The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 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

AŚVÍNĀ

These two deities are the most prominent gods after Indra, Agni, and Soma, being invoked in more than fifty entire hymns and in parts of several others. Though their name (aśv-in horseman) is purely Indian, and though they undoubtedly belong to the group of the deities of light, the phenomenon which they represent is uncertain, because in all probability their origin is to be sought in a very early pre-Vedic age.

They are twins and inseparable, though two or three passages suggest that they may at one time have been regarded as distinct. They are young and yet ancient. They are bright, lords of lustre, of golden brilliancy, beautiful, and adorned with lotus-garlands. They are the only gods called golden-pathed (híraṇya-vartani). They are strong and agile, fleet as thought or as an eagle. They possess profound wisdom and occult power. Their two most distinctive and frequent epithets are dasrá wondrous and ná̄satya true.

They are more closely associated with honey (mádhu) than any of the other gods. They desire honey and are drinkers of it. They have a skin filled with honey; they poured out a hundred jars of honey. They have a honey-goad; and their car is honey-hued and honey-bearing. They give honey to the bee and are compared with bees. They are, however, also fond of Soma, being invited to drink it with Uṣas and Sūrya. Their car is sunlike and, together with all its parts, golden. It is threefold and has three wheels. It is swifter than thought, than the twinkling of an eye. It was fashioned by the three divine artificers, the Ṛbhus. It is drawn by horses, more commonly by birds or winged steeds; sometimes by one or more buffaloes, or by a single ass (rá̄sabha). It passes over the five countries; it moves around the sky; it traverses heaven and earth in one day; it goes round the sun in the distance. Their revolving course (vartís), a term almost exclusively applicable to them, is often mentioned. They come from heaven, air, and earth, or from the ocean; they abide in the sea of heaven, but sometimes their locality is referred to as unknown. The time of their appearance is between dawn and sunrise: when darkness stands among the ruddy cows; Uṣas awakens them; they follow after her in their car; at its yoking Uṣas is born. They yoke their car to descend to earth and receive the offerings of worshippers. They come not only in the morning, but also at noon and sunset. They dispel darkness and chase away evil spirits.

The Aśvins are children of Heaven; but they are also once said to be the twin sons of Vivasvant and Tvaṣṭṛ’s daughter Saraṇyú̄ (probably the rising Sun and Dawn). Pūṣan is once said to be their son; and Dawn seems to be meant by their sister. They are often associated with the Sun conceived as a female called either Sūryā or more commonly the daughter of Sūrya. They are Sūryā’s two husbands whom she chose and whose car she mounts. Sūryā’s companionship on their car is indeed characteristic. Hence in the wedding hymn (x. 85) the Aśvins are invoked to conduct the bride home on their car, and they (with other gods) are besought to bestow fertility on her.

The Aśvins are typically succouring divinities. They are the speediest deliverers from distress in general. The various rescues they effect are of a peaceful kind, not deliverance from the dangers of battle. They are characteristically divine physicians, healing diseases with their remedies, restoring sight, curing the sick and the maimed. Several legends are mentioned about those whom they restored to youth, cured of various physical defects, or befriended in other ways. The name oftenest mentioned is that of Bhujyu, whom they saved from the ocean in a ship.

The physical basis of the Aśvins has been a puzzle from the time of the earliest interpreters before Yāska, who offered various explanations, while modern scholars also have suggested several theories. The two most probable are that the Aśvins represented either the morning twilight, as half light and half dark, or the morning and the evening star. It is probable that the Aśvins date from the Indo-European period. The two horsemen, sons of Dyaus, who drive across the heaven with their steeds, and who have a sister, are parallel to the two famous horsemen of Greek mythology, sons of Zeus, brothers of Helena; and to the two Lettic God’s sons who come riding on their steeds to woo the daughter of the Sun. In the Lettic myth the morning star comes to look at the daughter of the Sun. As the two Aśvins wed the one Sūryā, so the two Lettic God’s sons wed the one daughter of the Sun; the latter also (like the Dioskouroi and the Aśvins) are rescuers from the ocean, delivering the daughter of the Sun or the Sun himself.

vii. 71. Metre: Triṣṭubh.

See Page Number 130, Hymn Number 1 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 1

  ápa svásur Uṣáso Nág jihīte:
• riṇákti kṛṣṇí̄r aruṣá̄ya pánthām.
• áśvāmaghā, gómaghā, vāṃ huvema:
• dívā náktaṃ śárum asmád yuyotam.

Night departs from her sister Dawn. The black one yields a path to the ruddy (sun). O ye that are rich in horses, rich in cows, on you two we would call: by day and night ward off the arrow from us.

Nák (N. of náś): this word occurs here only. ápa jihīte: 3. s. Ā. from 2. hā. Uṣásas: abl., with which svásur agrees. Night and Dawn are often called sisters, e. g. svásā svásre jyá̄yasyai yónim āraik the (one) sister has yielded her place to her greater sister (i. 124, 8); and their names are often joined as a dual divinity, náktoṣá̄sā. The hymn opens thus because the Aśvins are deities of the early dawn. kṛṣṇí̄s (dec., p. 87): night; cp. i. 113, 2, śvetyá̄ á̄gād á̄raig u kṛṣṇá̄ sádanāni asyāḥ the bright one has come; the black one has yielded her abodes to her. riṇákti: 3. s. pr. of ric leave. aruṣá̄ya: to the sun; cp. i. 113, 16, á̄raik pánthāṃ yá̄tave sú̄ryāya she hasyielded a path for the sun to go. pánthām: on the dec. see 97, 2 a. gómaghā: on the accentuation of this second voc., see p. 465, 18 a. śárum: the arrow of death and disease; for the Aśvins are characteristically healers and rescuers. asmád: p. 104. yuyotam: 2. du. of yu separate, for yuyutam; cp. 2 c and note on ii. 33, 1 b.

See Page Number 131, Hymn Number 2 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 2

  upá̄yātaṃ dāśúṣe mártiāya
• ráthena vāmám, Aśvinā, váhantā.
• yuyutám asmád ánirām ámīvāṃ:
• dívā naktáṃ, mādhvī, trá̄sīthāṃ naḥ.

Come hither to the aid of the pious mortal, bringing wealth on your car, O Aśvins. Ward off from us languor and disease: day and night, O lovers of honey, may you protect us.

upa-á̄-yātam: 2. du. ipv. of yā go; on the accent see p. 469, 20 A a α. mādhvī: an epithet peculiar to the Aśvins. trá̄sīthām: 2. du. Ā. s ao. op. of trā protect (143, 4); irregularly accented as if beginning a new sentence.

See Page Number 131, Hymn Number 3 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 3

  á̄ vāṃ rátham avamásyāṃ víuṣṭau
• sumnāyávo vṛ́ṣaṇo vartayantu.
• syú̄magabhastim ṛtayúgbhir áśvair,
• á̄, Aśvinā, vásumantaṃ vahethām.

Let your kindly stallions whirl hither your car at (this) latest daybreak. Do ye, O Aśvins, bring itthat is drawn with thongs with your horses yoked in due time, hither, laden with wealth.

avamásyām: prn. adj. (120 c 1). sumnāyávas: the vowel is metrically lengthened in the second syllable, but, when this word occupies another position in the Pāda, the short vowel remains.

See Page Number 132, Hymn Number 4 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 4

  yó vāṃ rátho, nṛpatī, ásti voḷhá̄,
• trivandhuró vásumāṁ̆ usráyāmā,
• á̄ na ená̄, Nāsatyā, úpa yātam,
• abhí yád vāṃ viśvápsnio jígāti.

The car, O lords of men, that is your vehicle, three-seated, filled with riches, faring at daybreak, with that come hither to us, Nāsatyas, in order that, laden with all food, for you it may approach us.

trivandhurás: accent, p. 455 c α. vásumān: Sandhi, 39. á̄ úpa yātam: p. 468, 20 a; cp. note on upá̄yātam in 2 a. ená̄: p. 108. yád: p. 357. vām: ethical dat. viśvápsnyas: the meaning of this word being doubtful, the sense of the whole Pāda remains uncertain. jígāti 3. s. sb. of gā go, indistinguishable from the ind.

See Page Number 132, Hymn Number 5 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 5

  yuváṃ Cyávānaṃ jaráso ’mumuktaṃ,
• ní Pedáva ūhathur āśúm áśvam;
• nír áṃhasas támasaḥ spartam Átriṃ,
• ní Jāhuṣáṃ śithiré dhātam antáḥ.

Ye two released Cyavāna from old age, ye brought a swift horse to Pedu; ye rescued Atri from distress and darkness; ye placed Jāhuṣa in freedom.

yuvám: note that this is the nom., yuvá̄m being the acc.: p. 105. Cyávāna is several times mentioned as having been rejuvenated by the Aśvins. jarásas: abl. (p. 316 b). amumuktam: ppf. of muc (140, 6, p. 158). ní ūhathur: 2. du. pf. of vah. Pedáve: Pedu is several times mentioned as having received a swift, white, serpent-killing steed from the Aśvins. níḥ spartam: 2. du. root ao. of spṛ (cp. 148, 1 a). The ao. in c and d is irregularly used in a narrative sense. ní dhātam: 2. du. root ao. of dhā. In i. 116, 20 it is said of the Aśvins: ‘ye carried away at night Jāhuṣa who was encompassed on all sides’.

See Page Number 133, Hymn Number 6 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

• 6

  iyáṃ manīṣá̄, iyám, Aśvinā, gí̄r.
• imá̄ṃ suvṛktíṃ, vṛṣaṇā, juṣethām.
• imá̄ bráhmāṇi yuvayú̄ni agman.
• yūyáṃ pāta suastíbhiḥ sádā naḥ.

This is my thought, this, O Aśvins, my song. Accept gladly this song of praise, ye mighty ones. These prayers have gone addressed to you. Do ye protect us evermore with blessings.

manīṣá̄: this is one of the four passages in which the nom. of the der. ā dec. does not contract with a following vowel in the Saṃhitā text, here owing to its preceding the caesura (cp. note on v. 11, 5 b). gí̄r: 82. agman: 3. pl. root ao. of gam (148, 1 e). This stanza is a repetition of the last stanza of the preceding hymn (vii. 70), which also is addressed to the Aśvins. On d see note on vii. 61, 6.