Rigveda 1.1.7

Vedic Hymns, Part II: Hymns to Agni (Maṇḍalas I–V) (SBE 46) 1.1.7

Language: English

1.1.7

Thee, O Agni, we approach day by day, O (god) who shinest in the darkness; with our prayer, bringing adoration to thee—

Note 1. I have translated dóshâvastar as a vocative which, as is rendered very probable by the accent, was also the opinion of the diaskeuasts of the Samhitâ text. The author of the sacrificial formula which is given in Âsval. Sraut. III, 12, 4 and Sâṅkh. Grihy. V, 5, 4, evidently understood the word in the same way; there Agni is invoked as doshâvastar and as prâtarvastar, as shining in the darkness of evening and as shining in the morning. That this may indeed be the true meaning of the word is shown by Rig-veda III, 49, 4, where Indra is called kshapâ´m vastâ´ 'the illuminator of the nights' (kshapâ´m is gen. plur., not as Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XV, 208, takes it, loc. sing.). The very frequent passages, however, in which case-forms of doshâ´ stand in opposition to words meaning 'dawn' or 'morning'—which words in most cases are derived from the root vas—strongly favour the opinion of Gaedicke (Der Accusativ im Veda, 177, note 3) and K. F. Johansson (Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XIV, 163), who give to dóshâvastar the meaning 'in the darkness and in the morning.' This translation very well suits all Rig-veda passages in which the word occurs. If this opinion is accepted, doshâvastar very probably ought to be written and accented as two independent words, doshâ´ vástar. See M. M., Physical Religion, p. 173.

Translations (7)

Rig-Veda Sanhitá — Horace Hayman Wilson 1850, English
The Hymns of the Rigveda — Ralph T. H. Griffith 1889, English
Rig-Veda, übersetzt und mit kritischen und erläuternden Anmerkungen versehen — Hermann Grassmann 1876, German
Der Rig-Veda aus dem Sanskrit ins Deutsche übersetzt (HOS 33–35) — Karl Friedrich Geldner 1951, German
Ригведа — Tatyana Yakovlevna Elizarenkova 1989, Russian
Études védiques et pāṇinéennes (traductions) — Louis Renou 1955, French
Hymns from the Rigveda — Arthur Anthony Macdonell 1922, English

Commentaries (2)

Ṛgvedapadapāṭha — Śākalya, Sanskrit
Ṛgvedabhāṣya (Skandasvāmin) — Skandasvāmin, Sanskrit

Other recensions (1)

Metrically restored text (van Nooten & Holland) — Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit