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Rigveda 1.1.1

Vedic Hymns, Part II: Hymns to Agni (Maṇḍalas I–V) (SBE 46) 1.1.1

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1.1.1

I magnify Agni, the Purohita, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of treasures.

1.1.1.n1

Note 1. This verse being the first verse of the Rig-veda as we now possess it, seems already to have occupied the same position in the time of the author of the hymns X, 20–26. For, after a short benediction, the opening words of this collection of hymns are also agním île, 'I magnify Agni.' Comp. my Prolegomena, p. 231.

1.1.1.n2

Note 2. The verb which I translate by 'magnify'—being well aware that it is impossible to do full justice to its meaning by such a translation—is îd. There seems to me no doubt that this verb is etymologically connected with the substantives ísh, 'food,' íd, ídâ, írâ (not with the root yag of which Brugmann, Indogermanische Forschungen I, 171, thinks). We need not ask here whether the connection between îd and ísh is effected by a 'Wurzeldeterminativ' (root-determinative) d—in this case we should have here îd for izhd, comp. nîda for nizhda, pîd for pizhd, &c.; see Brugmann's Grundriss, vol. i, 591—or whether îd is a reduplicated present of id (of the type described by Brugmann, Grundriss, vol. ii, p. 854; comp. î´rte, &c.). The original meaning of î´de at all events seems to be 'I give sap or nourishment.' Now in the Vedic poetry and ritual, the idea of sap or nourishment is especially connected with the different products coming from the cow, milk and butter. The footsteps of the goddess Idâ drip with butter. The words 'agnim îde' seem to me, consequently, originally to convey the idea of celebrating Agni by pouring sacrificial butter into the fire. There is a number of passages in the Rig-veda which, in my opinion, show clear traces of this original meaning of the verb. Thus we read X, 53, 2. yágâmahai yagñíyân hánta devâ´n î´làmahai î´dyân â´gyena, 'let us sacrifice (yag) to the gods to whom sacrifice is due; let us magnify (îd) with butter those to whom magnifying is due.' V, 14, 3. tám hí sásvantah î´late srukâ´ devám ghritaskútâ agním havyâ´ya vólhave, 'for all people magnify this god Agni with the butter-dripping sacrificial spoon that he may carry the sacrificial food.' V, 28, I. devâ´n î´lânâ havíshâ ghritâ´kî, 'magnifying the gods with sacrificial food, (the spoon) filled with butter.' Comp. also I, 84, 18; VI, 70, 4; VIII, 74, 6; X, 118, 3. Then, by a gradual development, we find the verb îd or the noun îlenya connected with such instrumentals as girâ´ or gîrbhíh, 'to magnify by songs,' or stómaih 'by praises,' námasâ by 'adoration,' and the like. The Rig-vedic texts, however, show us very clearly that even in such phrases the original meaning of îd was not quite forgotten. For the word is not used indifferently of any praise offered to any god whatever. No god of the Vedic Pantheon is praised so frequently and so highly by the poets of the Rig-veda as Indra. Yet, with very few exceptions, the word îd is avoided in connection with this god. The whole ninth Mandala contains nothing but praises of Soma Pavamâna. Yet the word Id occurs, in the whole of this Mandala, in two passages only (5, 3; 66, 1) of which one is contained in an Âprî verse transferring artificially to Soma such qualifications as belong originally to Agni. On the other hand, in the invocations addressed to Agni, this verb and its derivatives are most frequently used. We may conclude that the idea of celebration, as conveyed by these words, had a connotation which qualified them for the employment with regard to Agni, the god nourished by offerings of butter, much better than for being addressed to Indra, the drinker of the Soma juice, or to the god Soma himself.
Last comes, I believe, the meaning of îd as contained in a very small number of passages such as VII, 91, 2. índravâyû sustutíh vâm iyânâ´ mârdîkám îtte suvitám ka návyam, 'Indra and Vâyu! Our beautiful praise, approaching you, asks you for mercy and for new welfare.' Here the construction of îd is such as if in English the phrase, 'men magnify the gods for obtaining mercy,' could be expressed in the words 'men magnify the gods mercy.'
I conclude by quoting the more important recent literature referring to îd: Prof. Max Müller's note on V, 60, 1 (S. B. E. vol. xxxii, p. 354); Physical Religion, p. 170; Bezzenberger, Nachrichten von der Göttinger Gesellsch. d. Wissensch. 1878, p. 264; Bechtel, Bezzenberger's Beiträge, X, 286; Bartholomae, ibid. XII, 91; Arische Forschungen, II, 78; Indogermanische Forschungen, III, 28, note 1; Brugmann, Indogermanische Forschungen, I, 171; K. F. Johansson, Indogermanische Forschungen, II, 47. Comp. also Bartholomae, Arische Forschungen, I, 21; III, 52, and Joh. Schmidt, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXXII, 389.

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