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Collection: Goodrich Seminar Room
Subject Area: Literature
Subject Area: Religion

RÁ̄TRĪ - Misc (Rigveda), A Vedic Reader for Students [1917]

Edition used:

A Vedic Reader for Students, by Arthur Anthony MacDonnell. Containing Thirty Hymns of the Rigveda in the original Samhita and Pada Texts, with Transliteration, Translation, Explanatory Notes, Introduction, Vocabulary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917).

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RÁ̄TRĪ

The goddess of night, under the name of Rá̄trī is invoked in only one hymn (x. 127). She is the sister of Uṣas, and like her is called a daughter of heaven. She is not conceived as the dark, but as the bright starlit night. Decked with all splendour she drives away the darkness. At her approach men, beasts, and birds go to rest. She protects her worshippers from the wolf and the thief, guiding them to safety. Under the name of nákta n., combined with uṣás, Night appears as a dual divinity with Dawn in the form of Uṣá̄sā-náktā and Náktoṣá̄sā, occurring in some twenty scattered stanzas of the Rigveda.

x. 127. Metre: Gāyatrī.

See Page Number 203, Hymn Number 1 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 1

    Rá̄trī ví akhyad āyatí̄
  • purutrá̄ deví̆ akṣábhiḥ:
  • viśvā ádhi śríyo ’dhita.

Night approaching has looked forth in many places with her eyes: she has put on all glories.

ví akhyat: a ao. of khyā see(147 a 1). ā-yatí̄: pr. pt. f. of ā + i go(95 a). deví̄: accent, p. 450, b; metre, p. 437, a 4. akṣábhis: 99, 4; the eyes are stars. ádhi adhita: root ao. Ā. of dhā put(148, 1 a). śríyas (A. pl. of śrí̄; 100 b, p. 87); the glories of starlight.

See Page Number 204, Hymn Number 2 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 2

    á̄ urv àprā ámartiā
  • niváto deví̆ udvátaḥ:
  • jyótiṣā bādhate támaḥ.

The immortal goddess has pervaded the wide space, the depths, and the heights: with light she drives away the darkness.

á̄ aprās: 3. s. s ao. of prā fill(144, 5). deví̄: cp. 1 b. jyótiṣā: with starlight.

See Page Number 204, Hymn Number 3 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 3

    nír u svásāram askṛta
  • Uṣásaṃ deví̆ āyatí̄:
  • ápéd u hāsate támaḥ.

The goddess approaching has turned out her sister Dawn; away too will go the darkness.

nír askṛta: 3. s. root ao. of kṛ do; the s is here not original (Padapāṭha akṛta), but is probably due to the analogy of forms such as niṣ-kuru (AV.); it spread to forms in which kṛ is compounded with the prps. pári and sám (pariṣkṛṇvánti, páriṣkṛta, sáṃskṛta). Uṣásam: Dawn here used in the sense of daylight(dec., 83, 2 a). nír u — ápa íd u: in the second clause the pcl. is used anaphorically (p. 221, 2), with special emphasis (íd) on the second prp., = and the darkness will also be dispelled by the starlight (cp. 2 c). hāsate: 3. s. sb. Ā. of the s ao. of 2. hā go forth(p. 162, 2).

See Page Number 205, Hymn Number 4 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 4

    sá̄ nŏ adyá, yásyā vayáṃ
  • ní te yá̄mann ávikṣmahi,
  • vṛkṣé ná vasatíṃ váyaḥ.

So to us to-day thou (hast approached), at whose approach we have come home, as birds to their nest upon the tree.

sá̄: p. 294, b; a vb. has here to be supplied, the most natural one being hast come, from āyatí̄ in 3 b. yásyās . . te for tváṃ yásyās, a prs. prn. often being put in the rel. clause. yá̄man: loc. (90). ní . . ávikṣmahi: s ao. Ā., we have turned in (intr.). vasatím: governed by a cognate vb. to be supplied, such as return to. váyas: N. pl. of ví bird (99, 3 a).

See Page Number 205, Hymn Number 5 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 5

    ní grá̄māsŏ avikṣata,
  • ní padvánto, ní pakṣíṇaḥ,
  • ní śyená̄saś cid arthínaḥ.

Home have gone the villages, home creatures with feet, home those with wings, home even the greedy hawks.

ní avikṣata: 3. pl. Ā. s ao. of viś enter. grá̄māsas: = villagers. ní: note the repetition of the prp. throughout, in place of the cd. vb.: a common usage.

See Page Number 205, Hymn Number 6 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 6

    yāváyā vṛkíaṃ vṛ́kaṃ,
  • yaváya stenám, ūrmie;
  • áthā naḥ sutárā bhava.

Ward off the she-wolf and the wolf, ward off the thief, O Night; so be easy for us to pass.

yāváyā: cs. of yu separate; this and other roots ending in ú, as well as in i, ṛ, may take Guṇa or Vṛddhi in the cs. (168, 1 c), but the Padapāṭha invariably gives yavaya; the final vowel is metrically lengthened (in b it is long by position before st). vṛkyàm: accent, p. 450, 2 b. áthā: final metrically lengthened (cp. p. 214).

See Page Number 206, Hymn Number 7 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 7

    úpa mā pépiśat támaḥ,
  • kṛṣṇáṃ, víaktam asthita:
  • Úṣa ṛṇéva yātaya.

The darkness, thickly painting, black, palpable, has approached me: O Dawn, clear it off like debts.

úpa asthita: 3. s. Ā. of root ao. of sthā stand. pépiśat: int. pr. pt. of piś paint, as if it were material. úṣas: Dawn, as a counterpart of Night, is invoked to exact = remove the darkness from Rātrī, as one exacts money owing. In hymns addressed to a particular deity, another who is cognate or in some way associated, is not infrequently introduced incidentally. yātaya: cs. of yat.

See Page Number 206, Hymn Number 8 in PDF for Sanskrit Version

  • 8

    úpa te gá̄ ivá̄karaṃ,
  • vṛṇīṣvá, duhitar divaḥ,
  • Rá̄tri, stómaṃ ná jigyúṣe.

Like kine I have delivered up to thee a hymn—choose it O daughter of heaven, O Night—like a song of praise to a victor.

úpa á̄ akaram (1. s. root ao. of kṛ): I have driven up for thee my song of praise, as a herdsman delivers up in the evening the cows which he has herded since the morning; cp. i. 114, 9, úpa te stómān paśupá̄ ivaᴗá̄karam I have driven up songs of praise for thee like a herdsman. vṛṇīṣvá: 2. s. ipv. Ā. from vṛ choose. b is parenthetical. stómam is to be supplied with á̄karam. jigyúṣe: dat. of pf. pt. of ji conquer(157 b α).