The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface
• Introduction
• Errata
• Vedic Hymns
• Agnİ
• Savitṛ́
• MarÚtas
• VİṢṆu
• Dyá̄vĀ-pṚthiví̄
• Índra
• RudrÁ
• Apá̄Ṃ NÁpĀt
• MitrÁ
• Bṛ́haspÁti
• UṢÁs
• AgnÍ
• ParjÁnya
• PŪṢÁn
• Á̄pas
• Mitrá̄-vÁruṆĀ
• Sú̄rya
• AŚvÍnĀ
• VÁruṆa
• MaṆḌŪkĀs
• VÍŚve Devá̄Ḥ
• SÓma
• Funeral Hymn
• PitÁras
• Hymn of the Gambler
• PÚruṢa
• Rá̄trĪ
• Hymn of Creation
• YamÁ
• Vá̄ta
• Vocabulary
• Abbreviations

Á̄PAS

The Waters are addressed in four hymns, as well as in a few scattered verses. The personification is only incipient, hardly extending beyond the notion of their being mothers, young wives, and goddesses who bestow boons and come to the sacrifice. They follow the path of the gods. Indra, armed with the bolt, dug out a channel for them, and they never infringe his ordinances. They are celestial as well as terrestrial, and the sea is their goal. They abide where the gods dwell, in the seat of Mitra-Varuṇa, beside the sun. King Varuṇa moves in their midst, looking down on the truth and the falsehood of men. They are mothers and as such produce Agni. They give their auspicious fluid like loving mothers. They are most motherly, the producers of all that is fixed and that moves. They purify, carrying away defilement. They even cleanse from moral guilt, the sins of violence, cursing, and lying. They also bestow remedies, health, wealth, strength, long life, and immortality. Their blessing and aid are often implored, and they are invited to seat themselves on the sacrificial grass to receive the offering of the Soma priest.

The Waters are several times associated with honey. They mix their milk with honey. Their wave, rich in honey, became the drink of Indra, whom it exhilarated and to whom it gave heroic strength. They are invoked to pour the wave which is rich in honey, gladdens the gods, is the draught of Indra, and is produced in the sky. Here the celestial Waters seem to be identified with the heavenly Soma, the beverage of Indra. Elsewhere the Waters used in preparing the terrestrial Soma seem to be meant. When they appear bearing ghee, milk, and honey, they are accordant with the priests that bring well-pressed Soma for Indra. Soma (viii. 48) delights in them like a young man in lovely maidens; he approaches them as a lover; they are maidens who bow down before the youth.

The deification of the Waters is pre-Vedic, for they are invoked as āpo in the Avesta also.

vii. 49. Metre: Triṣṭubh.

See Page Number 116, Hymn Number 1 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 1

  samudrájyeṣṭhāḥ salilásya mádhyāt
• punāná̄ yanti ániviśamānāḥ:
• Índro yá̄ vajrí̄ vṛṣabhó rará̄da,
• tá̄ á̄po deví̄r ihá má̄m avantu.

Having the ocean as their chief, from the midst of the sea, purifying, they flow unresting: let those Waters, the goddesses, for whom Indra, the bearer of the bolt, the mighty one, opened a path, help me here.

samudrá-jyeṣṭhās: that is, of which the ocean is the largest. salilásya: the aerial waters, referred to as divyá̄s in 2 a, are meant. punāná̄s: cp. pāvaká̄s in c. ániviśamānās: cp. i. 32, 10, where the waters are alluded to as átiṣṭhantīs and ániveśanās standing not still and resting not. rará̄da: of Indra, it is said elsewhere (ii. 15, 3), vájreṇa khá̄ny atṛṇan nadí̄nām with his bolt he pierced channels for the rivers. tá̄ á̄po, &c. is the refrain of all the four stanzas of this hymn.

See Page Number 116, Hymn Number 2 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 2

  yá̄ Á̄po divyá̄ utá vā srávanti
• khanítrimā utá vā yá̄ḥ svayaṃjá̄ḥ;
• samudrá̄rthā yá̄ḥ śúcayaḥ pavāká̄s:
• tá̄ Á̄po deví̄r ihá má̄m avantu.

The Waters that come from heaven or that flow in channels or that arise spontaneously, that clear and purifying have the ocean as their goal: let those Waters, the goddesses, help me here.

divyá̄s: that fall from the sky as rain: cp. salilásya mádhyāt in 1 a. khanítrimās: that flow in artificial channels: cp. Índro yá̄ rará̄da in 1 c. svayaṃjá̄s: that come from springs. samudrá̄rthās: that flow to the sea; cp. samudrájyeṣṭhāḥ punāná̄ yanti in 1 a, b. pāvaká̄s: this word here and elsewhere in the RV. must be pronounced pavāká (p. 437 a 9).

See Page Number 117, Hymn Number 3 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 3

  yá̄sāṃ rá̄jā Váruṇo yá̄ti mádhye,
• satyānṛté avapáśyañ jánānām,
• madhuścútaḥ śúcayo yá̄ḥ pavāká̄s:
• tá̄ Á̄po deví̄r ihá má̄m avantu.

In the midst of whom King Varuṇa goes looking down upon the truth and untruth of men, who distil sweetness, clear and purifying: let those Waters, the goddesses, help me here.

Váruṇas: this god (vii. 86) is closely connected with the waters, for the most part those of heaven. avapáśyan: this shows that the celestial waters are here meant; on the Sandhi see 40, 1. satyānṛté: Pragṛhya (26; cp. p. 437, note 3); accent: p. 457, 10 e. Note that Dvandvas are not analysed in the Pada text. madhuścútas: that is, inherently sweet.

See Page Number 117, Hymn Number 4 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 4

  yá̄su rá̄jā Váruṇo, yá̄su Sómo,[ ]
• Víśve devá̄ yá̄su ú̄rjaṃ mádanti;
• vaiśvānaró yá̄su Agníḥ práviṣṭas:
• tá̄ Á̄po deví̄r ihá má̄m avantu.

In whom King Varuṇa, in whom Soma, in whom the All-gods drink exhilarating strength, into whom Agni Vaiśvānara has entered: let those Waters, the goddesses, help me here.

ú̄rjam: cognate acc. with mádanti (cp. 197 A 4) = obtain vigour in exhilaration, that is, by drinking Soma which is associated with the Waters. vaiśvānarás: belonging to all men, a frequent epithet of Agni. práviṣṭas: Agni’s abode in the Waters is very often referred to; cp. also his aspect as Apá̄ṃ nápāt ‘Son of Waters’ (ii. 35).

[P. 118,]head-line, for APAS read ĀPAS.