Rig Veda 1.117.6: Mandala 1, Sukta 117, Mantra 6
Sukta 1.117
तद्वां नरा शंस्यं पज्रियेण कक्षीवता नासत्या परिज्मन् । शफादश्वस्य वाजिनो जनाय शतं कुम्भाँ असिञ्चतं मधूनाम् ॥
tád vām narā́ śáṃsyaṃ pajriyéṇa kakṣī́vatā nāsatyā párijman | śaphā́d aśvásya vājíno jánāya śatáṃ kumbhā́m̐ asiñcataṃ mádhūnām ||
कक्षिवत नाम का रिशि अश्विन भाइयों की तारीफ करता है। वो कहता है कि अश्विन भाई ने एक ताकतवर घोड़े की खुर से लोगों के लिए सौ मटके मीठा रस दिया। यह रस खुशी और ताकत दोनों देता है। अश्विन भाइयों का यह काम सबको बताना चाहिए।
Praise of gift/overflow (madhu) aligns with soma symbolism; supports petitions for abundance of delight and force in ritual and inner practice.
vāja as plenitude of force, ananda-like sweetness (madhu) as realized delight
The madhu flows when action (aśva/śapha) conforms to ṛta—right movement in the embodied field.
Nāsatyā implies fidelity to truth in operation: true help that does not distort the seeker’s path.
Delight (madhu) as a sustaining substance of manifestation, made accessible in the human vessel (kumbha).
Proto-Vedāntic/Aurobindonian reading: Soma as ānanda; Aśvins as powers of effective transformation.
dawn-transition (Aśvin hour, implicit)
Vital force disciplined in the physical becomes a conduit for bliss; the body-mind becomes the vessel that can ‘hold’ and distribute delight.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- A miracle of overflow: honey pours from a horse’s hoof. Innerly, when divine force (vājín aśva) touches the embodied plane (hoof-contact), it releases abundant sweetness (madhu)—delight and sustaining energy—into the vessels of the human system.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- madhu is a classic PIE inheritance (*medʰu-), widely attested across IE. The semantic pairing of ‘sweet drink’ and ‘delight’ is also pan-IE. The ‘force/prize’ field of vāja is Indo-Iranian in expression but matches IE poetic ideology where victory, food, and strength interpenetrate.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi explicitly becomes witness and herald: his proclamation (śaṃsyam) is the return-gift that makes the divine deed present again. In exchange, the Aśvins’ abundance is implied to be available for ‘jana’—for the human collectivity and for the seeker.
Let delight (madhu) descend into the body through right action: feel sweetness at the ‘contact point’ with daily life.
svādhiṣṭhāna (rasa/flow) and maṇipūra (dynamic will/action)
Gentle nāḍī-śodhana for 7 rounds, then natural breath while feeling ‘sweetness’ spreading through limbs.
Active poise: calm efficiency with a subtle joy-current behind action.
Before work, invoke the Aśvin quality: ‘swift help + right method’. Offer one habitual action to be done in ṛta; notice how delight increases when movement becomes conscious.
Use Vedic tri-svara (udātta/anudātta/svarita) as per Śākala tradition; key udāttas typically fall on accented syllables marked in the Saṃhitā (e.g.,,, ).
Keep udātta clear and slightly raised; svarita as a gentle fall from udātta; avoid flattening the cadence in triṣṭubh pādas.
: long ā, clear ty cluster, : aspirate śa-phāt, final -t crisp, : nasalization on -ān; retain bh aspiration, : siñ with palatal nasal ñ; ‘c’ as ‘ch’ unaspirated in Vedic recitation
Bright, proclaiming, steady; let the final pāda open into a sense of overflow.
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