The marriage hymns, like the conversation hymns, return again to the problem of sexual rejection: Yami is rejected by Yama, Lopamudra by Agastya, Pururavas by Urvasi. Ap^a fears that she will be rejected by her husband because she is not beautiful, and this is a theme which haunts the marriage hymns; the woman wishes to be subhaga: beautiful, hence loved by her husband, hence fortunate. Ghosa invokes the Alvins to help her find a husband because they are the most helpful of the gods, but also because they appreciate beauty and are known to restore impotent men; so, too, Mudgala’s wife hopes that Indra will turn her husband from a steer to a bull. The woman is rejected, therefore, either because she lacks beauty or because her husband lacks virility, and the two reasons are causally intertwined in the hymns. The woman is also rejected because she is dangerous; the defloration of the bride endangers the groom, and the abducted wife is a source of danger to the abductor. This danger is, like the woman’s ugliness, causally related to the problem of the husband’s virility. Subhaga then assumes the further connotation of ‘fortunate’ in having a virile husband who lives long, so that the woman does not become a widow. Despite these dangers, the marriage hymns - unlike the conversation hymns — all have happy endings.
lO.TO Yama and Yaml Yama, the first son of the sun, is regarded in later mythology as the first mortal man and king of the dead, "while Manu, the sun’s other son, is regarded as the ancestor of the human race. In Avestan mythology, the primeval incest of the twins, Yama and Yarn!, remains an important episode in the pro- creation of the human race; in India, Yama rejects the erotic Eohatations of his sister m the Vtda and is never again exposed to them, for later Indian mythology is significantly silent about the affair. The hymn is not, however, a com- mentary on a social charter (‘Tliou shall not commit incest’), but rather a speculation - ultimately negative - on a possible cosmogony, the male and female twins fiincuoning as a variant of the androgyne.
The hymn begins, as is usual with those of the 'conver- sation’ genre, tn mtdtos rts. Yam! invokes gods of procreation and argues that the human race must be prcsera'cd; Yama counters by invoking moral gods and their laws. Unlike the similar conversation between Agastjannd Lop.imudra (1.179), this hymn ends vath tlie rejection of the woman, who finallv loses her temper complctcl).
/ [YenL] ‘Would that I might draw my friend into inti- mate fncndship, now tliat he has gone far across the ocean.* A man of foresight should rcccne a grmdson from the father, thinking of what lies ahead on earth.’
J [Yef-a'] ‘Your friend docs not desire this friendihip, in whidi a woman of his 1 ind v ould behave hie a stranger* llie heroes,* the sons of the great spirit,^ siipponcrs of the sk), see far and '■ ide.* J ( 1 Ve-/,] ‘Tlie immortals tlc*irc thi*. tiiat of-prirg should be left b\ the one mortal l.ct soar mind unre wi’* my mind;* as a liusband,* enter the Imd) of )o’ir • ife.'
/ iye>''j.]'S!ii!lwciiono’ wha: v e hit c rot dune p Shall VC who spoke troth out loud rioa s-h tjNcr Abe.
THE RIG VEDA hood? ’ The divine youth in the waters ® and the woman of the waters - such is our source, our highest birth/ ° / [Yaff/f:] ‘The god Tvastr,^® the creator and impeller, shaper of all forms, made us man and wife even when we were still in the womb. No one disobeys his commands; earth and sky are our witnesses for this.’^ (f \Yama{\ ‘Who was witness of that first day? Who has seen it? Who can proclaim it here? The law of Mitra and Varuna is high. Yet what will you say to men, wanton woman, to seduce them? ’ 7 \Yamt:\ ‘Desire for Yama has come upon me, Yami, the desire to he with him upon the same bed. Let me open my body to him as a wife to her husband. Let us roll about together hke the two wheels of a chariot.’
8 \Yamai\ ‘ These spies of the gods, who wander about here below, do not stand still, nor do they blink their eyes. Wanton woman, go away fast with another man, not with me. RoU about with him Hke the two wheels of a chariot.’
7 \Yamt:\ ‘ She would do what he wished in the nights and in the days; she would deceive the eye of the sxm for the instant of the blink of an eye. We twins are related in the same way as sky and earth. Let Yami behave to- ward Yama as if she were not his sister.’
10 \Yama:\ ‘Later ages will come, indeed, when blood relatives wiU act as if they were not related. Make a pniow of your arm for some bull of a man.^^ Seek another husband, lovely lady, not me.’
11 ‘What good is a brother, when there is no protector? What good is a sister, when destruction breaks out?i<^ Overcome with desire, I whisper this again and again: mingle your body with my body.’
12 \Yama:\ ‘NeVer will I mingle my body with your body. They call a man who unites with his sister a sinner. Arrange your lustful pleasures with some other man, not with me, lovely lady. Your brother does not want this.’
WOMEN \Yami ] ‘Dammit, Yama, how feeble you arc. I have not been able to find any mind or heart in you. Some other woman will surely embrace you like a girth embracing a harnessed stallion or a creeper embracing a tree.’ \Yama:'\ ‘You too, Yami, will surely embrace another man, and he will embrace you, as a creeper embraces a tree. Seek hh mind, and let liim seek yours. Join v,nth him in proper harmony.’
NOTES NOTES 1. The ocean may be the metaphorical ocean separating mortals (like Yama) from immortals (as Yami maj be), in tvhich ease 'he' is Yama But ‘he’ may be the avenging god whom Yama fears (w. 2, 6, and 8), or the sun In the w atcr (a 4), In which ease Yami IS assuring her brother that he need not fear, as the spy Is absent across the ocean 2. This may mean that Yama docs not wish the woman of his kind (his sister) to act like a stranger (like a woman with whom sexual contact is allowed), in caste terms, he avoids mamage Within the subgroup {(^otra) Less lil.clj, but possible, is the inter- pretation that Yama fears that a woman not like him (an immortal) will behave like one of his kind (a mortal woman, one who may have sexual contact w iih him) In caste terms, he avoids marriage outside the group {rnrxtn) 3 Tlic gods, or perhaps )ust the Aditjas, the particular servants of Vanina 4 Varuna, most likely, as guardian of the moral law, or Rudra, punisher of incest (m which ease the 'heroes’ would be the Maruts), j. Tlic word (fjcrtr) can designate mind or heart, the seal of both rational and emotional functions But since it is la'er con* (n'ted with a word for ‘heart’ (\. 13), it is here probablj limned to the first connotation t>. Here Yami implies iltat Yama netujiMj is her hu'hsnd, a thmighi which she makes explicit in v j. later, howeser (v. 7I, •' c merely niks him to bchascc/r/be were her husbaml, #s her m,'ve weakens 7 Tile won), enr/j, n—ans n"! merely to spKmk air h-'* m tomeihlnp that vinlatrs the moral older, to t as s met) ii'g tK* r- jv lit true hut ahould no' be.
THE RIG VEDA 8. Probably the sun, born of the waters, but perhaps just any Gandharva.
9. Yama argues both that people bom of such lofty parents should not break the moral law, and also that he and Yami, having the same parents, cannot procreate together.
10. The god of procreation, and the artisan of the gods, fashioner of the embryo in the womb. Cf. 10.184.1, 4.18.3.
11. Here and in verse 9, Yami argues that sky and earth are as closely related as she and Yama are, that their procreation was not only permitted but even archetj^ial.
12. ‘Bull’ is Vedic slang for a virile man, like ‘stud’ in American; 13. She argues that a brother should protect his sister, even if this involves incest, to keep her from going unsatisfied and un- fertilized. Ironically, it is the brother who should find a husband for his sister and avenge her if she is rejected.
14. Destruction {nirrtt) both imthe wider sense of the destruction of the human race (as she argues in verse i) or in the more parti- cular sense of the destruction that comes upon a man who dies son- less.
In this conversation, Lopamudra seeks to turn her husband Agastya, who has undertaken a vow of chastity, away from his asceticism so that he will beget a child upon her. Although he argues that there are two ways to achieve happiness (or immortality), she overpowers him (v. 4), and afterwards he wishes to atone for his lapse by drinking Soma (ingesting the divine form of the protean fluid that, in its human form, has just been ‘sucked’ from him). Finally the poet affirms that tlie two of them, by uniting after each had perfected a power (she eroticism, he asceticism), achieved both forms of im- mortality, spiritual and corporeal (through children).
I \L^pamudra i\ ‘For many autumns past I have toiled,^ night and day, and each dawn has brought old age closer, age that distorts the glory of bodies. Virile men^ should go to their wives.
■WOMEN 2 ‘For even the men of the past, ■who acted according to die Law and talked about the Law with the gods, broke off when they did not find the end.® Women should unite with virile men.’® j •] ‘Not in vam is all this toil,^ which the gods encourage. We two must always strive against each other, and by this we will \vin the race that is von by a hundred means,'* when we merge together as a couple.’
^ \Lop3miidr3 ‘I ‘Desire has come upon me for the bull who roars and is held back,® desire engulfing me from this side, that side, all sides.’
[The poet.'] Lopamudra draws out the vJrilc bull:® the foolish woman sucks dry the panting® wise man.
/ [Agastja ] ‘By this Soma which I have drunk, in my irmermost heart I say het him forgive us if we have sinned, for a mortal is full of many desires.’
6 Agastya, digging vnth spades,® wishing for children, progeny, and strength, nounshed botli w.a)E, for he was n powerful sage. He found fulfilment of his real hopes among the gods.
NOTFS I. This word often refers to the exertion of religious.activity. When she uses it, she mij refer to her vs or! as his wife or to her own asceticism (tlic commentator suggests that both of them prac- tise asceticism), and when he u<es it (\ 5) he refers to his asceticism.
z. This word (rffart) recurs throughout this lijmn (and elsewhere in tlic Kir Kieb. cf. 1.32, 10 ro to) Its Inslc meaning is one who sheds ram or seed, it comes to mc.m a potent male animal, psr'i- odatly a bull or a stallion, t The end of their asceticism; tliat is, they died cluldtciv and unsucce^ful .1 lie argues that cacli of them should go hi? ow n way, os s jitou' tuitegies aic needed to w in iJic race for lup.oioes- and immortaUu, b'li he implies tlut he will uliinuteh aecet’e to iter ir p-ittuni* rs By ‘frisinr together’ thev will enrage m tl e ago-iMlc Vcdie tJcri- fee. like two rival prints THE RIG VEDA 5. He holds back his seed. If this vetse is placed in Agastya’s mouth, it would mean: ‘The desire of my swelling reed [phallus], which is held back, overwhelms me.. / 6. He pants either with desire (before) or exhaustion (after); the verb merely indicates heavy breathing. This verse may follow an episode of mimed sexual intercourse.
7. A metaphor rare in the Veda but widespread elsewhere, and obvious.
10.95 Vuriiravas and Urva§t This famous hymn takes the form of a conversation at a moment near the end of a complex myth. The myth is told in a later Brahmana text, with several details that may not be true to the original Vedic version but that provide a good background to the hymn: The water-nymph Urva^i loved Pururavas; when she married him, she made him promise never to let her see him naked. She lived with him for a long time, and became pregnant by him, but the Gandharvas carried off the two lambs that were tied to her bed, and she cried out, ‘They are taking away my son as if there were no hero or man here.* Then Pururavas, thinking, ‘How can there be no hero here, when I am here? *, sprang out of bed without taking the time to put an3^thing on. The Gandharvas produced a flash of lightning, and she saw him naked in the light as clear as day. She vanished, and he wandered in sorrow until he came to a lake where there were nymphs swimming about in the shape of water-birds, Urva^i and the other nymphs. They appeared to him at her request, and the conversation between Pururavas and Urva^i took place, as in the Vedic hymn. The Brahmana goes on to say that Urva^i took pity on Pururavas and lay with him for one night in a golden palace; after that the Gandharvas gave him a magic fire and taught him to kindle it in a special way and to make a special pot of rice with it, and in that way he became one of tlie Gandharvas.
The present hymn presents a rather different view of the ■WOMEN myth, implying that Urvail was not as happy with PurDravas as he was with her (and as he thought she was witli him). She refuses to return to him, nor docs she promise to make him immortal (though this might be read into the final verse), 1 [Pz/r/irapas •] ‘My wife, turn your heart and mind to me. Stay here, dangerous woman, and let us exchange words. If we do not speak out these thoughts of ours they will bring us no )oy, even on the most distant day.’
2 [Urvail.] ‘Xtfiiat use to me arc these words of yours? I have left you, like the first of the dawns. Go home again, PurQravas. I am hard to catch and hold, like the wind,..’
J [P/m7ravas:], or like an arrow shot from the quiver for a priae, or like a racehorse tliat wins cattle, that wins hundreds. As if there was no man with power there, they^ made the Iightmng flash and m their frenay thought to bleat like sheep.
^ ‘She® brought to her husband’s father nourishing nehes, and whenever her lover desired her she came to his home across from her dwelling-place and took her pleasure m him, pierced by his rod day and night.’* / (CJn'tf// ] ‘Indeed, you pierced me wiili your rod three times a da}', and filled me c\cn vlicn I had no desire. I followed your -will, PurQravas; you v.crc my man, 1 mg of mj body,’ ^ (P/zrz7ra"tir:] ‘SujOmi, Sreni, SumnaJipi, and Ilradccakfus, Gnnthinl, Cnranyu * ~ they liaac all slipped away like the red colours of dawn, louang one louder di'rn the other, like milk cov. s ’ 7 {UnaJ/:} ‘When he* vas bom, the goddesics* encircled him and the nvers that sing their own praises railed him, since the god^ raised you, I’lirQraia-, for ihc great battle, for the killing of enemies.’* ^ [P'T,'ri7j’cr ] ‘When I, a mortal man, courted the'; im- mortal womens ho Ind h'd aside their scilt.* tl er third avay from me like c'dtcd* g-’rcllcs, like horitr* grared h; the chariot,' THE RIG VEDA ^ [UrvaJi:] ‘When a mortal man, wooing these immortal women, unites with their group as they wish, make your bodies beautiful,^® like water birds, like horses biting in their love-play/ 10 [Pifrurauas:] ‘She of the waters flashed lightning like a falling lightning-bolt and. brought me the pleasures of love. From the water was born a noble, manly son. Let Urva^i lengthen the span of his life.’
1 1 [Urva^i;] ‘ Y ou who were born to protect, Pururavas, have turned that force against me.^^ I warned you on that very day, for I knew, but you did not listen to me. Why do you talk in vain?’
12 [Pururavas:] ‘When will the son born of me seek his father? He will shed tears, sobbing, when he learns. Who would separate a man and wife who are of one heart, when the fire stiU blazes in the house of the husband’s parents? ’ ^^ [UrvaJi:] ‘I will answer: he will shed tears, crying, sobbiag, longiag for tender care.^® I will send you what I have of yours. Go home; you will never have me, you fool.’
14 [Pururavas:] ‘What if your lover should vanish today, never to return, going to the farthest distance? Or if he should lie in the lap of Destruction, or if the ferocious wolves should eat him? ’ 1/ [Urvali:] ‘Pururavas, do not die;^^ do not vanish; do not let the vicious wolves eat you. There are no friend- ships with women; they have the hearts of jackals.^® 1 6 ‘When I wandered among mortals in another form, and spent the nights with you for four years, once each day I swallowed a drop of butter,^® and even now I am sated with that.’
^7 [P^wuravas:] 'I, the lover of Urvaii, long to draw her to me, though she fills the air and measures the middle realm of space. Return and reap the reward for a good deed. Fire consumes my heart.’
iS \The poet:] This is what these gods say to you, son of ■WOMEN Ila:^’ ‘Since you ate a kinsman of death, your descendants ■will sacnficc to the gods with the oblation,^® but you shall taste joy in heaven,’ NOTES I. The Gandharvas, anxious to have her back in heaven, tricked Pururavas 2 Purfiravas speaks of UrvaiT m the third person, referring to a long time ago.
3 The iatapaiba Br^bmaiia says that part of Urvaii’s contract with Pururavas included the stipulation that he must ‘sLnkc her with his rod’ three times a day. Here he seems to boast of it, but she then complains that he did it against her will.
4 The njTnphs apparently were with her during the marriage and \arushcd with her, they have reappeared now with her but apparently wish to ■vanish right avay again j Verses 6-7, 10, and 12-13 refer to a son of Pururavas and Urvait; PurOravas seems not to have known of him until tills moment (a common motif m myths of the mortal lover of an immortal atoman). Urva^i implies that she and Puriiravas united mcrcl} to produce the child, so that there is no longer any reason for them to remain together.
6, The Apsarascs (uatcr-njmphs, like the riter goddesses). Urvaii implies that they had to flee v ith her in order to care for the cxjxxied child of such a great father 7 The enemies arc demons Kllid.-isn’s play based on this myth tells that Purunvas first met Urvafl when he rescued her from demons, later, Indra allovcd Pururatas to Iccp Unati for ever in Tctum for his services in arms against Indra’s demonic enemies 8. Cither tliev had disrobed at night (as PurOravas had done), or they had laid aside their immortal fomis; at the present moment, they may have taken off their statcibird forms so tlm he could spea! V nh them or cal cn ofT their clothes to h uhc.
9 The adjcetivc may Imjily that they arc in heat, and hence especially nenous 10 She teems to be advisinv the Ap‘ar4<'-s not to run away (at PurOravas lias complained m the prevtnus venr) he appr^whes tl tm ptopeily (i t keeps his ptom'*c) )i. She arcuses him of ukmp her agzim* her vtii, and s'-o re- THE RIG VEDA minds him of royal duties that he is neglecting in his pursuit of her.
12. The implication is that his parents arc still alive, and will be saddened and ashamed to see them apart after so short a time.
13. She implies that the child will weep because he misses her, not him, when she has sent the boy to Pururavas; or else that he will weep for what he has missed when at last he finds his father.
• merely advises him not to kill himself as he threatens; m t e Brahmana text, she actually gets the Gandharvas to teach him how to become immortal.
^ 15. The word is actually ‘jackal-wolves’, echoing the previous ^age of wolves. The jackal later becomes the symbol of an un- taithful woman.
16. As a goddess, she is filled by the oblation and spurns her mortal lover; as a woman, she has had more than enough of his butter (frequently a metaphor for semen).
17. The term, ‘Aila’, could be son of either Ila or Ha, as Puru- rayas was bom of a woman (I|a) who had been changed from her origmal form as a man (Ila).
offerings to him in the world of the dead, but Pururavas will be in the world of heaven.
Apdld and Indra The first and last verses of this hymn narrate the story- of 7 spoken by her. The story is hated hv tor commentaries; Apala was a young woman rv v') husband (v. 4) because she had a skin disease SeJedi ro ^’T r “ ket month and fct msistS t t 1“*=“ “=*de love to her, which she at to c.frh?r1,lT; “Rented to (V. 4). She asked him tah that being dfawn alligator,?
States that her -*-oe Vedic verse merely tes that her skm became sun-like (i.e. &ir), and the ritti WOMEN Im obvious sexual symbolism. This symbolism provides a parallel to the motif of the cure: for wlulc her skin is purified she is also given pubic hair, cither because she had been hairless as a result of the skm disease or because she was an adolescent maiden (v. i) who is made a woman by Indra.
1 A maiden going for water found Soma by the way. She brought It home and said, T will press it for you, Indra; I u ill press It for you, mighty one 2 ‘Dear man, you who go watchfully into house after house, drink this that I have pressed with my teeth, together with grain and gruel, cakes and praises.
J ‘We do not wish to understand you, and yet we do not misunderstand you Slowly and gently, ever more gently, flow for Indra, O drop of Soma 4 ‘ Surely he is able, surely he will do it, surely he will make us more fortunate ^ Surely we who arc liatcd by our husbands should flee and umte with Indra.
/ ‘Make tlicsc three places sprout, O Indra; my daddy’s head and field, and this part of me below the waist, if ‘That field of ours, and this my body, and my daddy’s head - make them all grow hair.’
7 In the nave of the chariot, m the nave of the cart, m the nave of the yoke, O Indra of a hundred powers, jou purified Apala three times- and made her sun slanncd vorrs 1 The adjective has three elovely iinl cd mcaninps: beautiful, therefore loved by one’* husband, therefore fortunaic : Cf. the three naves of the cliariot w heel in t iti {.i and t.ifi to.Rd Indra and th' Ah*. lay This bjmn, winch Kenou hat cjllctl 'the itrangest poem m the Rig Veda’, dealt with coiiilicr and molutitm an at Irait four level*, alluded to in a crinvcTsitio s tv-s*, cm frjur p'-sip'c* Indra and biv v.ifv, a*id Vr-3! jp’ (v-how ‘usu'c n'ernt ‘the THE RIG VEDA monkey bursting V7ith seed*) and his wife. On the household level, there are crude arguments in which Indranl accuses the monkey, a favourite of Indra, of having taken sexual liberties with her; Indra tries to calm her with flattery, and Vrsakapi’s wife alternately flatters her, engages her in sexual banter about their husbands* powers, and insists either that Vrsakapi never touched Indrani or that now, at least, he has ceased to do so; finally, Indrani relents and asks the monkey couple to resume the menage a quatre. This aspect of the myth places it among other bawdy and worldly hymns, usually set in the form of conversations.
The mj^ also suggests a chain of events involving sacri- fice. At a time before the conversation in the hymn takes place, mdra has ceased to be worshipped or to be given the Soma; in the course of the hymn, he is then given in place of Soma another kind of offering, which he accepts, an offering of bulls (w. 13 and 15), an oblation mixed with water (v. 12), or a pleasing mixture* (v. 15). Substitutes for Soma were common in Vedic and post-Vedic India, and any of these rmght have been used. These two levels, the household and e sacrifice, are linked by a third, which is merely implied: e substitute offering transfers the monkey's sexual powers to n a, perhaps through the sacrifice or castration of the animal (referred to obliquely in v. 5) and the drinking of a ‘mixture* ^5 again) made from his genitals i- (a ceremony t^t ensures that Indra will never die of old age - v. 1 1 - while sim tan^usly transferring Indra’s sins to the monkey - ^ Tpus aspect of the hymn suggests that it might be wewed in the context of a Vedic fertiHty ritual separate rcom the orthodox Soma tradition.
A foi^ level, a variant of the second, is the agonistic ^ter between poets/priests sacrificing on behalf of two different gods (Indra and the demi-god Vrsakapi); each side moclp the god of the other faction. This would explain the refrain, which is unique to this hymn but is of a widely used general format; in answer to a series of challenges Inrl » supremacy is constantly reaffirmed.^ Finally, if accepts •WOMKN the tradioon, following Sayana, that Vj-jakapi is a son of India, yet another level of meaning arises, a variant of the first, m which the son challenges the father (unsuccessfully) for the sexual favours of the mother.® / [Indrani’] ‘They no longer press the Soma, nor do they think of India as God, now that my fnend Vf^akapi has gorged himself on tlie nourishments of the enemy. India supreme above all I a ‘India, you pass over the erring ways of Vffakapi. No, you will not find Soma to drink in any other place. Indra supreme above all!’
J [Indra *] ‘What has this tawny ammal, tins Vj-sakapi, done to you that you arc so jealous of him - and begrudge him the nourislung wealth of the enemy? Indra supreme above.alll’ 4 [IndraiiJ.] ‘That beloved Vrjakapi whom you protect, Indra - let tlic dog who pants after the tvild sow® bite him in the carl Indra supreme above alll / ‘The ape has defiled the precious, well-made, anointed things® that arc mine. I will cut off his “head”, and I will not be good to that evil-doer. India supreme above alll’ 5 ‘No woman has finer loins than I, or is better at mahlng love No woman thrusts against a man better tlian I, or raises and spreads her tJiigbs more. Indra supreme nbotc alir 7 I 'O little mother," so casilv won, as it will surely be,* my loins, m) ihipb, mv “liead” seem to ihnll and stilTcn,'* little mother Indra supreme.abo\c nlir f \JrJra ] ‘Your anns and fingers arc so lo’ cl\. jour hair io loag, }oiir huttocl s <o broad You arc the w tfc of a hcrO“fo Y In do v on art 'ck our VfjJLajn? Indra niprcratr slurs c alll’ 7 *11i*s rmp'Mto'’ lias ret hn sir' ts on m<‘ at if 1 iad no man.*’’ iJut 1 /e-r a real nun, to' 1 art tlic a ifc o'' 10 II 12 ^7 i8 19 the rig VEDA Maru ts are my friends. Indra supreme this Jady would go to the public t)ra}<;^-r9 ^ ^ tneeting-place.^ There she would be Tq j ^ sets all in order, the wife of \Wifp with a man. Indra supreme above allT amnno-^ Indram is the most fortuoate^^ die heard, for her husband will never .1 ^bove all I Vrsatiii.; ^PPy^ Indram, without my friend water ^ offering of this oblation mixed with above ^P pleases them. Indra supreme Li e-oo^^ Wffbof Vrsakapi, you are rich in wealth and ^ Let Indra eat Powerfid f oblation that is so pleasing and so my hfuv ^ ^ Loth sides of my be% are fhU. Indra supreme above aUP ^ sharp-horned -bull bellowing f^ von a mixture is being prepared Tnr)r ’ ^idta, that will please your heart and refresh you. Indra supreme above all 1 » rcrresn you.
Powerful, whose perns hangs Powerfhl, for whoS me hairy organ opens as it swells and sets to work Indra supreme above allP worx.
[Kr^&js/v »..>.•] ‘That one is not pot^etfo], for the hairy organ opens as it swells and sets ro ^ that one is powerful, whose penis hano-o work, ^ghs. Indra supreme above aU I Lis 'Indra, this Vrsakapi found a wild as-; t. t, kilie4 a sword, a bLket, a ne w^t, »dTca^1 ’’f” With firewood.tfi Indra supreme above all I’ oaded ;] ‘I am coming forward, looking about j- tingmshing between enemy slave and noble ally I ^4 T/ 16 ■WOMEN am drinking •wnth the one ■who has prepared a simple brew; I am looking for an expert. Indra supreme above alii 20 ‘How many miles separate the desert and tlic ploughed land.*’ Come home, Vt^sakapi, to the closer houses. Indra supreme above alU’ 21 [hidrani.] ‘Come back, Vrjakapi, and we two^® will meet in agreement, so tliat you who destroy slcep^® may come again on the homeward path. Indra supreme above all I’ 22 \Tl)e pot/:] As you went home to the north, Vfsakapi, where was the beast of many sins?"® To whom, O Indra, did the mater of people go? Indra supreme above all I 2j The daughter of Manu, named Pars'u,"’ brought forth twenty children at once. Great happiness came to her whose womb felt the poms Indra supreme above all I NOTES T This hypothesis, based rtther loosely on the pre'cnt hymn, is supported by correspondences between it and tuo imporcmc Vcdic rituals In the horse sacrifice, the horse is gnen the sword and 6c\cnl other articles here piten to the montc) (v. i8; cf i.i6: 13-16), the stallion is killed and his virilirj transferred to the Ling after the queen Ins pantomimed ritual copul ition witli the stallion (corresponding to Vr'lLapi’s conncaion with Indrjnl) A ripial in the A/bam Vtdi (20.156) contains a dialogue replete with banter about the siac of sexual organs, acr*es that reaerse those tif the present h>mn. and rcfrienees to intercourse w nh a 'upcmatiinl woman fthc ‘Great Naked Woman’, kiahjiS'Jgnr) - all of which cliarartrrire both the horc 'arnficc and the present hvmn In the All -nj \'tJi rttual, m»rn>acr, llic Great Naked Wturt'o is treated as a scapegiaat. like k'rtllapi Tlar'e cfirrf;>.'>tuIeoccs arc log, though b> no means cmitclj tonvinci n* t Cf. ir jod a )g, a Tliii word (eo) hi* an amhb ate irc I upan 'he j - tteri‘,re. ft dt tccs i>' e's ‘b'-i* <r i*-nie', im fir if *s r %?*, >