Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
19 flora. The Kaiuika, 28, 7, mentions the name of the plant as sadawpushpa ; this is glossed by Darila with trisa^- dhya and by Kcrava with sa/^dhya (probably a corruption of trisa^dhya). The Sutra reads: a pa.syati*ti sadaw- pushpama/zi//z badhnati, ' with AV. IV, 20 he ties on as an amulet the plant sada/^pushpa.' The plant is mentioned again along with others in a charm directed against witch- craft in 39, 6, and Saya/za defines it in agreement with Kaujika, he devi sada;^pushpakhye oshadhe ; cf. also sadapushpt in the lexicons. The plant seems to be the calotropis gigantea ; cf. iTaraka-sawhita I, 4, 3. For amulets derived from the vegetable kingdom see Seven Hymns of the Atharva-veda, Amer. Journ. Phil. VII, 478, and for amulets in general Kaay. 7, 19. The hymn is rubricated further in the list of stanzas designated as £ata- nani (sc. suktani), 'hymns to chase away with/ in Kaus. 8, 25, and the Ga/*amala, Ath. Parii". 32, 4, adds it also to the three hymns which Kaar. 8, 24 describes as the matr/- namani (sc. suktani). The reason for this classification is the expression devy (oshadhe) in stanzas 1 and 2. See the note at Kaus. 8, 24, and cf. for the matrzga/za our remarks in the introduction to VI, 111. The Anukramam follows these secondary considerations, designating the hymn as matrznamadaivatam, its author being Matrznamarshi. The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rig- veda, III, 525, and Grill2, pp. 2, 133 ; cf. also Hillebrandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 48. Stanza 1. For the description of the plant in this stanza, cf. ma;^- pa^ya in VII, 38, 1, and see the introduction to VI, 139. I have upheld in my translation the text of the edition, guaranteed as it is by the unanimous tradition of the MSS. of the wSaunakiya-i-akha. All corrections, including the important variant pa^yasi for paiyati throughout the stanza in the Paippalada, seem to me in this instance to amount to the substitution of a better literary performance for a poorer one ; they do not bring with them the proof that 400 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. the priests of our school ever had any other text, or, what is more to the point, that the original versifex had com- posed differently. The merit of the Paippalada's pa^yasi is so obvious that it may be due to a conscious improve- ment on the part of its author. The metre of the stanza is irregular (Anukramam, svara^) ; the first Pada is hyper- catalectic, the third Pada may be sustained by reading, with elision and crasis, divantariksham for divam anta- riksham.
2ue to a conscious improve- ment on the part of its author. The metre of the stanza is irregular (Anukramam, svara^) ; the first Pada is hyper- catalectic, the third Pada may be sustained by reading, with elision and crasis, divantariksham for divam anta- riksham. Hillebrandt's suggestion, accepted by Grill, that ad be thrown out seems to me unnecessarily violent. a. Hillebrandt would restore the Pada : pisyati prati pajyati ; Grill (with the help of the Paippalada), a paiyasi pra pajyasi, continuing with pa^yasi throughout. Saya/za retains the third person, referring the stanza to the person who wears the amulet : he devi sada^pushpakhye oshadhe tvadvikarama^idharako^yaM ^anas tvatprasadad apa^yati agamibhayakara/za/^ pratihartu^^anati, 'O goddess plant, sada/^pushpa by name, this person here, who wears an amulet fabricated out of thee, by thy favour perceives the cause of approaching danger, and knows how to repel it.5 The emendation of prati to pra (Grill) is especially unde- sirable, as the same expression occurs in a closely parallel situation, AV. VII, 13, %. b. Grill suspects the second pa^yati, and imagines oshadhe in its place. d. The temptation to emend the vocative devi to the nominative devi' is great. The sense then would be that the amulet itself sees all dangers. Grill, as we have seen above, adopts the Paippalada reading paiyasi, is thus enabled to retain devi, and also obtains essentially the same sense. Stanza 2. a. Read przthvi'^. The three heavens are well known ; see, e.g. AV. V, 4, 3 5 VI, 95, 1 5 XVIII, 2, 48 ; XIX, 39, 6 (cf. the note on V, 4, 3). For the three earths see RV. I, 108, 9 ; II, 27, 8 ; III, 56, 2 ; AV. VI, 31, 1, and Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, p. 305, note ; Zimmer, Altin- disches Leben, p. 357 ; Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, I, IV, 20. COMMENTARY. 4OI 239. Cf. also Yasna XI, 7 : madheme thrishve ainhao zemo, ' in the middle third of this earth/ Stanza 3. a, b. divyasya supanzasya . . . kanihika is rendered by Ludwig, 'dises himlischen adlers kleine tochter ;' by Grill, ' der Augenstern des Adlers, der am Himmel ist.' Saya^a glosses supanza by garutmant, which suggests RV. I, 164, 46. Grill follows the Pet. Lex. [s.v. 2 a), a)] in regarding the divine eagle as the sun. But perhaps the lightning-fire is in the mind of the poet. At Y&g. S. XVII, 72 ; XVIII, 51 ; Sat. Br. IX, 2, 3, 34; 4, 4, 3, the divinity addressed, supanzo*si garutman, is treated distinctly as Agni, and Mahidhara states this plainly. In Maitr. S. I, 2, 5 ; Vdg. S. IV, 32; Tait. S.
3is in the mind of the poet. At Y&g. S. XVII, 72 ; XVIII, 51 ; Sat. Br. IX, 2, 3, 34; 4, 4, 3, the divinity addressed, supanzo*si garutman, is treated distinctly as Agni, and Mahidhara states this plainly. In Maitr. S. I, 2, 5 ; Vdg. S. IV, 32; Tait. S. VI, i, 7, 3, 'the eye-ball (kanmika, kanihaka) of Agni's eye' is spoken of. The expression divya supar/za may be the exact equivalent of divik .yyena, and that, I believe I have proved, is Agni, the lightning, personified as a divine eagle; see Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XVI, 1 ff. The descent of this eagle, or the Gayatri, as the Brahma/zas have it, is frequently disturbed by a heavenly archer Krwanu who wounds the eagle, so that he loses a feather which falls to the earth, and grows up as a plant or tree. See Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks, p. 148 (first edition). The use of the word supar/za in our edition is, in my opinion, intended to convey a double entente, ' bird ' and ' having beautiful leaves.' Cf. Tait. S. VI, i, 1, 5, where Vr/tra's eye-ball (kamnikS,) flies away after he had been slain by Indra, and turns into salve (a%*anam). Ludwig does not comment upon his transla- tion of kanmika by 'kleine tochter,' rather than 'eye-ball ;' it may possibly turn out correct when RV. X, 40, 9 yields up its meaning. We have there as follows : ^anish/a yoshi patayat kaninako vi £a*ruhan viriidha^, a passage which suggests the situation in our stanza completely and yet vaguely. But it is interpreting obscurum per obscurius [42] D d 402 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. to bring the RV. stanza into play. Cf. also our note at V, 5, 8- c. Saya//a, ^agadrakshartham oshadhiriipe/za bhumav avatir/za*si. Stanza 4. a 'The thousand-eyed god.' In X, 3, 3 an amulet derived from the vara^a-tree is designated as sahasraksha ; in XI, 2, 3. 7. 17 ; Sat. Br. IX, 1, 1, 6 Rudra is so called ; in IV, 28, 3 Bhava-Sarva; in IV, 16, 4 Varu^a's spies; in RV. I, 23, 3 Indra and Vayu ; in Tait. S. II, 3, 14, 4 Indra. Further, we have the 'thousand-eyed papman, evil/ in AV. VI, 26, .3; .rapatha, 'curse,' in VI, 37, 1. Grill fancies that the god of the plant here in question is meant, but this seems faint after the plant herself has been personified as a goddess, devy oshadhe, in st. 2. Perhaps rather Agni, said to be 'thousand-eyed' with especial frequency, is meant; see RV. I, 79, 12; Va£\ S. XVII, 71 (XIII, 47) ; Sat. Br. VII, 5, 2, 32 ; IX, 2, 3, 32 ; Apast. Sr. VI, 25, 10. Agni particularly chases away evil spirits, agm raksha^si sedhatl RV.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
19 flora. The Kaiuika, 28, 7, mentions the name of the plant as sadawpushpa ; this is glossed by Darila with trisa^- dhya and by Kcrava with sa/^dhya (probably a corruption of trisa^dhya). The Sutra reads: a pa.syati*ti sadaw- pushpama/zi//z badhnati, ' with AV. IV, 20 he ties on as an amulet the plant sada/^pushpa.' The plant is mentioned again along with others in a charm directed against witch- craft in 39, 6, and Saya/za defines it in agreement with Kaujika, he devi sada;^pushpakhye oshadhe ; cf. also sadapushpt in the lexicons. The plant seems to be the calotropis gigantea ; cf. iTaraka-sawhita I, 4, 3. For amulets derived from the vegetable kingdom see Seven Hymns of the Atharva-veda, Amer. Journ. Phil. VII, 478, and for amulets in general Kaay. 7, 19. The hymn is rubricated further in the list of stanzas designated as £ata- nani (sc. suktani), 'hymns to chase away with/ in Kaus. 8, 25, and the Ga/*amala, Ath. Parii". 32, 4, adds it also to the three hymns which Kaar. 8, 24 describes as the matr/- namani (sc. suktani). The reason for this classification is the expression devy (oshadhe) in stanzas 1 and 2. See the note at Kaus. 8, 24, and cf. for the matrzga/za our remarks in the introduction to VI, 111. The Anukramam follows these secondary considerations, designating the hymn as matrznamadaivatam, its author being Matrznamarshi. The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rig- veda, III, 525, and Grill2, pp. 2, 133 ; cf. also Hillebrandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 48. Stanza 1. For the description of the plant in this stanza, cf. ma;^- pa^ya in VII, 38, 1, and see the introduction to VI, 139. I have upheld in my translation the text of the edition, guaranteed as it is by the unanimous tradition of the MSS. of the wSaunakiya-i-akha. All corrections, including the important variant pa^yasi for paiyati throughout the stanza in the Paippalada, seem to me in this instance to amount to the substitution of a better literary performance for a poorer one ; they do not bring with them the proof that 400 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. the priests of our school ever had any other text, or, what is more to the point, that the original versifex had com- posed differently. The merit of the Paippalada's pa^yasi is so obvious that it may be due to a conscious improve- ment on the part of its author. The metre of the stanza is irregular (Anukramam, svara^) ; the first Pada is hyper- catalectic, the third Pada may be sustained by reading, with elision and crasis, divantariksham for divam anta- riksham.
2ue to a conscious improve- ment on the part of its author. The metre of the stanza is irregular (Anukramam, svara^) ; the first Pada is hyper- catalectic, the third Pada may be sustained by reading, with elision and crasis, divantariksham for divam anta- riksham. Hillebrandt's suggestion, accepted by Grill, that ad be thrown out seems to me unnecessarily violent. a. Hillebrandt would restore the Pada : pisyati prati pajyati ; Grill (with the help of the Paippalada), a paiyasi pra pajyasi, continuing with pa^yasi throughout. Saya/za retains the third person, referring the stanza to the person who wears the amulet : he devi sada^pushpakhye oshadhe tvadvikarama^idharako^yaM ^anas tvatprasadad apa^yati agamibhayakara/za/^ pratihartu^^anati, 'O goddess plant, sada/^pushpa by name, this person here, who wears an amulet fabricated out of thee, by thy favour perceives the cause of approaching danger, and knows how to repel it.5 The emendation of prati to pra (Grill) is especially unde- sirable, as the same expression occurs in a closely parallel situation, AV. VII, 13, %. b. Grill suspects the second pa^yati, and imagines oshadhe in its place. d. The temptation to emend the vocative devi to the nominative devi' is great. The sense then would be that the amulet itself sees all dangers. Grill, as we have seen above, adopts the Paippalada reading paiyasi, is thus enabled to retain devi, and also obtains essentially the same sense. Stanza 2. a. Read przthvi'^. The three heavens are well known ; see, e.g. AV. V, 4, 3 5 VI, 95, 1 5 XVIII, 2, 48 ; XIX, 39, 6 (cf. the note on V, 4, 3). For the three earths see RV. I, 108, 9 ; II, 27, 8 ; III, 56, 2 ; AV. VI, 31, 1, and Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, p. 305, note ; Zimmer, Altin- disches Leben, p. 357 ; Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, I, IV, 20. COMMENTARY. 4OI 239. Cf. also Yasna XI, 7 : madheme thrishve ainhao zemo, ' in the middle third of this earth/ Stanza 3. a, b. divyasya supanzasya . . . kanihika is rendered by Ludwig, 'dises himlischen adlers kleine tochter ;' by Grill, ' der Augenstern des Adlers, der am Himmel ist.' Saya^a glosses supanza by garutmant, which suggests RV. I, 164, 46. Grill follows the Pet. Lex. [s.v. 2 a), a)] in regarding the divine eagle as the sun. But perhaps the lightning-fire is in the mind of the poet. At Y&g. S. XVII, 72 ; XVIII, 51 ; Sat. Br. IX, 2, 3, 34; 4, 4, 3, the divinity addressed, supanzo*si garutman, is treated distinctly as Agni, and Mahidhara states this plainly. In Maitr. S. I, 2, 5 ; Vdg. S. IV, 32; Tait. S.
3is in the mind of the poet. At Y&g. S. XVII, 72 ; XVIII, 51 ; Sat. Br. IX, 2, 3, 34; 4, 4, 3, the divinity addressed, supanzo*si garutman, is treated distinctly as Agni, and Mahidhara states this plainly. In Maitr. S. I, 2, 5 ; Vdg. S. IV, 32; Tait. S. VI, i, 7, 3, 'the eye-ball (kanmika, kanihaka) of Agni's eye' is spoken of. The expression divya supar/za may be the exact equivalent of divik .yyena, and that, I believe I have proved, is Agni, the lightning, personified as a divine eagle; see Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XVI, 1 ff. The descent of this eagle, or the Gayatri, as the Brahma/zas have it, is frequently disturbed by a heavenly archer Krwanu who wounds the eagle, so that he loses a feather which falls to the earth, and grows up as a plant or tree. See Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks, p. 148 (first edition). The use of the word supar/za in our edition is, in my opinion, intended to convey a double entente, ' bird ' and ' having beautiful leaves.' Cf. Tait. S. VI, i, 1, 5, where Vr/tra's eye-ball (kamnikS,) flies away after he had been slain by Indra, and turns into salve (a%*anam). Ludwig does not comment upon his transla- tion of kanmika by 'kleine tochter,' rather than 'eye-ball ;' it may possibly turn out correct when RV. X, 40, 9 yields up its meaning. We have there as follows : ^anish/a yoshi patayat kaninako vi £a*ruhan viriidha^, a passage which suggests the situation in our stanza completely and yet vaguely. But it is interpreting obscurum per obscurius [42] D d 402 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. to bring the RV. stanza into play. Cf. also our note at V, 5, 8- c. Saya//a, ^agadrakshartham oshadhiriipe/za bhumav avatir/za*si. Stanza 4. a 'The thousand-eyed god.' In X, 3, 3 an amulet derived from the vara^a-tree is designated as sahasraksha ; in XI, 2, 3. 7. 17 ; Sat. Br. IX, 1, 1, 6 Rudra is so called ; in IV, 28, 3 Bhava-Sarva; in IV, 16, 4 Varu^a's spies; in RV. I, 23, 3 Indra and Vayu ; in Tait. S. II, 3, 14, 4 Indra. Further, we have the 'thousand-eyed papman, evil/ in AV. VI, 26, .3; .rapatha, 'curse,' in VI, 37, 1. Grill fancies that the god of the plant here in question is meant, but this seems faint after the plant herself has been personified as a goddess, devy oshadhe, in st. 2. Perhaps rather Agni, said to be 'thousand-eyed' with especial frequency, is meant; see RV. I, 79, 12; Va£\ S. XVII, 71 (XIII, 47) ; Sat. Br. VII, 5, 2, 32 ; IX, 2, 3, 32 ; Apast. Sr. VI, 25, 10. Agni particularly chases away evil spirits, agm raksha^si sedhatl RV.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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