first sacrificers did not function until Agni

was present but, when he was, they, who were gods(devdh), as kavis stretched out seven threads overhim as the warp on which they wove the woof ofthe sacrifice (5). (On the basis of RV 10.72 itmight be assumed that these gods were the ldityas,but, if so, where did they come from? Unlike RV10.72 this hymn offers no information.) Thisseems to be the point at which three "long-hairedones " appear, who may be Agni, Sfirya, and Vayu(44). Vdc was divided in four parts, but bywhom is not stated. Was it by " the heroes " (43)or by "the long-haired ones" (44) ? Or were the

heroes and the long-haired ones the same ? Inparallel Rigvedic passages the gods divide VYcmanifoldly (RV 10.125.3) or the riis divide her(RV 10.71.3). In our hymn the division does notappear to be an act of the rsis. Wise Brahmans,immortal because wise, know all four parts of Vac,but mortals "speak" (vadanti) only one of them.Vdc is the One Real (6kamn at); when the one-fourth part of her is divided she is many gods (46).

Immortality is the share of those with full ritualknowledge (22-25), which is metaphysical in itsorigin and is taught by Agni. This knowledgeleads to the proper use of the metres (23-25) andthe akcsara (39) in fashioning and using hymns.Proper performance of the sacrifice guaranteesimmortality in heaven (50). Only a few favoredpersons seem to receive Vac (39; cf. RV 10.125.5;10.71.4) and can enjoy the bliss of immortality inheaven. Most of them seem in the eyes of theauthor of this hymn to be priests. Other personswould presumably end in the lap of Nirrti "Des-truction." This is obviously a sacerdotal view ofman's hope and despair. It seems implied alsothat failure to perform the sacrifice daily andcorrectly would result in collapse of the cosmic

system and a return to the primordial chaos,though the hymn makes no explicit statement tothat effect.

From the point of view of the hymn the key tothe welfare of mankind and of the cosmos lies incontinued activity of the Sun. He supports theworlds (2, 6, 10-11, 31), and he created and main-tains time (11-16, 48), thus establishing and con-stantly renewing the sacrificial year.

The Sun's mother is Usas (8, 27-29) and hisfather is Dyaus (8). Ueas is the daughter ofDyaus and Prthivi (8, 33) and her conception isdescribed (33-36), a very public affair and a veryholy one. The conception of the Sun by Ueas was,therefore, a case of incest (8). The place of theSun's birth is unknown (17-18), for Usas dis-appeared to bear him (9, 17-18). At birth shedeserted him and he sought her; in doing so herose to heaven, reaching the vault (ndka) thatseparates the lower heaven from the upper but didnot enter the upper heaven (9-10), probably becausehe was mortal and could not. He did not at firstknow his mission, but Agni approached him andhe received a portion of VAc. Thus he becameimmortal as well as mortal (37-38). This weshould probably understand to mean that his life-

force (6yus) is immortal but the body which en-cases it is mortal. Hence the Sun dies everyevening (32), but in doing so and entering Nirrti"Destruction" the Sun is full of progeny (32),that is, destined to have an innumerable lineage.The new birth of the Sun is accomplished or aidedby the pravargya ceremony (26-30). We shouldperhaps understand that when born anew the Sunrises out of the ocean surrounding the earth (7).

An interesting feature of the hymn is its theoryof rain, which is described in stanzas 7, 47, 51, 52.In the first of these stanzas it is stated that, whilethe Sun was still concealed and before it appearedout of the ocean, the cows, a metaphor for lightrays, wearing a covering, drank water with thefoot. The covering is not explained here but instanza 47 it is made clear that the covering consistsof water (apo vdisdnd divam Out atanti "clothedin the waters they rise up to the sky"). In thesky the cows (rays) draw milk from the Sun's head(7) and then descend from the sky to the earth.The water which they take to the earth with themis now metaphorically called milk, since it is thenourishing rain, which, as stanza 47 says, causesthe earth to be moistened with fatness (ad id

ghrtena prthivi vy itdyate). In the latter stanzathe metaphor describing the rays is changed andthey are called "yellow birds " (hdrayah suparncih)which fly up along the dark path (krsnamn ni-yanam), possibly a reference to the blackness ofnight. They are apparently induced to fly up orhelped to do so by the sympathetic magic of theyellow flames of the sacrifice mounting skywardalong with the dark smoke. Two stanzas later in


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206 BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vac

49 the poet invokes the deified heavenly streamSarasvati, who is possibly the same as VYc, topresent her inexhaustible breast to be sucked, thebreast with which she causes all the choicest thingsto flourish (y s te stanak s'as'ayo o mayobhu'r dnaOivde pusyasi vdrydni/yoy ratnadha vasuvid yahsudatrah sarasvati tam ihd dhaitave kah). Instanza 51 he makes the further statement that thewater ascends to the sky and descends to the earthequally in a year (samandm etaid udakacm utc caityava cahabhih). He continues in that stanza byconnecting the process with the sacrifice, sayingthat while the rain clouds vivify the earth, theflames (of the sacrifice) vivify the sky. In thenext stanza (52), which is the final stanza of thehymn, he asks help of the great heavenly bird (theSun), which brings us delight with the rains and

is full of life-giving moisture (abhipato vrstibhstarpayantam sdrasvantam dvase johavimi). As thehymn stands this final prayer is a concrete benefitexpected from its use. If the RV version originallyended with stanza 47, which refers to the sourceof rain, then that stanza could have suggsted tothe poet, possibly not Dirghatamas himself, to endthe enlarged version with a prayer to the Sun tobring rain. Oldenberg (SBE 46.250), not notingstanzas 7 and 47, sees in stanza 51 Agni as theone who brings rain. Agni seems to be a rain-bringer in RV 1.79.1-3. For Agni and the Sunto share the same function need occasion nosurprise.

THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

The hymn is concerned only with the kind ofknowledge that its author considers important.This is metaphysical knowledge, the knowledge ofhigher things, consisting of the operation of theuniverse and the attainment of immortality. Dir-ghatamas won this knowledge in transcendentalvision, but unlike John Bunyan he did not see"in the similitude of a dream." Rather, he tellsus, he searched with mind intent, looking for some-

one to answer his questions (stanzas 4-6). Byexercising mental concentration one may gain thevision trancendental. Three times (stanzas 1, 31,43) the hymn has the narrator say apas.yam "Ihave seen, I saw "-we might put it "I saw thevision splendid " In another passage an inquirerasks the significant question 1o6dadars'a " Who saw,who has seen," and the point seems to be that,since there is no tradition stemming from someone

having sensory experience at the time, who him-self saw the newborn structured one when theunstructured one bore him (4), the only sourceof knowledge has to be revelation, mystic sight.Such knowledge is won by mental activity (manasd,stanza 5), that is, by intuition. A person possessedof knowledge gained in this manner is "possessedof insight (manksin, stanza 45) or is an "inspiredpriest" (vripra, tanza 46) or "possesses the qualityof a kavi (kaviyaimdna, tanza 18). This methodof gaining knowledge is mentioned in a numberof other Rigvedic passages (e. g. 1.163.6; 10.72.1;10.81.4; 10.124.9; 10.129.4; 10.130.6). Those whohave such knowledge are the happy few who aresuccessful in their religious, should we say ritualistic, activities. As our hymn puts it. " Theakesara of the rc, on which the gods in highest

heaven have all taken their seat-what will he whodoes not know it accomplish by means of the rc?Just those who know it sit together here" (39).

In other passages in our hymn VYc, whoknows all, is said to enter or not to enter (visiva-vidam vdcam 'vi~saminvtm, 10) or to have herhighest heaven in the Brahman pries (35) or toenter through the agency of the firstborn of thertd, who is Agni (37). In another stanzaAgni is said to have such knowledge (16),and in still another passage it is said ". . . themighty herdsman of the whole world (Agni),the wise one, has entered me, the simple-ton" (21). VYc says of herself in RV 10.125.5," Whomever I give my favor to, him I makepowerful, a true knower of the mystical power, ars a successful sacrificer (yearn kamdye tam-tamugram krnomi / taim brahmanam tdm rsim tamsumedham). Failure to have a portion of Vac isa calamity for a Vedic priest; it negates all hisefforts (RV 10.71, especially stanza 6). Vacpossesses the aksara of the rc (39, 42), evidentlythe most important akcsara 24), and indeed pos-sesses a thousand, that is all, akcsdras 41). Shecommunicated the metres, which Agni teaches, and

with them gives instructions for their use, thusshowing men how to create effective ceremonialwording and so attain immortality (21-25).

The source of all true knowledge, then, is Vac,who may communicate it directly to whomevershe favors. Or, since she has communicated it toAgni, he may transmit it to human priests. Togain such knowledge one must resort to mentalactivity, that is, introspection or meditation, and


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in trance so induced receive that knowledge intranscendental vision. Dirghatamas has been suc-cessful in gaining that knowledge and so have hiscolleagues (39). To Dirghatamas, a convincedritualist, knowledge of the ritual constitutes that

knowledge (cf. also RV 10.71, which the Anukra-mani says has jdnanrm " Knowledge " as its deity).With knowledge one can see the great events ofthe past, understand the cosmos and know itsorigin, perform effective sacrifices, achieve immor-tality. Thus it is possible for the poet to say:"From her (VYc) flow forth the oceans, in con-sequence of which the four directions exist; fromher flows the alcsdra; on it this entire universehas its existence" (42), and to say further thatVac is the gods and, even more, is the OneExistent (45-46), the Absolute.9

THE ARGUMENT

PART I (stanzas 1-30)In the first three stanzas Dirghatamas announces

a mystic vision (apasyam), which had a triplequality. He saw Agni, meaning the original, eldestform of Agni, the hoty, chief priest, lord of thetribes, accompanied by his seven sons. (1). Hesaw the Sun in the guise of a one-wheeled car, onwhich all these worlds have their place. (2). Simi-larly he saw the first Sacrifice, again in the formof a car. (3) All three parts of his vision areclosely linked, because Agni prescribed the ritualfor the first Sacrifice, which produced the Sun.

Dirghatamas then in four stanzas poses a seriesof four questions, which stand in logical sequence.These concern the origin of Agni, the nature ofthe first Sacrifice, the One (neut.) which was theanimating principle of the Sun, the place wherethe Sun was before its appearance. He beginswith Agni's origin and asks, "Who saw the new-born structured one (masc., Agni) when the un-sructured one (fem., Earth) bore him?" But heleaves the question unanswered. Later in stanza

37 he speaks of Agni as "the firstborn of the rta"(prathamaja rtasya), an epithet also given to Agniin RV 10.5.7. Here he may mean that Agni is asemanation or creation of VYc. (4).

He goes on to report on the first Sacrifice, inwhich the gods set down "footprints," that is,established precedents, for future sacrifices. Askavis they stretched out seven threads over the calf(Agni, the sacrificial fire) just after it was born

(?). This was the warp on which to weave thewoof of the Sacrifice. (5)

Now Dirghatamas brings up the third question,to which again he does not at this time venturean answer: What was the One (neut.) which inthe form of the (as yet) Unborn (Sun) proppedapart these six regions (of heaven and earth) ?An answer to the question about the One is givenin stanzas 41-46, where VAc is called the One Real(6/cam sat). (6).

Then he poses the furth question: Let him whoreally knows proclaim where the place of that

benign bird (the Sun) was located (before itsappearance in the worlds). From its head, headds, the cows (rays) draw milk; when wearinga covering they drank water with the foot. Hedoes not answer this question directly but impliesthat the Sun was in the ocean; cf. notes to thetranslation of this stanza and the discussion ofDirghatamas's theory of rain in the last part of thesection of the Introduction entitled "Cosmologyand Cosmogony." (7).

The hymn now deals with the parentage of theSun. It was begotten on Usas, the Dawn, by herown father Dyaus in accordance with supremeorder (rtd) and in spite of her reluctance, whilereverent worshippers (the kavis mentioned instanza 5?) gave applause. Later in stanza 33 thehymn designates Dawn's parentage. (8). Whenthe calf (Sun) was born, the cow (Dawn), yokedto her car, mentioned as Daksina's car, deserted it,while it in turn searched for her "in three stages,"which may be earth, atmosphere, and sky. (9).Left solitary, the Sun went upward, supporting thethree Mothers (Earth) and the three Fathers (Sky),that is, the two worlds, each of which is tripartite.Never do they weary him. But high though he

went, there was still Vac above him in the upperheaven, which, as other passages indicate, is abovethe vault (na/ca) that separates the upper heavenfrom the lower, and this the text says he did notreach. Vdc knows all but does not enter all, thatis, does not impart her knowledge to all. Sheappears not to have imparted it herself to the Sunbut, as stanza 37 indicates, to have transmittedit to him through the medium of Agni. (10).

9A long, thorough, many-faceted, and detailed studyof Vedic beliefs about acquiring metaphysical knowledgethrough mystical experience has been published by J.Gonda, The Vision of the Vedic Poets, The Hague,Mouton, 1963.


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The Sun creates time or the year and regulatesit. This is a wheel with twelve spokes (months),on which rest 720 sons in pairs; these last are thedays and nights. (11). Dirghatamas records adifference of opinion as to whether Time or the

Year, here called the Father, with twelve aspects,is in the upper half of heaven or is (merely) thewide-seeing one (the Sun) in the lower half. Theissue, it seems is whether or not Time or the Yearis to be considered the supreme force, the sourceof all (as in AV 19.53 and 54). If not, it wouldbe Vac who is the Absolute, as Dirghatamas makesclear in stanzas 41-46 is his own view, and it isshe who occupies the upper heaven, as is stated instanza 10. (12). The wheel of the Sun (or ofTime or the Year) has revolved from yore withoutits axle getting hot or it being damaged. (13).Over the outstretched

(Earth)it

presses on;all

the worlds are kept in motion on it. (14). Beingritualistically conscious, Dirghatamas now men-tions the intercalary month, which disturbs thenormal sacrificial year. (15). The months, hereminds us, are both feminine and masculine, aparadox understood by Agni, who, it is implied,makes the necessary modification in the ritualwhich the intercalary month requires. (16).

The hymn now takes up the mystery of wherethe Dawn went to give birth to the Sun. It wasbelow the upper (part of our universe) and abovethe lower (part), that is, the place was betweenheaven and earth and therefore somewhere in theatmosphere. (17). Who can tell us, he asks, thebirthplace of the Sun, which here appears to becalled the divine mind. (18). The rites by whichthe gods brought these things to pass are validnow as they were then. The same observancesas those of Indra and Soma (in ancient times)continue to be yoked to the chariot pole of theatmosphere and draw it on. (19).

The hymn then takes up the problem of winningimmortality, the great purpose of much meta-physical speculation in the Samhitas and the

Upanishads, and in doing so employs the parableof two birds on the same tree, one of whom eatsthe sweet fruit it bears, while the other looks onwithout eating (apparently not seeing the fruit,though it looks). The tree is the tree of knowl-edge; the birds are two contrasting types ofpriests; and the fruit is immortality. (20). Here(at the sacrifice), where the birds (priests) inconclave flawlessly laud their immortality, the

mighty herdsman of the whole world (Agni) hasentered me, the simpleton. (21) That tree onwhich all the birds that eat the sweet fruit lightand breed-no one eats the sweet fruit at its tip,they say, unless he knows the father (who is Agni).(22). Only those gain immortality who under-stand the structure of the gayatri, tristibh, andjagat metres and the construction of hymns withthem-of course, it is Agni who imparts thisknowledge. (23). One must know how to fashiona hymn, a chant, a unit of recitation, a wholerecitation, and with the "syllable" (aksafra) theseven vanih. We shall see later (stanzas 39-42)that the all-important aksaira comes ultimatelyfrom Vac. (24). Indra ( ?) used the jaigat metreand the rathamtardi hant and so won success. (25).

At this point Dirghatamas narrates a celebration

of the pravargya rite, which is observed in theearly morning and with the use of sympatheticmagic brings, or helps to bring, dawn and the sun-rise. We may plausibly assume that this involvesan application of the teaching in stanzas 23-25concerning the use of metres, chants, and tones.An earthenware pot is heated and fresh milk ispoured in it. The milk boils up, knocks off thelid, and overflows on the fire. The rite describedhere seems likely to be the original pravargyaobservance by the gods as Dirghatamas saw it inhis vision.

Someone not named invokes Dawn, here calleda cow, and happily announces that the pot isheated. (26). The mistress of riches (Dawn),snuffling at here calf (the Sun) and seeking it,has come to give milk for the A~vins. Let herincrease for prosperity The snuffling of the cowis the hissing or humming sound of the milk asit is being heated. (27). She mooes at her calf(the bubbling of the boiling milk) and swells withmilk. (28). The pot sings (as though chanting)and becoming lightning fells the mortal (enemy),knocking off the lid. (29). In the middle one ofAgni's (three) homes (earth, atmosphere, sky)

lies the breathing, swift-moving, living, restless,enduring One (neut.), which may well be the milkrepresented by some neuter word, standing for thelife-force (ayus, neut.) of the reborn Sun. Thestanza says that the life of the dead one (Sun)fares according to its constituent nature (sva-dhaTbhih), dding that the immortal has a commonorigin (sayonih) with the mortal, a statementwhich may mean that the immortal life-force has


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and VTc 209

a common origin with the mortal body it occupies.(30).

PART II (stanzas 31-42)

Dirghatamas now starts the second part of hisreport of the vision. He says he saw (apasyam)the Sun with its concentered yet spreading raysrolling on among the worlds. (31). Then inwhat seems to be a reference to the Sun's deathin the evening he says that he who made him (theSun) knows not of him. He who saw him-heis out of that one's sight. Enclosed within theMother's (the earth's) womb, yet full of progeny,he (the Sun) has entered Nirrti "Destruction."This could be interpreted to mean that the Sun'slife-force is immortal because-if this is thesignificance of stanza 37 below-Agni transmitted

to the Sun when it was born a portion of Vac,thus giving it immortality. But the Sun's bodyis mortal and perishes every evening. (32).

The next topic treated is the conception ofDawn, a topic not treated in Dirghatamas's firstreport. The Dawn herself speaks. She says thatthe Sky Father and the Great Earth were herparents, and the place of her conception was the"navel," which is the atmosphere. The womb wasbetween the outstretched hemispheres (sky andearth). Here the Father deposited his daughter'sembryo. (33). The conception was initiated by

a sacrificial ceremony indicated by a ritualisticriddle. A speaker asks four questions which con-cern the statement which Dawn has just made inthe preceding stanza. The questions are: What isthe farthest extent of the earth ? What is thenavel of the universe? What is the semen of thelusting stallion? What is the supreme heaven ofVdc? (34). The answers are: This altar is thefarthest extent of the earth; this sacrifice is thenavel of the universe; this soma is the semen ofthe lusting stallion; this Brahman priest is thesupreme heaven of Vdc. (35). All is now readyfor the conception. The seven wombs of the worldhalves (earth and sky) and the semen at Vishnu'scommand takes their places in the wide expanse.With holy prayers and intent mind, circumambient,the wombs surround the semen on all sides. Itmay be surmised that in filling out his first reportby adding this account of Dawn's conception,Dirghatamas was supplying an explanation ofDawn's reluctance to let Dyaus, her father, im-

pregnate her with the Sun, as was recounted abovein stanza 8. (36).

The next two stanzas further supplement DI-r-ghatamas's first report by explaining how it isthat the Sun is immortal as well as mortal. Some-one speaks, apparently the Sun, saying, " I do notknow (historical pres.?) just what this is that Iam. Concealed, restrained, I range with mindconcentrated. When the firstborn of the rta (Agni)approached me, then I got a portion of that Vac."Thus the Sun acquired immortality, which accom-panies its mortality. (37). The next stanza tellsus: One goes away, one comes, compelled by itsinner quality (svadhay&). The immortal has acommon origin (sayonih) with the mortal. Thetwo constantly travel opposite each other. Whenpeople perceive the one, they do not perceive the

other. The stanza seems to concern the dyingSun and the new born Sun, which do not exist atthe same time (cf. stanza 32 above). When theSun dies its life-force continues because it is im-mortal, since the Sun received a portion of VYcthrough the medium of Agni, as the precedingstanza relates (cf. comments on stanzas 20-23 and30). The Sun's body, however, perishes. People,therefore, do not see two Suns at once. (38).

Having mentioned or alluded to Vdc a half adozen times (stanzas 6, 10, 12, 24, 34, 37), DMr-ghatamas now deals with her in explicit terms and

asserts her supremacy as the Absolute. He startsby affirming the importance of the akcsdra f thefc, on which the gods in highest heaven have alltaken their seat. What will he who does not knowit (aksaira) accomplish? Just those who know itsit together here. (39). Then follows a piousprayer that the cow (Vdc) may prosper so thatwe too (the conclave at the sacrifice) may prosper.(40). He continues by reporting the origin ofunorganized matter from Vdc. The buffalo cow(Vdc) lowed, she who has a thousand akcairas, hatis, has all syllables and knows all their combina-tions. Using various utterances, she produced thechaotic tumultuous floods (salildni), which charac-terized the precreation chaos. (41). Then thereflowed forth from her the oceans, which in theirturn produced the directions. From her nowflowed the akadra; on it this entire universe hasits existence. Thus Dirghatamas indicates theplace of the aksaira n the cosmic evolution: it pro-vided the mantras which the first sacrificers used


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to organize the unorganized material of the uni-verse and to produce the Sun. (42).

PART III (stanzas 43-47)Continuing his exposition of the importance of

Vdc, Dirghatamas, after saying that he saw(apasyam) the cowdung smoke (of the sacrifice)from afar, reports that "the heroes" (Adityas?)sacrificed the spotted ox (soma?). These werethe first ordinances. (43). Three "long-hairedones " appear at the appointed time. Throughoutthe year-long sacrifice one of them (Agni?) con-sumes (the offerings), one (Sfirya?) surveys theuniverse through his powers (s'acabhih), of one(Vayu?) the onrush is visible but not the form.(44). At this sacrifice, Vdc is divided in fourparts. These those Brahmans with insight (and

hence wth immortality) know. The three partswhich are hidden mortals do not activate; thefourth part they speak. (45). They call it Indra,Mitra, Varuna, Agni. Then there is the heavenlybird Garutmant (the Sun). The inspired priestsspeak of the One Real (e1cam ait, neut.) in manyways. They call it Agni, Yama, Mdtarisvan. (46).

Now the hymn turns to the Sun's rising. Therays, here called "yellow birds," clothed in thewaters, fly up along the dark path (of night) tothe sky. They have (now) returned from theseat of the rta; the earth is moistened with fat-ness. (47).

COLOPHON stanzas 48-52)The sacrifice lasted a year, a fact which is

expressed in a simple riddle. (48).The hymn, now seeking concrete material gain,

addresses a prayer to the goddess Sarasvati, thedeified heavenly stream, here probably identifiedwith Vac, to present her inexhaustible breast tobe sucked. (49).

Then the hymn remarks that the gods performedthe sacrifice, thus giving us the first ordinances.These powers (arising from the sacrifice) reach tothe vault of heaven, where the ancient sadhyasare, the gods. (50).

The last two stanzas are a prayer for rain. Inthe first of them the hymn points out that waterascends to heaven and descends to earth equallythroughout the year. This may be a reminder tothe Sun, to whom the prayer is addressed, that ithas an established duty to send the rain. Then

follows a further remark that, while the rainclouds vivify the earth, the flames (of the sacrifice)vivify the sky. (51). Finally comes the prayer tothe Sun: The great heavenly bird, bringing delightto us with the rains, and full of life-giving mois-ture-him I invoke for help (52).

TRANSLATION

1. That benign gray priest has a middle brother,the lightning; his third brother is the butter-backed. Here (at the sacrifice?) I have seen thelord of the tribes (Agni) with his seven sons(priests).

Stanzas 1-7 may be viewed as a kind of prelude, inwhich Dirghatamas announces his vision (1-3) andstates the questions or problems which he is going todeal with first, namely, how Agni come into existence

(4), the nature of the first Sacrifice, performed by thegods, which produced the Sun (5), the identity of theOne, from which came the power of the Sun (6), and theplace where the Sun was before being born (7).

In announcing his vision (apa?yaom) Dirghamatasseems to indicate that the setting of the vision is thesacrifice in which he is participating; this would be thesignificance of the adv. 6tra " here; " cf. use of dtra instanza 21. There may be a similar meaning in atra ...apagyam in RV 1.163.5, 7. A sacrificial setting for sucha transcendental vision is also indicated in RV 10.72.1,where the speaker, after raising the question of theorigins of the gods, says that someone may see them in alater age when the hymns are being chanted (uktheugasydmdinetu yah pdayad Qttare yuge').

Thethree brothers are the three forms of Agni: (1)the original form of Agni as "firstborn of the rtd (pra-

thamajd rtdsya in stanza 37; so also in RV 10.5.7); (2)the lightning; and (3) the terrestrial Agni. Being theeldest the original Agni is called " gray," though the adj.palitdsya might also, but less aptly, refer to Agni'sepithet " smoke-bannered " in RV 10.4.5 (vane tasthaupalito dhiimaketuh) and elsewhere (see s. v. dhamdketuin GrW).

The word "inah indicates the lightning, whether it istaken as the nom. sg. of an adj. meaning "voracious "derived from ah " eat " or as the gen. sg. of a noun ds'an,which would be a variant of dhman with a meaning " ofthe rock."

Agni's seven sons are the seven technical priestsrequired by the full ritual, all of whom are

separatelydesignated by function in RV 2.1.2 (cf. other referencesto the seven priests without designation of separatefunctions in RV 3.7.7; 4.1.12; 20.35.10). Just who wereserving as Agni's seven assistants at the (first) sacrificewhen Dirghatamas saw it in vision is not indicated;they might have been the Adityas as in RV 10.72 or"the gods" (Adityas?) as in RV 10.90 or the seven.Cfayah of RV 10.130.5, 6. 7 or the seven vipr h dngirasahof RV 4.2.15. "Lord of the tribes" (vi~pati) is a fre-quent epithet of Agni (see s. v. in GrW).


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2. Seven yoke the car with its single wheel. Onehorse with seven names draws the triple-naved,ageless wheel that cannot be checked, on which allthese worlds have their place.

The car with the single wheel is the Sun, and this, too,Dirghatamas sees in his vision. " Wheel " is a commonterm for referring to the Sun (see s. v. cakra in GrW).The horse is EtaAa (RV 7.63.2; 7.66.14). The seven whoyoke the car may be the seven who assist Agni in thepreceding stanza and are called his sons. In other pas-sages seven steeds (RV 5.45.9) or seven mares (RV1.50.9; 4.13.3; 7.66.15) draw the Sun's cars. We mayconsider that in this passage the single steed with sevennames is equivalent to the seven steeds or seven maresof the other passages. The three naves of the chariotwheel according to Yaska (as Geldner points out) arethe three seasons of the year (cf. RV 10.90.6). The Sunsupports the worlds in stanzas 10 and 14, and possiblyin stanza 6.

3. Seven steeds draw the seven who ride upon thisseven-wheeled car. Seven sisters call out to theplace where the seven names of the cows arelocated.

This stanza seems to refer to the sacrifice as a car,though there seems to be no parallel figurative use of" car." The nearest approach is Agni's car (see MVM,p. 90), in which he carries the sacrificial offerings to thegods or ascends to heaven. The seven wheels here maybe equivalent to the seven offerings (8apta hotr4ni) ofRV 3.4.5. Less plausible would be an identification withthe seven-wheeled car of Time (kdta) in AV 19.53.1.Another seven-wheeled car belongs to Soma and Pulan,

which measures out the upper space (RV 2.40.3). Thiscould be the Sun's car. Interestingly, the car of Somaand Puisan does not enter or pervade or stimulate all,meaning the whole universe; perhaps we should under-stand that it enters only the lower part of it-the wordis dvi.vaminvam, the only other occurrence of which isin stanza 10 below in application to Vac. The corres-ponding positive form vivtsaminva is applied to Puisanhimself in the same hymn (RV 2.40.6).

The seven steeds may be the seven technical priestswho officiate at the sacrifice (RV 2.1.2, cited in note toour stanza 1). The seven who ride upon the car maybe the seven Adityas (cf. RV 10.72). The seven sisterswould be the seven metres of RV 9.103.3. The sevennames of the cows would be a reference by metonomy to

the seven Waters (dpah, sindhavah), who in the Indra-Vrtra myth are the joint mothers of the Sun (see JAOS62.96 f.). Invocation of them by name would be a bit ofcompulsory magic calculated to make them emerge fromconfinement.

4. Who saw the newborn structured one (Agnior possibly the Sun) when the unstructured one(Earth?) bore him? Where ever was the Earth'squickening spirit, her blood, her breath? Who

can go seek the answer to this from someone whoknows?

This stanza might refer to the birth of Agni or theSun-Agni seems preferable. The " structured one " asa reference to Agni recalls the fact that he is often con-sidered to be the son of Dyaus and Prthivi (see MVM90 bottom and the passages cited there). If the referenceis to Agni, the stanza would be posing an inquiry aboutthe origin of the god who is the subject of the firststanza of this hymn. But if the "structured one"refers to the Sun, the stanza would echo the idea thatthe first sacrifice regularly effects the creation or birthof the Sun. If it does refer to the Sun's birth, therewould be two possible interpretations of the stanza: (1)it might indicate that Dlrghatamas does not accept thetheory that the Sun was born from the Earth, or (2)he accepts the theory, but thinks the Sun was at firstconcealed (cf. stanza 7 below) and was brought out ofconcealment by the gods at the first sacrifice. Bothpossibilities are conjectural. Possibly the first would bethe more possible, and Dirghatamas might be going toask what precedent the gods laid down at the firstsacrifice (stanza 5) to cause the Dawn to conceive andbear the Sun (stanzas 8ff.).

The identity of the unstructured one (fem.) of thefirst half of the stanza is indicated by mention of theEarth in the second half.

5. A simpleton, ignorant, I inquire through men-tal concentration about the footprints which thegods set down then. Over the calf the kavisstretched out seven threads (as the warp of thesacrifice) to weave the woof on them.

Dirghatamas, through the use of mental concentration(mdnasa), that is introspection or intuition, seeks thenature of the precedent ("footprints") which the godslaid down at the first sacrifice. The gods were the kavis,but they are not specifically identified; perhaps theywere the Adityas (cf. RV 10.72.5-8), as was mentionedin the note to the first stanza, possibly serving as Agni'sseven sons or assistants (cf. also stanzas 2 and 3). Thehapax legomenon bafkdya is left untranslated. If thecalf is the Sun, a guess for bafkdya might be somethinglike " ready to be born." For the warp and woof of thesacrifice see RV 6.9.2, 3.

6. Unknowing, ignorant, I ask for knowledgefrom the kavis who may have information: Whatwas the One (neut.) who (masc.) in the formof the Unborn (Sun?) propped apart these sixregions ?

The neuter One seems likely to be the One Real (6kamsat) of stanza 46 below, who is Vac. For the padaajdsya riips kim dpi svid 6kam cf. the statement in RV10.82.6 about the One (neut.) which was proferred inthe navel (place of conception, which is the atmosphere,see stanza 33) of the Unborn (ajdsya ndbhdv ddhy ekam


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212 BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and VYc

arpitam) and on which all the worlds are set. Theidentification of the Unborn as the Sun is based uponthe following considerations. The Unborn here supportsthe six regions as it also does in RV 1.67.3, where Agniis said to support them as does the Unborn, and in RV8.41.10, where Varuna is likened to the Unborn for per-

forming the same feat. In stanzas 10 and 14, and prob-ably stanza 2 as well, of our hymn it is clearly the Sunwho supports the worlds. It seems likely, therefore,that "the Unborn" is the Sun. The basis of "theUnborn " as an epithet of the Sun may be that in theIndra-Vrtra myth the birth of the Sun, embryo of theWaters, was necessary for creation and therefore a waraim of the Adityas in their conflict with the Danavas(see JAOS 62.91, 96 f.). Until the Sun was released itwas the Unborn.

The six regions are the three earths and the threeheavens (cf. RV 1.35.6; 7.87.5).

7. Let him here (iha') who really knows proclaimwhere the place of that benign bird (the Sun) waslocated. From his head the cows (the rays) drawmilk; when wearing a covering they drank waterwith the foot.

The stanza and stanzas 47, 51, and 52 embody Dir-ghatamas's theory of rain. Before the Sun rises fromthe ocean the light rays (of Dawn?) wearing a coveringof water (cf. dpo vasanah in stanza 47, where the raysare called "yellow birds'") and directed upward towardthe sky drink the water with the foot, that is, with theirlower end, and as they move upward to the sky take thewater with them. After they reach the seat of the rta,as stanza 47 puts it, the rays are directed downwardtoward the earth and take the water with them as rain,here metaphorically called milk because it brings nour-ishment to the earth. Rays when called "cows" areusually those of the Dawn. Though GrW also ascribesthe epithet " cows " to the Sun's rays in three passages(2.14.3; 6.60.2; 7.9.4) it could just as plausibly in allthree be ascribed to the Dawn's rays.

8. The mother (of the Sun, i. e. Usas), in accordwith supreme order, yielded the father (Dyaus)his due, for at the beginning reverently and withconcentrated mind she united with him. A reluc-tant prude, she became pregnant when pierced.Reverent worshippers went to give applause.

For Usas as the daughter of Dyaus see RV 1.183.2;4.30.9; 5.82.5. She is the mother of Sfirya, as appearsin our next stanza (cf. RV 7.78.3; 7.80.2). Sfirya is theson of Dyaus (RV 10.37.1; 3.58.1). Usas apparentlyfeared incest and was reluctant to yield to her fatherDyaus but recognized that she should do so to conformto the rtd. The situation is similar to that of Yamaunwilling to mate with his twin sister in RV 10.10 (seeremarks in MVM 172 f.) .

9. The mother (Dawn, Usas) was yoked to Dak-

sina's (Dawn's) chariot pole. The child (Sun)was within the enclosures (?). The calf (Sun)lowed and searched for the many-colored cow(Dawn) in the three stages.

Dawn is metaphorically called a cow and named Dak-sina, " Liberality, priest's Fee " (see M. Bloomfield,Religion of the Veda, pp. 64 ff., especially pp. 71-75).She seems to have left her calf as soon as it was born,much as Indra's mother left him (see JAOS 62.94).

The meaning of the hapax legomenon vrjant is uncer-tain: Grassmann thinks it means "cow; " Agrawalasays " daughter-cows; " Deussen says " Hirde; " Henryand Whitney " ruses, wiles; " Bloomfield (on AV 7.50.7)" cunning devices." Geldner gives it up. Oldenbergthinks likely it should be connected with v~rjanna neut.)and that suggestion is questioningly accepted here. " Inthe three stages " is a conjectural rendering of triviay6fjaneyu and would refer to earth, atmosphere, andheaven. Or possibly we should connect the three with the30 yojanas which day and night each traverse in atwenty-four hour period. If so, the sense would be thatDawn precedes the Sun by one-tenth the expanse of thesky from the eastern horizon to the western (see RV1.123.8).

10. Solitary he has risen, supporting(stabilizing)the three mothers and the three fathers. Never dothey weary him. On the top of yonder sky, theysay, is VYc, who knows all but does not enter(enlighten?) all.

For the six regions see stanza 6 above. For the rareword dvihvaminvam see note to stanza 3. The poet men-tions Vac here in preparation for denying in stanza 12

that Kala occupies the upper heaven. She favors onlythe worthy (RV 10.71.3-9; 10.125.5).

11. Never does the twelve-spoked wheel of the rtawear out as it keeps on revolving over the sky.Seven hundred and twenty sons in pairs, 0 Agni,rest on it.

The wheel is the year; the twelve spokes are themonths; the 720 sons in pairs are the days and nights.Cf. stanza 48. Agni is being addressed possibly becausethe poet is thinking of the sacrificial year.

12. They (some) say the father, five-footed, withtwelve aspects, affluent, is in the upper half of thesky; others here say the wide-seeing one (the Sun)is set in motion in the seven-wheeled, six spoked(car) in the lower (half).

Two different views of Time or the Year, which isequivalent to, or controlled by, the Sun. One view isthat he is in the upper half of heaven and is thereforesupreme. The other view, which is that of the poet,is that the Sun is in only the lower half; the upper halfis the abode of Vac (see stanza 10 and note to stanza


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and VTc 213

3). The "father" is possibly Time (cf. AV 19.53.4).For the five seasons see VeInd s. v. rtu. The twelveaspects are the twelve months of RV 10.85.5. For theupper and lower halves of heaven, which are separatedby the vault (n4ka) see MVM p. 8 f. The upper half isa region of perpetual light, the dwelling-place of the

gods and the site of Varuna's heaven. It is invisible toman, whose sight cannot penetrate the ndka. The ideaof Time as supreme is elaborated in AV 19.53 and 54.

"Wide-seeing " (vicak$and) is applied elsewhere tothe Sun (e. g. RV 1.50.8). The seven wheels are perhapsthe six pairs of months and the intercalary month andthe six spokes may be the seasons (see VeInd s. v. rty').

13. On this five-spoked wheel as it revolves all theworlds have their support. Though heavy-ladenits axle does not get heated. Even from yore withits naves (punningly, its aeons) it has not beendamaged.

The spokes again would be the seasons, this time, bya variant count, considered to be only five (see VeInds.v. rtu).

14. The unaging wheel with its felly has beenrevolting over the outstretched (Earth?); tenyoked ones draw it. The eye of Sfirya, thoughcovered by darkness, presses on; all the worldsare kept in motion on it.

For uttadn "outstretched " taken here as possiblyreferring to the Earth cf. uttdnaipad in RV 10.72.3, 4.The ten yoked ones are the Sun's ten horses. The eye ofthe god Sfirya is the Sun (see GrW s. v. cdkpus). Thetranslation of rajas by darkness is based upon the phrase

knrewu ajaos in RV 1.35.2, 4, 9.15. They say that besides those (twelve months)born in pairs there is a seventh (the intercalarymonth) born singly. The six sets of twins areknown as the god-born rsis. The sacrifices forthem (months) are determined by fixed rule; whenthey (the sacrifices) are altered in respect toarrangement (through introduction of the inter-calary month) they waver on their base.

sthatr6 is taken as loc. of sthatra rather than as dat.of sthdt'; see Whitney on AV 9.9.16.

This stanza is generally considered to refer to the

twelve months taken in pairs (see VeInd s. v. 0t6) andthe intercalary month, which, when inserted, may varyin position among the months and thus interrupt thesequence of sacrificial performances and so pervert theresults. In Av 5.6.4 this month is called ganisrasd" slippery, sliding." In ABr. 12.8.2 the intercalary monthis said to be equal to the twelve months. By gettingcontrol of it the drinker (of soma at the sacrifice) inthe thirteenth month wins all that the drinkers in thetwelve months gain. In classical times the intercalarymonth (adhikamasa) is commonly called "month of

impurity " (malamdsa), when no sacrifices should beperformed, or it may be called the demon Malimluca.This stanza has led to considerable speculation, evencontroversy, on the ground that the intercalary monthwas unknown in the Rig Veda (see VeInd II.162, 412 f.).

16. Feminine they are, yet people tell me they aremasculine. He who has eyes may see this; theblind would never understand. The son who isa seer has understood it. He who comprehendsit would be his father's father.

The months are feminine in character because produc-tive, but the grammatical gender of the word for month(mdsa) is masculine and so, too, the names of themonths in the Yajur Veda (see VeInd II.161). To beone's father's father is to be wiser than one's father(see Oertel, Sitzungsberichte d. bayer. Akademie derWissenschaf ten, phil.-histor. Abteilung, 1937, Heft 3,p. 6 of reprint). The reference here must be to Agni,who is also called his father's father (pita'$ pitd) inRv 6.16.35. In the present context we may recognizethat Agni knows the uses of the twelve months and theintercalary month and the way to adapt to the intro-duction of the latter.

17. Below the upper one (heaven), above thelower one (earth), bringing her calf by the foot,the cow went upward. In what direction, to whichhalf did she go off ? Wherever s she giving birth?She is not in the herd.

The mystery of where the Dawn goes to give birth tothe Sun, which seems to be below the sky and above theearth (cf. RV 4.52.7). This would be at some place inthe atmosphere. She is here called a cow and the Suna calf. Can the obscure phrase pad4 vatsam bTbhratigau'h mean "being pregnant"? If so it would have asimilar meaning to modern Hindustani pdAw bhari hond" to be pregnant " (see Platts, Urdu, Classical Hindi,English Dictionary, s. v. bhari, p. 178, and pdtsw, p. 221).Or does the phrase merely mean that the calf was fol-lowing at her heels? The statment nahi yatth antahshould possibly be translated " She is not among theherd (of cows "), the reference being to the light raysas a herd of cows. Or might it merely mean " She issolitary, alone " ?

18. Who that here knows its (calf's, Sun's) fatherbelow the upper one (heaven) and above the lower

one (earth), having himself acquired mystical in-sight, can here proclaim where the divine mindwas brought to birth?

Only one with transcendental insight can answer thequestion.

19. Those (rites) which lie in the future also lie,they say, in the past; those which lie in the past,they say, also lie in the future. What things, 0Soma, you and Indra did, they, as though yoked


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to the chariot pole of the atmosphere, continue todraw it.

Affirmation of the effectiveness of both past and futurerites if they are identical. By means of them the things,that is the heroic deeds (kirman7i viryati), or the cele-

bration of the sacrifice, which Indra and Soma did inthe past will be duplicated in the future. The atmo-sphere (rdjas) is mentioned here because it was therethat Indra, aided by Soma, fought his battle with Vrtra.

20. Two birds, inseparable companions, embracethe same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit;the other looks on without eating.

Stanzas 20-23 constitute a parable dealing with theattainment of immortality, which is represented by thesweet fruit of a tree, presumably the tree of knowledge.One bird, symbolizing a human aspirant, eats it, that is,gains immortality. Another only looks without seeing(cf. RV 10.71.4). For an analogous idea about the

selectivity Vac exercises with respect to human beings,see RV 10.71; 10.125.5. This stanza is elaborately andvery differently interpreted in later times, starting withthe Upanisads (Muv4aka 3.1.2; fvetaivatara 4.6; cf.Katha 3.1).

21. Here, where the birds (priests) in conclaveflawlessly laud their portion of immortality, themighty herdsman of the whole world, the wiseone (Agni), has entered me, the simpleton.

Here, as at the chanting of the sacrificial hymns inRV 10.72.1 (ukth4u hasyamdnefu), the speaker of sacredknowledge gets mystical experience while the priests arereciting in perfect unison. This bit of transcendentalismmay represent some kind of hypotic effect produced bythe recitation. The priests reciting together are inRV 10.73.11 compared to birds warbling in chorus (vayah8upranlh . .ayah). The herdsman of the universeis Agni (see RV 1.1.8 et passim).

22. That tree on which the birds that eat thesweet fruit all light and breed-no one eats thesweet fruit at its tip, they say, who does not knowthe father.

The tree may be considered to be the tree of knowledge.In the context of this hymn its tip would be the upperhalf of heaven above the ndka (see note to stanza 12),which is VAc's realm (see note to stanza 10) ; its sweetfruit is immortality (see stanzas 21 and 23). Thefather, in the eyes of these priests, is Agni (cf. stanza1, also RV 6.1.5 and elsewhere).

23. Only those attain immortality who know thatthe gdyatri foot is based upon the gdyati4 hymn,or that the tri$tuibh oot is constructed from thetristubh hymn, or that the jagat foot is based uponthe jagat hymn.

Agni, it seems, imparts this instruction for attainingimmortality, which is the question raised in stanzas 20-22.

24. With the gdyatrt foot one fashions a hymn,with the hymn a chant, with the tritubh foot aunit of recitation, with double or quadruple unitsa recitation. With the (creative) syllable (aksrena)they fashion the seven vdnih.

The seven v4tnih seem likely to be the seven tones ofthe musical gamut, less likely to be the utterances ofthe seven technical priests officiating at the sacrifice.

25. With the jagat he (Indra?) fixed the streamin the sky. In the rathaintard chant he super-vised the Sun. Three kindling sticks they say thegayatri has; therefore it has excelled by its powerand might.

The subject to be supplied with the verbs "fixed"(astabhayat) and supervised (apa~yat) is Indra (JAOS62.96) rather than "Weltsch6pfer" as Geldner assumes.Cosmogonic speculation seems in the Rig Veda to startwith the Indra-Vrtra myth and continue through otherRigvedic speculative theorizing (cf. JAOS 85.23 if.). Thethree kindling sticks of the gdyatrt are the three feet ofthe gdyatrf stanza.

26. I invoke that cow (Dawn) easy to milk thatthe dextrous milker may milk her. May Savitrapply most favorable stimulus for usI The potis heated. This let me happily announce.

Stanzas 26-30 report a celebration of the pravargyarite, possibly that which the gods celebrated to cause thebirth of the Sun and which Dlrghatamas saw in hisvision. The pravargya rite is celebrated at dawn butthe details are uncertain (see KRPV II.332 f.). Anearthenware pot is heated and fresh milk is poured intoit as it sits over the fire. The milk boils up and rnisover on the fire. The rite operates by sympathetic magicto bring the dawn and the sunrise. Dawn, called a cow,is represented by the milk. The ceremony causes theDawn to emerge from her place of concealment and swellup. Savitr, the divine obstetrician, is besought to renderhis services. The pot seems to represent the place belowthe horizon where Dawn is confined. The milk as itoverflows on the fire appears to be a symbol of the new-born Sun.

27. The mistress of riches (Dawn), snuffling ather calf (Sun) and seeking it, has come with piousthought. Let this cow give milk for the AMvinslet her increase for great prosperity.

The milk hissing or humming in the pot symbolizesthe Dawn as a cow snuffling at her calf, the Sun. She isto give milk to the AAvins, who regularly accompany herin her car, and, as is her custom, she is to bring riches


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BROWN: Agni, Sun, Sacrifice, and Vcc 215

to the world, and especially to the priests (see Bloom-field, loc. cit. in note to stanza 9 above). The aor. dgdtmay be " prophetic," meaning " may she come."

28. The cow has mooed at her blinking (waking)calf (the Sun) ; she has snuffled at his head tomake him low. Longing for his warm mouth, shelows a lowing; she swells with milk.

The bubbling sound of the boiling milk is the cow'smooing to her freshly born calf. The swelling of themilk over the fire represents the swelling of the milkin her udder.

29. This (pot) with which the cow (milk) isenclosed sings. The cow (milk) set over thespluttering (flame) lows a lowing. With herhissing (punning, pious devotions) she has felledher mortal (enemy). Becoming lightning she hasknocked off the covering (the the lid of the pot).

The milk in the pot as it swells and gurgles representsthe lowing of the cow (Dawn), which, as it were, thusutters a song or sacrificial chant. When the swellingmilk pushes off the lid of the pot, for which the wordis vavri, we have an echo of Indra destroying Vrtra"the Covering." both words (vavri and vrtrd) beingderivatives of vr, which root also appears in RV 10.129.1kim dvartivah "what covered (all) ?"

30. In the midst of the (three) homes (of Agni)lies the breathing swift-moving, living, restlessenduring One (neut.). The (immortal) life ofthe dead one (the Sun that died the previous

evening) fares according to his constituent nature.The immortal has a common origin with themortal.

The homes of Agni, mentioned in the gen. pastyanalmare three (cf. tripastyi RV 8.39.8) ; these are designatedas heaven, earth, and the Waters or ocean (cf. MVM 93).The One (neut.) in the midst of Agni's homes is themilk which has boiled over on the fire. This might referto some neuter word for milk to be supplied, such aspiyas or kratdm or dugdham and it could symbolize theayus (also neuter) or life-force of the Sun. The ideawould then be a variant of that expressed in RV 10.16.5,where Agni Jqtavedas is besought to let the dead man'slife-force unite with a new body that accords with hisqualities (we might say "with his

deserts"). There isverbal parallelism between the wording of our text jfv6mrtasya carati -vadhabltih and that of RV 10.16.5 yds taahutds cdrati svadhdbhi4 / ayur vdsdna 6pa vetu 96$ahsdm gachatdm tanva jatavedah. The Sun acquired animmortal life-force through receiving a portion of Vac(stanza 37), but its body is mortal. Hence the hymncan say that, when the new Sun is born, the immortallife-force and the mortal casing of it have a commonorigin (sdyonih).

We may probably assume that at this point the reborn

Sun appears above the horizon in the atmosphere, whichis the middle one of Agni's three homes (see on the noteabove).

31. I have seen the cowherd (Sfirya) who nevertires moving along the pathways toward (us) and

beyond. Clothing himself in his concentered yetspreading (rays) he keeps rolling on among theworlds.

Part II of the hymn (stanzas 31-42) now starts,adding details to the report given in Part I. The poetalludes to the visions in using dpawyam.

Sfirya is called " cowherd of all that is still and allthat moves " (vi.~vasya sthdttir jdgatag ca gop4h RV7.60.2). Our present stanza also occurs in RV 10.177.3;Bloomfield (RVR 151) refuses to decide priority butthinks it likely to rest with RV 1.164.

32. He who made him knows not of him. He whosaw him-he is out of that one's sight. Enclosedwithin the Mother's womb, yet full of progeny,he entered Nirrti (Destruction).

The stanza seems to refer to the Sun's disappearancewhen it sets. " He who made him " eould be Dyaus asthe Sun's father (see stanza 8) and the meaning wouldbe that when the Sun disappears below the westernhorizon it is no longer visible to Dyaus (the Sky). " Hewho saw him" would again refer to the Sky (Dyaus)." Enclosed within the Mother's womb " would refer tothe notion that the Sun, having set, has returned toMother Earth's womb (cf. RV 10.18.10), though himselffull of progeny, that is, possessing within himself aninfinite number of Suns to be born day by day. TheSun of the day immediately at hand, however, dies onentering Nirrti, the place of Destruction below the earth.

33. The Sky Father (Dyaus) was my progenitor.The navel here was the place of union (for myconception). My mother was this great Earth(prthivn mahi). The womb for me was betweenthe two outstretched hemispheres (sky and earth).Here the Father deposited his daughter's (Upas')embryo.

Dirghatamas, having seen the Sun die in the twopreceding stanzas, is now going to describe the concep-tion of the successor Sun, who is to be born the followingmorning, but he starts by having the Sun's mother,Dawn, proclaim her parentage, after which he reportson her conception. In making Dyaus her father andPrthiv her mother, this stanza reflects the old Indo-European myth of Father Sky and Mother Earth, withtheir sons the Dioskouroi and their daughter the DawnAurora (cf. div6 . . . duhita RV 4.52.1).

34. [Someone asks a ritualistic riddle (brah-modya) :] I ask you what is the farthest limit ofthe earth. I ask you where is the navel of the


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universe. I ask you the semen of the lustingstallion (Dyaus). I ask you the supreme heavenof Vac.

The scene is the ceremony attending the Dawn's con-ception. The purpose of the riddle is to affirm thevalidity of the ritual being celebrated and the authorityof the officiating priests, and at the same time to empha-size the basic importance of Vac and the need for herpresence, or at least the presence of her authority, inthe ritual which is being celebrated. Hence the Dawn'smother (Prthiv ) and the semen of her father (Dyaus),the place of conception (atmosphere), and the supremesource (Vifc) of the ritual employed are ritualisticallyidentified.

35. [The answers to the riddle:] This altar isthe farthest limit of the earth. This sacrifice isthe navel of the universe. This soma is the semenof the lusting stallion. This Brahman priest is the

highest heaven of Vdc.36. The seven wombs of the cosmic halves (skyand earth), (and) the semen (or the conception),at the command of Vishnu take their position inthe wide expanse. With holy prayers and intentmind, wise, they (the wombs), circumambient,surround (the semen) on all sides.

The conception of Dawn as a result of the sacrifice.The seven wombs seem to echo the cosmic Waters orseven streams (apah, saptd sindhavah), which Indrareleased when he slew Vrtra. They were jointly preg-nant when they were released and gave birth to it,whereupon Indra supported the sky and spread out theearth (see JAOS 62.96).

37. [Someone not named but probably the Sunspeaks:] I do not know just what This (neut.)is that I am. Concealed( restrained, I range withmind intent. When the firstborn of the rta(Agni) aproached me, then I got a portion ofthat Vac.

For Agni as the firstborn of the rtd see RV 10.5.7.The neut. iddm "this" is the One Real (6kam sat) ofstanza 46, which is VAc. The meaning appears to bethat Agni enlightens the newborn Sun about the factthat it possesses a part of Vac, has a function in the

cosmos, and is immortal. Since the conception of theSun was described in stanza 8 of Part I it is notdescribed here in Part II as is the conception of Usas(stanzas 33-36), which was not mentioned in Part I.

38. One goes away, one comes, compelled by itsinner quality. The immortal has a common originwith the mortal. The two constantly travel op-posite each other. When people perceive one, theydo not perceive the other.

This stanza is similar to stanza 30 in some of itswording and apparently in general conception as well.Both contain the statement "The immortal has a com-mon origin with the mortal." The present stanza seemsto mean that as one body of the Sun dies another isconceived and born, but the life force of the Sun con-

tinues without dying since it is immortal. But becausethe Sun that is newborn appears only after its predeces-sor died, people do not see both at the same time.

" One goes away, one comes "-a similar statement ismade of day and night in RV 1.123.7 (dpdnydd 6ty abhymnycd eti viturilpe dhani sdm carete).

39. The aksara of the rc, on which the gods inhighest heaven have all taken their seat-what willhe who does not know it accomplish by means ofthe rc? Just those who know it sit together here.

This stanza may be understood to mean that a hymn(tc) when employed without the akadra is not effective.But what is the akadra? It seems that here it mightbe the sdman, which must be joined with the fc to makethe recitation potent (cf. Bloomfield in JAOS 21.50 f.and the passages he quotes, correcting the inadvertencein citing Aitareya Brahmana 3.23 as 3.22). Fullytrained priests know how to make the combination. Forthe need to train priests in reciting together see RV10.71; 10.130; cf. of the frogs likened to priests in RV7.103.5. Bloomfield regarded Indra's epithet aci~ama asa development from rci-sama(n), being an adaptation ofthe prosodically unfavored to the customaryand he held it to mean " he for whom the sAman is sungupon the rc." It might perhaps be better to understandrciama as " he who (first) chanted the saman upon therc." The epithet would then allude to Indra's assumeduse of the sacrifice in slaying Vrtra and achieving his

other great deeds (RV 3.32.12) and his association withBrhaspati and with the Maruts (for the latter see MYM80). Akadra may be considered here to mean " (crea-tive) syllable," perhaps even " sound," including pho-nology, articulation, pronunciation, enunciation, tonality,metrical value, in short, sound in all its aspects, andthe use of the syllable in constructing and employingmetres (cf. stanza 41). For a recent discussion ofaksdra see J. A. B. Van Buitenen in JAOS 79.176-187

brown, w. norman - agni, sun, sacrifice, and vāc - a sacerdotal ode by dīrghatamas (rig veda...

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