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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1rather 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. VII, 15, 10 ; AV. VIII, 3, 26 ; Tait. Br. II, 4, 1, 6 ; agnir hi rakshasam apahanta, Sat. Br. XIV, 3, 1, 11. b. £ dadhat. Zimmer, I.e., 204, construes this as an augmentless imperfect. In the Sa//zhita the augmented form would not differ, adadhat. The sense is satisfactory either way. e. Saya/za comments upon tvaya instead of taya, as inst. 2. d. { The Sudra and the Arya/ i. e. every kind of person, as we should say in America ' black and white/ The phrase is formulaic, as may be seen from the compound ^udraryau (Mahidhara, judravaLsyau), Va£\ S. XIV, 30 ; Sat. Br. VIII, 4, 3, 12. See in general Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, II, 368; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 212; Zimmer, 1. c, 117 ff, 204, 216, 435. Stanza 5. a, b. rupaVn and atmanam are antithetical : rupam, ' the outer forms of things ;' a'tmanam, ' thy own nature.' It is IV, 20. COMMENTARY. 403 a controlling characteristic of Vedic conceptions that the inner, true nature of any divinity, or instrument of power, must be understood in order to control its influence or power : ya eva#z veda, and ya evdun vidvan in the Brah- ma^as are crystallisations of this idea ; cf. AV. I, 13, 3 ; VI, 46, 2; VII, 12, 2, &C c. sahasra^aksho, here, and XIX, 35, 3, as epithet of the plant ^-angk/a, is a vocative from a stem sahasra-^akshu. The beginnings of a stem £akshu, a pendant of ^akshus in the ablative £akshos, RV. X, 90, 13. Transition forms between the us- and u-declensions (as also between the is- and i-declensions) are not uncommon in the Veda ; see Lanman, in the Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. X, 568 ff. d. For the class of demons called kimidin, see AV. I, 7 ; I, 28; II, 24; VIII, 3, 25; 4, 2; 6, 21 ; XII, 1,50. Stanza 6. For yatudhana, -n!', and pisaka, see the hymns I, 7'and 8. Stanza 7. a. Ka^yapa is a name to conjure with in the Atharvan writings ; amulets and charms handled by him are peculiarly powerful (e.g. I, 14, 4 ; IV, 37, 1 ; VIII, 5, 14). He rises to the dignity of the supreme self-existing (svaya///-bhu) being in AV. XIX, 53, 10; cf. also Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1, and see the Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 b. He is also intimately related with forms of the sun, Surya and Savitar, as is stated expressly in Tait. Ar. I, 7, 1 ; see also Tait. Ar. I, 8, 6, and compare Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1 with AV. I, ^, 1 b.
2S. V, 6, 1, 1, and see the Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 b. He is also intimately related with forms of the sun, Surya and Savitar, as is stated expressly in Tait. Ar. I, 7, 1 ; see also Tait. Ar. I, 8, 6, and compare Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1 with AV. I, ^, 1 b. This fact may by itself account for the expression kaiyapasya £akshur asi. In fact ka^yapa is the sun as a tortoise, that creeps its slow course across the sky ; cf. the conceptions of the sun as a hermit, and a Brahman disciple, XI, 5, introduction. Only we must not forget that these writings neglect no opportunity of being guided in their construc- tions by puns, even of the most atrocious sort, and ka.syapa surely suggests pa^yaka, ' seer,' to the Atharvan mind, as is written distinctly in. Tait. Ar. I, 8, 8, kaiyapa/^ pa^yako D d 2 404 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. bhavati yat sarvaw paripa^yati. The name ka^yapa is in some special relation to the Atharvan writings, not as yet fully cleared up ; cf. the author in the Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XI, p. 377. b. The MSS. read £aturaksha^, but Saya/za fitly com- ments upon ^aturakshya^, the form as emended in Roth and Whitney's edition ; cf. akshos for akshyos in AV. V, 4, 10 (see the note). The ' four-eyed bitch' is Sarama. the mother of the two four-eyed dogs of Yama \ Syama and .Sabala, which I have explained as the sun and the moon ; see Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 163 ff. The epithet ' four- eyed ' seems possibly to be derived from the same view, namely the capacity of the two dogs to see both by day (the sun), and by night (the moon). The Paippalada as quoted by Grill2, p. 135, .makes the notable statement that 'the four-eyed dog (obviously the moon) overlooks by night the sphere of the night,' yatha jva ^aturaksho ratrlm naikta*tipa.syati. In practice the fiction of a four- eyed dog is materialised both by the Hindus and Iranians in the form of a dog with marks over the eyes ; see my article, I.e., p. 165, note 1, and Kaegi in the Philolo- gische Abhandlungen fur Heinrich Schweizer-Sidler, p. 64, note 57. c. vidhre, lit. ' in the clear sky ; ' Ludwig, ' im hellen ; ' Grill, 'heiteren tags.' suryam iva is to be read as three syllables, as frequently elsewhere, either suryeva or suryaw va. Stanza 8. c. tena may be either masculine, referring to the divinity in st. 4, or neuter, agreeing with brahma, ' charm.' IV, 22. Commentary to page 115. The hymn is employed twice in the so-called ra^akarmam, ' the royal practices,' Kaas\ 14-17. The first is characterised by the scholiasts, Ke^ava and Saya^a, as a battle-charm In RV.
3or neuter, agreeing with brahma, ' charm.' IV, 22. Commentary to page 115. The hymn is employed twice in the so-called ra^akarmam, ' the royal practices,' Kaas\ 14-17. The first is characterised by the scholiasts, Ke^ava and Saya^a, as a battle-charm In RV. I, 29, 3 the two messengers (dogs) of Yama are per- sonified as females. IV, 2 2. COMMENTARY. 405 (^ayakarma, sa/^grama^ayartham), and its rather colourless proceedings are as follows: 14, 24. 'While reciting IV, 22 and 23 he performs the ceremonies which culminate in the presentation (of the bow to the king).' These are described in Sutras 8-11 of the same chapter, to wit: 8. ' An oblation of ghee and grits is poured out. 9. Upon a fire made of bows a bow is laid on as a fagot 10. Like- wise an arrow (is laid oil) upon a fire made of arrows. 11. The bow (of the king), smeared with the dregs of the ghee, is presented to him/ The other performance, Kaus. 17, 28-9, is part of the consecration of a chief ruler (ekara^a, Kaiu. 14, 11 ; cf. ekavraha in our hymn, sts. 1, 5, 6, 7): The special solem- nities of the consecration have been absolved, but every morning the royalty of the king has to be renewed, to wit : 28. ' Every morning the hymn IV, 22 (or its first stanza?) is recited to the king (by the purohita, the house-priest). 29. They (the king and the purohita) then perform the above-mentioned pouring of water (each into a vessel), and the exchange (of the vessels).' This refers to Sutras 4 and 5 of the same chapter ; cf. the introduction to IV, 8, and Professor Weber's discussion of the passage in his treatise, Uber die Konigsweihe, p. 140 (Transactions of the Royal Prussian Academy, 1893). The hymn, further, is one of a cycle (ga^a) devoted to the gain of royal power (rash/ra- sa;^varga), grouped together in the indramahotsava, Ath. Pam. 19, 1 (cf. Kaiu. 140, 6, note). See also Ath. Parij\ 4, 1 and 16. The fanciful analysis of the hymn by the Anukrama/zi may be seen in Grill's introduction. The hymn appears again in Tait. Br. II, 4, 7, 7 ff. ; it has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 457; Zimmer, 165; Grill2, 67, 135 ff . ; cf. Hillebrandt's Veda- chrestomathie, p. 43. Stanza 1. The speaker is the purohita, the house-priest, or chaplain of the king ; he figures prominently in all the ra^akarma^i, Kaus. 14-17. b. Saya/za with one of Shankar Pandit's MSS. reads 406 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. vrzsham ekavmham, and glosses, se^anasamarthanaw virya- vatara purushaf/aw madhye imam ra^anam . . . mukhya- sektaram asahaya^uram . . . kuru; cf.
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.
1rather 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. VII, 15, 10 ; AV. VIII, 3, 26 ; Tait. Br. II, 4, 1, 6 ; agnir hi rakshasam apahanta, Sat. Br. XIV, 3, 1, 11. b. £ dadhat. Zimmer, I.e., 204, construes this as an augmentless imperfect. In the Sa//zhita the augmented form would not differ, adadhat. The sense is satisfactory either way. e. Saya/za comments upon tvaya instead of taya, as inst. 2. d. { The Sudra and the Arya/ i. e. every kind of person, as we should say in America ' black and white/ The phrase is formulaic, as may be seen from the compound ^udraryau (Mahidhara, judravaLsyau), Va£\ S. XIV, 30 ; Sat. Br. VIII, 4, 3, 12. See in general Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, II, 368; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 212; Zimmer, 1. c, 117 ff, 204, 216, 435. Stanza 5. a, b. rupaVn and atmanam are antithetical : rupam, ' the outer forms of things ;' a'tmanam, ' thy own nature.' It is IV, 20. COMMENTARY. 403 a controlling characteristic of Vedic conceptions that the inner, true nature of any divinity, or instrument of power, must be understood in order to control its influence or power : ya eva#z veda, and ya evdun vidvan in the Brah- ma^as are crystallisations of this idea ; cf. AV. I, 13, 3 ; VI, 46, 2; VII, 12, 2, &C c. sahasra^aksho, here, and XIX, 35, 3, as epithet of the plant ^-angk/a, is a vocative from a stem sahasra-^akshu. The beginnings of a stem £akshu, a pendant of ^akshus in the ablative £akshos, RV. X, 90, 13. Transition forms between the us- and u-declensions (as also between the is- and i-declensions) are not uncommon in the Veda ; see Lanman, in the Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. X, 568 ff. d. For the class of demons called kimidin, see AV. I, 7 ; I, 28; II, 24; VIII, 3, 25; 4, 2; 6, 21 ; XII, 1,50. Stanza 6. For yatudhana, -n!', and pisaka, see the hymns I, 7'and 8. Stanza 7. a. Ka^yapa is a name to conjure with in the Atharvan writings ; amulets and charms handled by him are peculiarly powerful (e.g. I, 14, 4 ; IV, 37, 1 ; VIII, 5, 14). He rises to the dignity of the supreme self-existing (svaya///-bhu) being in AV. XIX, 53, 10; cf. also Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1, and see the Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 b. He is also intimately related with forms of the sun, Surya and Savitar, as is stated expressly in Tait. Ar. I, 7, 1 ; see also Tait. Ar. I, 8, 6, and compare Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1 with AV. I, ^, 1 b.
2S. V, 6, 1, 1, and see the Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 b. He is also intimately related with forms of the sun, Surya and Savitar, as is stated expressly in Tait. Ar. I, 7, 1 ; see also Tait. Ar. I, 8, 6, and compare Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 1 with AV. I, ^, 1 b. This fact may by itself account for the expression kaiyapasya £akshur asi. In fact ka^yapa is the sun as a tortoise, that creeps its slow course across the sky ; cf. the conceptions of the sun as a hermit, and a Brahman disciple, XI, 5, introduction. Only we must not forget that these writings neglect no opportunity of being guided in their construc- tions by puns, even of the most atrocious sort, and ka.syapa surely suggests pa^yaka, ' seer,' to the Atharvan mind, as is written distinctly in. Tait. Ar. I, 8, 8, kaiyapa/^ pa^yako D d 2 404 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. bhavati yat sarvaw paripa^yati. The name ka^yapa is in some special relation to the Atharvan writings, not as yet fully cleared up ; cf. the author in the Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XI, p. 377. b. The MSS. read £aturaksha^, but Saya/za fitly com- ments upon ^aturakshya^, the form as emended in Roth and Whitney's edition ; cf. akshos for akshyos in AV. V, 4, 10 (see the note). The ' four-eyed bitch' is Sarama. the mother of the two four-eyed dogs of Yama \ Syama and .Sabala, which I have explained as the sun and the moon ; see Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 163 ff. The epithet ' four- eyed ' seems possibly to be derived from the same view, namely the capacity of the two dogs to see both by day (the sun), and by night (the moon). The Paippalada as quoted by Grill2, p. 135, .makes the notable statement that 'the four-eyed dog (obviously the moon) overlooks by night the sphere of the night,' yatha jva ^aturaksho ratrlm naikta*tipa.syati. In practice the fiction of a four- eyed dog is materialised both by the Hindus and Iranians in the form of a dog with marks over the eyes ; see my article, I.e., p. 165, note 1, and Kaegi in the Philolo- gische Abhandlungen fur Heinrich Schweizer-Sidler, p. 64, note 57. c. vidhre, lit. ' in the clear sky ; ' Ludwig, ' im hellen ; ' Grill, 'heiteren tags.' suryam iva is to be read as three syllables, as frequently elsewhere, either suryeva or suryaw va. Stanza 8. c. tena may be either masculine, referring to the divinity in st. 4, or neuter, agreeing with brahma, ' charm.' IV, 22. Commentary to page 115. The hymn is employed twice in the so-called ra^akarmam, ' the royal practices,' Kaas\ 14-17. The first is characterised by the scholiasts, Ke^ava and Saya^a, as a battle-charm In RV.
3or neuter, agreeing with brahma, ' charm.' IV, 22. Commentary to page 115. The hymn is employed twice in the so-called ra^akarmam, ' the royal practices,' Kaas\ 14-17. The first is characterised by the scholiasts, Ke^ava and Saya^a, as a battle-charm In RV. I, 29, 3 the two messengers (dogs) of Yama are per- sonified as females. IV, 2 2. COMMENTARY. 405 (^ayakarma, sa/^grama^ayartham), and its rather colourless proceedings are as follows: 14, 24. 'While reciting IV, 22 and 23 he performs the ceremonies which culminate in the presentation (of the bow to the king).' These are described in Sutras 8-11 of the same chapter, to wit: 8. ' An oblation of ghee and grits is poured out. 9. Upon a fire made of bows a bow is laid on as a fagot 10. Like- wise an arrow (is laid oil) upon a fire made of arrows. 11. The bow (of the king), smeared with the dregs of the ghee, is presented to him/ The other performance, Kaus. 17, 28-9, is part of the consecration of a chief ruler (ekara^a, Kaiu. 14, 11 ; cf. ekavraha in our hymn, sts. 1, 5, 6, 7): The special solem- nities of the consecration have been absolved, but every morning the royalty of the king has to be renewed, to wit : 28. ' Every morning the hymn IV, 22 (or its first stanza?) is recited to the king (by the purohita, the house-priest). 29. They (the king and the purohita) then perform the above-mentioned pouring of water (each into a vessel), and the exchange (of the vessels).' This refers to Sutras 4 and 5 of the same chapter ; cf. the introduction to IV, 8, and Professor Weber's discussion of the passage in his treatise, Uber die Konigsweihe, p. 140 (Transactions of the Royal Prussian Academy, 1893). The hymn, further, is one of a cycle (ga^a) devoted to the gain of royal power (rash/ra- sa;^varga), grouped together in the indramahotsava, Ath. Pam. 19, 1 (cf. Kaiu. 140, 6, note). See also Ath. Parij\ 4, 1 and 16. The fanciful analysis of the hymn by the Anukrama/zi may be seen in Grill's introduction. The hymn appears again in Tait. Br. II, 4, 7, 7 ff. ; it has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 457; Zimmer, 165; Grill2, 67, 135 ff . ; cf. Hillebrandt's Veda- chrestomathie, p. 43. Stanza 1. The speaker is the purohita, the house-priest, or chaplain of the king ; he figures prominently in all the ra^akarma^i, Kaus. 14-17. b. Saya/za with one of Shankar Pandit's MSS. reads 406 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. vrzsham ekavmham, and glosses, se^anasamarthanaw virya- vatara purushaf/aw madhye imam ra^anam . . . mukhya- sektaram asahaya^uram . . . kuru; cf.
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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