Rig Veda 8.3.13: Mandala 8, Sukta 3, Mantra 13
Sukta 8.3
- Rishi
- Kāṇva tradition
- Devata
- Indra
- Chandas
- Trishtubh
- Rasa
- Shanta (peace) and Vira (heroism)
कन्नव्यो अतसीनां तुरो गृणीत मर्त्यः । नही न्वस्य महिमानमिन्द्रियं स्वर्गृणन्त आनशुः ॥
kán navyó atasī́nāṃ turó gṛṇīta mártyaḥ | nahī́ nv asya mahimā́nam indriyáṃ svàr gṛṇánta ānaśúḥ ||
अब इन शब्दों के बीच कौनसा नया इंसान आके तेज़ी से गाना गाएगा? सच बताओ, कोई भी इंद्र जैसा बड़ा नहीं बन पाया। लोग रोशनी की तरफ गाना गाते रहते हैं, पर इंद्र की ताकत तक कोई नहीं पहुंचा।
Word by Word
- कन्नव्यः
- the singer/poet named KannavyaAdjectiveपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole Kartā (विशेषण-रूपेण कर्तृपदस्य)Root कन्नव्य (प्रातिपदिक; विशेषण)
- अतसीनाम्
- of the flax(-plants); of AtasīNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, बहुवचनRole Sambandha (सम्बन्ध-षष्ठी)Root अतसी (प्रातिपदिक)
- तुरः
- swift, impetuousAdjectiveपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole Kartā (विशेषण-रूपेण कर्तृपदस्य)Root तुर (प्रातिपदिक; विशेषण)
- गृणीत
- let him praise / may he singVerbलोट् (आज्ञार्थ), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRole Kriyā (मुख्यक्रिया)Root गृ (धातु; ‘स्तु/गाय’)
- मर्त्यः
- a mortalNounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot मर्त्य (प्रातिपदिक)
- न
- notIndeclinableनिषेधRoot न
- हि
- indeed, forIndeclinableनिपात (हेतौ/बलार्थे)Root हि
- नु
- now, indeedIndeclinableनिपात (सम्प्रत्यर्थ/अन्वयार्थ)Root नु
- अस्य
- of him (of Indra)Pronounपुं/नपुं, षष्ठी, एकवचनRole Sambandha (सम्बन्ध-षष्ठी)Root इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- महिमानम्
- greatness, majestyNounपुंलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole Karma (ज्ञाने/वचने—‘नहि … (जानन्ति/वदन्ति)’ इत्यर्थे)Root महिमन् (प्रातिपदिक)
- इन्द्रियम्
- Indra’s power, mightNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole Karma (महिमानम् इत्यस्य विशेष्य/समन्वयः)Root इन्द्रिय (प्रातिपदिक; ‘इन्द्र-सम्बन्धि बलम्’)
- स्वः
- to heaven; heavenIndeclinableअव्यय (उपपद-रूपेण)Role Adhikaraṇa (लक्ष्य-स्थान/गति-भावः)Root स्वः (अव्यय/नाम; ‘द्यौः/स्वर्गः’)
- गृणन्तः
- praising, singingParticipleवर्तमान-कर्तरि कृदन्त, परस्मैपद-धात्वर्थ, पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole KartāRoot गृ (धातु) → गृणत् (वर्तमान कृदन्त)
- आनशुः
- have attained, reachedVerbलिट् (परोक्श/परफेक्ट), परस्मैपद, तृतीयपुरुष, बहुवचनRole KriyāRoot अश् (धातु; ‘प्राप्/अश्नुते’)
Sandhi Notes
- पदच्छेदः (सम्भाव्य): कन्नव्यः | अतसीनाम् | तुरः | गृणीत | मर्त्यः | न | हि | नु | अस्य | महिमानम् | इन्द्रियम् | स्वः | गृणन्तः | आनशुः । मुख्य सन्धयः: (1) न॒ही = न + हि (स्वर-समास/निपात-संयोग; दीर्घीभाव-प्रयोगः पदपाठे न, संहितायाम् ‘नही’)
- (2) न्वस्य = नु + अस्य (उकारस्य वकारादेशः: नु + अस्य → न्वस्य)
- (3) स्वर्गृणन्तः = स्वः + गृणन्तः (विसर्गस्य रुत्व/लोपः तथा संहितायां संयोगः)
The meaning
Outer meaning
A rhetorical question: which new mortal among these word-weavers will quickly sing? For none have reached Indra’s greatness and power, even while chanting toward the Light (svar).
Inner meaning
The mantra humbles the egoic poet-mind: among all who ‘weave’ speech (atasīnām), who can swiftly utter the true mantra that matches Indra’s vastness? The point is not despair but purification—mere aspiration toward light is insufficient unless speech becomes inspired (dhī-driven) and aligned with Indra’s own power (indriya). It critiques superficial chanting and calls for a deeper opening where the illumined Mind itself speaks through the human instrument.
Universal truth
No mental formulation can contain the Infinite; yet sincere recognition of this limitation becomes the doorway for inspiration to descend. True praise is participation, not description.
Themes
unsurpassed-Indra, poetic-weaving, limits-of-mortal-speech, aspiration-to-svar
The seer
- Rishi
- Kāṇva (probable)
- Lineage
- Kaṇva
- Other hymns
- RV 8.2, RV 8.3.14-16 (contextual), RV 1.62 (Kaṇva)
Family tradition
Kaṇva hymns often examine the efficacy of praise itself—how stoma becomes a force that can call down Indra.
Significance
The seer’s humility is a discipline: it clears the channel so that mantra arises from dhī rather than from vanity or mere craft.
The deity
- Devata
- Indra
- Epithets
- Mahimā (the Greatness—here as attribute), Indriya (the Indra-force), Svar-gāmī (implicit: connected to svar)
- Related deities
- Sarasvatī (speech inspiration), Bṛhaspati (lord of mantra), Agni (will that carries offering)
Cosmic role
Measureless greatness that no mortal speech can ‘attain’; the divine power that exceeds and yet can inspire human expression.
Inner power
The supramentalizing intelligence that can seize speech and make it revelatory; the force that turns chanting ‘toward light’ into actual illumination.
In ritual
Where it is used
Indra-stotra within Soma praise sequences (general)
कन्नव्यो॑ अत॒सीनां॑ तु॒रो गृ॑णीत॒ मर्त्य॑: । न॒ही न्व॑स्य महि॒मान॑मिन्द्रि॒यं स्व॑र्गृ॒णन्त॑ आन॒शुः ॥
कत् । नव्यः॑ । अ॒त॒सीना॑म् । तु॒रः । गृ॒णी॒त॒ । मर्त्यः॑ । न॒ह् । नु । अ॒स्य॒ । म॒हि॒मान॑म् । इ॒न्द्रि॒यम् । स्वः॑ । गृ॒णन्तः॑ । आ॒न॒शुः ॥
kat | navyaḥ | atasīnām | turaḥ | gṛṇīta | martyaḥ | nah | nu | asya | mahimānam | indriyam | svaḥ | gṛṇantaḥ | ānaśuḥ
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4×~11; rhetorical questioning fits triṣṭubh’s argumentative-heroic gait.
Quick, incisive, interrogative; pushes the listener from complacent praise to authentic aspiration.
Creates a sobering clarity; encourages inward silence so that truer speech may arise.
- अतसीनाम् (atasīnām)
- Literal: of the weavers (possibly ‘spinners/weavers’ of speech). Symbolic: makers of mantra; human minds fabricating words—sometimes skillful, often merely mental
- नव्यः (navyaḥ)
- Literal: new, fresh. Symbolic: a renewed, living utterance—not traditional repetition but present revelation
- तुरः (turaḥ)
- Literal: swift, impetuous. Symbolic: the needed intensity and immediacy of inspired expression
- इन्द्रियम् (indriyam)
- Literal: Indra-power, might, lordly force. Symbolic: the luminous capacity of the divine Mind to effect transformation
- स्वः (svaḥ/svar)
- Literal: heaven, light-plane. Symbolic: illumined consciousness; the goal toward which chants are directed
Recitation within Indra-stotra sequences: emphasizing Indra’s unsurpassed might to intensify faith and aspiration.
When emphasizing Indra’s incomparable might; also suitable as a prelude to mantra recitation to cultivate humility.
Recitation as praise and self-correction of the chanter’s intention.
Before chanting/teaching: a reminder that technique is not realization; invites sincerity and receptivity.
atasī- literally ‘flax/linen’; RV usage can carry craft-metaphor: hymn as woven fabric (rooted in Indo-European poetics of ‘weaving song’). √gṛ ‘to sing’ (cf. ‘gir’/‘giraḥ’). ānaśuḥ < √aś ‘to reach’ (PIE *h₂eḱ- ‘sharp, reach’ is debated; in Indo-Iranian √aś is common ‘attain’). indriya ‘belonging to Indra’ becomes ‘power’—here explicitly ‘Indra’s distinctive might’.
inaccessibility of the divine magnitude to ordinary mind, need for renewed speech (navya) and swift force (tura) in aspiration
Right speech is speech in ṛta; without ṛta-alignment, praise remains unattaining.
Truth is not reached by quantity of chants but by qualitative truth-force in speech.
Vāk as a creative power that must be seized by the divine to become world-making in consciousness.
Integral/Vedāntic psychology of mantra: speech becomes effective when illumined mind acts through it.
Weaving = mental construction; svar = clarified plane of consciousness; the mantra calls for moving from constructed speech to revealed speech.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- Not a narrative exploit but a meta-mythologem of ‘Indra’s immeasurable power’: the god exceeds all formulations. The verse dramatizes the perennial Vedic tension—speech seeks the Infinite, yet the god’s mahimān remains beyond complete attainment.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- The ‘weaving’ metaphor for song is widely Indo-European (song as crafted textile). The interrogative opening (kat…?) is a typical archaic poetic device to introduce a renewed act of praise (navya).
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi acknowledges the insufficiency of mortal expression, thereby purifying the relation: praise becomes aspiration rather than description. Indra is approached as a living force whose indriya must be entered, not merely spoken about.
Practice ‘reverent not-knowing’: offer your speech and concepts to Indra; wait for a clearer intuition to form.
viśuddha (throat)
Exhale-lengthening (inhale 4, exhale 8) to quiet verbal mind; chant softly on exhale.
From mental verbosity to inspired stillness; receptive hearing of inner guidance.
Chant once, then sit in silence. Notice where praise becomes performance; release it. Invite a single ‘navya’ (fresh) perception to arise before continuing.
Follow Vedic udātta/anudātta/svarita from a svara-pāṭha; rhetorical ‘kat’ should be crisp and lifted where udātta applies.
Keep interrogatives ‘kat’ clear; do not over-emphasize ‘indriyam’—let it ring as a weighty noun.
kat: final ‘t’ dental, unvoiced, navyaḥ: ‘vy’ conjunct clean; visarga light, gṛṇīta: retroflex ṇ; long ī, ānaśuḥ: long ā; ś as palatal, not s
inquisitive, restrained, reverent; end with a soft settling tone.
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