Prudence Primrose

翻訳Translations

Death

From the Ṛgveda, X.135 · June 2025

Her English

Sanskrit

I look below where Death holds court with the Gods1,I behold my father2, once beauteous and wise.
यस्मिन्वृक्षे सुपलाशे देवैः संपिबते यमः ।अत्रा नो विश्पतिः पिता पुराणाँ अनु वेनति ॥ १ ॥
He traces his steps along dust & ash once new,I cry out, “I know what must be done, but I miss him so!”
पुराणाँ अनुवेनंतं चरंतं पापयामुया ।असूयन्नभ्यचाकशं तस्मा अस्पृहयं पुनः ॥ २ ॥
I give to him with my mind a boat3 to embark the pilgrimage of our Ancestors,And now I offer him to Fire so that he may become anew,
यं कुमार नवं रथमचक्रं मनसाकृणोः ।एकेषं विश्वतः प्रांचमपश्यन्नधि तिष्ठसि ॥ ३ ॥
There he sails the melody of Death in a boat so divine, disembarking.
यं कुमार प्रावर्तयो रथं विप्रेभ्यस्परि ।तं सामानु प्रावर्तत समितो नाव्याहितं ॥ ४ ॥
When it is my time, who will send me on my way?Who holds the answers4 for the debts I must repay5?
कः कुमारमजनयद्रथं को निरवर्तयत् ।कः स्वित्तदद्य नो ब्रूयादनुदेयी यथाभवत् ॥ ५ ॥
My father then arrives at Death’s gate and begging his release,Death says: “May all your debts be forgiven”, and my father was reborn,
यथाभवदनुदेयी ततो अग्रमजायत ।पुरस्ताद्बुध्न आततः पश्चान्निरयणं कृतं ॥ ६ ॥
There upon the seat of Death, the palace of the Gods6,Its halls fill with the sounds of trumpets and the melodies of hymns7.
इदं यमस्य सादनं देवमानं यदुच्यते ।इयमस्य धम्यते नाळीरयं गीर्भिः परिष्कृतः ॥ ७ ॥

Notes

By the editor.

  1. RV X.135, the "hymn of the boy" (Kumāra), opens with Yama drinking with the gods beneath a leafy tree. Yama was the first mortal to die and find the way, and so became lord of the dead. Buddhist traditions took him over as king of hell, and in China and Japan he became Yanluo and Enma. source ↩
  2. In verse 1 the viśpati (lord of the house, the father) goes among the ancients; the verb venati means he longs for or yearns toward them, the same root as in the Vena hymn she translated as Women. Verse 2 has the speaker looking on with a mixture of envy and wish. Her "I miss him so" is the same longing. source ↩
  3. The original has a chariot, not a boat: the boy made a new, wheelless chariot "with the mind" (manasā) and sets it going. The vehicle is a mind-made one, as the soul is carried. Sāyaṇa's commentary links the hymn to Naciketas, the boy sent to Yama, the same story as the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. Boat and chariot both carry the dead across. source ↩
  4. Verses 5 and 6 are riddles: who begot the boy? who turned the chariot? who will tell us today? (kaḥ svit tad adya no bruyāt). The hymn does not answer. Her question is the same, said of her own death. source ↩
  5. In the Veda a man is born owing three debts: to the sages (by study), to the gods (by sacrifice) and to the ancestors (by offspring). The Taittirīya Saṃhitā VI.3.10 is the earliest source given. The father's release from debt is her image of rebirth. source ↩
  6. Verse 7: idaṃ yamasya sādanaṃ devamānaṃ, "this is Yama's seat, built by the gods." Yama's heaven is the highest of the three Vedic heavens, where the gods live. The verse ends the hymn. source ↩
  7. The second half of verse 7 says: "here a reed (nāḍī) is blown; here it is adorned with songs." The nāḍī is a pipe or flute, played at Yama's house. Her trumpets keep that detail of music at the entrance of death. source ↩