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Tenth mantra includes the word 'ashva' where it means the bright
swift horses in the form of fire, air, water etc.
Eleventh mantra includes the word 'arvan' and the following
translation of this mantra will endorse our stand that the unique qualities of
the horse are emphasized in Sukta-163:
"0 brave person! You are active like a horse, your body is like a
swift vehicle, your mind is like the wind in motion. Your sublime actions are
initiated from the proper use of fire and electricity. These are spread in all
directions like the hoary creatures in the forests". One can see that this
mantra is in praise of highly skilled technicians.
Wilson's translation reads as follows:
"Your body, horse, is made for motion ,'your mind is rapid as the
wind: the hairs (of your mane) are tossed in manifold directions; and spread
beautiful in the forests".(ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MECHANICAL
TRANSLATION)
Twelfth mantra includes the term 'vajyarva' which means agni
swift(vegavan) like a horse and here in this mantra use of agni is highlighted.
Thirteenth and the last mantra of this Sukta contains the word 'arvan'
where it means agnyadashvan= horses in the form of fire, electricity etc.
ASVAMEDHA has bee translated as horse sacrifice as referred to
above by Jha and the conclusions drawn accordingly and this has been the
root cause of varied wrong interpretations and in order to illustrate its scope
and meaning the following is stated:
At the sight of words 'asvamedha, gomedha, purushmedha,
ajmedha' there is general tendency to interpret it to denote as hinsa/sacrifice/
killing. `medha' word's verb or dhatu is `medhri'. `medhrisangame hinsayam
cha' i.e. to enhance pure intellect , to inculcate love and integration among
the people and also hinsa i.e killing (this dhatu conveys these three
meanings).But it 'does not always mean killing or sacrifice and in Sanskrit
no literal translation will do where a particular word carries varied meanings
and it has to be applied judiciously and thoughtfully keeping in view the
context of the text. The words 'purushmedha' and `nriyajna' are synonyms.
In manusmriti the word `nriyajna' has been defined as'nriyajnoatithipoojanam'
(manusmriti -3.70) it means the pooja or honour of the guests. If we take
the meaning of the root `medhri' as sangamanarth it will come to be
interpreted as to organize the people for virtuous deeds or to enhance the
love and equanimity among them i.e. it would be 'nriyajna' or 'purushmedh'.
It may be pertinent to mention here that `nrimedha' is a rishi of some vedic
hymns of Samveda. It can never mean the one who kills or sacrifices the
human beings. Consequently, the terms followed by medha always do not
signifykilling/sacrifice and therefore the interpretations made by the Western
scholars are utterly wrong and unacceptable.
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