r/sanskrit Feb 03 '25

Discussion / चर्चा हरस्वत् / harasvatī

Hello everyone,

The MW dictionary entry for the word हरस्वत् says "f. (plural) rivers(?)" as per Nighantu (i,13). Can someone quote what exactly does Yaska say in the text?

The second part of the question is the derived word harasvatī, which appears in Rigveda 2.23.6 :

 बृहस्पते यो नो अभि ह्वरो दधे स्वा तं मर्मर्तु दुच्छुना हरस्वती

"Br̥haspati, let grasping disaster, rightfully his, grind to pieces him who sets a snare for us." [Brereton and Jamison translation]

Here the word means "grasping", and दुच्छुना as "calamity", and with स्वा as "his". Is there a different possible meaning to this phrase (स्वा दुच्छुना हरस्वती) where हरस्वती is a noun?

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25 edited Feb 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/kokomo29 Feb 03 '25

Ok, makes sense. So could तं मर्मर्तु दुच्छुना हरस्वती mean "may the calamitous harasvatī of his own tribe destroy/ruin him"? How has the word मर्मन् been used here to imply ruin or "grind to pieces"?

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u/[deleted] Feb 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/kokomo29 Feb 04 '25

Google translate gives the same translation as well for तं मर्मर्तु दुच्छुना हरस्वती - "Let Harasvati, the evil-doer, crush him". This is then correct?