14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



opposition of Ksatriya to Brahman) by no means necessarily reflects a con- 

 temporary social conflict of values, but can be better understood in the light 

 of the whole Vedic concept of the contrasted relations and functions of the 

 spiritual (brahma) and temporal (ksatra) powers, the former being primarily 

 those of Varuna ■= Brahman, the latter those of Indragnl. Nor need we be 

 confused by the fact that when the relation of Agni to Indra is considered 

 per se, and ab extra, this is again that of the spiritual to the temporal power : 

 for just as Agni delegates the temporal power to Indra (VIII, 100, 1-2, X, 

 52, 5 and 124, 4, etc., cf. Satapatlia Brahmana V, 4, 4, 15) though sometimes 

 playing an active part, so the Buddha (who for the most part corresponds to 

 Agni, " Gautama Buddha " for example reflecting Agni usar-budh) declines the 

 temporal power and as an actual teacher plays the Brahman part, although in 

 the conflicts with Mara (^ Mrtyu = Vrtra, etc.) and the "Ahi-naga " (sic 

 in Mahavagga, I, 15, 7) of the Jatila shrine, he takes that part which is played 

 more often by Indra than by Agni or BHiaspati in person. 



8. " Sinister " also in a literal sense : for the act of creation and procession 

 is an extroversion, as appears in innumerable texts, e. g. X, 124, 4 "the kingdom 

 was reversed" (pary avart rastram), IV, i, 2 " O Agni, turn thy brother 

 Varuna round about" (bhrataram z'arumm agne a vavrtsva), cf. Aitareya 

 Brahmana, IV, 5 where, the Angels and Titans being of equal heroism, "there 

 was a delay in turning back" {na vyavartanta) the latter; and this extroversion 

 is a right hand or sunwise turn, as in III, 19, 2= IV, 6, 3, "Agni, choosing 

 rightwise the angelic office" (pradaksinit dcvatatim tiranah), or X, 22, 14. 

 "Thou (Indra) smotest Susna to the right {pradaksinit) for Visvayu " (i. e. 

 Agni). Cf. SatapaUia Brahmana, III, 2, i, 13 and VII, 5, i, t^j. 



Remembering that Night and Dawn are the two wives of Indra {Vajasancyi 

 Samhita, III, 10, cited above) it is obvious that RV. X, 145 — in application a 

 spell directed against a co-wife {sapatntbadhanam) — is by first intention an 

 imprecation launched by IndranI herself, to whom the hymn is attributed, against 

 her rival sister Night; while X, 129, attributed to SacI PaulomI (Indrani) is 

 her song of triumph (cf. X, 125, attributed to Vac). Atharva Veda I, 14, is 

 apotropaic in the same sense as RV. X, 145. 



The application of these hymns illustrates very well the basic principle of 

 magical incantation; the recital of what was done in the beginning is held to be 

 effective in particular application here and now. In the same way, for example, 

 RV. V, 78, the immediate reference of which is to Agni's or the Sun's nativity, 

 is employed as a birth rune. The application is by analogy, and takes for 

 granted the correspondence of macrocosm and microcosm. 



9. Night and Day (itsasanakta) are both favorably regarded " Daughters 

 of Heaven" in X, 70, 6, but this is as being seated together at the altar 

 (yonau), that is analogically ab intra, for yoni as altar corresponds to "navel" 

 (ndbhi) "where Aditi confirms our kinship" (jamitva) X, 64, 13, and it is at 

 the "navel of Order" (rtasya nabhan) that "I throughly purify" {sain 

 punami, X, 13, 3). 



10. The word nahusah contrasts with usasah, both fern. pi. ace. Nahusa (m.), 

 from a root nah implying "bondage", is a designation of Agni's father in I, 31, 

 II and V, 12, 6; in fem. pi. it may therefore appropriately designate at the 

 same time " nights ", (as rendered also by Fay in Joiirn. Amer. Oriental Soc., 

 XXVII, p. 411, q. V.) and the recessive "false dawns" that have been Agni's 

 " first mothers " in his successive manifestations, but are set back yielding 



