in the RV. text (viii. 47. 15 and 17) of matter corresponding to our 56. 4 and 57. 1 (see under those verses); and hymns 56 and 57 are translated together by Ludwig.⌋
Translated: Ludwig, p. 467; Griffith, ii. 313.
1. Out of Yama's world hast thou come hither (ā-bhū); with mirth (?) dost thou, wise, make use of (pra-yuj) mortals; knowing, thou goest in alliance (sarátham) with the solitary one, fashioning (mā) sleep in the lair (yóni) of the Asura.
If prámadā (p. prá॰madā) is to be rendered as above, it must have its accent changed to pramádā; the comm., against the pada-text, understands it as pramadās = striyas, joint object with mártyān of prá yunakṣi. One or two mss. read mártān in b. The comm. renders dhīras by dhṛṣṭas. ⌊Apart from Ws P.M.W., which have svā́pnam,⌋ all the mss., the comm., and SPP., read svápnam in d, and the translation follows this rather than our svápna, willing, in so obscure a matter, to stick as closely to the authorities as possible. Ppp., to be sure, gives svapna mi-, but this counts for very little. The comm. understands the verse to be addressed to the demon of ill-dreaming (he duḥsvapnābhimānin krūra piçāca); but his explanations through the whole hymn are worthless, being only the etymologizing guesses of one to whom the real sense is precisely as obscure as it is to us: asura is prāṇavant ātman; the 'lonely one' is the man who is dying of the effect of evil-dreaming, having abandoned son, wife, relatives, etc.; yāsi means yantalokam prāpayasi; and so on, and so on. ⌊Griffith cites "Death and his brother Sleep" of Shelley's Queen Mab (it is found also at Iliad xiv. 231) and "the twins, Sleep and Death," II. xvi. 682.⌋
2. The all-vigorous bond saw thee in the beginning, in the one day before the birth of night; from thence, O sleep, didst thou come (ā-bhū) hither, hiding thy form from the physicians.
In this verse also, for the reason given above, the translation follows the mss. more closely than does our text. Nearly all authorities have at the beginning bandhás; a couple ⌊the reciters, K. and V.⌋, with the comm., bandhús (wrong accent ⌊as in vs. 5⌋); Ppp. reads baṁbhas. All have viçvácayās (p. viçvá॰cayāḥ), though in some of them the c could be read as v; the comm. is able to make a sense for it: sarvasya cetā, saṁceta, sraṣṭā; the translation implies viçvāvayās, as the smallest possible intelligible change; Ppp. presents viçvavathāv ⌊and apaçyan⌋. The pada-mss. divide in b rā́tryā: jánitaḥ: réke; the comm. understands, with us, rā́tryāḥ: jánitoḥ: éke; and SPP. substitutes this in his pada-text. Eke ahni ⌊which Ppp. combines to eke ‘hni⌋ might, of course, also be understood as locative absolute. Our tátas at beginning of c was an emendation for táva of the mss.; the comm. has it (also Ppp.), and SPP. accordingly also adopts it in his text. The whole pāda reads in Ppp.: tatas svapnena madhyā ca bhāyatha. In d all the mss. have bhiṣágbhya r-, and the pada-mss. bhiṣágbhya॰rūpam (!); only one or two give an accent to rūpám; the comm. understands bhiṣágbhyo rūpám, and SPP. reads this; the translation follows it. There is much discordance as to the accent of apagūhamānas. Ppp. reads bhiṣajña rūpam apigūh-. The comm. is a grammarian of such sort that he does not accept éke as used here for the more regular ékasmin; but he does accept ahni as used, by the ordinary license to put one case in place of another, for ahnas, coördinate in construction with rātryās; and eke means mānasaprajāpatyādayas, and is subject of apaçyan understood! The evil-dreaming hid itself away from the medicine-men, says the comm., lest they should meet it with an efficacious remedy; and something like that is possibly the real meaning.
