Page:The Hymns of the Rigveda Vol 1.djvu/486

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HYMN 2.]
THE RIGVEDA.
467
What time I gave him Amrit free from mixture. How can the Indraless, the hymnless harm me?

4 I saw him moving from the place he dwells in, even as with a herd[1], brilliantly shining.
These seized him not[2]: he had been born already. They who were grey[3] with age again grow youthful.

5[4] Who separate my young bull from the cattle, they whose protector was in truth no stranger?
Let those whose hands have seized upon them free them. May he, observant, drive the herd to us-ward.

6[5] Mid mortal men the godless have secreted the King of all who live, home of the people[6].
So may the prayers of Atri give him freedom. Reproached in turn be those who now reproach him.

7 Thou from the stake didst loose e'en Şunaḥṣepa[7] bound for a thousand[8]; for he prayed with fervour.
So, Agni, loose from us the bonds that bind us, when thou art seated here, O Priest who knowest.

8 Thou hast sped from me, Agni, in thine anger: this the protector of Gods' Laws hath told me.
Indra who knoweth bent his eye upon thee: by him instructed am I come, O Agni.

9 Agni shines far and wide with lofty splendour, and by his greatness makes all things apparent.
He conquers godless and malign enchantments, and sharpens both his horns to gore the Rakshas[9].

  1. ↑ Even as with a herd: Agni is here represented as the Sun with his host of rays.
  2. ↑ These seized him not: the Dawns could not detain him: the Sun was too powerful. But the meaning of tâ’ḥ, ‘these,’ without a substantive, is somewhat uncertain.
  3. ↑ They who were grey: the ancient flames of the Sun recover their youth and strength. Or the half-line may be rendered: ‘The Dawns, the youthful Maidens, grow decrepit.’ This is Professor Ludwig's interpretation, and it has much to recommend it.
  4. ↑ This stanza is extremely obscure. It may refer to some actual occurrence to which a mythical colouring has been added. ‘What enemies have despoiled my kingdom?’ is Sayaṇa's explanation of the first half-line.
  5. ↑ This stanza appears to refer to some contention between the descendants of Atri and some other priestly family, perhaps the Bhrigus, as Professor Ludwig thinks, regarding the worship of Agni.
  6. ↑ Home of the people: Agni; ‘the asylum of men.’—Wilson.
  7. ↑ Ṣunaḥṣepa: see I. 24.
  8. ↑ Bound for a thousand: bought for a thousand cows in order that he might be bound to the sacrificial post. Sâyana, who is followed by Professors Wilson, Roth, and Grassmann, takes sahásrâdyûpâd together, ‘from a thousand stakes.’
  9. ↑ Rakshas: a collective noun signifying the whole race of Râkshasas; originally, harm, injury.
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