Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/85

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The Hieratic Religion
69

in another hymn, is called Dakshinā. Now the word dakshiṇā means "sacrificial fee," or, in plainer words, it is the baksheesh of the priests at the sacrifice. But it did not seem tolerable to Müller's poetic mind that a poet might degrade so charming a theme by such a comparison:


"Up the shining strands of Dawn have risen, Like unto glittering waves of water! All paths prepareth she that they be easily traversed; Liberal goddess, kind, she hath become baksheesh." (Rig-Veda 64. 6. 1.)


The word which I have just rendered by "liberal goddess" (maghonī) is the very one that is used constantly and technically for the patron of the sacrifice (maghavan), the immediate source from which flow all the fees of the sacrifice. In its feminine form (maghonī) it is used almost solely as an epithet of Dawn. Here it is, cheek by jowl with dakshiṇā. Ushas is the patroness of the sacrifice; she is herself the sacrifice fee, because she heralds or ushers in the sacrificial day[1] after the darkness of the night, when both liberal and stingy are asleep. If I could get myself to suspect one of these ancient Rishis of humor, I should say that there was a touch of humor – anyhow it is unconscious humor – in the

  1. ↑ See Rig-Veda 7. 78. 3, where the Dawns are said to beget the Sun, the sacrifice, and Agni: ajījanan sūryaṁ yajñam agnim.
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