Rig Veda 7.36.3: Mandala 7, Sukta 36, Mantra 3
Sukta 7.36
आ वातस्य ध्रजतो रन्त इत्या अपीपयन्त धेनवो न सूदाः । महो दिवः सदने जायमानोऽचिक्रदद्वृषभः सस्मिन्नूधन् ॥
ā́ vā́tasya dhrajáto rante ityā́ḥ apī́payanta dhenávo ná sū́dāḥ | mahó diváḥ sádane jā́yamāno 'cíkṛdad vṛṣabháḥ sasmínn ū́dhan ||
Ke arah panji Angin yang mengalir mereka bergerak dengan gembira; kuasa-kuasa pemberi mengembang seperti lembu perah, sarat dengan getah kehidupan. Lahir di singgahsana agung Langit, Sang Banteng berseru dalam ambing itu—memerah keluar kelimpahan santapan bercahaya.
Recitation in Soma-related praise sequences; imagery supports 'pressing forth' (sū) and abundance motifs.
Bṛhat/Mahas (the Vast), Manifestation/birth (jāyamāna), Plenitude through right flow (inner abundance)
Right order expresses as right movement of life-force; misalignment causes turbulence, alignment yields abundance.
The ‘great seat of heaven’ implies a truth-plane origin for the descending force.
Birth (jāyamānaḥ) of higher force into manifestation; nourishment as a creative outflow.
Psychological Veda: wind and cattle imagery encode prāṇic regulation and release of knowledge-nourishment.
Wind = breath/life-current; banner = directional prāṇic stream; cows/milk = nourishing energies/insights; bull = powerful descent-force; udder = inner source of plenitude.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- The ‘cows swelling with milk’ and the ‘bull crying in the udder’ mythic complex: the hidden abundance of light/force is made to increase and resound when the powers move with the Wind’s impetus. It is a micro-myth of manifestation: the Vast seat of Heaven gives birth to a force (vṛṣabha) that releases nourishment (ūdhan).
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- pada is absent here, but div (heaven, bright sky) continues an Indo-European sky/luminosity lexicon (cf. PIE *dyeu- 'sky, shine' seen in dyáuṣ). The productive imagery of √sū (bring forth/press) aligns with Indo-European ritual-poetic notions of generating plenty through formula and rite.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The seer witnesses and voices the inner process: when the divine currents are set in motion, the giving powers increase their yield. The r̥ṣi’s utterance functions as a cognitive ‘midwifery’—naming the birth in the seat of Heaven so that the flow becomes available to the human vessel.
Feel the breath as a ‘streaming banner’; let inhalation rise to the ‘heaven-seat’ (space above the head), exhalation pour as nourishment into the body; invoke the ‘bull-force’ as steady strength.
Maṇipūra (vṛṣabha strength) with Sahasrāra/Ājñā descent imagery (maho divaḥ)
Ujjāyī or smooth sūrya-bhedana (right-nostril) for a few minutes to build a directed current; then quiet sitting to receive fullness.
Flowing prāṇa with a descending, strengthening calm.
If restless, first regulate breath; then chant once; afterwards, sense a ‘milk of peace/strength’ filling the chest and belly; act only after this fullness stabilizes.
Triṣṭubh flow: let the first pāda ‘stream’ with slight acceleration; emphasize udatta on vātasya/dhrajataḥ and vṛṣabhaḥ; allow a resonant fall on ūdhan.
Make ‘ā vātasya…’ airy and moving; deepen tone on ‘maho divaḥ sadane’; strong, brief emphasis on ‘vṛṣabhaḥ’; end with a nourishing, rounded tone on ‘ūdhan’.
vātasya: long ā., dhrajataḥ: cluster dhr- clear; avoid ‘draj-’., apīpayanta: keep long ī; articulate pī-pa-yan-ta., vṛṣabhaḥ: retroflex ṣ; light final ḥ., ūdhan: long ū; dental dh, not retroflex.
Airy at start, then increasingly resonant and full.
3
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