DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0081
THE GREAT VEDIC DEITIES 25
Professor Macdonell favours the derivation from "va" -
" to blow ".
The Indian Vata is invoked, as Vayu, in a beautiful
passage in one of the hymns which refers to his "two
red horses yoked to the chariot": he had also, like the
Maruts, a team of deer. The poet calls to the wind:
Awake Purandhu (Morning) as a lover awakes a sleeping
maid. . . . Reveal heaven and earth. . . .
Brighten the dawn, yea, for glory, brighten the dawn. . . .
These lines recall Keats at his best:
There is no light
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown . . .
Ode to the Nightingale.
A stirring hymn to the wind god loses much of its
vigour and beauty in translation:
Sublime and shining is the car of Vata;
It sweeps resounding, thundering and crashing;
Athwart the sky it wakens ruddy flashes,
Or o'er the earth it sets the dust-clouds whirling.
The gusts arise and hasten unto Vata,
Like women going to a royal banquet;
In that bright car the mighty god is with them,
For he is rajah of the earth's dominions.
When Vata enters on the paths of heaven,
All day he races on; he never falters;
He is the firstborn and the friend of Ocean—■
Whence did he issue forth ? Where is his birthplace ?
He is the breath* of gods: all life is Vata:
He cometh, yea, he goeth as he listeth:
His voice is heard; his form is unbeholden—
O let us offer sacrifice to Vata. Rigveda, x, 168.
1 The air of life = the spirit.
Professor Macdonell favours the derivation from "va" -
" to blow ".
The Indian Vata is invoked, as Vayu, in a beautiful
passage in one of the hymns which refers to his "two
red horses yoked to the chariot": he had also, like the
Maruts, a team of deer. The poet calls to the wind:
Awake Purandhu (Morning) as a lover awakes a sleeping
maid. . . . Reveal heaven and earth. . . .
Brighten the dawn, yea, for glory, brighten the dawn. . . .
These lines recall Keats at his best:
There is no light
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown . . .
Ode to the Nightingale.
A stirring hymn to the wind god loses much of its
vigour and beauty in translation:
Sublime and shining is the car of Vata;
It sweeps resounding, thundering and crashing;
Athwart the sky it wakens ruddy flashes,
Or o'er the earth it sets the dust-clouds whirling.
The gusts arise and hasten unto Vata,
Like women going to a royal banquet;
In that bright car the mighty god is with them,
For he is rajah of the earth's dominions.
When Vata enters on the paths of heaven,
All day he races on; he never falters;
He is the firstborn and the friend of Ocean—■
Whence did he issue forth ? Where is his birthplace ?
He is the breath* of gods: all life is Vata:
He cometh, yea, he goeth as he listeth:
His voice is heard; his form is unbeholden—
O let us offer sacrifice to Vata. Rigveda, x, 168.
1 The air of life = the spirit.