1. Whom you protect again and again, O gods, and whom you lead, to him, O Agni, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, and Maruts, yield your protection.
2. He who sacrifices, O gods, overcomes his enemies by your protection on a happy day. He who gives to your delight, spreads forth his dwelling, spreads out much food.
3. This Vasishtha will not despise even the last among you, O Maruts; drink 1 all of you, to-day, at my libation here, full of desire.
4. Your help does not indeed fail that man in battle to whom you granted it, O men! Your newest favour has turned hither, come quick then, ye who wish to drink.
5. O ye whose gifts are cheering, come to drink the (juice of the Soma) flowers: these are your libations, O Maruts, for I gave them to you, do not go elsewhere!
6. Sit down on our altar and protect 1 us, to give us brilliant riches. O Maruts, who never miss the Soma mead, hail to you here to enjoy yourselves.
7. Having adorned their bodies, the swans with dark blue backs came flying in secret 1—the whole flock sat down all around me, like gay men, delighting in the Soma offering.
8. O Maruts, that hateful man who beyond our thoughts tries to hurt us, O Vasus, may he catch the snares of Drub, kill him with your hottest bolt!
9. O you Maruts, full of heat, here is the libation; be pleased to accept it, O you who destroy the enemies by your help 1.
10. O you who accept the domestic sacrifices 1, come hither, O Maruts, do not keep away, you who are bounteous by your help 2.
11. O Maruts, strong and wise, with sun-bright skins, I choose the sacrifice for you here and there 1
12. We sacrifice to Tryambaka 1, the sweet-scented, wealth-increasing (Rudra). May I be detached from death, like a gourd from its stem, but not 2 from the immortal 3.
Ascribed to Vasishtha. Verse 12 addressed to Rudra.
Verse 3 occurs SV. I, 241; verse 8, AV. VII, 77, 2; TS. IV, 3, 13, 3; MS. IV, 10, 5; verse 9, AV. VII, 77, 1; TS. IV, 3, 13, 3; MS. IV, 10, 5; verse 10, TS. IV, 3, 13, 5; MS. IV, 10, 5; verse 11, TÂ. I, 4, 3; MS. IV, 10, 3; verse 12, VS. III, 60; AV. XIV, 1, 17; TS. I, 8, 6, 2; MS. I, 10, 4; TA. X, 56; Sat. Br. II, 6, 2, 12.
Metre, 1, 3, 5 Brihatî; 2, 4, 6 Satobrihatî; 7, 8 Trishtubh; 9, 10, 11 Gâyatrî; 12 Anushtubh.
With pâda a compare I, 110, 7; with c and d, VIII, 27, 16.
Note 1. SV. has pibantu, and as a various reading the comment. gives pivanta. Suté sákâ is a standing phrase.
Note 1. I cannot see how avitá can stand for avishta (Delbrück, Verb, 186; Whitney, Gram. § 908). I translate as if the text gave ávatâ.
Note 1. On the secret approach of the Maruts, see I, 88, 5.
The text in the AV. VII, 77, 2, is bad, yó no márto maruto durhrinâyús, práti muñkatâm sáh, and tápasâ for hánmanâ. The TS. IV, 3, 13, 3, has tiráh satyâ´ni. It reads besides, yó no márto vasavo durhrinâyús tiráh satyâ´ni marutah gíghâm̐sât druháh pâ´sam, and tápasâ. Tiráh kittâ´ni may mean 'beyond all conception,' as Grassmann takes it, or 'unobserved,' as B.-R. suggest. Tiráh satyâ´ni might mean 'in spite of all pledges,' but that is probably an emendation. All this shows the unsettled state of Vedic tradition, outside that of the Rig-veda; see Oldenberg, Prolegomena, p. 328.
Note 1. Ûtî´, taken here as a dative, by Lanman, p. 382.
Note 1. On the Maruts grihamedhinah, see Sat. Br. II, 5, 3, 4. Possibly the Maruts may be called grihamedhas, i. e. grihasthas, performing the Grihya sacrifices. See on these names TS. I, 8, 4, 1; 2.
Note 2. The last pâda in the TS. is pramuñkánto no ámhasah.
Note 1. On ihéha, see Delbrück, Syntax, p. 51. It means 'here and there,' that is, 'again and again.'
Note 1. Tryambaka is a name of Rudra, but its original meaning is doubtful. Some commentators explain it by 'three-eyed,' but its natural meaning would be 'having three mothers.' The Sat. Br. II, 6, 2, 9, derives it from Stry-ambikâ, because Ambikâ, Rudra's sister, shares the sacrifice with him.
Note 2. On mâ with optative, see Delbrück, Synt. Forsch. I, 194; Syntax, 338, 361, Anm. 1.
Note 3. That amritât is right, not, as Grassmann suggests, amrita, is clear from the parallel forms, prétó muñkâmi nâ´mútah, or itó mukshîya mâ´mútah. Pischel in Z. D. M. G. XL, 121, demands too much logical accuracy from a poet; see AV. XIV, I, 17; VS. III, 60.
All scholars seem to agree that this hymn is a composite hymn, and that it breaks the law of decrease in the number of verses. It begins with three Pragâthas, verses 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6, which may be in their right place. Then follow two Trishtubhs, 7 and 8, which may form a hymn by themselves. The next three Gâyatrîs, which clearly belong together, are a later addition; so is the last verse, which ought to stand in the Atharva rather than in the Rig-veda. The Pada text does not divide this last verse. See on this subject, Oldenberg, Z. D. M. G. XXXVIII, 449 seq., Proleg. 200; 511; Bergaigne, Recherches sur l’histoire de la Samhitâ, II, 10.
