Journal of the American Onental Society, vol. 16, pp.1-42 , 1898

CON l'RI BlJTIONS T O

1'HE !N'l'EIU'RETA'l'ION OF 'J'fJE VEDA;"

I. THE L ,mum OF So .... "" " THE E AGL E.

on~~: ~r:ce~~~.~f v!\'c~c,;·"r.c~ :. t~1 11\:a~e.;j?:i :~t·,.;,1:{ tt ':i:,,._)'.~ tel lerso( th e Br:,hmaJ).lls. Th e event is con• ~ntly allud ed to, andn ot_mfrequcntl yM rr atedinfull. '.l'lieear he stvers ion oft he legen<jmma»lra -for mis give na t R\'.1v ,26an ,127,andthel! 11'.,r­pretat1011 of the~ lwohym1i• ha•e ngago, l the intere•tof_ Vc,\ic

~!§1~:;~f ?~~~~;:~~}-£f f ~~~/tg!~~~1·i~lk1~:I~r0:1~ hymn ""'""" to ha,·e hffn lo•t RlllO))g th e H mdu• them,..,l\'e• at a ve_ry early time, since the AA ."· 5. 13 ff. place• the fir~1 atanza m the mout h of iU! r(![>UL,:<\ author, \':ima deva, whotln,s l>ecome,, him..,I( the ~agl<', an<i i~ •upposed to h.~,·e diooovered

f:'.:~;:~f :t:~;,i~W(r~~:i!f t:Ji.:\if;~s:.~i~i l n<lr;t, l1ay ingbuc n con fined in the hnoom of the douds,a.,.umc• the fo rm of " " caglc,and brings the Sorna\<l mortal,, aftor hav-

~~:;1~,1~~:!:Ti:,:!~:::;:i!:~}r~r~:,~rtri:;;~tf}\y:~·:i;!

.V.B ~.

~ ......... ·.t:- . ,,lY.,.""'1:;, .... - .. ."

J/ . B~.

..,, .. ;, ......,,,.,_ ... ,...., ... _f"'"l" "'"''""!l"Y""' """ ' .. I,:;.,·, ~\lKi,:,: •. ,\,,h>n: •lo Lhoi..,O• •~•~ ,,:::,,,.,...;;.

.J/".B I~ .

ill.111"""",ji,ld,

• 0 -':'"""'""" ·r-:c ................. ~:-" ........_. .. ~a--~ ..... le'> .......... , ... )~..,.

. ...... .. ,1 ... ,,_ .. d,,,'('d ... - ....

~,:;:.:./t!.:t~:""'JJt

~t¥ff;i~~.~~ . ··,~, =·"": ·:::.:...~_·: =~"'f7?: ':~

Ji.B l-µJ .

Jl.l/1~

22 M . .Bloomfield,

Upon thi s passage espec ially Fi schel rests his int erpr etation of 'indriivat. He translates pit r' bhy a tl ' from t he father s'; and, in· asmuch as the abode of the father s is svargaloka, and that aga in is lat er indraloka, he feels justifi ed in estabfo1hing the equation in dr iiva t = indraloka for the pa ssage und er discussion.

B ut , if ~ndravat is equal to in draloka, we mu st imp ort int o th e Rig- V ~da not only the word but th e conception in all it s bea r­in$'s. And that is a pre Cminently joyous one. 'l'he notion of bemg saved from indraloka is, from the point of view of a Hindu, just as inconceivabl e as salvation from paradi se would be from th e point of view of Judroo-Christian conceptions. On the oth er hand, th e passages in which Bhujyu 's troubl es are nar­rated show di stin ctly that th e condition s were inde ed such as to require the help of th e deus ez machina . Bearing in mind th e expression a rdjasa(i pare in x. 143 .. 5, which sta t es that the Asivins ca,r ied Bhuj yu to the oth er side of th e ether, we may

~~~h: ~a:~:;~~~:;tfh:i:r~t!t :. , ci ?c:h:;;~i:lt17!1:1 r~~s~hnc_:~t~~11;1:

upon thi s I do not insist- the help wluch is afford ed Bhujyu by the A9vin s is designat ed in RV . i. 119. 8 as svdrva ttr Uti{i. 'help resulting in svdr , i. e. paradi se.'*

10 ~ s~~e\ 0res 1~rassa!~e li~nbet. otl~ r RV. "':. e~~~-~f \t:a;:::td~7,).~~ krdm a.r1nim ~dsam ea devtm tndriivat6 'vase nt Ava y e 1J(l[1., which he would th erefor e tran slat e by 'I ca ll you, Dadhikrii etc ., down for help from indralo ka.' I would see here in indriivato an expression which, to be sure, is illumin ed by classical usage , but in a different mann er from the one assumed by Fische l. Th e word repr esent s here the same usage as appears in the clas­sica l expression (N ala ii. 23) lokapiilti[t ... siignikJ!• 'the g uard­ians of the world , Agni at th eir head.' Or, st ill more preci sely, it is the equivalent of in draJye11!Ati(i,, RV. iv. 5-L 5 ; vii. 11. 5; viii. 63. 12; x. 70. 4: it expre sses the promin ence or leadership of Indra. I would tr anslate • I call down to you for help Dadhi ­krfi, Agni, and th e goddess Ui,as, with Indr a at th eir head. '

Th e word tndriivatah in RV. iv. 27. 4 seems therefore unt enable.

~Iy ~~ha~:We:e~gf;stt a~rg~jI~it~:;:eZi~~n U:1:e }f/";>e~~~ ;~;~ (§ 37), a chang e to pa r{w(lto, seems to me th e most plausible ,t

TI."'"' "' ,o , V "'"" ""'"'n' ~ "'-..· · ( .,.. pro,,;~ ~oM;p;"'J,"""""•").t

O"""pefV«lk -"' l,i • -pit,,.

.Jl. m,,.,,.,µ.I •

.,pit,,... ! ,IN d ·, , S, n. ,~ U.. n ... - ~ -1, -, ~ ,,;,._

J/. r:,,-,;.u,

Ji.Bl,»,y.W.

i~r~:~~~lQ~It~@Jf~q§ ;, , M....,hof ~;,,o.,n r~nd,•ringof tl>o "°"'hr";•tl>< ...,....

::,:-:1!:; 'i'!'.~~;~ ~"!~·:/=.""::-111.:1::~ ;:.;i :!::!'. :r.~~;;::;-:,;~'=~:.:::,~:: .• ~;:,':":..i..:.·:t:.:~·),~ ;.,~~ .. i-0m...._• II• too ;...,,.,l"" Li«l, 00-<•e<, lb""'"' l"''i'~•• "lntbomon,in~'"("b<;d•••nnibo .. ng . .. d.,.,al"'")u,;;;

!~ TI'° ,:.;::d".:;t; !',J;';'~;A:...~i: "!;•~;;.~;;:::t -'fio':!'.'::'i':.'!"";.:::::t:.\'C'';",,:;.... ........ -, ;. •IP"""•ir tillt ,u~ .• ...... ., .... i.. ........ •at, • ..-: j .. , .. ;,

• ....,o._.. •. , 1o,1ooo.,..i 1111.........,~--• · '"•

JF.Bwmnji,,hl,

.V. Bl ••wi/'dJ.

. ' ' , .. ; ,Io tt "'· 1><.d .. .. - ..-i. · ... · •• .._ ..... . . u .,.i , •·tt, .. c, """i'-;i" <.··~·"';t.:: t ... '"'m."'""bm•f·" d ~ ~-. - . •·:..:::;:',.;..=,;:!-/, "<or "'""~ ··