illustrates the advantages of the second method, and also its inherent limitations.[1]
Interpretative elements: captions of the hymns.—The preponderating elements of the commentary are of a critical nature, and these have been discussed by me at length in chapters i to ii of this Part I. of the General Introduction (above, pages lxiv to xciii); of the interpretative elements a few words need yet to be said. And first, it should be expressly stated that the English titles of the hymns (the captions or headings printed in Clarendon type throughout, just before the Anukramaṇī-excerpts) constitute, for the books of short hymns at least, a most important part of the interpretative element of this work. They have evidently been formulated by Whitney with much care and deliberation, and are intended by him to give briefly his view of the general purport of each hymn. In a few cases these captions were lacking, and have been supplied by me from his first draft (so at i. 35) or otherwise (so at ii. 12; v. 6; vii. 109: cf. books xv., xvi., and xviii., and p. 772, end). These captions are given in tabular form near the end of the work: see volume viii., p. 1024.
Interpretations by Whitney.—Where the text is not in disorder, a rigorously literal version is in many (if not in most) cases fairly intelligible without added interpretation. The need of such additions Whitney has occasionally, but perhaps not often, recognized. Thus after rendering the pādas i. 2. 3 ab by the words 'when the kine, embracing the tree, sing the quivering dexterous reed,' he adds, "that is, apparently, 'when the gut-string on the wooden bow makes the reed-arrow whistle.'" Similarly at vi. 125. 1. The text speaks at xviii. 1. 52 of an offense done puruṣátā: Whitney renders 'through humanity,' and adds "that is, through[2] human frailty." Cf. note to vii. 33. 1.
It may be noted in this place (for lack of a better one) that Whitney, in reporting the conjectures or interpretations of his predecessors, passes over some in silence. Sometimes this appears to have been done intentionally and because he disapproved them. Thus at iv. 37. 3, he notes in his first draft the suggestions of BR. and OB. concerning avaçvasám;
- ↑ It would be idle presumption in me to praise the work of a man whose knowledge of the literature and customs and spirit of India is so incomparably greater than my own; but I may be allowed to repeat the judgment of my revered and beloved friend, M. Auguste Barth, concerning Griffith's Veda-translations: Elle [the RV. translation] se présente ainsi sans aucun appareil savant, ce qui, da reste, ne veut pas dire qu'elle n'est pas savante. L'auteur, qui a longtemps dirige le Benares College, a une profonde connaissance des langues, des usages, de l'esprit de l'Inde, et, pour maint passage, on aurait tort de ne pas tenir grandement compte de cette version en apparence sans prétentions (Revue de l'histoire des religions, year 1893, xxvii. 181). Elle [the AV. translation]...mérite les mêmes éloges (Ibidem, year 1899, xxxix. 25).
- ↑ By a curious coincidence, "through human frailty" is precisely the rendering given by Griffith.
