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38 Works of Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi
17.If some one strike thee with the heel or the whip that thou
mayest lie down, and thou art snorting with all thy might, then I purify
all this with my prayer, as with a spoon of clarified butter at the
sacrifices.
18.The axe approaches the thirty-four ribs of the quick horse,
beloved of the gods. Do you wisely keep the limbs whole, find out
each joint and strike.*
19.One strikes the brilliant horse, two hold it, thus is the
custom. Those of thy limbs which I have seasonably prepared, I
sacrifice in the fire as balls offered to the gods.**
20.May not thy dear soul burn thee while thou art coming
near, may the axe not stick to thy body. May no greedy and
unskilful immolator, missing with the sword, throw thy mangled
limbs together.
21.Indeed thou diest not thus, thou sufferest not; thou goest to
the gods on easy paths.The two horses of Indra, the two deer of the
Maruts
have been yoked, and the horse come to the shaft of the ass (of
the asvins).***
22.May this horse give us cattle and horses, men, progeny
and all sustaining wealth. May Aditi keep us free from sin, may
the horse of this sacrifice give us strength Pt
We leave now Max Muller and his interpretations, and come
to another commentator of the Vedas, Sayana. Sayana may truly
be called the father of European Vedic scholarship. Sayana is the
author from whose voluminous comfnentaries the Europeans have
drunk in the deep wells of mythology. It is upon the interpretation
The number of ribs mentioned by Muller is worth being counted and
verified
Vankri
which means 'a zigzag motion is here translated as 'rib.'
This requires proof.
Twashtu rashvasya
is here translated as 'brilliant horse,' as if
ashva
were
the noun and
tvashta
its qualifying adjective. The reverse is the truth.
Twastha
is the noun signifying electricity, and
ashva
is the qualifying
adjective signifying all-pervading. The words, 'offered to the gods,' in
the end of the translation are pure addition of Max Muller, to give the
whole a mythological coloring.
Hari
is again as a rurhi word translated into "two horses of Indra" and
prishati,
into "two deer of
maruts."
The 'shaft of the ass' is, perhaps, the
greatest curiosity Max Muller could present as a sign of mythology.
Max Muller, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 507-510