The Religions of India Part 8

[Footnote 4: From _su, sav_, enliven, beget, etc. In RV. iv.

53.6 and vii, 63.2, _pra-savitar_.]

[Footnote 5: RV. VII. 66. 14-15; compare X. 178. 1. In the notes immediately following the numbers all refer to the Rig Veda.]

[Footnote 6: V. 47, 3; compare vs. 7, and X. 189. 1-2.]

[Footnote 7: Compare X. 177. 1.]

[Footnote 8: X. 37. 9.]

[Footnote 9: V. 63. 7. Varuna and Mitra set the sun's car in heaven.]

[Footnote 10: 1 IV. 13. 2-5; X. 37, 4; 85, 1. But _ib_. 149.

1. Savitar holds the sky 'without support.']

[Footnote 11: VII 63.1; I. 115.11; X. 37. 1.]

[Footnote 12: III. 61.4; VII. 63. 3.]

[Footnote 13: VII 78.3.]

[Footnote 14: I. 56,4; IX. 84. 2; Compare I. 92. 11; 115, 2; 123. 10-12. V. 44. 7, and perhaps 47.6, are late. VII. 75.

5, is an exception (or late).]

[Footnote 15: _La Religion Vedique_, I.6; II. 2.]

[Footnote 16: Ehni, _Yama,_ p. 134.]

[Footnote 17: RV., IV. 54. 2. Here the sun gives life even to the G.o.ds.]

[Footnote 18: Ten hundred and twenty-eight hymns are contained in the 'Rig Veda Collection.']

[Footnote 19: IV. 14.]

[Footnote 20: X. 37; 158; 170; 177; 189. Each has its own mark of lateness. In 37, the dream; in 158, the triad; in 170, the sun as _asurah[=a]_; in 177, the mystic tone and the bird-sun (compare Garutman, I. 164; X. 149); in 189, the thirty stations.]

[Footnote 21: See Whitney in _Colebrooke's Essays_, revised edition, ii. p. 111.]

[Footnote 22: iv. 54]

[Footnote 23: Two 'laps' below, besides that above, the word meaning 'middle' but also 'under-place.' The explanation of this much-disputed pa.s.sage will be found by comparing I.

154. 5 and VII. 99. 1. The sun's three places are where he appears on both horizons and in the zenith. The last is the abode of the dead where Yama reigns. Compare IV. 53. The bracketed verses are probably a late puzzle attached to the word 'lap' of the preceding verse.]

[Footnote 24: Doubtful.]

[Footnote 25: The Spirit, later of evil spirits, demons (as above, the _asurah[=a]_). Compare Ahura.]

[Footnote 26: A numerical conception not paralleled in the Rig Veda, though mountains are called protuberances ('elevations') in other places.]

[Footnote 27: The last stanza is in the metre of the first; two more follow without significant additions.]

[Footnote 28: The texts are translated by Muir, OST, V. p.

171 ff.]

[Footnote 29: _La Religion Vedique_, II. p. 428. Compare Hillebrandt, _Soma_ p. 456.]

[Footnote 30: I. 138. 4.]

[Footnote 31: VI. 56. 1.]

[Footnote 32: In I. 23. 13-15 P[=u]shan is said to bring king _(soma),_ "whom he found like a lost herd of cattle."

The fragment is late if, as is probable, the 'six' of vs. 15 are the six seasons. Compare VI. 54. 5, "may P[=u]shan go after our kine."]

[Footnote 33: Compare VI. 54.]

[Footnote 34: He is the 'son of freeing,' from darkness? VI.

55. 1.]

[Footnote 35: IV. 57. 7.]

[Footnote 36: VI. 17. 11; 48. 11 ff.; IV. 30. 24 ff. He is called like a war-G.o.d with the Maruts in VI. 48.]

[Footnote 37: So, too, Bhaga is Dawn's brother, I. 123. 5.

P[=u]shan is Indra's brother in VI. 55. 5. Gubernatis interprets P[=u]shan as 'the setting sun.']

[Footnote 38: Contrast I. 42, and X. 26 (with 1. 138. 1). In the first hymn P[=u]shan leads the way and drives away danger, wolves, thieves, and helps to booty and pasturage.

In the last he is a war-G.o.d, who helps in battle, a 'far-ruler,' embracing the thoughts of all (as in III. 62.

9).]

[Footnote 39: For the traits just cited compare IV. 57. 7; VI. 17. 11; 48. 15; 53; 55; 56. I-3; 57. 3-4; 58. 2-4; II.

40; X. 17. 3 ff.; 26. 3-8; I. 23. 14; all of I. 42, and 138; VIII. 4. 15-18; III. 57. 2. In X. 17. 4, Savitar, too, guides the souls of the dead.]

[Footnote 40: That is to say, one hymn is addressed to Bhaga with various other G.o.ds, VII. 41. Here he seems to be personified good-luck ("of whom even the king says,' I would have thee,'" vs. 2). In Ihe Br[=a]hmanas 'Bhaga is blind,'

which applies better to Fortune than to the Sun.]

[Footnote 41: The hymn is sung before setting out on a forray for cattle. Let one observe how unsupported is the a.s.sumption of the ritualists as applied to this hymn, that it must have been "composed for rubrication."]

[Footnote 42: After Muir, V. p. 178. The clouds and cattle are both called _gas_ 'wanderers,' which helped in the poetic identification of the two.]

[Footnote 43: Compare IX. 97. 55, "Thou art Bhaga, giver of gifts."]

[Footnote 44: _Bhagam bhakshi_! Compare baksheesh. The word as 'G.o.d' is both Avestan, _bagha_, and Slavic, _bogu_ (also meaning 'rich'). It may be an epithet of other G.o.ds also, and here it means only luck.]

[Footnote 45: Literally 'possessed of _bhaga,' i.e_., wealth.]

[Footnote 46: May Bhaga be _bhagav[=a]n, i.e_., a true _bhaga_-holder. Here and below a pun on the name (as above).]

[Footnote 47: Mythical being, possibly the sun-horse.

According to Pischel a real earthly racer.]