Rig Veda 10.28.4: Mandala 10, Sukta 28, Mantra 4
Sukta 10.28
- Rasa
- Raudra (fury) and Bhayankara
इदं सु मे जरितरा चिकिद्धि प्रतीपं शापं नद्यो वहन्ति । लोपाशः सिंहं प्रत्यञ्चमत्साः क्रोष्टा वराहं निरतक्त कक्षात् ॥
idáṃ sú me jaritarā́ cikiddhi pratī́paṃ śā́paṃ nádyò vahanti | lopāśáḥ síṃhaṃ pratyañcám atsā́ri kroṣṭā́ varāháṃ nír atakta kákṣāt ||
Dies erkenne von mir, o Sänger: Die Flüsse tragen den Fluch zurück auf den, der verflucht. Schakale treiben den Löwen rückwärts; die Hyäne hat den Eber aus dem Dickicht herausgezerrt — so kommen Umkehrungen, wenn die Ordnung gegen die Wahrheit gewendet wird.
Word by Word
- इदम्
- this (thing/speech)Pronounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- सु
- well; indeedIndeclinableअव्ययRoot सु (निपात)
- मे
- to/for me; of mePronounषष्ठी/चतुर्थी, एकवचन (enclitic)Role SampradānaRoot अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- जरितर
- O singer/praiserNoun (agent)पुंलिङ्ग, सम्बोधन, एकवचनRole SambodhanaRoot जरितृ (प्रातिपदिक; √गॄ/गिर् ‘to sing, praise’ से)
- चिकिद्धि
- perceive/understand!Verbलोट् (आज्ञार्थ), मध्यमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपदRoot √चिद्/चित् (Vedic: ‘to notice, perceive, understand’)
- प्रतीपम्
- turned back; adverseAdjectiveनपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन (शापम् इति विशेषणम्)Role KarmaRoot प्रतीप (प्रातिपदिक)
- शापम्
- curseNounपुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot शाप (प्रातिपदिक)
- नद्यः
- riversNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole KartāRoot नदी (प्रातिपदिक)
- वहन्ति
- carry; bear alongVerbलट्, प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचन; परस्मैपदRoot √वह् (to carry, convey)
- लोपाशः
- the lopāśa-s (a kind of animal/creature; name of a group)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole KartāRoot लोपाश (प्रातिपदिक; जन/प्राणी-नाम)
- सिंहम्
- lionNounपुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot सिंह (प्रातिपदिक)
- प्रत्यञ्चम्
- turned toward/back; facing (one)Adjectiveपुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन (सिंहम् इति विशेषणम्)Role KarmaRoot प्रत्यञ्च् (प्रातिपदिक; ‘turned toward/back’)
- अत्साः
- the atsá-s (a kind of creature; group-name)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole KartāRoot अत्स (प्रातिपदिक; जन/प्राणी-नाम)
- क्रोष्टा
- the howler (jackal)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot क्रोष्टृ (प्रातिपदिक; ‘howler’, from √क्रुश्/क्रोश्)
- वराहम्
- boarNounपुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot वराह (प्रातिपदिक)
- निरतक्त
- drove out; expelledVerbलुङ् (aorist), प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपदRoot √तञ्च्/तङ्क् (Vedic: ‘to drive out, thrust, expel’; with निस्-)
- कक्षात्
- from the thicket/brushwood; from the enclosureNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, पञ्चमी, एकवचनRole ApādānaRoot कक्षा (प्रातिपदिक)
Sandhi Notes
- Sandhi resolution (padapāṭha-style): इदम् | सु | मे | जरितर | चिकिद्धि | प्रतीपम् | शापम् | नद्यः | वहन्ति || लोपाशः | सिंहम् | प्रत्यञ्चम् | अत्साः || क्रोष्टा | वराहम् | निरतक्त | कक्षात् । Notable: jaritarā → jaritar (voc. sg.)
- nir-atakt(a) is taken as aorist 3sg with nis- prefix
- compounds/adjectives: प्रतीपम् (adj.) qualifying शापम्
- प्रत्यञ्चम् (adj.) qualifying सिंहम्
The meaning
Outer meaning
The singer asks others to understand: rivers carry back the curse against the curser; jackals drive back the lion; a hyena drags the boar from the thicket—reversals occur.
Inner meaning
This is a law of consciousness: hostile intention (śāpa) rebounds when it runs contrary to ṛta. ‘Rivers’ are the streams of life-force and events; when one sends distortion into the flow, the flow returns it. The images of the weak overcoming the strong (jackals vs lion; hyena vs boar) depict the reversal that occurs when a power is turned away from truth—false strength collapses, and even lesser forces can undo it. Psychologically, when the ego’s aggression violates inner truth, subconscious and circumstantial currents turn back upon it, exposing it and pulling it out of its ‘thicket’ (kakṣa: tangled hiding-places of the vital).
Universal truth
Actions and intentions opposed to truth and right order recoil upon their source; what is hidden in the thickets of the psyche is eventually dragged into the open by the very movement it set in motion.
Themes
Reversal motif, Curse returns, Symbolic animals as inner forces
The seer
- Other hymns
- Rig Veda 10.28.1-7
Significance
A didactic ‘law of return’ verse: the seer teaches ethical-psychological ṛta—how forces in consciousness self-correct by reversal when truth is violated.
The deity
- Devata
- Rita/Satya principle (implicit), with Indraic moral force in the background
- Epithets
- ṛta-dhṛt (upholder of order) (implicit)
- Related deities
- Varuṇa (guardian of ṛta), Mitra, Indra (as restorer of right order)
Cosmic role
Self-correcting order of the world-process; ensures recoil of false formations.
Inner power
Conscience of truth in the being; karmic-like rebound within the flow of prāṇa and events.
In ritual
Where it is used
Didactic/gnomic verse; could be used as admonition within recitation, not a fixed Śrauta slot from given data.
इ॒दं सु मे॑ जरित॒रा चि॑किद्धि प्रती॒पं शापं॑ न॒द्यो॑ वहन्ति । लो॒पा॒शः सिं॒हं प्र॒त्यञ्च॑मत्साः क्रो॒ष्टा व॑रा॒हं निर॑तक्त॒ कक्षा॑त् ॥
इ॒दम् । सु । मे॒ । ज॒रि॒तः॒ । आ । चि॒कि॒द्धि॒ । प्र॒ति॒ऽई॒पम् । शाप॑म् । न॒द्यः॑ । व॒ह॒न्ति॒ । लो॒पा॒शः । सिं॒हम् । प्र॒त्यञ्च॑म् । अ॒त्सा॒रिति॑ । क्रो॒ष्टा । व॒रा॒हम् । निः । अ॒त॒क्त॒ । कक्षा॑त् ॥
idam | su | me | jaritaḥ | ā | cikiddhi | prati-īpam | śāpam | nadyaḥ | vahanti | lopāśaḥ | siṃham | pratyañcam | atsāriti | kroṣṭā | varāham | niḥ | atakta | kakṣāt
44
4 x ~11 syllables (approx.)
Gnomic, instructive cadence with sharp image-turns.
Creates alertness and moral clarity; a sobering sense of inevitable recoil of falsehood.
- शाप (śāpa)
- Literal: curse. Symbolic: hostile will, distortion, negative formation in consciousness
- नद्यः (nadyaḥ)
- Literal: rivers. Symbolic: currents of life-energy/time/events; flow of becoming
- प्रतीपम् (pratīpam)
- Literal: backward/against the stream. Symbolic: reversal by ṛta; recoil effect
- लोपाशः (lopāśaḥ)
- Literal: jackals. Symbolic: small disruptive forces; lower impulses that can unsettle false ‘lion’ strength
- सिंह (siṃha)
- Literal: lion. Symbolic: dominant ego-force/pride when misaligned with truth
- क्रोष्टा (kroṣṭā)
- Literal: hyena. Symbolic: subconscient scavenging force that exposes what is hidden
- वराह (varāha)
- Literal: boar. Symbolic: stubborn vital desire/rooted instinct
- कक्षा (kakṣā)
- Literal: thicket. Symbolic: tangled subconscious cover; concealment zones of the vital
Didactic/gnomic verse; could be used as admonition within recitation, not a fixed Śrauta slot from given data.
As a warning/teaching within the hymn; could be recited in contexts seeking protection against hostile intent.
Use as a contemplation on ‘return-to-sender’ dynamics: release resentment, align with truth, and let the currents cleanse distortions.
√vah ‘carry’ (PIE *weǵʰ-) marks the inevitability of karmic/ṛta recoil: the ‘curse’ returns. Animal imagery functions as typology of forces: siṃha (dominant), lopāśa/kroṣṭā (lesser, chaotic), varāha (depth-rooting). pratīpa ‘against the current’ indicates reversal of intended harm.
Rita as recoil of falsehood/curse, Speech-force (śāpa) and ethical causality
Explicit: the flow (nadyaḥ) carries back what is against the right stream.
Truth is protective; falsehood is self-defeating.
Not creation but regulation: maintenance of cosmic-psychic order through reversal of the untrue.
Vedic ethics as psychological law (Aurobindo: ṛta as law of right movement in consciousness).
Rivers = life-flow; predators/prey = power relations in the psyche; thicket = subconscious concealment; reversal = restorative action of ṛta.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- The ‘reversal’ law: harmful speech and inverted intent rebound; even lesser forces can turn back the proud lion, and the boar is pulled from concealment. Inner sense: when one violates ṛta, the currents of life return the distortion upon the doer.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- √vah ‘carry’ from PIE *weǵʰ- (cf. Latin vehō). pratīpa ‘against’ shows Indo-European preverbial spatial metaphors extended to ethical-psychological domains.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi speaks as teacher of ṛta rather than petitioner: the devatā is implicit as the Order that enforces recoil. The relationship is alignment—speech and will must harmonize with the cosmic current.
Witness the ‘river of becoming’: observe any hostile or resentful formation; let it dissolve by returning to truth-intention.
anāhata (ethical truth/inner law)
Long exhale practice (inhale 4, exhale 8) to release reactive curses/hostility.
Clear, vigilant, self-correcting awareness.
After chanting, journal one ‘against-the-stream’ habit; choose one truthful corrective action for the day.
Notated svara unavailable; chant with deliberate pauses after vivid images (nadyo vahanti | lopāśaḥ siṃham | kroṣṭā varāham).
Keep consonant clusters crisp: pratīpam, lopāśaḥ, pratyañcam, nir-atakta; emphasize image-words.
pratīpam: long ī, lopāśaḥ: long ā, visarga audible, pratyañcam: palatal ñc cluster clean, nir atakta: separate nir | atakta (don’t merge)
Sober, declarative, slightly stern; clear diction.
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