The boundary between what has just been and what is is an evanescent one, and is sometimes overstepped, so that an aorist appears where a present might stand, or was even rather to be expected. Thus: svāsasthe bhavatam indave na iti somo vāi rāje ’nduḥ somāyāi ’vāi ’ne etad rājña āsade ‘cīkḷpat (AB. i. 29. 7) "be ye comfortable seats for our Indu", he says; Indu is king Soma; by this means he has made them (instead of makes them) suitable for king Soma to sit upon; vāruṇī́r ā́po yád adbhír abhiṣiñcáti váruṇam evāí ’nam akar (MS. iv. 3. 10) the waters are Varuna's; in that he bepours him with waters, he has made him Varuna; pañcábhir vyā́ghārayati pā́n̄kto yajñó yā́vān evá yajñás tám ā́labdhā́ ’tho yā́vān evá yajñás tásmād rákṣāṅsy ápahanti (MS. iii. 2. 6) he smears with five; fivefold is the offering; as great as is the offering, of it he has [thereby] taken hold; then, as great as is the offering, from it he smites away the demons. This idiom is met with in all the Brāhmaṇas; but it is especially frequent in the MS. |
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