[Advaita-l] ṛg ved hymn

Ravisankar Mayavaram abhayambika at gmail.com
Fri Jan 8 13:37:27 CST 2010


(I wrote this to Austin Veda Group  in 2006, it may have errors and it was
mainly written to improve my understanding - your corrections and comments
are welcome)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I have tried to understand the Rk gaNaanan tva.  Please correct. If you have
unicode font on your machine, you should be able to read the sanskrit terms
correctly. I will try to format it better and send a PDF later.

gaNAnAn.h tvA gaNapatiM havAmahe kavim kavInAm- upamashravastamaM |
jyeshhTharAjaM brahmaNAn.h brahmaNaspata A naH shR^iNvannUtibhiH sIda
sAdanaM ||

Brief Meaning:

We offer oblations and invite you, the lord of all groups, wise amongst the
wise, lord of all veda-s, foremost among the foremost, and one whose fame is
most excellent; come to us and be seated in our home/place  to protect us.

This Rk addresses the lord with 5 epithets and addresses him directly in
मध्यम पुरुष (त्वम्)
a) गणानाम् गणपति - Lord of all groups, here specifically as lord of all
deva-s
b) कविनाम् कवि - wise amongst the wise
c) ब्रह्मणाम् ब्रहमनस्पत -  Lord of all veda-s
d) ज्येष्ठ राजन् - ज्येष्ठानाम् राजन्, foremost among the foremost
e) उपम श्रव तम - one whose fame (shrava) is most excellent (upama), tama
suffix makes it superlative

Details
गणानाम्  -   of the groups   - गण सुबान्तस्य  (noun)  बहुवचन षष्टि विभक्ति
त्वा -   same s  त्वाम्  -- द्वितीया विभक्ति
गणपतिं -     to the Lord of groups  गणस्य पतिः गणपतिः - तत्पुरुष समास
हवामहे -    offer oblations and invoke you  हु - जुहोति ,  हवामहे  is
similar as जुहुयामहे, but a vedic form  उत्तम पुरुष , बहु वचन , वर्तमान काल
(लट्)
कविनाम् -  of the wise  - कवि सुबान्तस्य बहुवचन षष्टि विभक्ति
कवि  -   wise, all knowing, etc.
उपम -  excellent
श्रवस् -  fame
तम -  superlative to make it most excellent and adds intensity
ज्येष्ठ -  elder, foremost, here can be taken as ज्येष्टानम्, that is, of
the foremost
राजम् - राजन् सुबान्तस्य द्वितीया विभक्ति
ब्रह्मणाम् -   of the veda-s  ब्रह्मणाम्  is a plural genitive of  ब्रह्मन्
ब्रह्मणस्पत -  Lord of veda-s, ब्रह्मणः + पति = ब्रह्मणस्पति। ब्रह्मणः is
singular genitive of  ब्रह्मन्
आ -   towards us (from Apte's dictionary- chiefly occurs in the vedas and
means near, near to, or towards, there to, further)
नः - अस्मान्  us द्वितीया विभक्ति
शृण्वन् --    hearing  श्रु-श्रुणोति (वा) श्रुनुते   present participle of
shru  (वर्तमाने कृदान्त)
ऊतिभिः -  for  protection  -- ऊति (स्त्री लिङ्ग) सुबान्तस्य बहुवचन त्रितीया
विभक्ति
सीद -     be seated  सद् - सीदति  This  कृदान्त  is formed by adding अ
which is a  कृत् प्रत्यय
सादनं -  well established, well arranged, could mean home/heart etc.


-- 
--
RaviSankar
<abhayambika at gmail.com>

2010/1/6 yajvan <yajvan at san.rr.com>

>
>
> Namasté Vidyasankar
>
> Thank you for your insight and help... Very useful.
>
> praṇām
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org [mailto:
> advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Vidyasankar
> Sundaresan
> Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:45 AM
> To: Advaita List
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] ṛg ved hymn
>
>
>
>
> > One word I am having difficulty with is ṣṛṇvannūtibhiḥ. I can see
> > various components of the word i.e. :
> >
> > ūti is help , protection , promoting , refreshing favour vat
> > technically termed vati - added to words to imply likeness or resemblance
> , and generally translatable to 'as' , 'like'
> > van to gain , acquire , procure , to be come master
> >
> > Yet, overall, I cannot discern the total word or its compounds (
> tat-puruṣa ) or definition.
> >
>
>
> It is not one word, but two, connected by simple sandhi - shR^iNvan +
> UtibhiH = shR^iNvannUtibhiH.
>
> shR^iNvan derives from dhAtu shru - to hear. shR^iNvan = having heard, just
> like gacchan = having gone, tiShThan = having stood, pashyan = having seen,
> etc. UtibhiH = Uti + bhiH = plural instrumental case form of noun Uti (with
> meaning 1 above).
>
>
>
> > That said, I have also seen this word spelled two ways:
> >
> > 1. ṣṛṇvannūtibhiḥ - as mentioned in the hymn offered
> >
> > 2. śṛṅvattūtibhiḥ
>
>
> The second spelling is wrong. Any publication that has it has not been
> proof-read properly before
> printing. This R^ik is never recited that way.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Vidyasankar
>
>
>
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-- 
Raviśankar


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