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Ṛṣi Bharadvāja Bārhaspatya
8 Verses
Meter: triṣṭubh
saṃ vāṃ karmaṇā samiṣā hinomīndrāviṣṇū apasas pareasya |
juṣethāṃ yajñaṃ draviṇaṃ ca dhattamariṣṭairnaḥ pathibhiḥ pārayantā ||
yā viśvāsāṃ janitarā matīnāmindrāviṣṇū kalaśā somadhānā |
pra vāṃ ghiraḥ śasyamānā avantu pra stomāso ghīyamānāso arkaiḥ ||
indrāviṣṇū madapatī madānāmā somaṃ yātaṃ draviṇo dadhānā |
saṃ vāmañjantvaktubhirmatīnāṃ saṃ stomāsaḥ śasyamānāsa ukthaiḥ ||
ā vāmaśvāso abhimātiṣāha indrāviṣṇū sadhamādo vahantu |
juṣethāṃ viśvā havanā matīnāmupa brahmāṇi śṛṇutaṃ ghiro me ||
indrāviṣṇū tat panayāyyaṃ vāṃ somasya mada uru cakramāthe |
akṛṇutamantarikṣaṃ varīyo.aprathataṃ jīvase no rajāṃsi ||
indrāviṣṇū haviṣā vāvṛdhānāghrādvānā namasā rātahavyā |
ghṛtāsutī draviṇaṃ dhattamasme samudraḥ sthaḥ kalaśaḥ somadhānaḥ ||
indrāviṣṇū pibataṃ madhvo asya somasya dasrā jaṭharaṃ pṛṇethām |
ā vāmandhāṃsi madirāṇyaghmannupa brahmāṇi śṛṇutaṃ havaṃ me ||
ubhā jighyathurna parā jayethe na parā jighye kataraścanainoḥ |
indraśca viṣṇo yadapaspṛdhethāṃ tredhā sahasraṃ vi tadairayethām ||
(note: please research other sources for additional context & meaning that this latest academic translation does not explore)
Translation:
1. With ritual action and with refreshment I propel both of you together, o Indra and Viṣṇu, to the far shore of this labor.
Enjoy the sacrifice and confer wealth, causing us to cross on paths free of harm.
2. O Indra and Viṣṇu, who are the begetters of all thoughts, the two tubs holding soma—
let the hymns as they are being recited help you forward, forward the praises as they are being sung in the form of chants [/along with the rays (of the sun)].
3. O Indra and Viṣṇu, exhilaration-lords of the exhilarating drinks, drive here to the soma, while conferring wealth.
Let the praises as they are being recited in solemn words anoint both of you together with the ointments of thoughts [/through the nights].
4. Let your horses, vanquishing hostility, sharers in exhilaration, convey you two here, o Indra and Viṣṇu.
Enjoy all the invocations of our thoughts. Harken to my sacred formulations, my hymns.
5. O Indra and Viṣṇu, this (deed) of yours is worthy of admiration: in the exhilaration of soma you two strode widely;
you made the midspace wider; you spread out the realms for us to live. 6. O Indra and Viṣṇu, you who eat first, you on whom the oblation is
bestowed with reverence—having grown strong through the oblation, confer wealth on us, o you whose drink is ghee. You two are the sea, the
tub holding soma.
7. O Indra and Viṣṇu, drink of this honey, of the soma, o wondrous ones.
Fill your belly.
The exhilarating stalks have come to you. Harken to my sacred
formulations, my call.
8. You both have conquered; you are not conquered. Neither one of these
two has been conquered.
O Viṣṇu and you Indra, when you two were contending, you broke apart
the thousand in three parts.
Commentary:
The focus of most of this hymn is entirely ritual, with the two divine recipients of the hymn treated as a unit. The gods are repeatedly urged to come together to the sacrifice, to enjoy the various forms of praise, and to drink the soma—as well as to give us wealth in return. Only one verse (4) is devoted to the gods’ deeds, with the “wide striding” that is Viṣṇu’s best-known exploit attributed to both of them. Their unity is reinforced by the grammar. Every verse in this hymn contains a voca- tive address to the two gods, always in a dvandva compound, except for the final verse (8).
In that verse, the two gods are grammatically separated though still addressed in the vocative, and this grammatical change marks a sharp change in conception as well. Though it is emphasized in the first half of the verse that both have con- quered and not been conquered, in the second half it is said that they contended with each other, but in the end divided the stake of a thousand (cows?) in thirds, with each taking a part. As Geldner points out, this dispute between Indra and Viṣṇu is referred to a number of times in early Vedic prose and later, and according to the Taittirīya Saṃhitā (VII.1.5.5) Indra received two thirds of the stake, Viṣṇu one third. The hymn thus springs a surprise at its end, by this glancing allusion to
strife between the two gods who were depicted throughout the rest of the hymn as an indissoluble pair. The language and style of most of the hymn are unremarkable and somewhat repetitive. Noteworthy are verses 2 and 3, with parallel structures in their second halves, deploying parallel puns on day (the sun’s rays) and night, homonymous with words referring to verbal productions at the sacrifice.