Table Of ContentPINNACLES OF INDIA'S PAST
SELECTIONS FROM THE RGVEDA
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
STUDIES ON SOUTH ASIA
General Editor
Rosane Rocher
Board of Editors
Arjun Appadurai
Peter Gaeffke
Richard D. Lambert
Ludo Rocher
Franklin C. South worth
Assistant Editor
David A. Utz
Volume 2
Walter H. Maurer
Pinnacles of India's Past: Selections from the Rgveda
PINNACLES OF
INDIA'S PAST
SELECTIONS FROM THE RGVEDA
Translated and Annotated
by
WALTER H. MAURER
Professor of Sanskrit
University of Hawaii at Manoa
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM / PHILADELPHIA
1986
This series is published with a subvention of
the Department of South Asia Regional Studies,
University of Pennsylvania.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Vedas. Rgveda. English. Selections.
Pinnacles of India's past.
(University of Pennsylvania studies on South Asia, ISSN 0169-0361; v. 2)
Translated from the Sanskrit.
Bibliography: p.
Includes Index.
I. Maurer, Walter H. II. Title. III. Series.
BL1112.54.E5 1986 294.5'9212 85-30784
ISBN 0-915027-62-3 (U.S.)/90 272 3385 3 (European) (hb.: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-915027-83-6 (U.S.)/90 272 3386 1 (European)) (pb.: alk. paper)
® Copyright 1986 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
To All Those Who
Have Occupied Themselves
With the Rgveda
and
Endeavored to Understand
its Meaning
and
Convey it to Others
This Volume
Is Dedicated
in
Esteem and Gratitude
Foreword
For years I had cherished the idea of translating and annotating a fairly
representative selection of hymns of the Rgveda such as would be appealing
to the general reader, but it was not until the summer of 1978 that circum
stances made it possible for me to begin work on this project. During that
summer I had the good fortune of receiving a Visiting Honorary Fellowship
at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edin
burgh, Scotland, where the congenial facilities for research and reflection
that were put at my disposal were entirely conducive to the prosecution of the
project as I then conceived it. The impressions of that summer at the Institute
are among the happiest of my life, and the hospitality and numerous acts of
kindness accorded to me and my wife by Professor William Beattie, Director
of the Institute, and Miss Margaret M. Jardine, Administrative Secretary, as
well as their interest in my work and its daily progress continue to linger in
my mind today as vividly as when they were being experienced.
As I continued to work on this project during the summers that followed
- work during the intervening academic years being precluded by other
responsibilities -1 gradually extended my original plan of translation and
annotation so as to cover approximately twice the number of selected hymns
and to make the notes on each hymn much more detailed. In this and yet
other ways I found that what was once conceived to be a limited work of
somewhat practical character had become almost imperceptibly a work of
no small dimension.
My wife has been my constant companion throughout this work, and it
is quite impossible for me to describe her contribution to it, so inseparable has
been her connection with even its minutest aspect. With infinite patience,
oftentimes interrupting her own work, she read and re-read these trans
lations and their notes, commenting on both their clarity and obscurity with
suggestions that never failed to be noteworthy for their insight and reasonable
ness. Had our roles been reversed, I am certain that I could not have exercised
her role with any semblance of the patience and intellectual empathy which
pervaded all her readings and comments.
viii Foreword
I shall be eternally grateful to Dr. David A. Utz, brilliant and learned
Iranist of the University of Pennsylvania, for his meticulous study of the
majority of these selected hymns. His comments00, founded upon wide and
thoughtful reading in the twin fields of Iranian and Indic studies, always
demonstrated prodigious acumen and were immensely appreciated alike for
their intrinsic value and the time they exacted from his busy schedule of
work.
I am deeply thankful also to Professor Richard W. Lariviere of the
University of Texas at Austin, for his careful reading of many of the hymns
and notes, which resulted in much valuable oral and written comment.
My good friend, John E. Frazer, whose study-room I shared at the
University of Pennsylvania during my sabbatical of 1982-83, frequently
offered suggestions to me revelatory of his lucid thinking and facility with
English style.
I have benefited much from Elliot Stern's many perceptive comments,
all reflective of his extensive learning and rare punctiliousness. Another
young scholar, also from the University of Pennsylvania, Frederick M. Smith,
often helped with advice and criticism, especially on matters of Vedic ritual.
Professor Rubellite Johnson of the University of Hawaii made a number
of excellent suggestions for the Introduction, drawing upon her sensitive
literary acumen, and there are yet others, colleagues and students alike, to
whom I am indebted in ways too varied to enumerate. All have given
something of their knowledge, and this work in its final form would be in
some degree different without their contributions.
I am deeply thankful also to the Editorial Board of the University of
Pennsylvania Studies on South Asia, whose wise and perspicacious com
ments, made to me anonymously, have added greatly to the improvement of
the Introduction.
To Miss Kanta Bhatia, South Asia Bibliographer, South Asia Library of
the University of Pennsylvania, I am beholden for so many kindnesses
extending over the whole of my sabbatical that it would be futility itself to
attempt a listing of them, a feat which, even if I were capable of its execution,
she would not wish of me, as it is inherent in her nature to be helpful in every
possible way.
Honolulu, Hawaii Walter Harding Maurer
December 1983
Table of Contents
Foreword Vii Varuna 89
A Communication to the
I.25 91
Reader 1
V.85 94
A Brief Introduction to the VII.86 97
Rgveda 5 VII.87 99
Selected Hymns 10 VII.88 102
VII.89 104
Agni 10
Mitra 106
L1 12
I.58 15 III.59 108
I.143 17 Miträvarunä 111
I.12 19
V.63 111
V.11 22
VII.61 114
VI.6 24
Visnu 116
III.29 26
I.154 117
Apäm Napät 32
Rudra 120
II.35 34
I.114 121
Indra 40
II.33 124
I.32 42
VII.46 128
II.12 48
Maruts 129
III.34 53
I.53 57 I.85 131
III.21 61 I.172 134
II.16 63 V.55 135
III.45 67 V.57 137
VIII.65 69 Asvins 139
X.119 71
VII.68 141
Indra and Püsan 73 I.118 145
VI.57 73 I.157 149
Soma 75 Brhaspati 151
VIII.48 76 IV. 50 151
IX.3 80 X.68 155
IX. 13 82 Usas 160
IX.40 84 IV.52 160
IX.74 85 V80 162
