Page:The Hymns of the Rigveda Vol 1.djvu/65

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THE HYMNS OF
[BOOK I.
7 Whether they weep or laugh, thou hast o'erthrown them, O Indra, on the sky's extremest limit.
The Dasyu thou hast burned from heaven, and welcomed the prayer of him who pours the juice and lauds thee.

8 Adorned with their array of gold and jewels, they o'er the earth a covering veil extended.
Although they hastened, they o'ercame not Indra: their spies he compassed with the Sun of morning.

9 As thou enjoyest heaven and earth, O Indra, on every side surrounded with thy greatness,
So thou with priests hast blown away the Dasyu, and those who worship not with those who worship.

10 They who pervaded earth's extremest limit subdued not with their charms the Wealth-bestower:
Indra, the Bull, made his ally the thunder, and with its light milked cows from out the darkness.

11 The waters flowed according to their nature; he mid the navigable streams waxed mighty.
Then Indra, with his spirit concentrated, smote him for ever with his strongest weapon.

12 Indra broke through Ilîbisa's strong castles, and Sushṇa with his horn he cut to pieces:
Thou, Maghavan, for all his might and swiftness, slewest thy fighting foeman with thy thunder.

13 Fierce on his enemies fell Indra's weapon: with his sharp bull he rent their forts in pieces.
He with his thunderbolt dealt blows on Vritra, and conquered, executing all his purpose.

14. Indra, thou holpest, Kutsa whom thou lovedst, and guardedst brave Daṣadyu when he battled.
The dust of trampling horses rose to heaven, and Şvitrâ's son stood up again for conquest.

8 With the Sun of morning: 'We revert here to the allegory. The fol- lowers of Vritra are here said to be the shades of night which are dispersed by the rising of the sun according to the Brahmana "Verily the sun, when he rises in the east, drives away the Rakshasas.”” Wilson. 10 Milked cows: struck the cloud with his lightning, and made the milky streams of fertilizing rain flow forth. 12 Ilibisa's strong castles: Ilibisa is said by Sayaṇa to be Vritra 'who sleeps in caverns of the earth.' Probably one of the confederate demons is intended. Sushņa with his horn: the demon of drought, 'furnished,' says the Scholiast, 'with weapons like the horns of bulls and buffaloes.' The meaning of 'horned' or 'with his horn' is simply 'mighty,' the horn being used, as in Hebrew poetry, as the emblem of strength. 13 With his sharp bull: the rushing thunderbolt. 14 Kutsa: said to have been a Rishi or seer, founder of a religious family or school, and elsewhere spoken of as the particular friend of Indra.

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