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The Ritual Pragmatics of a Vedic Hymn: The "Riddle Hymn" and the Pravargya Ritual Author(s): Jan E. M. Houben Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2000), pp. 499- 536 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606614 Accessed: 23/04/2010 09:28 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org
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Page 1: 606614

The Ritual Pragmatics of a Vedic Hymn: The "Riddle Hymn" and the Pravargya RitualAuthor(s): Jan E. M. HoubenSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 120, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 2000), pp. 499-536Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606614Accessed: 23/04/2010 09:28

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org

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THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE "RIDDLE HYMN" AND THE PRAVARGYA RITUAL

JAN E. M. HOUBEN

LEIDEN UNIVERSITY

The present paper explores the relation of the "riddle hymn," Rgveda 1.164, with the Pravargya rit-

ual, one of the few rituals that are explicitly referred to in the Rgveda. Starting from a few verses which have a well-established and generally acknowledged relation with specific episodes in the Pravargya ritual (about which we have detailed information only from later texts), this paper shows that several other enigmatic verses yield a convincing interpretation when placed in the context of the Pravargya. The ritual interpretations can, moreover, serve to clarify and harmonize some of the traditional, more

philosophical interpretations of the verses. Thus, the findings have important implications for our under-

standing of the early development of Vedic ritual and also of Indian thought and philosophical speculation.

The mind of man is framed even like the breath And harmony of music.

1.1 IT IS NOW one hundred twenty-five years since Mar- tin Haug presented his paper on "Vedic riddle-questions and riddle-aphorisms" to the scholars of the Academy of Sciences in Munich. Ever since, Rgveda 1.164 has been a continuous challenge to students of the Veda.2

My acquaintance with the so-called riddle-hymn Rgveda 1.164 dates from 1984-85. I would like to thank Henk W. Bode- witz for discussing in detail problems in the verses and interpre- tations proposed by numerous scholars, both in 1984-85 and when I started to write the present paper. An abbreviated version was presented at the 208th meeting of the American Oriental

Society, New Orleans, April 5-8, 1998. I am grateful to Alex- ander Lubotsky and Arlo Griffiths for their detailed comments. I also profited from discussions with Jan C. Heesterman as well as Thomas Oberlies. Some excellent suggestions for improvement were made by two anonymous referees of JAOS. I am very much indebted to Mr. Selukar Maharaj and Mr. Nana Kale, who al- lowed me to be present at and to film and photograph their per- formances of Vedic rituals; this clarified much of their dynamic structure, which would have remained largely obscure if textual sources only had been taken into account. The investigations on which this article is based were supported by the Netherlands Or-

ganization for Scientific Research (NWO) from 1996 to 1999. 1 Wordsworth, "The Prelude" (1805 version), 1.351-52. 2 Cf. W. N. Brown: "Translators and commentators who have

dealt with the asya vamasya hymn (Rgveda 1.164) have generally

Important attempts to understand this hymn stem from

Rgveda translators, such as Ludwig, Geldner, Renou, and

Doniger,3 and, indirectly, from those working on two

parallel hymns in the ninth book of the Atharvaveda, AV

(S) 9.9 and 10-Henry and Whitney.4 Deussen, Thieme,

characterized it as difficult, or obscure, or [as] a series of riddles

loosely connected or disconnected, or in other terms expressed a

greater or less[er] degree of frustration" (1968: 199 [53]). 3 A. Ludwig (1876-88, 2: 579-84; 5: 445-57); K. F Geld-

ner (1951, 1: 227-37); L. Renou (1967: 88-93); W. Doniger O'Flaherty (1981: 71-83). The most recent complete trans- lation of the Rgveda is that of T. Elizarenkova (into Russian), of which I have so far seen only the first two parts, covering mandalas I-IV [1989] and V-VIII [1995]. In her translation of 1.164 she mostly follows Geldner and Renou. Mention may further be made of R. T. H. Griffiths' rather free translations of the Rgveda and Atharvaveda (1892, 1896). Hillebrandt (1913: 103-5) translated part of 1.164 (cf. also Hillebrandt 1927, 1929, as referenced in the "Verzeichnis wichtigerer Stellen" in both volumes). Two quite divergent earlier Indian commentaries on the hymn, of Sayana and of Atmananda, have been published by Kunhan Raja (1956), together with an annotated translation of the verses.

4 V. Henry (1894: 107-14, 143-57; Oldenberg's review [1896: 180ff.; 1939ff.] contains valuable critical remarks); W. Whitney (1905, 2: 552-61).

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Kunhan Raja, Janert, Agrawala, Brown, Johnson, and

Singh also wrote special studies on 1.164 or parts of it.5

1.2 Haug was not only the first to translate the verses of Rgveda 1.164-traditionally attributed to the seer Dirgha- tamas-and study them in detail, he was also the first to address the problem of the original employment and rit- ual context of the verses. His suggestion was that the whole hymn is a collection of riddles once employed at the ritualized discussion (brahmodya) in the Asvamedha or similar ritual contexts; for the brahmodya in the Agva- medha the Srauta sources indeed prescribe verses 34 and 35 (or very similar ones).6 The verses of our hymn, ac- cording to Haug, do not form a coherent whole, but he admitted occasional relatedness between small sets of verses (Haug 1875: 457; 460-66).

Some later scholars sought to improve on the interpre- tation of the verses by trying to discern larger thematic

groupings: Deussen saw the whole hymn as a "song of unity,"7 Geldner found that the verses can at least be the- matically grouped,8 and Brown presented the hymn as having "three great themes, which are Agni [Fire], the Sun, and the Sacrifice, all closely interconnected, while the treatment of them is augmented by statements about Vac [Speech] as the Absolute."9 Other scholars have rather emphasized the unrelatedness of the verses-e.g.,

5 See Deussen 1920: 105-19; Thieme 1949: 55-73 and 1987; for the others mentioned, see the bibliography. A. Wiinsche (1896) gave an important place to RV 1.164 in his study of the "Riddle of the Year" in world literature. Of interest is Thompson 1997, with much attention to RV 1.164.

6 Cf. AsvSS 10.9.2-3, SankhSS 16.6.5-6 (the hotr asks, the sacrificer answers); BSS 15.28-29 and ApSS 20.19.6-7 (here the hotr asks, the brahmdn answers; cf. also TB 3.9.5.5 and Dumont 1948: 482); KSS 20.7.14-15 (here the sacrificer asks, the adhvaryu answers; cf. also SB 13.5.2.21 and Dumont 1927: 189 [?550]).

7 Deussen (1920: 105-19) had few followers in strongly em- phasizing a pervasive thematic unity in RV 1.164-as an "Ein- heitslied" dealing with the "unity in diversity" of phenomena.

8 Geldner: "Die Str[ophen] lassen sich z.T gruppenweise ordnen, ohne feste Dispositionen des Ganzen" (1951, 1: 227).

9 Brown 1968: 199 [53]. Brown approached the hymn prima- rily as a literary product and tried to solve its problems with methods of literary criticism. RV 1.164, according to him, deals with notions which seem to give it "consistency and purpose and explain why it was composed" (1968: 200 [54]). He also tried to explain the "argument" of the hymn (1968: 207ff. [61ff.]), though one may doubt whether there really is one. A "literary approach" was also adopted by Doniger O'Flaherty (1981); and further by Johnson (1980), who made use of a modern text- analytical terminology when addressing a few verses of 1.164.

Renou,l? Edgerton,1 and Thieme12-even if these verses were formulated in the same kind of enigmatic language.13 A quite loose interconnection between the verses was

apparently also assumed by Roth in 1892, when he con- sidered 1.164 to be a collection of riddles, two of which- viz., 30 and 3814-deal with the universal problem of the relation between body and soul.15 As is well known, Roth's position, according to which the Rgveda is a col- lection of "natural" lyrical poetry having little or nothing to do with later Indian literature, including the ritual texts,16 was not accepted in its extreme form by later

10 "... the hymn (1.164) which is but a string of enigmas . . ."

(1960: 35). 1 "This long hymn consists mainly of disconnected riddles,

the answers to which are mostly unknown or at best conjectural" (1965: 51).

12 "Wie wohl auch vielen anderen Vedologen schien es uns richtig, von der Voraussetzung auszugehen, dass es sich um eine Sammlung von Ratseln oder in Ratselform gekleideten Alle- gorien handelt, die inhaltlich nur locker miteinander verknupft sind, die sich aber doch thematisch beriihren-insofern nam- lich, als sie befasst sind einerseits mit Dingen der kosmischen Ordnung-dem Jahreslauf, dem Gang der Sonne und den Er- scheinungsformen des Mondes, dem Himmel bei Tag und bei Nacht und dergleichen-und andererseits mit Gegenstanden und Ablaufen des Rituals" (1987: 329).

13 According to Porzig, to whose work Thomas Oberlies kindly drew my attention, RV 1.164 is a group of riddles, which are ordered "nicht nach den verratselten, sondern nach den verrat- selnden Gegenstinden" (1925: 648). Porzig's "alternative" solu- tions to several of the "riddles" of 1.164 are not very convincing, but some important observations are made on the language of riddles (or one could say, enigmas) as "Sondersprache" which pre- supposes certain social facts (the existence of a group of "know- ers") and an attitude (paying attention to underlying connections between things rather than to their phenomenal appearances).

14 This separation of two thematically parallel verses by others that in Roth's view apparently deal with something else, is in har- mony with his assumption that the hymn is a "collection of riddles."

15 "Mit solchen Ratseln hat sich auch die alte Spruchdichtung beschaftigt, von welcher wir da und dort in vedischen Biichern Proben finden, namentlich aber eine ganze Sammlung von Versen in Rv. 1.164" (Roth 1892: 759).

16 Cf. "Vorwort" to the Sanskrit-Worterbuch (St. Petersburg, 1855), 1: v, according to which the vedic hymns are not "Schop- fungen einer theologischen Speculation, auch nicht aus dem Boden jener fest umschriebenen minutiosen liturgischen Praxis erwachsen, sondern sie sind ihrem grossten Theile nach Erzeug- nisse der altesten religi6sen Lyrik, deren Ausiibung eben so wenig an Familien oder Kasten gebunden war als die Darbring- ung des taglichen Opfers und Gebets . . ."

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scholars, who highlighted numerous continuities.17 In the 1892 article, Roth argues especially against construing words in meanings known only from later ritual sources, but he does not explicitly reject Haug's suggestion that the occasion for which the riddle-verses were intended was that of a sacrificial session-thus leaving open the

possibility that the hymn and its verses were intended to be recited in a sacrificial context (whether or not cor-

responding with descriptions in later ritual texts).18 Johnson, in 1980, made a useful distinction between a

riddle proper and an enigma-the former expressing a "question or verbal puzzle," the latter being "designed to

express a meaning intrinsically enigmatic" and "using special means to suggest understandings of reality not

ordinarily perceived or experienced"19-and discussed a few of the verses of 1.164 (20-22) as enigmas rather than riddles.20 But as context for these verses he maintained the one proposed by Haug: that of the ritual discussion or

17 Oldenberg speaks of Roth's idea of the Rgveda as "Natur-

wtichsige Poesie," and observes that Roth did not know much about the texts on the sacrificial ritual, with which in that time only Weber and Haug had some familiarity (Oldenberg 1905: 5, 7). On the reactions of later vedic scholars, cf. also Gonda 1975: 56ff.

18 Note that the very first verse suggests that its author is

standing in front of a fire and that it has usually been interpreted as such, already in the time when Roth wrote his article; cf.

Ludwig's translation of the verse (we will modify this usual in-

terpretation later on). This suggests a general sacrificial context, and Roth made no explicit objection to this. Roth also accepted that the rgvedic people were engaged in daily sacrifice and

prayer (cf. citation in note 16). 19 "The enigma originally stated a mystery, being so designed

to express a meaning intrinsically enigmatic. Brahman verses were intentionally allusive, deliberately obscure language sets

using special means to suggest understandings of reality not

ordinarily perceived or experienced. The enigma conceals its

meaning in or by its own formulation, and must be contemplated to have its full effect." And further, "[t]hough riddle implies something dark or puzzling, it is formally distinct from enigma and paradox. The riddle expresses a question or verbal puzzle. It

usually contains its own answer in a series of clues that, when

correctly perceived, often in terms of an underlying image, will

give its solution" (Johnson 1980: 32-33). 20 Cf. the distinction, in French, between "enigme" and "devi-

nette." Henry discussed the two atharvanic hymns AV 9.9 and 10 as collections of devinettes, while Renou, more appropriately, speaks of RV 1.164 as I'hymne aux enigmes (cf. also Renou and Silburn 1949 on 1.152 as a "hymne a enigmes"). The two no- tions are of course not mutually exclusive. RV 1.164.34 can be regarded as a set of riddles, but their corresponding answers in 35 are couched in enigmatic statements such as: "this altar is the

brahmodya. Johnson spoke of a "symposium," and de- scribed its nature, function, and aim with much imagina- tion, but with few philological data to support his view.21

Thus, scholars after Haug have proposed numerous al- ternative interpretations for problematic verses, but with

regard to the problem of the original context, if it was taken into account at all, no one ever seriously challenged Haug's suggestions.22

2.1 After more than a century of research on the

Rgveda and vedic ritual it is time to take a fresh look at this problem. We start with a consideration of the

applications which the vedic ritual tradition recognizes for RV 1.164 or parts of it. Although these became sol-

idly established only in a post-rgvedic age, they may very well continue some older tradition. Under these circum-

stances, the strongest possible confirmation that this is the case would be a direct reference in the verses to an actual

performance of the ritual acts for which the later sources indeed prescribe the verse. Next, a verse may be suitable to but not necessarily connected with a specific rite. Finally, a verse may be entirely unsuitable. In the latter case, its contents may point to another ritual context, or to no

specific context at all.23 The verses with a strong ritual connection enable us

to search for the ritual context that is best suited to the

hymn as a whole.24 This, in turn, may lead to new or additional insights regarding other verses of the hymn. Just as in the case of the direct indications in a verse of a particular ritual context, there is no contemporaneous source that can confirm or disprove alternative interpre- tations of verses (apart from other, usually multi-inter-

pretable rgvedic verses). The best confirmation we can

aspire to regarding such new interpretations is that they lead to mutually reinforcing positive probabilities.

farthest limit of the earth" and "this Brahman(-priest) is the ul- timate heaven of speech."

21 Cf. esp. pp. 3-25 on the "Sacrificial symposium as context of Rg Vedic speculative images," and pp. 42-65 on "The enigma of the two birds in the fig tree."

22 Without referring to Haug's suggestions, Porzig regarded the hymn as consisting of riddles similar to those asked in dis- cussions between vedic student and father or teacher, or between brahmin and king (1925: 646f.).

23 For discussions on the problem of the relation between the

Rgveda and vedic ritual, cf. Bergaigne 1889; Renou 1962; Gonda 1975: 83ff.; Witzel 1997: 288ff.

24 The hymn as collection of verses may, of course, turn out to be divisible into smaller units at a later stage (it does, as we will see below); but it did become a whole at a certain moment, and apparently has remained a whole since its inclusion in the Rgveda.

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.4 (2000)

It is here assumed that the presence of ritual forms, which we know must have been involved in certain

ways, can provide important directions in the precarious project of interpreting rgvedic hymns. But even the best solutions to problems of understanding the symbolic language of the hymns that can be thus arrived at are

"intermediary," to the extent that the ritual itself is a

symbolic form. We do not arrive at ultimate referents. The problem pointed out long ago by Derrida (1978) that there is no safe point where the structures of inter-

pretation are anchored in "real presences" remains. The

"intermediary" anchoring in the symbolic forms of rit- ual seems nevertheless one of the few directions in which scientific progress in Rgveda interpretation is still

possible.25

2.2 With Haug (1875: 460) we can neglect those appli- cations of verses that are clearly secondary, such as that of the first forty-one verses as Vaisvadevasastra in the Mahavrata ceremony (AiA 5.3.2), and the recitation of the whole sikta as expiation by a brahmin who has sto- len gold (Rgvidhdna 1.14;26 Manusmrti 11.250).27

2.3 It is true that the srautasutras prescribe verses 34 and 35 in a brahmodya in the Agvamedha (see n. 6), as Haug observed. We may even add that the content of the verses-in which one of the four questions is: "what is the seed of the stallion?" and the answer: "this soma is the seed of the stallion"-suits quite well the context of a horse sacrifice, which in its classical form includes the

pressing and offering of soma.28

2.4 But we find in RV 1.164 also several other verses with a well-established ritual application. In 26ab it is said: upa hvaye sudugham dhenum etam suhdsto godhug utd dohad enam "I call hither this cow easy to milk; and a dexterous milker shall milk her." In the Pravargya, ac-

cording to the srautasutras, this verse is pronounced by

25 Even here, the present paper does not provide "safe results"; it would be methodologically naive to claim definiteness and

safety for any interpretation. Rather, the paper is the report of an

interpretational experiment in the ritual direction sketched above. 26

Corresponding to Rgvidhana 1.26.2 in Gonda 1951: 32. 27 AV 9.9.1, which corresponds to RV 1.164.1, is referred to in

KausikaS 18.25 with the pratika asya vamasya, in a section on ceremonies for prosperity (pustikarma). Darila and KeSava ex-

plain that both 9.9 and 9.10 are to be recited in full. The pratika asya vamasya is also found in AVPar 32.22.

28 See Appendix for a translation of these and other impor- tant verses, which are here not discussed in detail.

the hotr priest when the Pravargya pot is fully heated and has been worshiped, and the adhvaryu sets out to milk the cow.29 Placed in this context, the statement presents neither a riddle nor an enigma. It is just plain language. Verse 26 continues with a prayer to god Savitr for "the best stimulation" (srestham savdm) and concludes with another statement that suits the context in the ritual situ- ation in which it is employed: [a]bhiddho gharmds tad u sti prd vocam "the Gharma (pot) is heated: this I hereby announce."30 With this last pada it has become clear that the verse does not refer to just any milking of a cow, but to the milking of a cow in connection with a Gharma

offering. This makes the verse exclusively suitable for the

Pravargya ceremony (from among the rituals known to us from the srautasutras).31

Two subsequent verses, 27-28, and moreover vs. 49 (see Appendix for translations), present no major problem either, if they are placed in the context for which they are prescribed in the grautasitras: the milking of the Gharma cow, to which first a male calf is brought near to

trigger the flow of the cow's milk.32 The milking is done

by the adhvaryu, to whom reference is made by the

29 Cf. AsvSS 4.7.4; SatikhSS 5.10.1; van Buitenen 1968: 96. 30 Hoffmann cites this verse and especially the last pada as a

clear case of the use of the injunctive in a "Koinzidenzfall": "Beim Koinzidenzfall besteht die bezeichnete Handlung im

Aussprechen des Satzes (z.B., ich danke)" (1967: 251); in other

words, it corresponds to what is now usually called a performa- tive or speech act. The form vocam is not only injunctive but also

aorist, the "punctual" aspect of which suits the occasion of a "Koinzidenzfall" quite well (cf. Gonda 1971: 129).

31 A similar idea was expressed by Oldenberg in his re- view of Henry 1894. About RV 1.164.26-29 Oldenberg writes: "Handelt es sich aber wirklich um Ratsel, welche von uns

geldst sein wollen? Ich mochte glauben, dass die Verse ... zu- nachst ihren deutlichen Mittelpunkt im Ritual der Gharmafeier haben...; dass dabei Parallelisierungen der rituellen Kategorien des grossen Weltlebens mit unterlaufen, wie die Yajustexte von der-

artigem voll sind, soll nicht geleugnet werden, aber diese Paral-

lelisierungen kommen doch ganz in zweiter Linie" (Oldenberg 1896: 182). Here, and on his more general point that the ritual is more important in RV 1.164 = AV 9.9, 10 than was recognized by Henry, I fully agree with Oldenberg.

32 More precisely, the verses are recited just before the actual milking for the Gharma offering (which is anticipated in 26): Af- ter 27 (recited by the hotr; when the cow comes), 49 is recited (by both the hotr and the adhvaryu) when the calf is brought near to the cow, and 28 (by the hotr) when the calf is led away by the

adhvaryu: AsvSS 4.7.4; SarikhSS 5.10.2, 5, 6; van Buitenen 1968: 96ff.

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word suhdsta in 26b.33 (See figure 3: the adhvaryu milk-

ing the Gharma cow.) Also vs. 40, prescribed in connec- tion with the cow used in the Pravargya, has no direct riddle or enigma character.34

2.5 Apart from the verses strongly related to the cow and milking in the Pravargya, there is another verse with a well- established relation with the Pravargya, namely verse 31.

All yajurvedic sources (MS 4.9.6; KathA 2.101i-115; TA 4.7; VS 37.14-20) make this stanza part of the avakasa mantras, that is, mantras 'accompanying the watching (avakasa)' [viz., of the heated pot].35 These are to be re- cited by all priests and the sacrificer as they reverently watch the fully heated Pravargya pot.

According to its first word, the verse gives expres- sion to a certain vision (dpasyam), and as such it suits the occasion of watching the heated pot.36 Its language is rich in imagery (instead of a direct reference to the pot as the object of seeing, a gopa 'herdsman' is mentioned), but there is no indication that the srauta application in the Pravargya would be secondary. Below we will see that it suits the occasion even better than so far realized. While all relevant yajurvedic sources place it in the context of "watching the heated pot," the rgvedic srauta sources make this verse, or rather RV 10.177.3, which is identical,37 part of the long recitation of the hotr priest that accom-

33 In the RV, suhdsta commonly refers to the adhvaryu or an officiant performing an ddhvaryava duty (5.43.4, 9.97.37), just as sujihvd (e.g., 1.13.8) and suvac (10.110.7) refer to the hotr (cf. Hillebrandt 1897: 12).

34 Henry, on the equivalent AV 9.10.20, has to admit: "aussi est-ce une benediction, et a peine une 6nigme." As I will argue below (?5.2), in the srauta ritual the recitation of 1.164.40 has shifted from its original place.

35 The term was wrongly rendered as "litany of the occasions" by van Buitenen (1968: 92, ?23 n. 3), and, strangely enough, also by Gonda (1979: 266). A correct explanation is found at Gonda 1969: 22, where the term is said to refer to "certain mantras dur- ing the recitation of which the eyes must be fixed on a particular object" (cf. also Caland, who speaks of "verses 'destined for gaz- ing at'," in his translation of SadkhSS 5.9.27). The word avakaga apparently contains a nominal form of 'Ikas in the meaning "to look, watch" (cf. avacakasat 'seeing', e.g., RV 8.32.22). Avakasa 'looking' (rather than 'opening, occasion') also, e.g., in prsad- djyavakdse, BSS 15.28 end. See, further, Houben 1991: 118, n. 70 and 120, n. 79.

36 Cf. Gonda 1969: 22. 37 As a whole, hymn RV 10.177, consisting of three verses, has

an intimate relation with the Pravargya. An investigation and discussion of this relation, and the relation between the identical 10.177.3 and 1.164.31, must be postponed to another occasion.

panies the heating and fanning of the pot by the adhvaryu and his helpers; this episode immediately precedes the watching and worshiping of the pot. Apart from the ap- plication in these two related and contiguous episodes (below, these two episodes will be called A2 and A3), I am not aware of any alternative application in the srauta ritual.38

2.6 Going by the number of verses with a strong, and gen- erally accepted, ritual connection, we may at this stage re- gard a further investigation of the relation of the hymn with the Pravargya as most promising.

The Pravargya is to be performed on behalf of the sacrificer by six priests, the adhvaryu and his assistant the pratiprasthatr (belonging to the Yajurveda), the hotr (belonging to the Rgveda), the prastotr (belonging to the Samaveda), the brahman (belonging to the Atharvaveda or to any Veda) and the agnidh. The classical form, as described in the srautasutras, occurs only in the context of a Soma sacrifice. Table 1 provides an overview of the classical ritual. Episodes A-D constitute the regular Pravargya performance on three or more days preceding the day on which the actual pressing of the soma juice begins. Figures 1-5 provide further representations of episodes A-D. In ??2.4-5 above, we have already found references to episode B, the milking, and episode A, the heating and fanning (with sub-episodes A2 and A3).

In addition, an episode P may be distinguished: the pre- paratory procedure, preceding the regular performances (A-D). In P the clay pot and other implements are pre- pared. Episode R is the solemn disposal of the pot and implements after the last regular performance.

It should be briefly mentioned that the classical sources also know of a special procedure, the so-called Avfnta- radiksa, a year-long "initiation," which is to accompany the study of the Pravargya mantras by an advanced vedic student (brahmacarin).39 This takes place in an entirely different context, between teacher and pupil. There will be some occasion to refer to it later.

3.1 If we think through the well-established connection with ritual episodes of the verses mentioned in ??2.4-5, there arises an important problem: the sequence of the

38 Cf. also Gonda 1979: 261 and 270, n. 105. 39 For a more comprehensive overview of the Pravargya and

the Avantaradiksa the reader may be referred to van Buitenen 1968. In a forthcoming paper, I argue that the Avantaradiksa of the Pravargya is a "rudimentary initiation" brought to completion by a performance of the Pravargya; usual translations of Avanta- radiksa as "intermediate" or "intermediary" initiation are beside the point in the case of the Avantaradiksa of the Pravargya.

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TABLE 1

Major episodes of the Pravargya according to the srautasutras

A. Installing, heating and worshiping the pot. This episode may be subdivided into three: Al: The Pravargya pot is placed on a special mound (pravirnjaniya-khara), north of the Garhapatya, where

it is filled and anointed with ghee, and surrounded with burning coals and fuel sticks. The adhvaryu and two acolytes (the pratiprasthatr and agnidh) circumambulate and fan the fire, and sit down beside it.

A2: They sit around the fire and fan it while the hotr recites the verses, which include RV 10.177.3 = RV 1.164.31 (the adhvaryu and his acolytes join in the om which concludes each verse).

A3: When the pot is fully heated, all priests and the sacrificer stand up and reverently watch the pot, reciting the avakdsa mantras. These mantras include RV 1.164.31.

B. The adhvaryu and pratiprasthatr set out to milk the cow and the goat. The adhvaryu goes to the door and calls the cow. The hotr recites RV 1.164.26, and, when the cow comes, RV 1.164.27. The adhvaryu and hotr together recite RV 1.164.49. When the cow's calf is led away the hotr recites RV 1.164.28. The adhvaryu milks the cow to the accompaniment of recitations by the hotr. The goat is milked without mantras.

C. Some cow's and goat's milk is poured into the heated pot full of boiling ghee, from which a pillar of fire and flames arises. Formulas and recitations accompany this.

D. When the pot is somewhat cooled down, it is brought to the Ahavaniya, where an offering to Indra and to the Asvins is made into the fire from the (still quite hot) pot. Next, the pot is filled with curds, and this is offered into the Ahavaniya fire. After an Agnihotra offering, the priests and the sacrificer partake of the remnants.

* * *

P. Preparatory procedures, preceding the first Pravargya performance: PI: clay and other ingredients are fetched from previously prepared spots; P2: the Gharma/Pravargya pot and two spare ones are prepared from the clay and ingredients; P3: the implements are fumigated in smoke of burning horse dung, baked in a special pit, and finally

suspended in a special place till the first performance. * * *

R. Procedure of removal, taking place immediately after the last Pravargya performance: in a solemn procession the implements are brought from the sacrificial shed where the Pravargya performances took place (pracinavamsa) to the place of disposal, usually the Uttaravedi.

verses can in no way be right: the sequence is contrary to the sequence of actions as prescribed in the srautasutras. What is more, the sequence suggested by the verses in 1.164 seems structurally-not to say physically-impos- sible, even on the basis of the actions directly implied by the verses (i.e., independent of the ritual as described in the srautasutras).40

Verse 31 presupposes that the pot is at its hottest, and this is the case when the pot has been heated and fanned for some time by the adhvaryu and his helpers. Only then

40 Often, no clearly identifiable ritual stages are implied in the verses of a hymn, but if they are, the sequences normally

the pot is watched and worshiped with the avakasa mantras (episode A3). Alternatively, verse 31 (in the form of its equivalent 10.177.3) applies to the heating and fan- ning just before the moment when the pot is at its hottest (episode A2). But the milking of the cow (episode B

correspond-apart from various deviations which started in the atharvavedic and yajurvedic versions of the texts. Bosch (1985) showed that the verses of the Apri-suktas most probably fol- lowed the sequence of an ancient animal sacrifice. The sections which follow may be regarded as an investigation of the hy- pothesis that such correspondence is also found in RV 1.164, in spite of the discrepancies perceived initially.

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FIG. 1. Adhvaryu and helpers fanning and heating the

Pravargya pot. Delhi, March 1994. Pravargya, episode A2. The hotr and his helpers recite, among other verses, RV 10.177.3 = 1.164.31.

FIG. 3. Adhvaryu milking the cow. Delhi, March 1994.

Episode B. The hotr has just recited RV 1.164.26.

with, e.g., RV 1.164.26) takes place only after the worship- ing with the avakasa mantras (which include RV 1.164.31).

3.2 The impossibility of the sequence becomes even more pronounced if vs. 29-even though it is not pre- scribed in the s'rauta ritual-is also taken as a verse di-

rectly related to the Pravargya. Already Haug took it this

way, and other scholars followed him.41 There are indeed

good reasons to do so, as the wording of vs. 28 (a: gaur amimed;42 b: mdtava u; d: mifmti mayaum) clearly con- tinues in vs. 29, padas ab, with gau'r and mimati mdyutm. Sayana took the continuance quite literally, and explained 29ab as a further remark on the Gharma cow (gaiuh) and the male calf (vatsdm in 28, sd in 29a).

41 Cf., e.g., ad loc.: Ludwig, Oldenberg, Geldner, Liiders, Renou. 42 Cf. Schaefer 1994: 164f.

FIG. 2. Priests and sacrificer watch and worship the heated Pravargya pot. Barsi (Maharashtra, India), March 1995. Episode A3. They all recite the avakasa mantras, one of which is RV 1.164.31.

More likely, however, gauh is here used in a frequent rgvedic metaphor for "milk" or "ghee (clarified butter)."43 In that case, the hapax dhvasani in 29b can be associated with the participle dhvasdyat, which occurs twice44 in

43 Cf. RV 9.32.3 dtyo nd g6bhir ajyate, and similar combina- tions between go and anj in 5.1.3, 5.3.2; further, Grassmann 1875: s.v. g6, meanings 11, 16, 17, and 18.

44 RV 1.140.3 and 5, where dhvasdyat probably means 'spark- ling'. The basic meaning of Idhvams/dhvas seems to be 'to scatter, sprinkle, turn into dust' (cf. Mayrhofer 1996: s.v. dhvams "zerstieben, zerstauben, zerbr6cklen"). This solution is more natural than that of H.-P. Schmidt (1963: 16f., on 1.164.29) which dissociates dhvasdnav from the immediately following ddhi srita and at the same time has to supply a noun expressing where the "cow" is placed.

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FIG. 4a: "Lightning"-like pillar of flames arises from pot to which fresh milk has been added; young participants shrink back. Barsi (Maharashtra, India), March 1995. Episode C. Cf. RV 1.164.29.

another hymn of Dirghatamas, in both cases in connection with fire. The first padas,

aydm sd sihkte yena gaur abhti-vrt mimati mdyum dhvasdnav ddhi Sritd,

can then be rendered as:

This one is humming, by which the cow (the milk) is enveloped.

She (the milk) lows a lowing (when she is) placed on the sparkling (fire).

Anyone familiar with the Pravargya ritual will recognize here the episode that immediately follows the milking of the cow, viz., the adding of some freshly milked milk to the heated pot that is still enveloped in flames. (See table 1, episode C.) "This one" (aydm) in 29a then refers to

FIG. 4b: "Lightning"-like pillar of flames arises from pot to which fresh milk has been added. Delhi, Decem- ber 1996 (video-still). Episode C. Cf. RV 1.164.29.

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the heated pot rather than to the calf.45 The boiling ghee (clarified butter) in the pot makes a humming sound. When the milk is added to the heated pot, the boiling and burning ghee "explodes," just as any boiling and burning oil "explodes" when water is thrown on it-hence the household wisdom not to try to extinguish burning oil with water. This produces a sound which is here com- pared to the lowing of a cow. Something else happens: a fiery pillar of flames and steam arises from the pot.46 (The shape of the latter directs the force of the "explo- sion" upwards, hence the pillar-shape; see figures 4a, b.)

A precise reference-so far generally overlooked-to this is found in the last pada of 29:

vidyud bhdvanti prdti vavrim auhata

Transforming herself to lightning (vidyut), she pushed back her covering.

Here, the milk (i.e., the "cow" of pada a) added to the heated pot and the boiling ghee in it, produces in an in- stant a lightning-like phenomenon, which pushes back (rises up from) the pot, her covering.47 Also pada c is per- fectly suited to this occasion:

45 The pot and the calf are parallel in that they are both receiv- ers of milk from the cow. As we will see, the calf in 1.164.5 and 9 may metaphorically refer to the heated pot.

46 The grautas0tras speak only of steam arising from the pot (e.g., udyantam iisminam anumantrayate inApSS 15.10.2). Steam arises when the pot is less hot and contains less boiling ghee. The accompanying formulas in the Taittiriya tradition, TA 4.8.4 (16) svaha tvd suryasya rasmdye vrstivdnaye juhomi and (18) sur-

yasya tdpas tapa, however, do suggest a more fiery phenomenon than steam.

47 The latest comprehensive interpretation in which an attempt was made to place the verse in a larger context of vedic (recon- structed) cosmologies is that of Liiders (1959: 362-68-cf. van Buitenen 1968: 32-33 for criticism of Liiders' misunderstand- ings regarding ritual details of the Pravargya). According to Liiders (1959: 368) the last pada refers to "das grosse Myste- rium" that the milk throws off her covering, her earthly appear- ance, and transforms herself into lightning which makes the people hide away: this would indicate the thunderstorm which follows the Pravargya; Haug, following one of the suggestions of Sayana, connects the pushing back of the covering uncon- vincingly with the sky becoming clear after a thunder storm.

After this paper was largely finished, I found that Schmidt had correctly interpreted this verse as a reference to this stage in the ritual: "Nun wird aber der Topf mit Milch gar nicht ans Feuer gesetzt, sondern die Milch in den gliihend gemachten Topf gegossen, wodurch der herausschiessende Blitz erzeugt wird ... Die Worte vidyud bhdvanti schliessen es aus etwa an das spatere

FIG. 5. Boiling ghee in pot (close-up during fanning). Delhi, March 1994 (video-still). Applies to episodes A2-A3. Cf., esp., RV 1.164.30, 31 and 38.

sa cittibhir ni hi cakara mdrtyam

She, with her cracklings, has indeed put down the mortal.

One may compare figure 4a for the spectators' natural reaction to the sudden appearance of a pillar of fire. One may stay even closer to the ritual event and interpret "the mortal" as a reference to the clay pot which is pushed down. Previous interpreters, from Sayana to Liiders, took padas c and d of this verse only as a reference to cos- mic (adhidaiva) events.48 These interpretations are not en- tirely excluded by the adhiyajna interpretation arrived at here (with either of the two variants for c, depending on whether mdrtya refers to the mortal participant at the rite or to the pot), but the adhiyajna interpretation suits more directly and precisely, and would, moreover, have been basic to any adhidaiva interpretation when it was indeed intended.

Stadium der Zeremonie zu denken...." (1963: 16f.). In sup- port, he referred to the later ritual of the srautasuitras (p. 16, n. 2), without, however, mentioning the difficulty pointed out in the preceding footnote, viz., that these speak of steam rather than flames or a lightning-like phenomenon arising from the pot.

48 The validity of three different categories of viewpoints in the interpretation of vedic verses has been recognized from early times onwards. The brahmanas contain the earliest explicit references to adhyatma interpretations, relating to the person; adhidaiva or adhidaivata interpretations, applying to the deities and the cosmos; and adhiyajna interpretations, applying to the ritual. Cf. Oldenberg 1919: 57f.; Houben 1997: 69.

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3.3 This new, improved interpretation of vs. 29 perfectly suits the wording of the verse, and it is also fully in harmony with the preceding verses from 26 onwards. But the conflict with vs. 31 has become sharper: in the hymn this verse follows those referring to milking and adding milk to the heated pot (episodes B and C), whereas the episode to which 31 applies (episode A) should precede. There would be no point in cooling down the pot before adoring it as equal to the sun. Nor would the adding of milk to the pot produce a phenom- enon-a sudden pillar of steam or fire-as referred to in the srauta texts and yajurvedic sources (and appar- ently also in padas cd of vs. 29) if the heat of the pot is not at its peak.

With this we have discovered an important "fault line" in the heart of the hymn-somewhere between 29 and 31.

4.1 Before turning to vs. 30 to investigate this fault line, and in order to decide whether this verse suits the Pra- vargya episodes B and C (hence vss. 26-29), or rather epi- sode A and, more specifically, A2 and A3 (hence vs. 31), we have to discuss another problem: how well is verse 31 suited to the occasion for which it is generally prescribed, namely the heating of the pot, which culminates in watch- ing and worshiping it?

The verse is as follows:

dpasyam gopdm dnipadyamanam a ca pdra ca pathibhis cdrantam |

sd sadhrtcih sd visucir vdsana a varivarti bhuvanesv antdh hI

Remaining close to the direct meanings of the terms, one may translate:

I saw the herdsman, never taking rest, wandering hither and thither on his pathways. Enveloping himself in those that converge, in those that spread out, he moves around and around49 in all beings.

The verse has frequently been taken as a reference to the sun, ever since Haug (1875), who was aware of its ritual application in the Pravargya. This corresponds well with the yajurvedic sources, which discuss the verse as the first of the avakdaa mantras: they all interpret it as refer- ring to the sun (TA 5.6.4: asau va ddityo gopdh; KathA

49 Cf. Schaefer 1994: 192f.

2.101 i-104: [adityd] . . . es ... imam llokams tejasavr- noty;50 and SB 14.1.4.14: esd vai gopa yd esd tdpati).51

The interpretation that "the herdsman, never taking rest, wandering hither and thither on his pathways" refers to the sun seems generally acceptable,52 even if we take into account that the rgvedic poets could have had vari- ous cosmologies in mind.53 More problematic are "envel- oping himself in those that converge, in those that spread out," and "he moves around and around in all beings." What would this mean in reference to the sun? Haug (1875) took the converging and spreading things in which the herdsman clothes himself as the rays of the sun (as gavas, fem. pl.), but did not address the problem of "moves around and around in all beings"-he even ne- glected to render this phrase in his translation. Ludwig (1888) supplies rays ("strahlen") to "those that converge, those that spread out," and translates the final phrase as ". .. wandelt er einher innerhalb der welten"; he ap- parently did not perceive the problem this poses for the sun-interpretation. Henry (1894) interprets the herds- man likewise as the sun and translates the final phrase as "il roule a travers les mondes," thus suggesting an "astronomical" interpretation of the phrase-which is unconvincing in the light of the other rgvedic occur- rences of bhuvanesv antdh: RV 1.157.5 (in another hymn of Dirghatamas), 8.101.14, 10.183.3 (and 10.177.3 = 1.164.31).

Geldner (1951), like Haug aware of the application of the verse in the Pravargya and the accompanying sun- interpretation, proposed that vs. 31 nevertheless refers originally to prdna 'life-breath', just as do vss. 30 and 38. The term prdna is not found in these verses (cf. Bode- witz 1992: 51), but this can still be justified by referring to the "riddle"-character of the hymn. As a term it is

50 That Witzel's conjecture adityd for a damaged text-part in KathA 2.104 must be correct is apparent from the following sentences, up to imam llokams tejasdvrnoti "covers these worlds with light" (Witzel 1972: 40-42).

51 AiA 2.1.6, quoting and explaining 1.164.31 (or the identi- cal 10.177.3?), does not give an explicit identification of gopa, but probably the sun was thought of (the cardinal points are mentioned in the interpretation: sa sadhricih sa visucir vasdna iti sadhricis ca visacis ca vasta imd eva disah).

52 According to Liders (1959: 613) the identical verse 10.177.3 definitely refers to the sun, and the same interpreta- tion would be possible in 1.164.31, as well, in spite of Geldner.

53 A difference in cosmological standpoint is directly re- ferred to in this hymn in vs. 12; different ways of representing a single object are referred to in vs. 46.

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anyhow quite rare in the Rgveda.54 Nevertheless, in vs. 4 of 1.164 some terms occur which conceptually overlap with prana, namely dsu 'life, spirit',55 and atmdn, probably in an older meaning 'life-breath'.56 The herdsman as sun, "in diesem Sinne schon friihzeitig umgedeutet" (Geldner 1951, I: 233), would be an early reinterpretation, and the

application of the verse in the Pravargya would be sec-

ondary. His strongest argument in the wording of the verse is the last pada, which remained problematic in the inter-

pretation of his predecessors. The Atharvaveda has the same phrase in 10.2.7cd (with a riddle character), where it

certainly does not refer to the sun, but probably to a prdna-like concept (the word is again not used).57 Ac-

cording to Geldner a double sense is intended in 1.164.31: it would refer not only to prdna but also to its cosmic (or adhidaiva) equivalent, the wind. Not mentioned by Geld- ner is the fact that already TA 5.6.4 refers not only to the sun-interpretation of the verse, but also to a prana- interpretation: prano vai gopah "the herdsman is actually prana." In the rgvedic Kausitaki Brahmana, in the section

dealing with the Pravargya (KB 8.4), the whole hymn RV 10.177 (including 10.177.3 = 1.164.31), to be recited dur-

ing the fanning and heating of the pot (episode A2), is said to deal with prdna or wind (as a bird, patangd).58 Also in JUB 3.37.1-5, verse RV 10.177.3 = 1.164.31 is interpreted as a reference to prdna (though not in the context of the Pravargya ritual).

54 Five occurrences in total, three in book 10: 59.6, 90.13, and 189.2; two elsewhere: 1.66.1 and 3.53.21. In 1.164 it is absent.

55 Mayrhofer's "Existenz" (apart from "Leben" and "indivi-

duelle Existenz [auch nach dem Tode]" [1992, s.v. dsu]) is se-

mantically not convincing for the RV (cf. this verse in 1.164, and the compound dsu-niti, where dsu is clearly something more concrete).

56 Mayrhofer 1992, s.v. dtmdn: "Hauch, Seele, Selbst." The reflexive use is already attested in RV 9.113.1. There is no connection with the roots an 'to breathe' or av/va 'to blow', as supposed earlier (e.g., Grassmann 1875, s.v. dtmdn), cf. Mayr- hofer; Bodewitz 1991: 48. Nevertheless, on account of its co- occurrence with vdta 'wind', e.g., RV 1.34.7; 7.87.2; 10.168.4, it is likely that rgvedic dtmdn was associated with the meaning 'breath'.

57 sd i varlvarti bhuvanesv antdr apo vdsdnah kd u tdc ciketa. Whitney's translation: "he rolls greatly on among existences, clothing himself in the waters; who indeed understands that?" (1905: 568).

58 The corresponding place in the rgvedic Aitareya Brdhmana, 1.19, says only that 10.177.1-2 and some other verses are "ap- propriate." The recitation of 10.177.3 = 1.164.31 is, in the Aita- reya tradition, postponed (but still applied within episode A2; AiB 1.19 end, and AsvSS 4.6.3). Cf. also Gonda 1979: 238-40.

While the final phrase of vs. 31 remained problematic in the sun-interpretations, here it is the preceding "envel-

oping himself in those that converge, in those that spread out" that is puzzling. On the basis of the atharvavedic

parallel (AV 10.2.7cd), one may supply apdh 'waters'. For the prdina this would refer, according to Geldner, to the "bodily waters of life" ("Lebenswasser des Leibes"); in the case of the wind, it would apply to the rain water. Is the latter part of the interpretation satisfactory? Do the rain waters converge and spread out with reference to the wind? In 164.47 we also find the expression ap6 vdsanaih, but here the rays of the sun seem to be intended. This would rather point in the direction of a "cosmic" inter- pretation of vs. 31 as a reference to the sun. But can we then maintain the prana-interpretation at least on an adhyatma level, where it seems rather reasonable, both in the light of AV 10.2.7 and because of its suitability to the final phrase in 31?59

4.2 Confronted with these contradictions and partly un- convincing implications of the suggested cosmic and per- sonal (adhidaiva and adhyatma) interpretations, I propose now to take a closer look at the ritual interpretation (adhiyajiia). Soon after the heating and fanning have be- gun, the ghee in the pot60 has started to boil (see figure 5). The boiling which starts during the heating (episode A2) continues also during the watching and worshiping of the fully heated pot (episode A3), as the latter remains surrounded by flames.

59 Liiders, speaking of RV 10.177.3, thinks it definitely refers to the sun in the light of the context of the small hymn 10.177, "[w]ie immer man sich hinsichtlich der Strophe in 1.164 ent- scheidet" (Liiders 1959: 613). Renou (1967) thinks even vs. 31 in hymn 164 refers primarily to the sun ("qui se cache dans les eaux celestes"), but leaves open a secondary prana-interpretation. Eli- zarenkova (1989: 648) considers both a sun-interpretation, and a prdna/wind-interpretation possible.

60 Ghee was poured both in it and over it when it was installed at the "heating mound" (pravrnjaniya khara); cf. van Buitenen 1968: 71 ?10, 72; ?12, 74 ?14. According to Baudhayana, prob- ably the oldest srautasutra of the Taittiriya tradition, and Bha- radvdja and Vaikhdnasa, the pot is filled with ghee already when verse TA 4.5.2(8) ("whom the priests anoint ... ") is pronounced by the adhvaryu (ApSS 15.7.5 and Caland's n. 2); according to ApSS the adhvaryu anoints or fills the pot at this moment. Ac- cording to Mdnava, ghee is poured into the pot at an earlier mo- ment (van Buitenen 1968: 72 ?12 n. 3). According to Kdtydyana the pot is already filled with ghee when it is placed on the mound (van Buitenen 1968: 74 ?14 n. 1).

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We now see that within the heated pot that is being watched and worshiped, there is "something" that en- velops itself in a fluid, viz., in the boiling ghee, and the envelopings (nir-nij, f.) or streams or currents (dhara, f.) of ghee are constantly converging and spreading out in all directions (within the confines of the pot). The enigma- character of this verse is enhanced by leaving the "some- thing" which thus envelops itself undesignated. If the poet could have been persuaded to designate it, we do not know whether he would have spoken of prana, or rather of, for instance, dsu (the term actually used in vs. 4). In any case, the concept must have been largely overlapping with that of prdna in later texts (from the Atharvaveda- e.g., AV 11.4-onwards, cf. Bodewitz 1992; 1986: 343).

This interpretation perfectly suits the well-established ritual context of the verse, the watching and the heating of the pot. As well, a ritualistic (adhiyajna) interpreta- tion does not exclude a microcosmic (adhyitma) or mac- rocosmic (adhidaiva) one. On the contrary, it can clarify and in a way harmonize the prana/wind-interpretation and the sun-interpretation, and support both with the single ritual symbol of the heated pot with boiling ghee. Also the "spiritual" interpretation as suggested by Gonda (1963: 28) may be part of the intended (adhy- atma) meaning.61 But the verse does not exclusively re- fer to a "mystical, supranormal beholding or visionary experiencing," as Gonda thought, but also to a concrete perception in a well-defined ritual context.62

4.3 Having seen that vs. 31 suits its occasion-heating and watching the pot-even better than has been so far re- alized, we now turn to the next problem: what is the place of vs. 30? Is it more closely associated with vs. 31 and the heating and watching of the pot, or with the group 26-29 and the milking of the cow and eventually the pouring of some milk into the pot?

The text of the first half of this verse is:

andc chaye turdgdtu jivdm ejad dhruvdm mddhya a pastyanam I

61 Gonda apparently applied Geldner's interpretation of 10.177 (as referring to "das innere Licht der seherischen Erkenntnis und Erleuchtung im Herzen") at 1.164.31.

62 Thus, the gazing on the pot accompanied by mantras may be considered one of those situations where the spectator was be- lieved "to derive some advantage from looking on a mighty being or event, to participate in its essences..." (Gonda 1969: 55), even though Gonda did not mention it as such. Also, the gazing while formulas are being pronounced may have been considered effective in transmitting some potency to the pot, and conducive to receiving the favor of that potency in return (cf. Gonda 1969: 52, on "reciprocity" in "man's relation to the divine powers").

A literal translation is now probably enough to decide the issue:

Breathing, life is resting (yet) quickly moving, trembling (yet) stable, in the midst of its watery abode.63

Even more clearly than vs. 31 this must refer to the

"breathing life" (the "something" of vs. 31) that brings to "life" the boiling ghee (fig. 5). The streams or currents of the boiling ghee are here referred to as pastyaindm; in vs. 31 as "those that converge and those that spread out." With this, Ltiders' macrocosmic (adhidaiva) interpreta- tion of pastya'nam as a reference to "Himmelsfluten" (1959: 705) is not necessarily invalidated: rather it has received

anchorage in the ritualistic context and the corresponding adhiyajia interpretation.

We still have the second half to interpret:

jivd mrtdsya carati svadhdbhir

dmartyo mdrtyend sayonih ||

This may be translated as:

The living one moves about according to the specific ca-

pacities of the dead; [he is] immortal, having a common

birthplace with the mortal.

The statement is (intentionally) enigmatic, yet on the ba- sis of our insights so far it should not be overly difficult to uncover its purport. The "living one" must again be the "something" of vs. 31, where it is personified as a "herds- man." Here, jlvd is masculine; in the first pada it was neu- ter. With regard to the distinction between these two, Geldner's proposal-the neuter is life or the force of life, the masculine is the soul-is more convincing than Re- nou's attempt to associate jivdm with collective neuters

likejadtam, bhutdm, and bhuvanam. In the first pada there seems no place for such a collective interpretation of jivdm. However, instead of Geldner's "soul" for the mas- culine form, one may also think of prdnd, dsu, or atmdn in its older (associated?) meaning "life-breath." More- over, jlvd (m.) 'the living one' may be seen as an antici-

pation of the gopa (m.) of vs. 31.

63 I hope to give my reasons for translating pastya as "(watery) abode" elsewhere, but I note already that here it seems unlikely that the difference in gender in the cases of pastya f.-pastya n. and a few other Vedic word-pairs (cf. Brereton 1981:94f note 45) does not imply some difference in meaning or connotation (cf. varsa 'rainy season' and varsd 'rain'), even if we do not succeed in appreciating and translating the difference in each case. Cf., further, Geldner ad loc. and his references to earlier discussions. Note that it is not necessary to make any emendation in the transmitted text (as earlier scholars were wont to do).

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The "dead" or "dead one" must then be the pot-dead if without life-breath. Whatever the further implications may be of the statement that the living one, life-breath, "moves about according to the specific capacities64 of the dead one," in the ritual context it refers to the limitations set by the dimensions of the pot to the peculiar move- ments of that "something" which makes the heated ghee boil and bubble. Also the final pada, "[he is] immortal,

having a common birthplace with the mortal," is sugges- tive of wider implications regarding the "life-breath." But in the ritual it must refer to the lifeless clay pot, which is born as a "life-containing" though "mortal" pot when it is heated,65 and the "immortal" "life-breath" which mani- fests itself in the pot. This happens on the fire, the com- mon birthplace or womb (y6ni) of both.

4.4 In the same vein we may interpret verse 38, which is usually taken together with vs. 30. It runs as follows:

dpan prdah eti svadhdya grbhit6 'martyo mdrtyend sdyonih \

td sasvanti visgucfn viydnti ny anyatm cikyur nd ni cikyur anydam |I

It will suffice to give a literal translation with interpretative explanations inserted:

He [the living one, jivd, prand in the boiling ghee] re- cedes and goes forward, held fast by [his or the pot's] own capacity, immortal, having a common birthplace [the fire] with the mortal [the "enlivened" clay pot]. These two [the mortal, the clay pot; and the immortal, the life- breath] are always going apart, in separate directions.

Although people see the one [the clay pot], they do not

[normally] see the other [the living one, jivd, prand].

4.5 Verses 30-31 and 38 are thus to be regarded as inti-

mately related to the Pravargya, especially to episodes A2 and A3. Not only do they refer to a central element in these episodes-the pot with boiling ghee-they also seem to have these episodes as their most natural ritual context. If this context is accepted as most probably orig- inal for all three verses, one may infer that the classical

64 For svadhabhih, cf. Mayrhofer: "etwa Eigenheit, Eigen- kraft, gewohnte Art, Wohnsitz" (1996, s.v. svadhd). To be re-

jected is an interpretation in which the word is associated with the svadha exclamation in funeral ceremonies and with these ceremonies themselves (cf. Haug 1875-criticized on this point by Roth 1892-and Renou's cautious proposal in this direction).

65 In our second variant of the adhiyajna interpretation of vs. 29c (above, ?3.2) the word mdrtya also stood for the pot; but there its complement was a "cow" which transformed itself to lightning, and the episode in the ritual was quite different.

ritual as prescribed in the srautasutras has correctly pre- served this context in the case of vs. 31 only, while 30 and 38 were at some point ousted by alternative verses.

Of the intervening verses, 32 has been interpreted as a reference to prdna (Geldner) or the sun (e.g., Brown). Verse 33 deals with an embryo and birth: it is hence rel- evant to the "initiation" implied in the Pravargya66 and

especially to the period of special study devoted to the

Pravargya mantras, the year-long initiation called Avan- taradiksa (see section 2.6). Verse 36 seems to be a con- tinuation of 33, as observed by Geldner. The intervening vss. 34-35 (cf. n. 5 and ?2.2), contain four questions and answers, dealing among other things with speech,67 a theme also in the Pravargya.68 Verse 37 deals with ob-

taining "a share in speech," and like 36 it seems related

66 The classical Pravargya ritual has an "intiatory" character in the sense that its (yajurvedic) mantras give and deal with, but also hide and protect, knowledge of man (prana and speech) and the cosmos (sun, rain, also cosmic prana or wind). Cf., e.g., the in-

troductory "peace-invocation": "Adoration to speech, the spoken and the unspoken . .," and the prayer in the avakasa mantras: "confer on us speech, born of tapas and devoted to the gods." The

"initiatory" character of the Pravargya is further evident from, among other things, restrictions on teaching and performing the

Pravargya (e.g., SB 14.1.1.26, 14.2.2.46), its place in aranyaka sections (so with the Kathas and Taittiriyakas and in the SB), the reference to an unidentified doctrine called mddhu in relation with the Pravargya (KathA 3.226; SB 14.1.1.18ff., 14.1.4.13). The "dramatic" fiery pillar which arises when the milk is added to the heated pot perfectly suits the "initiatory" character of the

Pravargya (cf. Kaelber 1978). 67 Speech, one of the major themes of 1.164 according to

Brown (1968), is explicitly referred to (as vdk) in vss. 10, 37, and 45. In addition, there are numerous references to speech-related concepts: seven voices (vs. 24), metres, metrical speech and chant (vss. 23-25), the verse, the verse-"quarter" (pada) and the

syllable (vss. 38, 41, 45), etc. In the light of 39 and 41, it could be argued that also 40 and 42 participate in the "speech as a cow" metaphor.

68 Thus, the introductory "peace invocation" (the purva-sdnti) of the Taittiriya Pravargya mantras (TA 4.1) starts with: "Ado- ration to speech, the spoken and the unspoken, to this speech be adoration." Much of what follows in this "peace invocation" is also relevant to the theme of "speech." When the freshly baked pot is cooled down by pouring milk over it, two of the formulas

pronounced are "let speech flow over on you," and "flow over on

speech" (TA 4.3.3[11]). "Speech Sarasvati" is further the sev- enth in a mixed list of breaths and vital powers to which ghee oblations are offered when the Pravargya pot is being put in place to be heated. Later on, in the avakdsa mantras (episode B), the heated pot is addressed in terms such as: "lord of all speech,"

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to the theme of "initiation." Verse 39 deals again with

speech and with aspects of speech which are generally hidden, but known to those who "are sitting here to-

gether" (ime sam asate). I will here merely make a few observations on these

verses. First, it can be argued that their subject matter as briefly explained above is suitable, in a general way, to a recitation accompanying the heating and fanning and,

subsequently, the watching of the pot; to the extent that more specific references are made (esp. in vss. 30-31, 38), these seem to point to A2-A3 as the original context.

Second, the expression "those who are sitting here to-

gether" (yd ime sdm asate) in 39d seems to indicate A2 rather than A3 as the context, since in the former both the hotr and (most of the time) the adhvaryu and his helpers are sitting down. During the worshiping with the avakasa mantras the priests and the sacrificer are standing.69 The act of fanning is moreover consonant with the theme of

prana, which is prominent in a number of verses in our

group (in any case in 30-31 and 38, perhaps also in 32). Finally, there is, apart from 30-31 and 38, one more

verse with a very clear and convincing connection with the

Pravargya that has been so far entirely overlooked, vs. 37:

nd vi janami ydd iveddm dsmi

ninydah sidmnaddho mdnasd carami |

yadd magan prathamaja rtdsya ad id vac6 asnuve bhdgdm asydh |I

This may be rendered as:

I do not know just what (what kind of thing) it is that I

am; concealed, bound (blindfolded), I wander in my mind. When the firstborn of the rtd has come to me, I im-

mediately obtain a share of this speech.

Already Oldenberg (1909: 159-60) hesitatingly proposed a connection between this verse (together with the pre- ceding one) and the Diksa: first being concealed and next

receiving a "share of speech" (cf. the vdgvisarga in the Diksa) clearly evokes the basic structure of a brahminical

"father of hymns," "thought of the inspired poets." The same set of mantras also comprises the prayer, "confer on us speech, born of tapas and devoted to the gods." In addition to the explicit ref- erences to "speech," there are references to related concepts, such as metres and metrical speech, e.g., in a set of formulas to be pronounced when the pot is being heated (episode A), TA 4.6.1-2(1).

69 Cf. yathalokam (comm.: yathdsthdnam) avasthdya in ApSS 15.8.16.

consecration or initiation.70 Oldenberg's suggestion was not picked up by any of the later scholars dealing with RV 1.164. But once we have seen the strong connection between several other verses in RV 1.164 and the Pra-

vargya, it is natural to think of a relation of 37, not with the well-known Diksa for the Soma sacrifice, but with the Avantaradiksf of the Pravargya.71 As mentioned earlier

(?2.6), the Avantaradiksa has to accompany the study of the Pravargya mantras. It is to take place outside the

village72 and entails several restrictions on speaking. At the beginning of the Avantaradiksa, fire, wind, and the sun are worshiped. The student is then blindfolded and has to spend the night in complete silence, without lying down (he may stand or sit). The next morning, the teacher takes away the blindfold and obliges the student to ob- serve several objects (including a fire and the sun) and has him recite a mantra of praise to the sun.73 After the dark and silent period, the student can be regarded as ob-

taining a "share in speech"; he may also be expected to have an experience of "new life."74

An important additional level of interpretation suggests itself when we place this verse-evoking critical mo- ments in the Avantaradiksa-in the context of the Pra-

vargya: it is not only the student who was blindfolded and

70 Oldenberg (1896: 180) merely expresses his doubts about

Henry's naturalistic interpretation and suggests that the solution should be more "sakrifikal," but gives no hint as to the direction such a ritualistic interpretation might take.

71 I will speak here of an "Avantaradiksa" also with regard to the time of the Rgveda, although this term, as reference to the

specific procedures connected with the study of the Pravargya mantras, seems to have come into use only much later, after the time of the Satapatha Brahmana. The idea (and heuristic hy- pothesis) is that something very similar to the Avantaradiksa is

apparently hinted at in verse 37 of 1.164. 72 More precisely, "on an uncultivated piece of land from

which the roofs of village houses cannot be seen" (khile 'cchadir- darse, BSS 9.19, ApSS 15.20.2).

73 The mantra, TA 4.20.3 (pratika) or TB 2.5.8 (3), equivalent to RV 10.73.11, does not speak of the sun but of birds (seers, the

Priyamedhas) going to Indra for protection, of the removing of darkness and the filling of the eye (with light). According to ApSS 15.20.10, however, the verse is recited in praise of the sun.

74 Here I assume that prathamaja rtdasya refers primarily to a universal form of the god Agni, Agni as "inner light," for which one may compare the hymn to Agni Vaigvanara RV 6.9, a short hymn having stylistic and thematic resonances with 1.164. This Agni "belonging to all men" resides in the heart (cf. RV 10.5.1) and is intimately related to the faculty of speech (vac), as

pointed out by Luders (1959: 628f.).

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TABLE 2 Correspondences between the first day-night-day of the Avantaradiksa

and the procedures relating to the Pravargya pot and heating (RV 1.164.37)

verse 37 Avantaradiksa, first day-night-day preparation of pot and heating

ninydh study outside the village prepared out of sight sdmnaddhah student is blindfolded pot is wrapped in antelope's skin

student should not lie down enveloped pot is hung in sling firstborn comes student receives "inspiration" pot receives "life" speech comes student is allowed to speak (recite) ghee in pot makes bubbling sound

hidden, and then obtained a new "share in speech." The same can be said of the object which is in the center of the actual performance that we accept as context for verses 30-31, 38: the Pravargya pot. With regard to this pot (plus the two spare ones) some peculiar prescriptions are given. The preparation of the pot from clay is to take place at a secluded spot. When it has been prepared and baked according to the rules, it is to be wrapped in a black antelope's hide,75 and is hung some place apart.76 There the pot is to remain until the performance of the Pravargya starts. Thereupon, the pot is heated and receives "life" when the ghee starts to boil-and starts to produce a soft, bubbling (breathing) sound.77 The correspondences be- tween vs. 37, the initiatory procedures of the first two days of the Avantaradiksa, and the procedures relating to the Pravargya pot are given in table 2. While the first half of vs. 37 refers back to the final episode of the preparation of the pot-preceding the main performance-the second half places us again in the context of the heating and fanning of the pot (A2). As a whole, verse 37 therefore perfectly suits the context to which its neighbors, esp. vss. 30-31 and 38, clearly belong.

5.1 We may now attend to the place of our newly dis- covered Pravargya-related verses in the hymn as a whole. As we have seen, verses 26-29 have a solid connection

75 According to Baudhayana it is placed in a basket (khart) and covered with a black antelope's hide and next hung in a sling in the northern part of the sacrificial hall (BSS 9.4).

76 According to BSS 9.4 it is hung "in such a way that the wife does not see it" (yathd patni na pasyati tathd; VadhSS 13.3.23- 24 similarly has asakaSe strindm).

77 The intended advent of the "inner" Agni Vaisvanara in the student is paralleled (confirmed or triggered?) by the fire and sun which are pointed out to him during the Avantaradiksa, and which burn or shine on the pot, whose ghee starts bubbling during the Pravargya.

with two subsequent episodes in the Pravargya, B and C. As a group, verses 30-31 and 38, associated with epi- sodes A2-A3, seem "misplaced" in relation to 26-29. It can be said that the "milk verses," 26-29, presuppose or require-have an expectancy (apeksa) for-something equivalent to verses 30-31, related to the heating (and/ or watching) of the pot. But these verses should precede 26-29, in accordance with the ritual sequence. Simi- larly, verses 30-31 and 38 require or "expect" subse- quent verses related to the episode of milking. We will study the problem of expectancy later (??6.2, 7.1ff.), and begin by investigating whether there are any candi- dates for "milk verses" to go with 30-31 and 38.

5.2 Some good candidates can indeed be found in vss. 40-42. In ?2.3, we have already mentioned that vs. 40 is prescribed in connection with the cow used in the Pra- vargya. The text and translation of RV 1.164.40 are as follows:

suyavasad bhdgavati hi bhuyd dtho vaydm bhdgavantah sydma |

addhi t.nam aghnye visvadnirm piba suddhdm udakdm acdranti |I

May you, enjoying good pasturage, become happy; and we too should like to be happy.78 Eat always grass, o [you cow that are] not for slaughter; drink pure water, coming hither.

The rgvedic srautasutras (AsvSS 4.7.4 end; SadkhSS 5.10.33) prescribe the recitation of 1.164.40 at the end of the Pravargya performance, after the participants have partaken of the remnants of the offering (end of episode D). According to the Taittiriya srautasutras, e.g., ApSS

78 On bhuyah (aorist optative) and syama (present optative) in a and b, cf. Gonda 1962: 172.

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9.5.4 (but not Baudhayana79), the adhvaryu should let free the Gharma cow at the moment he hears the hotr recite 1.164.40c, addhi tinam aghnye visvaddnim. The Katydyanasrautasutra, representing the tradition of the White Yajurveda, connects 1.164.40 with another act: if it is being recited by the hotr, fodder and water are to be given to the Gharma cow (KSS 26.6.24: this act is said to be prescribed only by some ritual authorities; no reference is made to a release of the cow). The verse has also found application in the Agnihotra, where it is prescribed in case the Agnihotra cow bellows with hunger (cf. AsvSS 3.11.4).

A verse identical with 1.164.40 occurs in the Athar- vaveda, in hymn 7.73 (apart from the occurrence as AV 9.10.20). The brahman recites the verse corresponding to 1.164.40 together with other verses from this so-called "Gharma-sukta" (including vs. 8, which corresponds to 1.164.27) after the offering to Indra and before the one to the Asvins (episode D).80

If we take the classical Pravargya procedure of the Taittiriyas as a point of reference and place the verse in the context of the release of the cow, the "coming hither" in pfda d could be interpreted as an anticipation of the next performance: may the cow then too come and give milk for the Gharma offering. But there is nothing in the content of the verse which would make it exclusively suitable to the release of the cow. Although the relation between the Pravargya and this verse must be considered old since it occurs both in a rgvedic and an atharvavedic hymn with strong connections with the Pravargya,81 the tradition with regard to the precise application of this verse is by no means unanimous (as it was in the case of 1.164.31).

With a more direct and straightforward interpretation of "coming hither," vs. 40 invites a cow to come, rather than bidding it good-bye. It would then be more fully parallel to vs. 26, in which a milch cow and a skillful milker are invited to come. Verse 40 would be equiva- lent to 26 and suit one and the same ritual situation: the calling of the cow to be milked. The encouragement to eat grass and drink pure water in vs. 40 suggests that the

79 The important Taittiriya Baudhdyana Srautasutra does not refer to the hotr's recitation of 1.164.40, and remains silent on the setting free of the cow (BSS 9.12). The same applies to Mdnava, another branch of the Black Yajurveda (MSS 4.3).

80 For verses of AV 7.73 recited by the brahmdn during the milking and offering, see van Buitenen 1968: 99, 105, 109-10; some verses of this hymn are recited by the hotr; cf. van Buitenen 1968: 100, 113.

81 The association of 1.164.40 with the Agnihotra may hence be considered secondary.

cow was not only invited verbally but also was offered food and water.82

5.3 That verse 41 is a reference to speech, or the deified Speech, is an old and generally accepted idea, expressed not only by Sayana and modern interpreters. It appar- ently already underlies the quotation of this verse in TB 2.4.6.11, among other verses dealing with speech. These include a verse corresponding to RV 8.100.11, in which Speech is quite explicitly identified with a milch cow (dhenur vdk). Elsewhere in the Rgveda too, the cow seems to be a symbol of speech or of a speech-related faculty such as the art of poetry (cf., e.g., 1.139.7, 4.41.5, 6.48.13 and Geldner's notes). The somewhat problem- atic word gaurf in vs. 41, often but quite wrongly trans- lated as "Buffelkuh" or "buffalo cow" (e.g., by Geldner), may hence be taken as equivalent to the milch cow in RV 8.100.11, and as a continuation of the dghnya "[cow] not to be killed" or "[cow] not for slaughter" in vs. 40.83 The animal referred to here should be the domesticated cow- presumably Bos indicus, subfamily Bovinae-rather than its wild relative, Bos gaurus, not to mention the buffalo, which belongs to a different subfamily (Bubalus buba- lis). Whatever their etymology and mutual relation, two words gaurd are to be accepted in the Rgveda: a color- word (which characterizes milk in RV 10.100.2), and one referring to a kind of cattle, Bos gaurus (if this is indeed meant), reddish brown to black, except for its legs.84 We may very well assume the former in the case of 1.164.41.

82 A confirmation for locating 1.164.40 earlier in the ritual can be found in AVPaip 20.11, which contains many verses similar to

AV(S) 7.73, but in a different sequence that often suits the brah- man's recitation better (cf. van Buitenen 1968: 99, note; Gonda 1979: 251f.). The verse AVPaip 20.11.3 (corresponding to RV 1.164.40 and AV[S] 7.73.11) appears here immediately after the verses which in the ritual accompany the calling of the cow and the introduction of the calf (vss. 26-28 in RV 1.164), and immediately before a verse corresponding to RV 1.72.5, which the hotr recites when the actual milking for the Gharma by the adhvaryu begins. Whatever their originally intended sequence in perhaps initially separate liturgies (on which more in ?7), if the sequence in the existing rgvedic and atharvavedic hymns has anything to do with a sequence in performance, the verses were apparently (within cer- tain limits) shifted back and forth in different versions of the ritual.

83 Cf. Mayrhofer 1992, s.v. dghnyd; Schmidt 1963; Narten 1971.

84 Otherwise, the fact that the redactors of the AV were not satisfied with gaurtr and accepted gaur in instead may point to a semantic shift in the animal word gaurdlgauri.

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The whole verse is as follows:

gaurtr mimaya salilani tdksaty ekapadi dvipddi sa cdtuspadi I

astapadi ndvapadi babhuvusi sahdsraksard parame vyoman II

This may be rendered thus:

The cream-colored [cow] has lowed, creating floods

(of milk); one-footed, two-footed, she [has become] four-footed; having become eight- and nine-footed, she is

thousand-syllabled in the final abode.

The first pada of this verse would suit the milking of the cow. The speech- and poetry-related terminology in the last three padas of the verse suggest an identification of the Gharma cow with speech. The expressions "two-

footed, four-footed" have already occurred in this hymn in a speech-related context, in vs. 24c vdkena vakdm

dvipddd cdtuspadd "with (or according to) the two- footed, the four-footed recitation (he forms) the (larger) recitation." With "eight-footed and nine-footed" one may compare RV 8.76.12, where reference is made to an

"eight-footed, nine-sided speech."85 In this line of reason-

ing, the "one-footed" speech would refer to the occasional occurrence of single-footed stanzas (as, e.g., RV 10.20.1). The thousand-syllabled one (f.) in the final abode or high- est heaven (parame vybman) suggests some transcendent

aspect of speech.86 It is tempting to suggest an additional adhiyajina inter-

pretation of the last three padas. After the milking, the milk is poured into the heated pot. We already saw the "cow=milk" metaphor in vs. 29, where the "cow" was in the pot. On this ritual occasion, one may speak of a "cow" which is ekapadi "having a single footing or position." The form eka-padi is then a feminine adjectival compound from eka with padd 'footstep, footing',87 rather than with

pad 'foot'. This also better suits the speech-related inter-

85 Oldenberg (1912) relates these numbers to the structure of

the hymn 8.76, which consists of triplets in the Gayatri metre, so 3 x 3 x 8 syllables. The eight feet would then, a bit unexpectedly, correspond to eight syllables (rather than metrical "feet," i.e., lines or padas).

86 With van Buitenen (1959), it can be generally accepted that in the older period the connotation "syllable" was always prom- inent in the term aksdra, along with its analytical meaning "non- flowing" or "imperishable."

87 The following interpretation of 41be also stands only if "footstep" is accepted as meaning of padd. However, Mayr- hofer's brief rejection of "Statte, Ort" as a meaning of padd does

pretation, since it is normally the padd 'footstep, footing' rather than the pad 'foot' that is a verse-foot.

When the milk has been added to the boiling ghee in the heated pot, a fiery column arises, and one can speak of a "cow" that has two locations, the pot and the at-

mosphere. From here on we are getting close to the adhi- daiva interpretation offered by Yaska (Nir 11.40) and

Sayana: the top of the fiery column expands in the next moment,88 and one may speak of a "cow" with four foot-

ings, namely the four directions (Sayana: dikcatustaya- dhisthana). With the intermediate directions and, finally, the zenith direction (or the sun), we can explain as.tpadi and ndvapadi in 41c, which are to be interpreted as "having eight, nine footings" (or possibly as "having [made] eight, nine footsteps, strides").89 In this interpretation, again, the culmination is a transcendent "cow" in a final abode where it is sahdsraksard, in the sense that it has a lim- itless capacity to create sound (thunder).90 At this point the interpretation converges with the previous "speech" interpretation.

5.4 The identification of vs. 41 (according to both inter-

pretations offered) continues in vs. 42:

tdsydh samudra ddhi vi ksaranti tena jivanti pradisas cdtasrah I

tdtah ksaraty aksdram tdd visvam upa jivati II

From her the oceans flow in all directions, by this the four quarters of space are living; thereupon flows the syl- lable [the non-flowing or imperishable]; on it the whole world subsists.

While the wording allows a "speech" interpretation, it also allows an interpretation of the transcendent cow as

not convince me (Mayrhofer 1992, s.v. padd). Apart from Liiders'

argument on paddm veh (1951: 303ff., contra Geldner) which presupposes padd 'footing, position', one may refer to RV 2.35.14 and 3.54.7, where this meaning is definitely to be accepted (at both places: pade + form of stha). In any case, neither a "Zusam- menfliessen" of IE *pedd 'footstep' and *pedo 'footing' (consid- ered "unwahrscheinlich" by Mayrhofer), nor a semantic shift

starting from *pedd 'footstep' can be excluded. 88 Cf. figure 4a, where the column is about to expand. 89 Thus, Saiyana explains ndvapadi: uparidigapeksaya suryena

vd navadigadhisthand. 90 An early exegesis of this verse in the JUB (1.10.1-2; cf.

van Buitenen 1959: 180 [163]) suggests an interpretation of sa- hdsriksara as "having a thousand imperishable or inexhaustible (streams)," as this word is juxtaposed with ayutadhdra.

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"rain-giver."91 The presence of this verse immediately after a verse suitable to the adding of milk and the aris- ing of the fiery column, suggests that the underlying idea was similar to the one expressed in the yajurvedic formula that accompanies the same episode in the clas- sical ritual: when the fiery column arises the adhvaryu says: "Svaha! I offer you (the milk) to the rain-winning beam of light (the beam of light which wins rain for the

worshiper)!" (TA 4.8.4 [16], cited in note 46). Apparently, the fiery column arising from the heated pot was asso- ciated or identified with solar rays, which take up water from the earth only to give it back later in the form of rain. According to KathA 2.123, commenting on a very similar mantra, "the very offering which goes up from here, that one makes rain fall down from up there; with a special offering he leads down rain from heaven."92

6.1 After vs. 42 comes a verse that has up to now re- mained unclear, but which may be satisfactorily inter- preted as a reference to part of the preparatory episode P, viz., the fumigation of the Pravargya pot, as I explained elsewhere (Houben 1991: 30-31). Verse 43 discontinues the references to the milking and the pouring of milk in the hot pot of vss. 40-42. It contains, for the third time in this hymn, the word apasyam; this word occurs also at 31a (dpasyam), and also in id.

This suggests that verses 30-42 form a self-contained section belonging to the Pravargya episodes A (vss. 30- 39) and B-C (vss. 40-42); it may be regarded as a "lit- urgy" for these episodes.93 In the structure of the whole classical ritual (episodes A-D), which is centered around an offering to the Asvins (episode D, for which suitable and probably older material is found in the Rgveda: cf. 5.30.15; see Houben 2000), episodes A-B-C seem to be a later, but apparently still rgvedic, ritual extension; and for this ritual extension 1.164 provided the necessary mantras. Thematically, the "milk verses" of the "liturgy" of verses 30-42 largely overlap with the well-known verses 26-28 (to which 29 may be added); verses 26-29 must then belong to an originally alternative "liturgy." Thus, in 1.164 the contours emerge of three distinct "lit- urgies" of which vss. 30-42 constitute the middle one:

91 The former was emphasized by van Buitenen (1959), the latter by Luders (1951: 284, 292f.); both are in my view appli- cable and "underpinned" by the ritual context and corresponding adhiyajia interpretation of the preceding verses.

92 va itd ahutir uddyate, samuto vfstim cydvayati. svd- yaivahutyd divd v.stim ni nayati.

93 To vss. 34-35 we will return below, ?9.2.

verses 26-29 are the milk-verses belonging to the first, and 49 is the milk-verse of a (smaller or more rudimentary) third "liturgy" (comprising vss. 43-52; see below). The classical ritual has apparently selected a limited number of stanzas from these formerly distinct "liturgies" be- longing to episodes A-B-C of the ancient (late rgvedic) Pravargya ritual.

6.2 We may now return to the group of verses 26-29 (??2.4, 3.2). As a group it has a solid connection with two subsequent episodes in the Pravargya, B and C. But it is followed by a self-contained section, vss. 30-42, belong- ing to Pravargya episodes A-B-C. These "milk verses" 26-29 presuppose or require contextually-have an ex- pectancy (apeksa) for-something equivalent to 30-31: verses related to the heating of the pot (episode A). Are there any verses preceding 26-29 in accordance with the ritual sequence, which could refer or apply to the heating of the pot?

7.1 An excellent candidate is found in the very first verse of the hymn. It is a verse which has been subjected to much scrutiny and discussion, and several quite diver- gent interpretations have been proposed. The first three padas of verse 1 of RV 1.164 are as follows:

asyd vamdsya palitdsya hdtus

tdsya bhrdtd madhyamd asty dgnah I trtlyo bhrtad ghrtdprstho asya

A literal translation would be:

This dear, aged priest has a ravenous middle brother; his third brother has ghee on his back.

These padas contain some rather uncommon words that have an uncertain primary meaning: palitd, dsna. Other words are clear as to their primary or literal meaning, but their intended referent is doubtful: hdtr, bhratr, ghrtd- prstha. It is impossible to discuss here all interpretations proposed, but I will mention some of the suggested solu- tions to the most important problem of interpretation: who are the three brothers? One of the possibilities men- tioned by Sayana is that they are sun, wind, and fire; ac- cording to Haug (1875) they are the fire in heaven (the sun), the fire in the clouds (lightning), the fire on earth. Ludwig (1888) is similar to Haug, but fire on earth is the Garhapatya; for Geldner (1951) the three are the fires of the classical ritual, Ahavaniya, Daksinagni, and Garha- patya; for Brown (1968) they are Agni's original form as "first born of the rta" (?), lightning, the terrestrial Agni.

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Skipping for the moment the first and middle brother, we turn to the third one, referred to as ghrtdprstho "hav- ing ghee on his back."94 He was apparently felt to be the least problematic brother: all interpreters take him as the "terrestrial fire"-Ludwig and Geldner more specifically as one of the three sacrificial fires, the Garhapatya.95 The word ghrtdprstha occurs nine times in the Rgveda, and of- ten applies to Agni (e.g., RV5.37.1, 10.122.4); but also the barhis grass is said to be "ghee-backed" (RV 1.13.5, 7.2.4), and, likewise, a wave of water (10.30.8).96 In the case of 1.164.1, no one has ever asked whether ghrtdprstha could refer to a very specific form of the terrestrial Agni. This seems quite possible: the Pravargya pot which is anointed with ghee before it is placed on the heating mound, and on which ghee is poured during the heating and fanning, is perceptibly and most literally "ghee-backed." Enveloped in flames it is naturally looked upon as a form of Agni.97 With this small but consequential deviation from the gen- erally accepted interpretation of the third brother as the "terrestrial fire," the whole hymn would get a strong con- nection with the Pravargya ritual from the very beginning. Is this new interpretation just an alternative possibility, or are there reasons to take it as a better one?

94 Since ghr 'to sprinkle' is a productive root in the RV, an in-

terpretation "whose back has been ghrtd, 'sprinkled' (with ghee)" must be deemed synchronically feasible. Etymologically, ghrtd 'ghee' may go back to an older Indo-European root ghr 'to be/ become warm' (ghrtd 'heated [butter]'). Cf. Mayrhofer 1992, s.v.

ghar and ghrtd; Werba 1997, s.v. ghr. 95 The Rgveda is already familiar with three sacrificial fires,

but it seems they are not indicated by specific names, as in the srauta ritual, Garhapatya, Daksinagni, and Ahavaniya. The word

garhapatya occurs a few times in the Rgveda, but it is not likely that it anywhere refers specifically to the "domestic fire altar," as Hillebrandt (1897: 14) suggests (cf., e.g., Grassmann, s.v.

garhapatya). 96 The word ghrtdsnu, which is similar in meaning, applies to

even more objects apart from Agni: to Indra's horses (3.41.9, 4.2.3), to a chariot (5.77.3), to Soma (9.86.45), to heaven and earth (10.12.4).

97 The association of the heated Pravargya pot and Agni is

quite explicit in the yajurvedic Pravargya mantras, e.g., in the avakasa mantras: TA 4.7.1(3) sdm agnir agnindgata "Agni (the pot) has come together with Agni (the sun)." Cf. also Krick, on Agni in the classical system of Vedic sacrifices: ". .. Agni selbst als Gott-z.B. in seiner Dreigestalt als Agni, Vayu und Surya, oder als mahavirah (entflammter gharma-Topf) im Pravargya- Ritual .. ." (1977: 94-95). The phonological similarity between gharmd and ghrtd may be considered to strengthen further the interpretation of ghrtd prstha as referring to the gharmd pot.

It may be considered superior if it leads to better inter- pretations of the verse as a whole and of adjoining verses. It can be shown that, indeed, especially verses 4 and 5 contain a rather clear reference to the Pravargya pot (see Appendix). This adhiyajna reference does not necessarily contradict understandings at a non-ritualistic level; it may even support and clarify some of them.

Moreover, I will suggest an interpretation, plausible in the context of the hymn itself, of a group of verses which invited various interpretations already in vedic times, namely verses 20-22. My interpretation further reinforces the interpretation of verse 1, even though this last does not depend on it.

7.2 The first brother is referred to in the phrase asyd vdmdsya palitdsya hdtus. Asyd vdmdsya "of this beloved" occurs at one other place in the hymn, namely in pada b of verse 7: asyd vdmdsya nihitam paddm veh "the hid- den location of this beloved bird." This is an important lead which should not be neglected. The expression here (see Appendix) is as enigmatic as that in verse 1: the intended referent remains unidentified. Still, although there are several disagreements on details, from Sayana to Geldner and Luders, all agree that "the beloved bird" is here the sun (cf. Liiders 1951: 305, 311). The sun as bird occurs quite frequently in this hymn, cf. 46b: divydh sd suparn6 garutmdn; 52a: divyd.m suparndm. Also in another hymn of Dirghatamas (1.163.3), the sun appears as bird (patamgd).

The idea of (a form of) Agni being intimately related to the visible sun-as suggested here by the brother-relation between the sun and the terrestrial fire or Pravargya pot- is not uncommon in the RV: cf. the Dirghatamas hymns 1.141.4 and 1.143.2; and further 1.95.3, 4.40.5, 5.6.4, 10.45.1, 10.88.10. Also the sun or heavenly Agni as aged hotr priest is not without rgvedic parallels: cf. the old hotr in 2.7.6, 6.62.4, and the immortal hotr in 4.41.1. As for

palitd, which is usually said to mean, first of all, "grey" and "grey-haired" (cf. Mayrhofer 1996: s.v.: "grau, ergraut, altersgrau, greis"), on the basis of other occurrences one has to conclude that it may simply mean "old" or "aged" in contradistinction to yuvan 'young', e.g., in RV 1.144.4, also a Dirghatamas hymn. The palitd in 10.55.5, also op- posed to yuvan, has been interpreted as the sun in Nir 14.18 and BrhadD 7.81.

7.3 It may be assumed that the middle brother is located between the first and third one. Since we have already de- cided in favor of the sun-interpretation for the first brother (on the basis of, among other things, the parallel expressions in la and 7b), and since we take the third one as the terrestrial fire, more specifically the Pravargya pot,

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the middle brother must be situated somewhere in the in- termediate space. Two candidates present themselves from this perspective: the wind, and lightning. Because of the "fiery" character of the other two brothers, lightning may be expected to be primarily intended;98 this agrees with the interpretation of many scholars since Haug.99

The specific word used to indicate the middle brother is dsnah. At one place in the Rgveda an instrumental plural from a stem dsna must contextually mean "stone (used for pressing the soma)"; this dsna seems a secondary forma- tion related with daman 'stone', gen. sg. danah. The latter also has the meaning "thunderbolt," e.g., RV 1.172.2, 2.30.5.100 At four other places in the RV, excluding 1.164.1, the meaning "stone" seems contextually impossible.

At one of these places (1.173.2), dgna is connected with mrgd, and may be a derivation of as 'to eat': drcad v.rsa vrsabhih sveduhavyair mrgo nacsno dti ydjjugurydt "May the bull (Indra) sing together with the bulls (the priests) who offer sweat, that he may drown out (or shout down) (all others) like a ravenous wild animal" (cf. Geldner 1951: ad loc.). We note that, although the direct, etymologically defensible meaning seems here to be "ravenous," the epi- thet should highlight the noisy character of Indra, the "god of thunder" (cf., e.g., RV 1.52.6). This dana in the meaning "ravenous" or "voracious" may apply here to lightning as the middle brother. In that case, the "dear" or "lovely" (vdmd) aspect of the first brother (the sun) is con-

98 Nevertheless, if a relation is accepted between the sun and prana (cf. Bodewitz 1992) and between the pot and prdna, Sayana's wind-interpretation does not seem impossible either, es-

pecially if we take into account that vs. 44 suggests that light- ning forms the "hair" of the wind (as the rays of the sun and the flames of fire form the hair of the sun and fire, respectively). In the first part of 1.164 (vss. 1-22), there are, however, no clear references to either prana (but cf. in vs. 4: dsur and atmd). Ref- erences to the concept of prana (without using the word) start

only in vs. 30. 99 Hillebrandt argued against the interpretation of the middle

brother as lightning (1927: 137) and suggested (1913: 104) that the moon was referred to either as second or as first brother. The other brother would be the sun. In the light of the insertion of a verse which clearly refers to the moon (AV 9.10.9, cf. RV 10.55.5) in the atharvavedic version of RV 1.164, viz., AV 9.9- 10, it is not impossible that a reference to the moon was read into the first verse also at an early date.

100 This meaning is most clearly suggested in the formula ndmas te astu vidyutte, ndmas te stanayitndve, ndmas te astv dsmane, which occurs AVS 1.13; AVPaip 19.3.9 and 15.20.8; as well as khila 4.4 of the RV

trasted with the "ravenous" aspect of lightning, which is elsewhere-viz., in RV 10.87.5-said to be injurious (him- srd). 10 The other places (RV 2.14.5, 2.20.5, 6.4.3) do not give much help in establishing the meaning of dsna since there it seems to be a proper name of a demon.102

Thus, we end up with an interpretation of the three brothers as (a) the sun, (b) lightning, and (c) the terrestrial fire, specifically the Pravargya pot. The three brothers may all be considered specific forms of Agni. Since one of the three brothers seems to be a bird (on the basis of the paralleled expressions in la-7b), we may expect that all three are birds.

7.4 We now turn to the final pada of verse 1:

dtrapasyam vispdtitm saptdputram II

A literal translation is not all that difficult:

In this one I saw the lord of the communities with seven sons.

It is, first, apasyam (imperfect) that deserves some com- ment. Already Oldenberg drew attention to the occurrence of this word in another hymn of Dirghatamas, viz., 1.163 (vss. 5 and 7) and spoke of an "Ausdrucksgewohnheit"

101 This is the only textual support I can find for assuming a characterization of lightning as "ravenous"; cf. the thunderstorm

interpretation of 10.27.22 by Porzig (1925: 651f.). Although it otherwise does not occur in the Rgveda, this characterization does not seem improbable for a frightening and dangerous natural phe- nomenon like lightning. Haug (1875) found it an unlikely epithet (and preferred a different interpretation of dana; see next note), but Deussen (1920) saw no problem in characterizing lightning as "verzehrend."

102 Rather frequently occurring forms like asnoti, asnute, etc., are nowadays usually given under the root nas (cf. Mayrhofer 1992-96, Lubotsky 1997, Werba 1997; still under a/arms in

Whitney 1885). Although this is diachronically quite justifiable it is not convincing from a synchronic, rgvedic perspective: one should take into account that there was, at the time, a quite pro- ductive root as 'to reach, attain' (distinct from as 'to eat'). Hence, one could also think of an dgna derived from this as 'to reach, attain', meaning, e.g., "pervasive" (as suggested in Sayana's com- ments on our verse; interpretation: the wind) or "reaching out." The formation with suffix -na immediately after the root, how- ever, does not appear to be very productive in the rgvedic period, so that dsna in this meaning (preferred by Haug on the basis of Sayana's suggestion) would seem a somewhat far-fetched forma- tion of the poet.

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(habit of expression) of the author. In 1.163 it occurs even a third time: in vs. 6. In 1.164 we have already seen one other occurrence: in vs. 31 (here accented at the beginning of the pada).103 In addition, vs. 43 has ardd apasyam "I saw from afar." In most of these occurrences (especially those in 1.163), as in many of the other sixteen occur- rences in the RV,104 the context favors the acceptance of

apasyam with the connotation of a visionary experience. According to Paninian grammar, the imperfect (LAN)

would place the action referred to in the more remote

past, whereas the aorist (LUN) refers to a recent past (Astadhydyi 3.2.84, 110-11).105 Often, this also applies to Vedic (Hoffmann 1967: 151-57),106 although the aorist is found with regard to events of the remote past as well, namely when facts are simply stated (Hoffmann's "konstatierende Gebrauch des Ind. Aor."). Gonda (1962: 112-29) argued, however, that the Vedic system of past tenses deviates from the system of classical Sanskrit in another dimension as well: the imperfect is found with

regard to a past which clearly includes a very recent past or even the present. In such cases, according to Gonda, the imperfect usually manifests a function which it has in common with old Greek, viz., the durative, empha- sizing an expansion in time (versus the punctual aspectual function of the aorist). Hoffmann criticizes Gonda's view

103 RV 10.177 has not only dpasyam in its last verse (= RV 1.164.31), but also pasyanti in the first verse.

104 E.g., RV 1.18.9, 3.38.6, 8.59.6, 10.114.4; RV 10.183 has dpasyam in vss. 1 and 2 (all three verses of this hymn are op- tionally employed in the hotr's recitation during the fanning of the pot).

105 It could be argued that we need not reflect on the imperfec- tive aspect of apasyam, since a corresponding aorist form no- where occurs in the Rgveda. The verb is, of course, defective in the classical grammar; from its complement, drs, several aorist forms do occur in the Rgveda. A closely related root, viz., spas (with an old, Indo-European initial s-: cf. Avestan spasiid, Latin specio), also occurs in the aorist (3d sg. middle, transitive): see RV 1.10.2b: bhury dspasta kdrtvam, translated by Geldner as: "Als er... vieles, was noch zu tun, ersah .."

106 Cf; also Thieme: "Im Hauptsatz ist der Gebrauch augmen- tierter Formen des Aorists in den weitaus meisten Fallen mit Sicherheit von solchen des Imperfekts zu scheiden [with note: vergl. hauptsachlich Delbriick 'Altindische Tempuslehre' S. 1- 100. Renou, Valeur du parfait S. 29ff.]: der Aorist driickt aus, dass die Verbalhandlung soeben vollzogen oder eingetreten ist. Das Imperfekt, dass die Verbalhandlung der ferneren Vergan- genheit angehort. (Ohne Riicksicht auf Aktion oder Aspekt.)" (1929: 6f.).

with reference to cases where an imperfect is used even

though no expansion in time has been expressed,107 but even if this criticism is accepted, there are still the cases where the imperfect is rather clearly used with regard to actions that are not remote in time, or which directly con- cern the speaker or the present.108 This is not the place to

pursue this discussion any further. But it is clear that the issue of the aspectual functions of the rgvedic imperfect may still be regarded as open.

Hence, no decision can be made at this moment whether the specific use of apasyam with reference to a visionary experience-and one which seems to be vividly remem- bered and to some extent repeated at the moment of recit-

ing the verse-is to be considered an idiomatic exception to the general rule,109 or rather an exemplary instance of a durative use of the imperfect.'10 It is striking, in any case, that the form occurs thrice in our hymn, and that the first occurrence favors a context (the heated Pravargya pot, in a visionary association with the sun) similar to the one for which vs. 31 is traditionally prescribed: watching the Pra-

vargya pot during heating, and after full heating (episodes

107 More specifically, Hoffmann (1967: 153) attacks one of the

examples given by Gonda, namely 1.116.17 (the daughter of the sun a atisthat the chariot of the Asvins), which, indeed, was not well chosen for demonstrating direct relevance of the present. But the rejection of this example does not constitute a refutation of Gonda's theory of a general durative function for Vedic im- perfects (in 1.116.17 the comparative reference to the kdrsman of a horse race is not entirely clear; in 10.111.2 the addition tavisena rdvena does indeed suggest a durative connotation of ud atisthat: "mit kraftigen Brullen hat er sich aufgerichtet" [Geldner]).

108 Gonda 1962: 120ff.; e.g., RV 1.133.1, 3.29.14, 8.7.1, 8.46.27. Continuity is implied in RV 10.81.4. Other examples, e.g., RV 5.45.2, should rather have been left out. Gonda (1962) neglected the value of the injunctive, which was clearly brought out for the first time by Hoffmann (1967).

109 The aorist would be expected, according to the standard view as formulated, e.g., by Delbruck: "Das Imperfectum hat also nie eine Beziehung zur Gegenwart, wie sie bei dem Aorist vorhanden ist" (1888: 279).

110 It would then be parallel to a case like asgravam in RV 10.88.15 where the poet has "heard" of two paths of fathers, gods and men (Gonda 1962: 122f.; Geldner's translation, "horte ich von den Vatern" is not likely). In 1.164, especially vs. 31, ac- cording to the proposed interpretation, the connection with the present would be even stronger and more direct if the visionary experience with regard to the heated pot recurs or is expected to recur during the fanning and the watching and worshiping.

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Al and A2), in the latter case to the accompaniment of

yajurvedic mantras that give expression to the relation be- tween the heated Pravargya pot and the sun.

The next word to be discussed is vispdtim 'the lord of the communities'. Interpretations of this "lord" vary: Sayana thinks of the sun; Haug (1875) mentions Agni, Indra, and Agni as kavi or hotr as possibilities; Ludwig (1888) translates "stammesfiirst"; Geldner (1951) translates "Stammherr" and remarks that the Garhapatya "aus dem die anderen [viz., Feuer] entnommen werden" is "der eigentliche Stammvater"; Brown (1968) holds "the lord of the tribes" to be a reference to Agni.

The word vispdti occurs several times in the RV, and, indeed, it often refers to Agni "lord of the communities" (e.g., RV 1.12.2, 8.23.13). But in 8.25.16ab aydm eka ittha puriu-uru caste vi vispdtih the word clearly refers to the sun (Sayana: to Mitra). The ritualistic context which we suggest for this verse, namely the heating and watch- ing of the pot, does not give a direct and definite clue to the interpretation of this vispdti. It is the subject of a vi- sion catalyzed or occasioned by the heated Pravargya pot, but, of course, one cannot tell for sure where the priest- poet's vision was directed in that situation. Still, if we assume that the later Pravargya ritual-as it finds expres- sion in the yajurvedic avakasa-mantras (among them 1.164.31)-reflects some of the earlier insights expressed in the first verse, one expects the vispdti to be some uni- versal aspect of the sun or Agni which unifies the heavenly form, the terrestrial form, and the intermediary one. The gopa 'herdsman', who was discerned in verse 31 (though belonging to a different "liturgy"), would then be parallel to the vispdti of verse 1.

Finally, saptdputram in association with vispdtim is not immediately clear. The next two verses (see Appendix), however, contain several references to "groups of seven." It is likely that these verses elaborate in some way the vision of the "lord of the communities with seven sons." According to Geldner's translation and explanation, verse 2 deals with "the solar chariot as visible symbol of the year or of time"; verse 3 with "the sacrificial chariot." In 2a there could be a reference to seven rays (rasmi, masc.) of the sun, but these rays are usually not active in yoking it (cf. AV 7.107 and, with regard to time, 19.53.1). The seven in 2a are therefore rather the seven priests (or the seven primordial seers as priests), employing the sun or the year as regulator of the sacrificial cycle. The seven horses of the sun, mentioned elsewhere in the RV (1.50.8 and 9; 4.13.3), are, as far as I can see, always mares, and as such not directly applicable to "the lord of the com- munities with seven sons." In 3a the group of seven per- sons therefore rather refers to the priests-seers as well,

who are "seven sons" of the vispdti of lc. Verse 2 then re- fers to the sun as regulator of the cosmic time, verse 3 to a sacrificial cycle that derives from the former.

A slightly different possibility, which I do not want to leave unmentioned here, is to take the "lord of the com- munities," in the light of verse 31 and its ritual context, as "life-principle (of sun and all creatures)" or "(cosmic) prana"; or at least to accept a close connection between the solar "lord of the communities" and a notion which is in later vedic texts commonly expressed as prana. The seven sons could still be the priests-seers, who perhaps, in the light of some vedic texts " and of some aspects in the classical Pravargya,l2 may be associated with the seven pranas (i.e., a sevenfold notion later on crystallizing in the concept of the "seven pranas" or "seven vital airs").

7.5 As announced in section 7.1, I will now sketch an in- terpretation of verses 20-22, plausible in the context of the hymn, which reinforces the interpretation of verse 1. For reasons of space, I cannot go into an evaluation of a num- ber of earlier contributions to the interpretation of these verses (esp. Geldner and Renou in their annotated transla- tions, Thieme [1949], and Johnson [1980]), nor into a con- sideration of its connections with other vedic passages (apart from making brief references to resonating passages in the Rgveda). The verses are as follows:

dva suparna saytja sdkhdyi samdndm vrksdm pdri sasvajdte I

tdyor anydh pippalam svddv dtty dnasnann anyo abhi cikasiti |1 20

ydtra suparna amrtasya bhagdm dnimesam viddthibhisvdranti |

111 Cf., in connection with the Agnicayana: SB 6.1.1.1, "The Rishis, doubtless, were the vital airs"; 8.6.1.5, "the Rishis, the first-born, doubtless, are the vital airs, for they are the first-born Brahman" (Eggeling); also SB 7.2.3.5, 8.4.1.5, 9.2.1.13 (all in connection with the Agnicayana). In SB 8.4.3.6 "singing praise with seven" is associated with seven vital airs, and with the cre- ation of seven seers (rsi). SB 8.6.3.22 speaks of "that thread (of the sacrifice) which has been spun out by the Rishis"; cf. with this RV 1.164.5cd where the kavis stretch out seven threads. The rsis were the first to construct the Agnicayana: SB 9.1.2.21, 9.2.1.13. RV 10.62.4, speaking of seers who are sons of gods (devaputra rsayah, voc.), may be compared with .sayo devajah in 1.164.15b. For the seasons as forefathers and "Ur-Rsis," see Krick 1982: 40; for pitarah and seven rsis, Krick 1982: 93.

112 Cf. the offerings to the seven pranas (van Buitenen 1968: 71, and TA 5.4.4), prdnahutir juhoti . . saptd juhoti, saptd vai sirsanyah prdanah.

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in6 visvasya bhuvanasya gopdh sd ma dhtrah pdkam dtrd vivesa I| 21

ydsmin vrkse madhvddah suparna nivisdnte suvate cddhi visve I

tdsydd ahuh pippalam svddv dgre tan ndn nasad ydah pitdram nd veda 11 22

A literal translation is not extremely difficult:

Two birds, companions and friends, embrace a common tree. One of the two eats the sweet fig. The other one looks on without eating.

Here, where birds, in congregation,113 vigilantly sing of their share in immortality, the lord of the entire world,

113 According to the principle that in a determination of the

meaning of a rgvedic word the semantic value appearing from its

employment in the hymns should carry more weight than the

meaning arrived at through linguistic reconstruction (since, in any linguistic community, words acquire specialized meanings which overrule the etymological one), one may profitably start a discus- sion of the meaning of viddtha with the mature reflections of Geldner (1898)-unduly neglected since Oldenberg (1900) and Thieme (1949)-who could refer to earlier discussions of various scholars (Roth, Oldenberg, Ludwig, Bloomfield, Weber). Geld-

ner, on the basis of a balanced consideration of a great number of

places and the earlier scholarly views, observes that viddtha is a "social notion"; it is the "guild" and especially the "learned so-

ciety" or "association of the learned," and also the assembly of

priests that have come together for the sake of the sacrifice; it may also be used for the assembly of gods (Maruts) and occasion-

ally-apparently secondarily, on the basis of the "social no- tion"-for groups of things or notions. After this it is to be realized that all these meanings can be associated quite naturally with a viddtha derived from either of the two frequent roots vid: vid 'to know' and vid 'to find'. In case of the former root, the as- sociation of the specialized semantic complex to viddtha can be understood on the analogy of German "Rat" which is both a 'piece of advice' and an 'assembly of people giving advice' (cf. also Greek boule, Latin "consilium" and English "counsel"; the se- mantic history of the latter two is complicated by the existence of "concilium" and "council"). In case of the latter root, vid 'to find, meet', the derivative viddtha would basically mean "meet-ing." It will then be clear that in either case there is no semantic discrep- ancy between attested and etymological meaning (taking into ac- count that the latter specialized in a natural way) which would

justify a far-fetched analysis of the word such as the one proposed by Thieme (1949: 35ff.) or Kuiper (1974). According to the former it would derive from vi-dha; but the "Hauchdissimilation"

through which vi-dh-atha should lead, according to Thieme (fol-

the herdsman, the sage, entered me, the immature one.

The tree in which birds eating honey all nestle and breed-in its top, they say, is the sweet fig; he who does not know the father does not reach it.

The first crucial question is: who are the birds? The birds are here called suparnd 'well-winged'. Elsewhere in our

hymn, either the sun (vss. 46, 52) or the sun's rays (vs. 47) are called suparna. Moreover, in 7b vi refers to the sun as a bird, and the parallelism in expression with la (asyd vamdsya) suggests that verse 1 deals with three birds, one of which is the sun. Referring to Thieme 1949, Geldner

1951, Renou 1967, Brown 1968, Johnson 1980 for some alternative interpretations, I submit that the two birds in vs. 20 are the two more immediately perceptible of the three birds of verse 1, viz., the sun and the Gharma pot; lightning, the elusive middle one, is left out.14

Suparna may be taken primarily as one of the syn- onyms for bird, such as vi, garutmat. The oriole-rather than Thieme's eagle (1949: 59), who does not eat fruit-

may have been at the basis of the specific image of birds

eating a sweet fig in a tree (cf. Johnson 1980: 48-52, who refers further to Dave 1951).

Initially, that is, when taking into account only verse

20, one will probably tend to identify the bird that is look-

ing on without eating as the sun,15 and the other bird as the Gharma pot (which "eats""6 the ghee that is poured

lowing the wrong lead of Bartholomae 1890: 41), to viddtha takes

place only within a root, not between root and suffix, cf. prothd- tha. According to Kuiper viddtha would derive from vi-dayate. In both Thieme's and Kuiper's proposals the accent is on the wrong place-Kuiper (1979) tries to give an unconvincing ad hoc solu- tion to this problem which would not arise in the first place in the natural and regular derivation of viddtha from either of the two common roots vid.

114 Cf. 10.114, where the first verse speaks of "two neigh- boring hot ones" (gharmd sdmanta), and verse 3 of two birds

(suparnd) sitting down on a young woman with flour plaits (generally taken as a reference to the Vedi with its four corners bent outwards; also the ritual connects this verse with the Vedi). The two gharmds may here be the fire and the sun (the latter

neighboring the former when it shines on it). 115 Cf. the expression sura- visvacdksas- in 1.50.2; and further

1.50.7, 4.1.17, 4.13.3, 7.60.2-3, 7.61.1; the sun as seer: 5.44.7, 1.160.1; shining or radiating over everything: 5.54.15; seeing widely, the whole world: 10.37.8, 10.114.4.

116 Iad 'to eat' is also said of fire "eating" or consuming the

offering (havis, which often consists of ghee).

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into it during the heating and fanning). The ghee is then what is referred to as the "sweet fig.""7 In this interpre- tation, for the first time (cf. Thieme, Geldner, Johnson on this verse), the verb pdri sasvajate can retain its primary meaning quite naturally: it means "embrace" and this is what the Gharma pot, at its root or lowest branches, and the sun, at the top, do with the tree; merely sitting on a tree is not "embracing" it.

This leads us to some further questions: what is this tree in which the birds are sitting, and what is the sweet fig in it? As Thieme (1949) and more recently Vasil'kov (1995) have pointed out, the idea of the universe or cos- mos as a tree is an old one, and it is widespread in Indo- European mythology. Vasil'kov rightly separates the image of the "normal" world-tree and that of the inverted tree (for the latter cf. Katha Upanisad 6.1): "The motif of honey (or the water of life) at the top, as well as the motif of a man hanging on a branch, are never connected with the 'inverted' tree: they are always associated with a 'normal' world-tree, a tree of this world" (1995: 261). The "honey" or "water of life" appears in 1.164.20-22 as the sweet fig and the honey. The tree top is the vault of heaven; ac- cording to a verse in another rgvedic hymn, god Yama drinks (or has a "symposium") together with the gods in a tree with beautiful foliage (RV 1.135.1).

Since the sweet fig is said to be at the top in 1.164.22, it is difficult to maintain our initial interpretation, "ghee"; rather, the sweet fig is the light of life, inspiration, knowl- edge, immortality (cf. Thieme 1949: 63ff.). It is the sun which already partakes of this "life" and "inspiration," and the Gharma pot becomes the bird which is "looking on without partaking" of it. 18 The absence of a statement that also the first bird is looking does not exclude that it is the sun (it is not said the bird is not looking).

In vs. 21 the "immature" or "raw" one (pdkam) is the Gharma pot. It is being heated on the fire (whose arcdyah 'flames' are "birds," m. pl.) and is standing in the sun

117 For the "sweetness" of ghee, cf. 8.24.20 vdcah ghrtdt svddlyo mddhunas ca vocata "present the speech which is sweeter than ghee and honey." Also RV 3.1.8, 5.42.3, 9.67.11, 10.110.10.

118 While one of the two birds is in vs. 20 emphatically said to be "not eating" (dnasnan), we had a middle brother (bird) that was dgna in verse 1. Without taking verses 20-22 into account we arrived at the conclusion that dsna might mean there "vora- cious" or "ravenous" (taking it as a derivation from las 'to eat', and referring to dsna in RV 1.173.2). Also our alternative for /las 'to eat' as the root underlying dsna in 1, viz., as//nas 'to attain', occurs in 20-22 (22d: nasat), where "reaching the top" is re- quired for "eating the sweet fig."

(whose rasmdyah 'rays' are "birds," m. pl.), and all are sit- uated in a single sacrificial cosmos (the tree of vs. 20).119 In this contextually quite likely interpretation of the basic enigmatic items in the verse, it becomes closely parallel to verse 37cd (?4.5). There, it was prathamaja rtdsya, that

is, Agni, who brought life (prana) to the pot and gave it a "share in speech" (ghee starts making a bubbling sound). Here, it is "the lord of the entire world, the herdsman, the sage" who enters the pot. As in 37, vs. 21 contains an "autobiographic" reference through the first person pro- noun ma. This can again be taken as a reference back to an initiatory experience in the Avantaradiksa, when the student is allowed to see the fire and sun after having been blindfolded for a night. The herdsman (gopd) of vs. 21 and the father of 22 correspond to him who is "seen" as herds- man (gopa) in vs. 31, and as lord of the communities (vispdti) in vs. 1.

7.6 Having shown the aptness of verses 1 and 20-22 to an adhiyajia interpretation in terms of the Pravargya and

Avantaradiksa, and having briefly indicated their parallel- ism with vss. 30-39, as well as their suitability for reci- tation during the heating and fanning of the Pravargya pot, our "first liturgy" for episodes A-C of the Pravargya (parallel to vss. 30-42, the "middle liturgy") is almost complete. The verses between 1 and 20, some of which have already been referred to, are mainly devoted to the Sun or to its temporal correlate, the Year, and as such they are suitable for recitation at the heating of the pot until it "shines together with the Sun," as the Taittiriya mantra TA 4.7.1(3) has it. Current translations differ in details of interpretation, which are generally of no consequence for the ritual application of the verses. Verses 26-29, as we have seen, belong to the milking of the cow and to the pouring of the milk in the heated pot. In between these two groups are verses 23-25, which contain statements on metres and melodies and their relation, application,

119 If the "singing" (abhi-svar) is taken literally, it will refer

primarily to the sound of the flames of fire (as a theme frequently reflected in statements on Agni as priest, poet, or singer, e.g., RV 1.1.1, 5.4.3, 6.3.6); perhaps the flames of the sun were also

thought to make sound-even though we do not hear it-on the

analogy of the terrestrial fire (in ChandU 1.5.1, the sun pro- ceeds while making an om sound). The fact that words such as arkd (in RV) and vdrna (from the brahmanas on) are used of both

auditory and visual experiences suggests that semantic associa- tions would have been relatively natural (cf. the discussion in Roesler [1997: 253ff.] on the close connection between light and

speech/thought). For the existence of a separate root svdr 'to shine', there is no basis (Mayrhofer 1996, s.v. svar and ref.).

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and capacities. I am not aware of an identifiable episode or sub-episode in the classical Pravargya which would correspond to these verses. But it may be noted that also in the "middle liturgy" attention is paid to "sacred" and "sacrificial" speech just before the "milking mantras" (namely in vs. 39, which deals with the verse, the syllable, their cosmic importance, and the importance of knowing it). In the yajurvedic mantras associated with the heating and fanning there are a number of verses dealing with the metres (TA 4.6.1-2[1]). It is part of the adhvaryu's reci- tation which starts after a long recitation of the hotr, when the fire enveloping the Pravargya pot is blazing up high (cf. van Buitenen 1968: 88).

8.1 Having identified a first and a second liturgy, we are left with ten verses, 43-52. The occurrence of apasyam "I saw" in verse 43 has already been pointed out (??6.1, 7.4). As we saw, the expression occurs at two other places in the hymn, vss. 1 and 31, towards the beginning of the first and second "liturgies," and refers there to a visionary ex- perience, as it does also elsewhere in the RV The entire verse 43 is as follows:

sakamdyam dhumdm drad apasyam visiivdt pard enavarena I

uksanam pfrnim apacanta viras tani dhdrmani prathamdny asan I\

It may be translated as:

From afar I saw the smoke of dung, in the middle, on the farther side of this nearer one. The heroes cooked the spotted bull. These were the first regulations.

The "smoke of dung" has usually been interpreted as the smoke of cow-dung (in accordance with Sayana's para- phrase of sakamdyam dhumdm as sakrnmayam suskago- mayasambhitam). The implications of the verse remained obscure.120 As already briefly indicated in an earlier pub- lication (Houben 1991: 30f.), this enigmatic verse starts to make much more sense if the "smoke of dung" is under- stood as the smoke of the dung of a horse or stallion. Stal- lion's dung is actually used in the ritual preparation of the

120 Cf. Haug (1875: 504ff.), according to whom "der richtige Sinn dieses etwas dunkeln Verses" is to be found in a comparison with verse 50 of our hymn, which, however, repeats only its fourth pada (as 50b); on p. 504 he thinks the dung is that of the bull that is cooked in pfda c, on p. 506 he speaks of "Kuhmist"; further, Bloomfield 1897: 533; Geldner 1951, ad loc.; Renou 1967: 88; Brown 1968 [1978], ad loc.

Pravargya implements for the fumigation of the pot at the Garhapatya, just before it is baked (cf. van Buitenen 1968: 60). In the classical ritual, the preparation of the pot is part of the duty of the adhvaryu; the participation of the hotr is nowhere explicitly prescribed. Yet, he must have been "around," since the preparation of the pot is done after the priests for the sacrifice have been chosen and installed. Though there have been shifts in priestly func- tions since the Rgveda, it may be assumed that its verses were also in older times recited mainly by the hotr; verse 43 could then give expression of the hotr's perception (less likely the yajamana's) of the fumigation.121

If the one perceiving the smoke of stallion dung stands at the eastern door of the sacrificial shed,'22 he sees the fumigation "in the middle, on the farther side of this nearer (fire, sc. the Ahavaniya)." Otherwise, visivdtd pard enavarena may mean "in the middle, above this lower one," i.e., it says that the heavy smoke of stallion's dung is just above the Garhapatya.'23

The uksa'nam prs'nim "spotted bull" cooked by the he- roes (the priests) may very well be interpreted as the milk- and-ghee mixture (with spotted appearance) to be heated and offered in the Pravargya. The words uksdn and prsni occur together also in RV 9.83.3; although this hymn forms part of the book of Soma hymns and is also em- ployed at some occasions in the classical Soma sacrifice, it was at an early date apparently also deemed suitable for recitation at the Pravargya (cf. Gonda 1979: 254f.). Brhaddevata 6.134 considers this to be a hymn in praise of the Gharma representing the sun and the soul (sarya and atman).124

121 The word apasyam here expresses a "real"-rather than a visionary-perception, if the verse is recited at the beginning of the regular performance, just as verses Iff. and 30ff. are, accord- ing to the structures found so far. Still, the reference to a perfor- mance of the ritual in a primeval age in the last pada may imply a visionary element.

122 The hotr will have to enter through this door at the begin- ning of the regular performance, according to SadkhSS 5.9.4; also the prastotr enters here (cf. van Buitenen 1968: 45 n. 150).

123 Cf. verses 17 and 18 where pard enavarena is used in con- nection with the sun at dawn and seems to imply "just above the horizon."

124 Also in 5.47.3 the words uksdn and prsni occur together; there they apparently refer to the sun, as arusdh suparndh 'ruddy bird' (in a hymn to the Visve Devas). P.rni is here, however, ad- jective with dsman 'stone', and hence refers to a "spotted stone" (i.e., the sun as a crystal or diamond, cf. Geldner, ad loc.). Still, a cosmic interpretation of the verse in terms of gods (heroes) who bring to maturity (pac) the young sun (uksdn, which means, esp.,

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In the light of this interpretation, recitation of vs. 43 at the beginning of the heating and fanning, or else during the preparation of the pot, would be very suitable. It thus forms the beginning of the third liturgy.

8.2 The next verse, 44, presents the three forms of Agni in a riddle-like formulation:

trdyah kesina rtutha vi caksate samvatsare vapata eka esdm I

visvam eko abhi caste sdcibhir

dhrajir ekasya dadrse nd rupdm II

Three long-haired ones show themselves in due season; during the year one of them shaves;

one surveys everything by means of his powers; of one the rushing is seen but not his form.

The classical solution (Nir 12.27, Sayana, Haug 1875, Geldner 1951) is: the terrestrial fire burns the earth (cf. RV 1.65.8, 6.6.4, 10.142.4),'25 the sun sees everything, and only the wind's rushing is perceived; the three are long-haired through flames, rays, and lightnings, respec- tively. Verse 44 thus parallels the first three pfdas of verse 1, and together with 43 it makes a suitable start of a recitation accompanying the heating and fanning of the Pravargya pot (episode A).

8.3 We have already identified (??2.4, 6.1) verse 49 as the "milking verse" of the third liturgy (episode B). Where do the preceding verses (45-48) fit in? The first two contain reflections on speech, while the other two deal with the sun and the year. As such they appear most suitable to epi- sode A. The whole section associated with this episode

a young bull; cf. Mayrhofer: "Jungstier ... der seine Zeugungs- fahigkeit noch nicht unter Beweis gestellt hat" [1992, s.v.])-and a parallel interpretation in which the student-initiate is brought to maturity by his teacher and the gods-cannot be excluded. The smoke of stallion's dung is then a dark rain cloud (at the advent of the rainy season, when the Pravargya was performed). The closest "fit" seems to obtain in the ritual interpretation.

125 Some uneasiness arises from the use of ftmanepada vapate, while in 6.6.4, as one expects, the parasmaipada form is used: (the flames of Agni) ksdm vdpanti. Does one of the long-haired ones "shave (the earth) for himself," or does he rather "shave himself" or is he shaved? The classical solution can be roughly maintained by interpreting vapate as "shaves himself" and as- suming that Agni's act of shaving involves a strewing (in Vedic also /Ivap!) around of hair, i.e., flames. Cf. Mayrhofer's remarks and references (1996, s.v. vap2) regarding the semantics of "shav- ing" < "strewing or scattering away hair."

(vss. 43-48) is relatively short compared to the sections in the other two liturgies (cf. below, ?9.1).

8.4 In vs. 49, which maintained its role as "milking verse" in the classical Pravargya (in episode B), the cow named Sarasvati is invoked to make its teat ready for suckling. In the ritual the male calf is allowed to suck its mother's teat when this verse has been recited; the milking for the sacrifice takes place immediately afterwards. As we have seen, the first two liturgies contained references also to the subsequent events (episode C): the pouring of milk in the heated pot, and the fiery pillar and cloud which rise to heaven (vss. 29, 41). The rain-giving capacities of this cloud (and/or its macrocosmic parallel, the rain- cloud) were especially indicated in the second liturgy, vs. 42. Is anything corresponding to this found in the third lit- urgy? References to capacities to produce rain are, indeed, prominent in the two concluding verses of the hymn, 51- 52. The last one mentions Sarasvat, a heavenly, rain- giving male counterpart to the earthly, milk-giving cow Sarasvati of vs. 49. Verse 51-52-verse 51 in a different metre, anustubh-are thus quite suitable as continua- tions of vs. 49 and as accompaniment to episode C. They may be taken as parallel to vs. 42, which also made a general statement on "something" (contextually: the tran- scendent cow of vs. 41) from which oceans flow and on which the four directions live. Still missing is a reference to the arising of a fiery pillar-the ritual event so dra- matically expressed in vss. 29 and 41-to link the milk- ing in 49 with the rain in 51-52.

The verse that is left, 50, is mainly a general statement on the primordiality of the sacrifice:

yajnena yajn~m ayajanta devas tdni dhdrmani prathamany asan I

te ha ndkam mahimanah sacanta

ydtra purve sddhyah santi devah II

With the sacrifice the gods sacrificed to the sacrifice: these were the first regulations.

These greatnesses reached up to the vault of heaven, where the ancient Sadhyas reside as gods.

The second pada, "these were the first regulations," is identical with the last pada of vs. 43 (beginning of third liturgy). The whole verse also occurs as concluding verse in 10.90, the famous Purusasukta. The second pada places the events referred to in a primeval age. The drama of vss. 29 and 41 is still missing. The third pada could neverthe- less apply to the rising of the fiery pillar and fiery cloud from the heated pot in which milk has been poured. The recursive application of the sacrifice in the first pfda is perhaps reflected in the offering (pouring) of milk in the

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pot for the sake of the Gharma offering which is to take

place later on in the Ahavaniya fire: this is an offering to an offering.126 Still, the "fit" between verse and ritual event seems not as close here as in previous cases, and the ritual application here suggested on the basis of the con- text (which need not exclude interpretations of the verse with which we are familiar, beginning with Sayana) could be a secondary one.127 By contrast, this highlights the closeness of "fit" in other crucial verses.

9.1 We have thus found that a clear pattern of three "lit-

urgies" emerges from 1.164 if we take seriously its con- nection with the Pravargya, a connection which is already generally accepted and well established for some verses. The three liturgies belong to three episodes in the Pra-

vargya, namely A-B-C (see table 1). As pointed out (?6.1), it may be surmised that the liturgies in 164 were intended to accompany newly developed parts of a more ancient,

rgvedic Gharma offering, which was in some respects quite different from the Gharma offering in the classical

Pravargya (for instance, in the older form the pot could be of metal, RV 5.30.15). The three liturgies formed the source of 1.164 which, with its 52 verses, is an excep- tionally long hymn in a collection in which numerical

regularity rules supreme (cf. Oldenberg 1888: 222; Wit- zel 1995: 311). The proposed tripartition leads to three

liturgies in decreasing order of number of verses-just as in groups of hymns addressed to a particular deity, these are usually in decreasing order of the number of verses.

The tripartition has been arrived at on the basis of the meaning and (especially ritual) implications of the verses. We may now also have a look at the distribution of metres. Here we find that the main divisions arrived at are further accentuated. The hymn's main metre is tristubh (4 x 11), several verses are in jagati (4 x 12) (both often with a number of irregularities), one is in

prastarapadd (11 11 / 8 8), and one in anustubh (4 x 8).128 While several jagatis and verses in which tristubh and

jagati padas are combined occur in the first liturgy, it

126 Although a sacrifice (yajina) is frequently a bigger event than a single offering, the offering to the Asvins (and the most

typical offering to the Agvins is the simple Gharma offering) is also called yajiid, e.g., 5.77.1.

127 The identity of 50b and 43d suggests some connection or link between the two. There is no reason to assume that the verse is more at its place in 10.90. Bloomfield (1916: 151) considers it

secondary there. 128 Cf. van Nooten and Holland (1994: 577, 593f.) for the

general metrical properties of mandala I and for metrical notes on 1.164.

has been pointed out by Oldenberg that such a variation need not be significant.129 It is still noteworthy that the final verse of our first liturgy (vs. 29) is in the jagati metre rather than the dominant tristubh. Also the shift from the verses dealing with the birds in the tree, 20-22

(which in our interpretation continue and round off a theme started in vs. 1), to the three verses dealing with the sacred speech and melodies employed in the ritual is marked by the jagati metre in vs. 23.130

The second liturgy ends (vs. 42) with a quite excep- tional metre, the prastdrapadd, which is employed no- where else in the entire Rgveda. As in the first liturgy, at the end of the A section attention is drawn to sacred

speech employed in the ritual. In the second liturgy, this

happens in a single verse, 39, with the deviant scheme of two tristubh padas, two jagati (1 1 1 / 12 12).

In the third liturgy all verses are in tristubh (with ir-

regularities) except one, the penultimate, which is in anu- stubh (which is also in another respect exceptional or at least remarkable, see below). While the A sections in the first two liturgies ended with one or more verses

(metrically partly marked) dealing with sacred speech employed in the ritual, the A section of the third liturgy deals with sacred speech employed in the ritual in the middle (vss. 45-46, preceded and followed by twice two verses dealing with other subjects, without metrical

distinction). A further comparative remark on the three liturgies of

1.164 is in place here. As we have seen, in the third lit- urgy the section associated with episode A (vss. 43-48) is relatively short compared to the A sections of the sec- ond liturgy (vss. 30-39) and the first liturgy (vss. 1-25). The whole procedure of sufficiently heating and fanning the pot is a lengthy one. In the classical Pravargya the hotr's recitation is even considerably longer than the one of our first liturgy. It may therefore be suggested that the A section of our third liturgy is only a group of super- erogatory verses, which may be added to the A section of either of the two other liturgies.

There are also some differences in the focus and structure of the three A sections. In the A section of the

129 Oldenberg regards the combination of tristubh and jagati

padas as significative of a certain sloppiness in the practice of later authors. He further thinks that it would be wrong to try to discover underlying rules or a striving for symmetry in the vari- ation between entire jagati and tristubh verses, apart from the variations that mark the beginning or end of a hymn (Oldenberg 1888: 148-50).

130 Cf., further, the metrical notes in van Nooten and Holland 1994: 594.

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first liturgy the sun-interpretation of the Pravargya is dominant (with much attention to the sun as year). The theme of prdna is rarely hinted at (perhaps in vss. 1, 4, and 21). The A section of the second liturgy seems mostly focused on prana (though this term is not used). In the brief A section of the third liturgy speculations on speech are striking (vss. 45-46, in the middle rather than at the end). After a verse on the ritual and its pri- mordial performance (43), the enigmatically formulated reference to three forms of Agni (vs. 44) corresponds with the first verse of the first liturgy; the last two verses of the A section of liturgy three link up with verses in the A section of liturgy one (47 -+ 7; 48 - 11).

9.2 We have seen that the association with the Pravargya works out quite well throughout the hymn. Still, there are the two verses 34-35 that in the classical sources form part of a ritual discussion (brahmodya) in the Asvame- dha, the elaborate royal horse sacrifice. In the classical sources, the Asvamedha comprises a number of smaller rituals which can also occur independently. These include the Agnicayana, which in turn comprises Soma sacrifices, Istis and ... Pravargyas. It may hence be surmised that the elaborate form of the Pravargya reflected in 1.164 had a special relation with the extensive ritual of the royal horse sacrifice. The occurrence of 1.164 immediately af- ter two hymns in praise of the sacrificial horse (1.162 and 163) could lend further support to this hypothesis. Also some of the formulations in these hymns-e.g., 163.5-6 according to which the horse's body or head is flying to heaven as a bird-suggest intimate connections with 164 (apart from the fact that they are attributed to a single author-which in itself suggests an intimate connection between horse sacrifice and Pravargya, at least the spe- cific Pravargya of 1.164).

Or, if we adopt a different perspective, the classical Pravargya ritual, which appears to be structurally close to the one presupposed in 1.164, contains several elements that point to a special connection with horses: apart from the horse dung used for fumigating the pot, a horse also plays a role in fetching the clay; and use is made of pe- culiar horse-shaped plates; the so-called Rauhina cakes are placed on these before they are offered in the fire. These interconnections lead to another supposition: that the post-rgvedic organizers of the ritual formed and de- scribed the classical Pravargya ritual after the model of the elaborate form of the Pravargya connected with the royal horse sacrifice, and allowed this form to accompany even a simple Soma sacrifice (where the elements con- nected with the horse seem mostly and originally out of place). If the classical Pravargya is indeed "abstracted" from a larger ritual complex centering around the sacri-

fice of a horse,131 already including a form of the Agnica- yana, yet another problem appears in a different light: that of the close similarity and partial overlap of the srauta- sutra descriptions of the preparation of the Pravargya pot and the Ukha pot (cf. Ikari 1983). In such a ritual com- plex the preparation of these two pots would be adjacent (as in the classical horse sacrifice) or overlap.132

If the situation as suggested above is acceptable, verses 34-35, which also according to their content would suit a horse sacrifice (in some pre-classical form), may have entered the speculative section of the recitation of section A of the second liturgy easily and naturally.

9.3 All three liturgies and especially their A sections testify to an intensive reflection on fundamental realities. The authors avail themselves of what may be called a "special language" to formulate their thoughts. The words and syntax of this "special language" are similar to those of the "common language" of Vedic Sanskrit, but the special language is nevertheless characterized by some systematic differences, especially with regard to the se- mantic function of the words.

The significance of this special enigmatic language of 1.164 and its relation to later developments in Indian thought deserve to be highlighted. We may start by para- phrasing some observations of Porzig (1925: 654ff.) with regard to the special language ("Sondersprache") of rid- dles and enigmas (according to Porzig, applying also to those of other cultures). While linguistic meanings other- wise pertain basically to a single fact, riddles or enig- matic expressions always refer to all facts of a similar sort-where similarity is found in the place which a certain fact occupies in the totality of the world. The ideas and "meanings" underlying enigmatic expressions presuppose that an understanding of the totality of the world is available. The cow should occupy a certain place in the life of the community when clouds and dawns are meaningfully to be called "cows." Both the special and the common language constitute a "world": the "world" of

131 Just as authors of the srautasutras have "abstracted" the description of the simple animal sacrifice (niri.dha-pasubandha) from the complex Soma sacrifice which comprises some animal sacrifices; cf. Weber 1868: 346f.

132 The association of the classical Pravargya with stories about severed heads of gods, seers, and horses would also be- come understandable in the light of the heads to be placed in the first layer of the fire altar; cf. the Pravargya brahmana told in different versions in SB 14.1.1, KathA, TA 5.1; and the legend of Dadhyafc and the Asvins (see ?9.3); cf. also Heesterman 1985; 1993: 71-75.

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its linguistic community. But while the common language seeks to represent things directly, as such, without ambi- guity, the special language gives the "meaning" of things in their inner relatedness; hence this special language of riddles and enigmas becomes as polysemic as the world when "seen from inside," i.e., from the point of view of these inner relationships. The structure of the world view of the common language becomes accessible only if it is studied thoroughly, the speakers have their "world" but do not know it. The "world" of the special language, on the contrary, shows its framework first. So much empha- sis is placed on this framework of structural relationships that single facts fade away behind them. The special lan- guage posits the world as a system. This was a conscious act which created a dividing line between the knowers and the ignorant, and which made initiation necessary. The sociological dimension of this special language is, therefore, that its knowledge provides access to a certain community, the cohesion of which is formed precisely by that language and the world view incorporated in it.133

As we have seen, a "world system," in which the life- principle, breath, and inspiration (or all three in one) of the individual (microcosm) are intimately connected with those of Agni, whose highest manifestation is the sun (macrocosm), is much more prominent in RV 1.164 than Porzig could suspect when he formulated the views para- phrased above. Porzig also did not realize how much and how systematically the world view expressed in the hymn is paralleled and "illustrated" in the ritual. Although we have given only a few hints, it may further be noted that the "special language" of 1.164 is continuous with that of many other rgvedic hymns and their enigmatic and mytho- logical statements, even if the specific system expressed in 1.164 (and in the classical Pravargya) seems to be rel- atively unique. A direct correspondence may be found in

133 On this view, the difficulty and obscurity of the hymn is not so much a matter of our lack of background information- information on account of which the early authors and public would have regarded the statements as rather transparent (Brown 1968: 199 [1978: 53]), nor of a conscious effort directly aiming at obscurity (Thompson 1997: 35). Rather, the attempt to express the inner connection of things forced the poets and thinkers to use a special language, which unavoidably created a distinction between those who understand it and those who do not. In the words of Porzig: "Seit es Sprache gibt, gibt es auch die beiden Strebungen des Geistes: eine Welt zu haben rein als Tatsich- lichkeit und eine Welt zu wissen als durchsichtiges System. Die Welt als System zu setzen war stets bewusste Tat, sie schuf eine Schranke zwischen Wissenden und Nichtwissenden, sie brachte die Notwendigkeit der Einweihung" (1925: 656).

a hymn such as 10.177; hymns such as 10.114 and 10.135 contain strong resonances, but their authors seem to have dealt with similar mythologemes in divergent ways.

Against this background, the intensity but also diver- gence of the reflections given in the Pravargya liturgies of 1.164 come to the fore in verse 12, in which-quite un- usually for the Rgveda-reference is made to two alterna- tive views: according to some the sun as year resides in the upper half of heaven, according to others in the lower half. Both views are formulated in the "special language" of enigmas. Even more remarkably, in two verses of the third liturgy, 46 and 51, the author goes beyond the images and symbols of the hymn, steps beyond its "special lan- guage," outside its language game. In vs. 46 he observes that a single reality underlies the numerous mythologi- cal notions-Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, the heavenly bird'34-to which the inspired priests address themselves: a reflective, "philosophical" statement is juxtaposed to the mythology pervading 1.164 and most of the Rgveda. In vs. 51 the author gives in simple and direct terms the rain theory135 that is formulated elsewhere (vss. 7, 47, partly in 52) in the otherwise dominant enigmatic lan- guage of the hymn. It is not difficult to see connections between vs. 46 and upanisadic reflections on a single reality that becomes diverse with different names (e.g., ChandU 6.1.3-6), and between vs. 51 and upanisadic doctrines of fire and the cycle of water (ChandU 5.3-10, BAU 6.2, KausU 1).136

We see, moreover, that the hymn and ritual, if their intimate interconnections are highlighted, turn out to be strongly focused on associating the Gharma pot (world of ritual), the initiate (microcosmos), and the sun (macro- cosmos), and especially the life-principle, prdna, and in- spiration in all three. It is not difficult to see a connection with upanisadic reflections on the intimate relation and ultimate identity of individual soul and universal soul.

If RV 1.164 is placed back where it apparently be- longed, in the heart of the Pravargya ritual, fresh light falls also on a more specific problem in the early history of Indian thought. The Brhaddranyaka Upanisad, which forms the last six adhyayas of the fourteenth book of the Satapatha Brdhmana, contains a section on a so-called

134 To these terms mentioned in 46ab, pada c adds Agni (second time), Yama, and Matarigvan.

135 Whether we regard it as fully or partly correct or incorrect from a moder point of view is, of course, irrelevant to our ap- preciation of the theoretical attitude apparently underlying the statement.

136 Cf. Frauwallner (1953: 48ff.) on this doctrine, as basically a doctrine of the cycle of water.

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"honey doctrine" (BAU 2.5 = SB 14.5.5). According to the

translator, R. E. Hume, this section deals with "the co-

relativity of all things cosmic and personal, and the abso- luteness of the immanent Soul" (1931: 102).137 The latter

part of this section refers to Dadhyafc Atharvana and the Agvins: it is said that this "honey" (i.e., the "honey doctrine") was disclosed to the Asvins by Dadhyaiic Atharvana through the head of a horse, and in support of this statement RV 1.116.12 is quoted:

tad vam nard sandye ddmsa ugrdm avis krnomi tanyatu'r nd vrstim I

dadhyadh ha ydn mddhv dtharvano vam

dsvasya sirsna prd ydd im uvaca II That formidable deed of yours (which you did) for gain,138 o heroes, I make known, as thunder (makes known the

coming) rain: that Dadhyaic Atharvana declared to you two that which is "honey" through the head of a horse.

In an earlier section of the SB (14.1.1.25) devoted to the

Pravargya, the same verse is referred to and connected with the story that Dadhyaic Atharvana explained the

knowledge of the Pravargya and how the Soma sacrifice is made complete with it. And in SB 14.1.4.13, in the

explanation of a formula containing the word mddhu

'honey', reference is made to Dadhyafic Atharvana giving to the Asvins a doctrinal explanation called "honey" (md- dhu nama brdhmanam). According to Safikara (on BAU

137 Here is Hume's translation of paragraphs 1 and 15 (with mi- nor adaptations, with some Sanskrit words inserted, and follow-

ing the Madhyandina recension): "1. This earth is honey (mddhu) for all creatures (bhutanam), and all creatures are honey (mddhu) for this earth. This shining (tejomdya), immortal (amrtamdya) Person who is in this earth, and, with reference to oneself (adhy- dtmdm) this shining, immortal Person who is in the body-he, indeed, is just this Soul (atmdn), this Immortal, this Brahma, this All."

"15. Verily, this Soul (dtmdn) is the overlord of all creatures, the king of all creatures. As all spokes (ard) are held together in the hub and felly of a wheel (rathandbhdu ca rathanemdu), just so in this Soul all breaths (prannd), all worlds, all gods, all crea- tures, all these selves are held together."

Paragraph 18, on the person (purusa) living in citadels, may be

compared with SB 9.2.3.44, on seven logs (identified as prdnas) for the fire altar (Agni), seven tongues of fire (identified as seven persons who are made into one), and seven seers (rsis).

138 Geldner takes sandye with avis krnomi ("kiinde ich, um belohnt zu werden, an"), but its place would speak in favor of taking it with the Asvin's formidable deed, as also Sankara does in his comments on BAU 2.5.16.

2.5.16), these earlier places in the SB already hint at the

very upanisadic "honey doctrine" explained in BAU 2.5 = SB 14.5.5. In the early references, however, only that much is said concerning the "honey doctrine" as is relevant to the

Pravargya, while the secret part dealing with knowledge of the self is not stated there. Thus, Safikara distinguishes between a "honey doctrine" dealing with the Pravargya ritual, and a "honey doctrine" concerning knowledge of the self propounded in the upanisad, but his comments re- main unsatisfactory in that he gives no hint how these two

quite diverse doctrines should be linked.'39 With RV 1.164

placed in the Pravargya, however, the focus of this ritual on associating the initiated and the sun (and the Gharma

pot) becomes apparent. Verses such as 7, 47, and 51 point to the mutual relation of heaven and earth. We further saw that "honey" and a sweet fig played a special role in a few verses, 20-22. RV 1.164 does not contain statements ex-

actly similar to those found in BAU 2.5, but it shows that there was scope for elaboration of very similar themes in the heart of the Pravargya. It is no longer difficult to see connections to the upanisadic Madhu brahmana.

10. While the preceding treatment of RV 1.164 is open to numerous interpretational elaborations, adjustments, and variations, the most important conclusion to be drawn is that the alignment of the symbolic language of the hymn and the symbolic forms of the Pravargya ritual (together with the Avantaradiksa) greatly advances the interpreta- tion of both. We saw emerge a complex ritual structure, with the Pravargya and Avantaradiksa linked in a novel and revealing way,'40 and directed to eliciting experiences and reflections with regard to the fundamental forces of individual and cosmic life. This ritual structure functioned as a "laboratory" of early speculative reflection, from

139 The gap between the two comes out clearly in the formu- lation of Jog and Hino: "The Asvin-legend was narrated in the portion of Pravargya (Pravargyakanda), because performance of the Pravargya rite was needed for the restoration of the head of the sacrifice and madhu forms a part of this Pravargya rite. In connection with the Pravargya rite, madhu means a pot of boiled milk and ghee. And when it is connected with the Asvin-legend madhu means 'the sweet doctrine of the Pravargya"' (1988: xxii). Though this is not clear from Jog's and Hino's remarks, Safikara does suggest a basic continuity of the ritual and the "philosophical" madhu when he writes: ydvat tu pravargyakar- mdigabhutam madhu tdvad eva tatra (i.e., in the Pravargya section) abhihitam, na tu kaksyam atmajn~dnkhyam.

140 Implications for our understanding of rgvedic initiation will be discussed in "The Avantaradiksa, or Rudimentary Initi- ation of the Pravargya" (Houben, forthcoming a).

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which connections can be made to upanisadic speculation and philosophy. Already in the early testimony of Rgveda 1.164 we see that the authors occasionally step beyond mythology and ritualism, beyond the "limits" of their "Sondersprache" and ritual, and juxtapose a "philoso- pheme" with the mythologemes of their tradition (esp. vs. 46). While the ritual seems to have functioned as a sta- bilizing structure, there were open-ended elements which invited elaboration and speculation, and, hence, unavoid- ably also diversification. It is not likely that the whole complex of ideas and textual and ritual structures I have sketched above in broad outline was entirely homo- geneous. Rather the contrary. The variations resulting from the elaborations and speculations seem to have affected not only theoretical views (expressed in terms of the "Sondersprache," cf. 1.164.12) but also the form of the mythologemes involved. For instance, while a Gharma- wind-sun complex underlies the three Pravargya liturgies of RV 1.164, the Atharvaveda, in hymns 9.9 and 10, together corresponding to RV 1.164.1-46, brings in also the moon (AV 9.10.9); in khila 3.22 of RV, the first four verses of which are recited by the hotr in the classical Pravargya, verses 5-10 deal with sun and moon.'41

How long did the ritual structure continue to function as a "laboratory" of early speculative reflection? Yajur- vedic influences have apparently standardized the Pravar- gya to the relatively homogeneous form which we know now from the various suitras;'42 but the standardization seems to have choked or blocked the creativity of rgvedic poets. Philosophical reflection continued in situations as known from the upanisads: in discussions between students, brahmins, and kings. Did the Avantaradiksa- Pravargya complex in that period continue to function at least as an effective context for initiation of the Veda stu- dent? The Yajurvedins, in any case, transmitted all rele-

141 It is difficult to say whether this also affected the interpre- tation of other verses, e.g., those for which modem interpreters have proposed the moon as intended referent: cf. RV 1.164.20, which deals with the sun and moon according to Hillebrandt (1913: 105), and with the waxing and waning moon according to Thieme (1949: 60); of the three long-haired ones in RV 1.164.44 the second is the moon, according to Porzig (1925: 649), while the first (the "shaving" one) is the moon, according to Hillebrandt (1927: 397 n. 1).

142 Cf. Witzel 1997: 289-92.

vant rules of the Avantaradiksa and the Pravargya. But the structures that have emerged from our study seem to have been lost sight of and apparently also had fallen out of use already at the time of interpreters such as Sayana, whom one can hardly expect to have knowingly remained entirely silent about them.143

For the earlier period, however, it seems that Paul Deussen was, after all, not so wrong in emphasizing the extraordinary importance of 1.164 in the history of Indian philosophy.44 As in ancient Greece, philosophy developed in dialogue with the mythologemes of a sacred tradi- tion. But there it was the written transmission of ideas which enabled subsequent thinkers to deal with similar problems and make progress in certain directions.'45 In ancient India, where writing came into use for transmit- ting philosophical thought at a later date than in Greece (cf. Falk 1993; Houben, forthcoming b), it was initially the ritually stabilized transmission of ideas which en- abled successive thinkers to do the same.

143 While the great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana dis- cuss some of the ritual aspects of the Asvamedha in detail, refer- ences to the Pravargya are very shallow; the duty to perform it is heavily emphasized without a hint at its possible signifi- cance, importance, or secrecy. Cf. the Asvamedhika section of the Mahabharata (14.90.20, crit. ed.): "the knowers of the law (and) best of the brahmins properly (yathavat) performed the Pra- vargya, and likewise these brahmins proceeded according to the prescriptions (vidhivat), o king, with the pressing (of the Soma)"; and Ramayana, Balakanda (13.4, crit. ed.): "After they had performed the Pravargya and the Upasad, according to the texts (sastratah), the brahmins proceeded, according to the pre- scriptions (vidhivat), with all additional rites, according to the texts (sastratah)." Had the Pravargya already become a hollow construct when these epics were composed?

144 "Dieser gewaltiger Hymnus steht an der Spitze der ganzen Entwicklung der indischen Philosophie .. ." (Deussen 1920: 105).

145 It is well known that Plato and Socrates had a low opinion of writing as a means to transmit philosophical thought (Phae- drus 274c-275B). According to an anecdote recounted by Al- beruni, Socrates, when asked why he did not compose books, replied: "I do not transfer knowledge from the living hearts of men to the dead hides of sheep" (Sachau 1888: 170). This indi- cates that topics similar to those which Socrates discussed were at that time already being dealt with in writing.

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ABBREVIATIONS

AiA: Aitareya-Aranyaka, ed. and tr. A. B. Keith (Oxford, 1909). AiB: Aitareya-Brdhmanta, ed. Th. Aufrecht (Bonn, 1879); tr.

A. B. Keith (Cambridge, Mass., 1920). ApSS: Apastamba-?rauta-SiUtra, ed. Garbe (Bibliotheca Indica,

1882-1902); tr. Caland (Gottingen 1921, Amsterdam 1924- 1928).

A?vgS: A?valdyana-?rauta-Siitra, ed. R. Vidyaratna (Calcutta, 1864; repr. Calcutta, 1989); tr. K. Mylius (Wichtrach [Switz.], 1994).

AV or AV(?): Atharvaveda, Saunakiya version, ed. Roth, Whitney and Lindenau (Berlin, 1924); tr. Whitney (Cambridge, Mass., 1905).

AVPaip: Paippaldda-Samhitd of the AV, books 1- 15, ed. D. Bhat-

tacharya (Calcutta, 1997); books 19-20, ed. Leroy Carr Bar- ret (New Haven, Conn., 1940).

AVPar: Atharvaveda-PariKista, ed. Bolling and von Negelein; rev. Ram Kumar Rai (Varanasi, 1976).

BAU: Brhad-Aranyaka-Upanisad, in Eighteen Principal Upani- sads, ed. V. P. Limaye and R. D. Vadekar (Poona, 1958).

BrhadD: Brhad-Devatd, ed. and tr. A. A. Macdonell (Cambridge, Mass., 1904).

BSS: Baudhiiyana-Srauta-Stitra, ed. W. Caland (Calcutta, 1904-23).

ChandU: Chdndogya-Upanisad, in Eighteen Principal Upani- sads, ed. V. P. Limaye and R. D. Vadekar (Poona, 1958).

JUB: Jaimintya-Upanisad-Brdhmana, ed. and tr. H. Oertel (JAOS 16 [1896]).

KathA: Katha-Aranzyaka, ed. and tr. M. Witzel, 1972. Kau?ikaS: Kausgika-SiUtra, with DTfila-Bhfisya, ed. H. R. Diwekar

et al. (Poona, 1972); with Kegava's KauSika-Paddhati, ed. V. P.

Limaye et al. (Poona, 1982). Kau~sU: Kau~sitaki-Upanisad, in Eighteen Principal Upani~sads,

ed. V. P. Limaye and R. D. Vadekar (Poona, 1958). KB: Kausitaki-Brdhmana, ed. B. Lindner (Jena, 1887); tr. A. B.

Keith (Cambridge, Mass., 1920). KSS: Kdityiiyana-Srauta-Siatra, with Saraldvrtti of Vidyddhara-

garman (Kd?i, 1930; second ed., Delhi, 1990). MS: Maitrayaniya-Satphittd, ed. L. von Schroeder (Leipzig,

188 1-86). MSS: Manava-Srauta-SiUra, ed. and tr. J. M. van Gelder (New

Delhi, 1961-63). Nir: Nirukta, ed. and tr. L. Sarup (London and Lahore, 1920-27). RV: R?gveda-Samihita, with Sfiyana's comm. (4 vols.), 2nd ed.

(Poona, 1972-84; incl. khilas in vol. 4); ed. B. van Nooten and G. Holland (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); tr. Geldner (Cam- bridge, Mass., 1951).

g?gvidh: R?gvidhana, ed. M. S. Bhat (Delhi, 1987). SB: Satapatha-Brdhmanza (Mkidhyandina), ed. Weber (London,

1855); tr. J. Eggeling (Oxford, 1882-1900). SdnkhSS: Sdrikhtiyana-Srauta-Siitra, ed. Hillebrandt (Calcutta,

1888); tr. Caland (ed. Raghu Vira) (Nagpur, 1953). TA: Taittirtya-Aranyaka, ed. Rajendralal Mitra (Calcutta, 1872);

[book S translated in Houben 1991]. VtidhSS: Vddhiila-Srauta-Satra, ed. B. B. Chaubey (Hoshiar-

pur, 1993). VS: Vdjasaneyi-Samnhitd (Madhyandina), ed. A. Weber (London,

1852).

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APPENDIX: Rgveda 1.164

The translations of the verses offered here are in no way intended to be definitive; nor are the suggested interpretations to be taken as exclusive of alter-

native ones. Rather, the translations and suggestions should point out how the verses can function in a certain ritual context, viz., that of the Pravargya, connected with a horse sacrifice, referring back to the initiatory period called "Avantaradiksa" of the Veda student. (My interpretative suggestions are

inserted in parentheses.)

SUMMARY OF STRUCTURE

(A, B, and C refer to the episodes of the regular Pravargya performance, Table I)

I(A) 1-22: context: fanning/heating of the Pravargya- pot vision at the fanning/heating of the Pravargya- pot; reflections and speculations connected with

Pravargya in sun-interpretation 23-25: extra speculations on sacred speech: meters and samans and their cosmic and ritual capacities (cf. position and contents of TA 4.6.1-2[1]) (B) 26-28: context: inviting, milking the cow

(C) 29: context: adding milk to the heated pot, fiery pillar arises; thunderstorm, lightning are hinted at.

I (A) 30-39: context: fanning/heating of the Pravargya- pot;vision concerning the heated pot; reflections and speculations connected with Pravargya and

"prana"-life-speech-interpretation (B) 40-41: context: inviting, milking the cow

(C) 41bcd, 42: context: adding milk to the heated pot, fiery pillar arises; raingiving cloud is hinted at.

III (A) 43-48: context: fanning/heating of the Pravargya- pot; vision concerning the heating of the pot; reflec- tions and speculations connected with Pravargya in

sun-interpretation, and speech. (B) 49: context: inviting, milking the cow (Sarasvati) (C) 50-52: arising of fiery pillar and cloud to heaven

(? 50); relation between rain and sacrificial fires; sun

(Sarasvat) as giver of rain.

TRANSLATION

I (A) 1. This dear, aged priest (Agni as the sun) has a ravenous

middle brother (lightning); his third brother (terrestrial fire, esp. the Gharma pot) has ghee on his back. In this one I saw the lord of the communities (the sun as orga- nizer of cosmos and ritual) with seven sons (seven priest-seers).

2. Seven (priest-seers) yoke (employ in their sacrifice) the one-wheeled chariot (the sun as the year); one horse (the sun) with seven names draws it.

Triple-naved, age-less, unstoppable is the wheel (the year) on which all creatures stand.

3. The seven (priests) that are standing on the chariot, as seven horses they draw it as a seven-wheeled chariot

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(sacrificial time, deriving from cosmic time; a seven-fold ritual cycle?). Seven sisters (seven voices, tones), in whom the seven names of the cows are deposited, collectively sing songs of praise.

Note: Verse 3ab amounts to an apparent paradox which one need not avoid in one's translation (as Geld- ner and others do): the paradox forces one to reflect on a different way to understand the statement. The priests embark on an elaborate (year-long) sacrifice, they are carried forth by it but are also the ones who make it proceed.

4. Who has seen (i.e.: no mortal can ever have seen it!; or

perhaps: only someone with extraordinary vision, cf.

18) the first one having bones (man, but also, adhiyajia, the pot) being born when the bone-less one (the earth,

clay for the pot) bore him? Where, then, was the spirit (dsu), the blood (dsrj), the breath (atmdn) of the earth? Who can approach a knower to ask this?

5. Immature I ask in my mind, not knowing, about the hid- den locations of the gods. Over the grown-up calf (vatsd, also: the pot about to be set aglow) the inspired poets (kav) have stretched seven threads, in order to weave (on these).

6. Not (yet) perceiving (dcikitvan, also the pot: not yet shining) I ask those here who perceive (/ shine); not

knowing (I ask), in order to know it: What is the One in the form of the unborn who propped apart these six regions? (Cf. 10 and 14).

7. He should tell it here who knows it properly: the hidden location of this beloved bird (the sun). From the head of him (the sun) the cows (clouds) milk (rain); enveloping themselves in clothing (water vapor) they drunk the water

through the foot (through the sun beams on the earth). 8. The mother (dawn, mother of the young sun; earth,

mother of the pot) gave the father (heaven) a share, in accordance with the truthful order; for in the beginning she united with him through her insight and thought. Re-

coiling, she was pierced and got the sap (or seed) in her womb. Reverent (worshipers) approached to bring praise.

9. The mother (also: the cow employed in the Pravargya ritual) was yoked to the chariot pole of the Daksina

(sacrificial fee, hence: sacrifice; cf. RV 1.123.1, 5); its child (also: the Pravargya pot) was standing in the enclosures. The calf lowed after the cow-and noticed the glittering (fem.) (viz., cow; also: ghee) among the three teams (of priests / songs-recitations-formulas).

10. The One, carrying three mothers and three fathers, is

standing upright; in no way do they weary him. At the back of yonder heaven they (the knowing/perceiving ones?) pronounce the speech which possesses all but does not inspire all.

11. With twelve spokes-for it does not become old-the wheel of the truthful order (the Sun as year) turns on and on around the sky. Sons, in pairs, o Agni, seven hundred and twenty (360 days and 360 nights), are standing on it.

12. The father (sun as year) with five feet and twelve shapes, the affluent, they say, is in the upper half of heaven. But these others say that the wide-seeing one (the sun) is in the lower (half of heaven), fixed in the seven-wheeled,

six-spoked chariot.

Note: the propounders of various, sometimes quite divergent, theories are referred to, here (12a, 12d) and in several of the subsequent verses (15a, 16a, 19ab, 22c).

13. On this five-spoked wheel as it revolves all creatures / worlds have their support. Its axle, carrying a heavy load, does not get heated. Never at all does it wear out in its nave.

14. The wheel and its felly, unaging, has turned around; ten

yoked (horses) draw it over the stretched out (heaven?). The eye of Surya (the sun) proceeds covered in a haze. On it are fixed all creatures / worlds.

15. The seventh of those born together, they say, is born alone. Six form pairs (3 x 2). They are regarded as seers born from the gods. Those desired by these (the days and nights) are arranged in order; to the one who stands (on the chariot) those who are alternating their form

(days and nights) are trembling. 16. Though they (the seasons) are (according to their gener-

ative nature?) females they tell me they are males (as their names are masculine?). The one having eyes will

see, the blind one will not perceive it. The poet who is a son has perceived him. He who will know these (fe- males) will be his father's father.

17. Below the higher one and above the lower one (i.e., just above the horizon), the cow (dawn) has stood up, bring- ing a calf (the young sun) with her foot. (Or: cow = jet of milk, foot is lower part which enters the Gharma pot/ calf.) Where, to what side did she go away? Where did she give birth? For she is not in the herd. (Just as the cow set apart for the Pravargya-the cow not for

slaughter-is not in the herd.) 18. "Below the higher one," he who knows accordingly its

(the calf's) father; "above the lower one," showing him- self to be a true inspired poet (kavi)-who (is that one who) can declare here whence the divine mind (in the Gharma pot brought to life, in the participant receiving inspiration) has sprung forth?

19. They say that those (the seasons) that are directed hither- wards (that are coming) are the same as those directed thitherwards (that are going), and that those that are di- rected thitherwards are the same as those directed hither- wards (cf. SB 8.5.2.10). The things (days and nights) which Indra and you, o Soma, have created, (these things) are drawing (the atmo-

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sphere, from light to darkness to light etc.?) as if yoked to the chariot pole of the atmosphere.

20. Two birds (sun and Gharma pot), companions and friends, embrace a common tree. One of the two eats the sweet fig (the "light of life and inspiration"). The other one looks on without eating.

21. Here, where birds, in congregation, vigilantly sing of their share in immortalimty, the lord of the entire world, the herdsman, the sage, entered me (Gharma pot / Veda- student in Avantaradiksa), the immature one.

22. The tree in which birds eating honey all nestle and breed-in its top, they say, is the sweet fig; he who does not know the father does not reach it.

23. That the Gayatri (line) is based on the Gayatri (hymn) [smaller on the larger unit, rather than the other way round], and that the Tristubh (line) is fashioned out of the Tristubh (hymn), and that the Jagati (line) is based on the Jagati (hymn): only those who know this have at- tained immortality.

24. According to the Gayatri line (/ hymn?) one makes the

song of praise (from smaller to larger unit); according to the song of praise a chant, according to the Tristubh line the recitation.

According to the two- and four-lined recitation (one makes again a larger) recitation; according to the sylla- ble they make the seven voices (or tones).

25. With the Jagat (Saman, melody) he established the river in heaven; in the Rathantara (melody) he had a complete vision of the sun; there are three kindling sticks to the Gayatra (melody), they say. (Nevertheless the Gayatra) goes far beyond the (other) two (tdtas is rarely or no- where "therefore" in the RV) in its greatness.

I (B) 26. I call hither this cow easy to milk; and a dexterous

milker shall milk her. May Savitr incite us with a per- fect incitement. The Gharma (pot) is heated: this I

hereby announce. 27. Making a hii-sound, longing for the calf in her mind,

the mistress of riches has come near. Let this (cow which is) not for slaughter give milk for the two Asvins; let her prosper for great happiness.

28. The cow has lowed after the calf which blinks its eye; she was making a hifi-sound to begin lowing. Yearning for the hot mouth (of the calf; ideally that of the heated Gharma pot), she lows her lowing, swells with milk.

I (C) 29. This one is humming, by which the cow (the milk) is

enveloped. She (the milk) lows a lowing (when she is) placed on the sparkling (fire). With her cracklings she has indeed put down the mortal. Transforming herself to lightning (vidyut), she pushed back her covering (the pot).

* * *

II (A) 30. Breathing, life is resting (yet) quickly moving, trem-

bling (yet) stable, in the midst of its (watery) abode (adhiyajiia: in the boiling ghee). The living one moves about according to the specific capacities of the dead (material body-adhiyajnia: the pot-which is dead without the life-principle); (he, life, prana, is) immortal, having a common birthplace with the mortal (the pot having now "life" in it but which will again become life-less after the ceremony).

31. I saw the herdsman (Sun / prana), never taking rest, wandering hither and thither on his pathways. Envelop- ing himself in those (waters, currents of boiling ghee) that converge, in those that spread out, he moves around and around in the worlds / creatures.

32. He who made it (breath, a single breathing) does not know it; he who perceived it, from him it has dis- appeared; enveloped in its mother's womb, it entered destruction, while being rich in progeny.

33. Heaven is my father, the genitor; here is my kinship. My relative and mother is this wide earth. My womb is in between the two outstretched receptacles (heaven and earth). Here the father placed his daughter's em- bryo (in her).

34. I ask you about the farthest end of the earth; I ask where is the navel of the world; I ask about the seed of the po- tent stallion; I ask about the final abode of speech.

35. This altar is the farthest end of the earth; this sacrifice is the navel of the world; this Soma is the seed of the potent stallion; this Brahmin (priest) here is the final abode of speech.

36. The seven (primeval seers who are) children of the (two cosmic) halves (heaven and earth) (just as the initiate, cf. 33) are intent on expanding (vidharmani as inf. with Geldner) the seed of the world at Visnu's command. Through their thoughts and mind, they, the wise ones, are surpassers that surpass (everything) on all sides.

37. I (Gharma pot / Veda student in Avantaradiksa) do not know just what (what kind of thing) it is that I am; con- cealed, bound (blindfolded), I wander in my mind. When the firstborn of the truthful order (Agni) has come to me, I immediately obtain a share of this speech.

38. He (the living one, jivd, prand in the boiling ghee) recedes and goes forward, held fast by (his or the pot's) own capacity, immortal, having a common birthplace (the fire) with the mortal (the "enlivened" clay pot). These two (the mortal, the clay pot; and the immortal, the life-breath) are always going apart, in separate direc- tions. Although people see the one (the clay pot), they do not (normally) see the other (the living one, jivd, prand).

39. The imperishable syllable of the verse of praise, the final abode where all the gods are residing-he who does not know it, what will he do with the verse of praise? Only those who know it are sitting here together.

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II (B) 40. May you, enjoying good pasturage, become happy; and

we too should like to be happy. Eat always grass, o (you cow that are) not for slaughter; drink pure water, coming hither.

II (B/C) 41. The cream-colored [cow] has lowed, making floods (of

milk); one-footed, two-footed, she [has become] four- footed; having become eight- and nine-footed, she is

thousand-syllabled in the final abode.

II (C) 42. From her the oceans flow in all directions, by this the

four quarters of space are living; thereupon flows the syl- lable (/ the imperishable or non-flowing); on it the whole world subsists.

III (A) 43. From afar I saw the smoke of dung (for fumigating the

freshly formed Gharma pot just before baking it), in the middle, above this lower one (i.e., at the Garha-

patya). The heroes cooked the spotted bull (the milk-and-

ghee mixture in the Gharma-pot). These were the first

regulations.

44. Three long-haired ones show themselves in due season; during the year one of them (fire, with flames as hair) shaves (himself, strewing his hair/flames all around); one (the sun, with rays as hair) surveys everything by means of his powers; of one (the wind, with lightning as hair) the rushing is seen but not his form.

45. Speech is measured in four quarters (pada). The Brah- mins that are wise know these (four quarters). Three (quarters), placed in secret, (ordinary) men do not stir (employ effectively in the ritual): (only) one quarter of speech they speak.

46. Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni they call it; and then it is the heavenly bird Garutman. One reality that is-the inspired priests speak of it as many; they call it Agni, Yama, MatariSvan.

47. The yellow birds (sun rays/flames), enveloping them- selves in the (evaporated) waters, fly up along the dark

path to the sky (sun rays return to heaven by night/flames ascend through smoke). (And then) these (rays) have re- turned from the seat of the truthful order (heaven). Forth- with the earth is in all directions moistened with ghee (i.e., prosperity).

48. The felly-pieces are twelve, the wheel (year) is one, the

nave-pieces three; who has understood this? On it are

placed, as it were, 360 pegs that do not wobble.

III (B) 49. This everflowing teat of yours (o cow), refreshing, with

which you make all valuable things thrive, which gives treasures, finds wealth, is liberal-Sarasvati, make this (teat) ready for suckling (by the calf, to get prepared for the milking for the Gharma).

III (C) 50. With the sacrifice the gods sacrified to the sacrifice: these

were the first regulations. These greatnesses reached up to the vault of heaven, where the ancient Sadhyas reside as gods.

51. This water, being the very same, goes up and downward, day by day. The rains are urging on the earth, and heav'n is urged on

by the fires. 52. The great heavenly well-winged bird, the beautiful

embryo of the waters, of the herbs, bringing satisfac- tion straight to (us) through rains, Sarasvat I invoke for furtherance.

Note 1: Incidental reference to Pravargya episode D (offering to Agvins) in 27c; to preparatory procedures (P) in 4, 43ab; to Avantaradiksa in 37.

Note 2: The yajurvedic avakada mantras (e.g., TA 4.7; KathA 2.101i-115; VS 37.14-20) share one stanza with RV 1.164 (viz., 31), and are thematically closely parallel to the A-parts of cycles I-III.

The yajurvedic milking mantras are parallel to the B- parts of cycles I-III (several mantras are identical).

The yajurvedic mantra svahd tvd siryasya rasmdye vrstivd-naye juhomi "Svaha ! I offer you (the milk) to the rain-winning beam of light (the beam of light which wins rain for the worshiper)!" (TA 4.8.4[16]) is parallel to the C- parts of cycles I-III.

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