20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The significance of the four commendations... 685sārāṃśe uktalakṣaṇe bale ca imaṃ puruṣam | yojayantu iti vākyeśeṣaḥ | –“Or else, the gods such as Indra, etc, should unite this man with the essenceof the earthly substances having the attributes of rice, barley and so on andwith the vigour, the attribute of which has been said.”The rendering of bhaga is also confusing, as the god’s name or as acommon noun. In a hymn belonging to āyuṣyagaṇa Agni is invoked tounite the person with body and strength 36 . In another Śaunakin hymn 37bhaga is mentioned in juxtaposition with varcas as two precious matters,that are sought to be snatched away through magic by a woman from herrival in love. As BLOOMFIELD (1897: 313) correctly understood, therebhaga refers to the rival’s fortune as well as to her vagina 38 . In a hymn 39employed by Kauśika 40 in the godāna while the parents hand the boy thriceto each other and make him eat three balls of ghee, Agni is asked to leadthe child to life (āyus) and varcas (most likely vigour).All the gods invoked in the two stanzas are associated with securinglife. Agni (and Jātavedas in the second stanza) is a primordial elementlying as an embryo in all sentient and not sentient entities 41 and henceinvoked as a life preserver 42 . Bṛhaspati, the gods’ chaplain, is here anaspect of Agni, and invoked as protector of bodies 43 . He is thoughtto release a child from death’s rope, probably a reminiscence of thegod releasing the celestial waters (as like Indra) 44 . To live is to see theSun rising 45 , as Sūrya measures the days 46 and prolongs the life span 47 .36ŚS 5.30.14.a-b: prāṇénāgne cákṣuṣā sáṃ sṛjemáṃ sam īraya tanv sáṃ bálena |371.14.1a-b bhágam asyā várca diṣy ádhi vṛkṣd iva srájam |38Also in compounds, cf. Nārada Smṛti and Bhava’s commentary, 2.156-166:bhagavṛtti, “one who lives by a woman’s earnings, a pimp”, and 13.12-13: mukhebhaga,“one enjoying oral intercourse”.39ŚS 2.28.5.4054.13.14.41ṚV 1.70.3. In a hymn employed by the KauśS in the puṃsavana, 5.25.7, Agniis invited besides other gods to place an embryo in the woman’s womb: garbho asyoṣadhīnāṃ garbho vanaspatīnām | garbho viśvasya bhūtasya so agne garbham eha dhāḥ ||42Agni is invoked in many hymns rubricated in the āyuṣyagaṇa: ŚS 2.28.2; 3.11.4;3.31.1,6; 7.53.1; 8.1.11.43Cf ṚV 2.25.8.44Bṛhaspati is specially associated with this through a legend narrating his warlikeattack to the mountain of Śambara wherefrom he carried out the latter’s riches, i.e. thewaters.45ṚV 4.25; 6.25. Death is equated with the separation from this world and from thesight of Agni and the sun (ŚS 8.1.4).46ṚV 1.50.47ṚV 8.48.