Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1see nothing in this but an unusually- clever emendation, which, however, leaves in tam an awkward remnant. Stanza 4. For the conception of the flight of disease to and from the body, cf. RV. X, 97, 13 ; AV. VI, 83, 1. 2, and Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 322-3. In the second hemistich we have emended akshitasya to akshatasya on the strength of the Sutra and its commentators (e.g. Kaiu. 31, 11). Saya^a, on the other hand, reads sukshitasya for sukshatasya (akshitasya /£irakalavasthanarahitasya . . . sukshitasya ^irakalam avasthi- tasya). There can be no doubt that the indication of the Sutra is to be preferred. Stanza 5. The ^ayanya is here personified as an evil being, the knowledge of whose nature or origin (perhaps with reference to the story in Tait. S. II, 3, 5, 2) confers exemption from his attacks. See the note on I, 2, 1. Note the fourfold alliteration in the first hemistich : it cannot be reproduced in translation. C. For the ritual application of st. 6 ( = RV. VI, 47, 6), see Vait. Su. 16, 14. In Pada c, a vrzshasva with double entente,. ' manifest thy lusty strength ; ' cf. the common formula, atra pitaro madayadhva;/z yathabhagam avrzsha- yadhvam (Kaiuika, Index C), with the same double meaning starting from the opposite point of view. VII, 83. Commentary to page 12. At Kaui". 32, 14-15 a hut is built at a point of land between two rivers that flow into one another 1, and in it the dropsical patient is washed by means of bunches of grass, and then rinsed off. For the meaning of the practice see the introduction to I, 10. At Kau^. 127, 4 the hymn is 1 Cf. Kauy. 18, 22. VII, 83. COMMENTARY. 563 recited, more secondarily, while an offering is made from an animal devoted to Varu/za (cf. Su. 2) : the offering is part of a performance for obviating the evil consequences of the obscuration of the constellation, ' the seven i^zshis' (ursus major), by a comet. Cf. also Vait. Su. 10, 22; Naksha- trakalpa 14 ; Ath. Park 13, 3. The hymn is a mixtum compositum ; st. 2 seems to belong originally to a different sphere (see the note), and its bearing here is not at all clear. The hymn has been rendered by Henry, Le livre VII de l'Atharva-veda, pp. 35, 104. Stanza 2. See V&g. S. VI, 22 ; Katy. Sr. VI, 10, 5 ; Tait. S. I, 3, 11,1; Tait. Br. II, 6, 6, 2 ; Maitr. S. Ill, 11, 10 ; Asv. Sr. Ill, 6, 24; 5ankh. Sr. VIII, 12, 11. The vulgate's emendation of dhamno-dhamno to damno-damno, as suit- able as it is to the sense, is not supported by any of the parallel passages. Mahidhara at Vag\ S.
2Br. II, 6, 6, 2 ; Maitr. S. Ill, 11, 10 ; Asv. Sr. Ill, 6, 24; 5ankh. Sr. VIII, 12, 11. The vulgate's emendation of dhamno-dhamno to damno-damno, as suit- able as it is to the sense, is not supported by any of the parallel passages. Mahidhara at Vag\ S. VI, 22 has much the same thing in mind, when he says, yasmad-yasmat tvadiyapa^asamanvitat sthanat1. All the parallel texts read ^apamahe for u/£ima, and in some iti is wanting after aghnya. Pada c seems to contain the expression of an oath, or curse, which is regarded as sinful. According as iti after aghnya is read or omitted, it contains two oaths, or one oath. The passage savours of the notion that it is impious to take in vain the holy name of Varu/za, or his waters. Saya/za, he apa/z he aghnya/^ iti he varu/za iti yad u/£ima yak ^/zapavakyam avoHma, yak £/zapavakyava£anena papam ar^itaz/z tasiMd api mu/z£e*ti sa^zbandha^ . . . ato deva- tanamadheyakirtanarupai-apathakara^a^-anitapapad asman mo£aya. Cf. also the glosses to V&g*. S. and Tait. Br. Stanza 3. The stanza is repeated at RV.'I, 24, 5 ; AV. XVIII, 4, 69 ; Maitr. S. I, 2, 18, &c. (see the index to the Maitr. S.). Cf. also Vait. Su. 28, 17 ; Ath. Pam. 17, 2. 1 Saya/za here, sarvasmad rogasthanat. 0 0 2 564 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Stanza 4. b. varu;za represents an awkward attempt to vary the diction : it might be designated as a rhetorical uha or vikara. The true completion of the expression requires madhyama. VII, 115. Commentary to page 168. The symbolic rites which attach themselves to this hymn are described in Kaui\ 18, 16—1 8, to wit: 16. 'Having fastened a hook to the left leg of a raven, and a rice-cake to the hook (the performing priest), while reciting AV. VII, 115, i, lets (the crow go) so that he does not return1. 17. Having put on a blue garment, having covered that with a red one2, having wound about a white cloth (as a turban), while reciting the second stanza of the hymn, he sets down the turban by means of a hook, and with his left hand casts it, together with the hook, into the water. 18. While reciting the third stanza of the hymn (he throws) the covering 3 (red) garment (into the water) ; while reciting the fourth stanza the (under, blue) garment.' Cf. also 5antikalpa 4 ; Ath. Pam. 33, 3. The hymn, which is related to I, 18, has been translated 1 This part of the performance executes in practice the state- ment in RV. X, 95, 14 where Pururavas threatens to fly away with- out returning, throwing himself into the lap of Nirrni, the goddess of misfortune; cf.
3ch is related to I, 18, has been translated 1 This part of the performance executes in practice the state- ment in RV. X, 95, 14 where Pururavas threatens to fly away with- out returning, throwing himself into the lap of Nirrni, the goddess of misfortune; cf. nirrztyabhimukho in Ke^ava's comment, and anavrz'tam iti prapatanavwesha/zam in Darila's, with the diction of the RV. stanza. The black bird is fit to shoulder the evil (attractio similium), as in AV. I, 22, 1. 4; Kauy. 26, 18. 2 For the colours blue and red, cf. the introduction to VII, 116; the notes on IV, 17, 4 ; VIII, 8, 24; and Kau^. 32, 17; 40, 4; 48, 40. Cf. also nilalohita in the Pet. Lex., and Winternitz, Das Altindische Hochzeitsrituell, pp. 6, 12, 23, 67. 8 I now propose to read trztiyaya^annam, i. e. trz'iiyaya a^an- nam, instead of trz'tiyaya ^annam, in deference to aX'Mdya in Su. 1 7. Even then the translation ' covering garment' for a^annam is pro- blematic, and based upon our interpretation of Ke^ava's comment. It means naturally ' the covered (blue garment)/ VII, Il6. COMMENTARY. 565 by Muir. Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 348 ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 499 (cf. also 338); Grill2, pp. 4T, 187 ff. ; Henry, Le livre VII de PAtharva-veda, pp. 45, 124. The Anukrama/zi, savitra;// ^atavedasam. Stanza 2. a. patayalur is air. Aey. Ludwig, i die zum fall bringende (Lakshmi) ; ' but note the short a in the first syllable : patayami in the RV. is the causative of pat, not patayami, which is a simple present. Stanza 3. Rubricated at Ath. Paris. 7. a. The number 101 is regularly inauspicious, occurring in connection with diseases, varieties of death, &c. ; cf. AV. Ill, 9, 6 ; V, 1 8, 1 2 ; VIII, 3, 27 ; XI, 6, 16 ; XIX, 46, 5. VII, 116. Commentary to page 4. The chief interest of this charm against takman is its reference to the ancient Hindu custom of quenching fire — here its representative the fever — by a frog. I have else- where assembled from the Vedic writings a considerable number of passages which become intelligible in the light of this custom ; see my article entitled, * On a Vedic group of charms for extinguishing fire by means of water-plants and a frog,' Contributions, Second Series, Amer.Journ. Phil. XI, 342 (24 of the reprint) ff.1 The role of the frog here is distinctly the same, and is especially significant for the identification of fire and fever which is indeed superficially obvious in all the hymns and practices connected with the takman.
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.
1see nothing in this but an unusually- clever emendation, which, however, leaves in tam an awkward remnant. Stanza 4. For the conception of the flight of disease to and from the body, cf. RV. X, 97, 13 ; AV. VI, 83, 1. 2, and Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 322-3. In the second hemistich we have emended akshitasya to akshatasya on the strength of the Sutra and its commentators (e.g. Kaiu. 31, 11). Saya^a, on the other hand, reads sukshitasya for sukshatasya (akshitasya /£irakalavasthanarahitasya . . . sukshitasya ^irakalam avasthi- tasya). There can be no doubt that the indication of the Sutra is to be preferred. Stanza 5. The ^ayanya is here personified as an evil being, the knowledge of whose nature or origin (perhaps with reference to the story in Tait. S. II, 3, 5, 2) confers exemption from his attacks. See the note on I, 2, 1. Note the fourfold alliteration in the first hemistich : it cannot be reproduced in translation. C. For the ritual application of st. 6 ( = RV. VI, 47, 6), see Vait. Su. 16, 14. In Pada c, a vrzshasva with double entente,. ' manifest thy lusty strength ; ' cf. the common formula, atra pitaro madayadhva;/z yathabhagam avrzsha- yadhvam (Kaiuika, Index C), with the same double meaning starting from the opposite point of view. VII, 83. Commentary to page 12. At Kaui". 32, 14-15 a hut is built at a point of land between two rivers that flow into one another 1, and in it the dropsical patient is washed by means of bunches of grass, and then rinsed off. For the meaning of the practice see the introduction to I, 10. At Kau^. 127, 4 the hymn is 1 Cf. Kauy. 18, 22. VII, 83. COMMENTARY. 563 recited, more secondarily, while an offering is made from an animal devoted to Varu/za (cf. Su. 2) : the offering is part of a performance for obviating the evil consequences of the obscuration of the constellation, ' the seven i^zshis' (ursus major), by a comet. Cf. also Vait. Su. 10, 22; Naksha- trakalpa 14 ; Ath. Park 13, 3. The hymn is a mixtum compositum ; st. 2 seems to belong originally to a different sphere (see the note), and its bearing here is not at all clear. The hymn has been rendered by Henry, Le livre VII de l'Atharva-veda, pp. 35, 104. Stanza 2. See V&g. S. VI, 22 ; Katy. Sr. VI, 10, 5 ; Tait. S. I, 3, 11,1; Tait. Br. II, 6, 6, 2 ; Maitr. S. Ill, 11, 10 ; Asv. Sr. Ill, 6, 24; 5ankh. Sr. VIII, 12, 11. The vulgate's emendation of dhamno-dhamno to damno-damno, as suit- able as it is to the sense, is not supported by any of the parallel passages. Mahidhara at Vag\ S.
2Br. II, 6, 6, 2 ; Maitr. S. Ill, 11, 10 ; Asv. Sr. Ill, 6, 24; 5ankh. Sr. VIII, 12, 11. The vulgate's emendation of dhamno-dhamno to damno-damno, as suit- able as it is to the sense, is not supported by any of the parallel passages. Mahidhara at Vag\ S. VI, 22 has much the same thing in mind, when he says, yasmad-yasmat tvadiyapa^asamanvitat sthanat1. All the parallel texts read ^apamahe for u/£ima, and in some iti is wanting after aghnya. Pada c seems to contain the expression of an oath, or curse, which is regarded as sinful. According as iti after aghnya is read or omitted, it contains two oaths, or one oath. The passage savours of the notion that it is impious to take in vain the holy name of Varu/za, or his waters. Saya/za, he apa/z he aghnya/^ iti he varu/za iti yad u/£ima yak ^/zapavakyam avoHma, yak £/zapavakyava£anena papam ar^itaz/z tasiMd api mu/z£e*ti sa^zbandha^ . . . ato deva- tanamadheyakirtanarupai-apathakara^a^-anitapapad asman mo£aya. Cf. also the glosses to V&g*. S. and Tait. Br. Stanza 3. The stanza is repeated at RV.'I, 24, 5 ; AV. XVIII, 4, 69 ; Maitr. S. I, 2, 18, &c. (see the index to the Maitr. S.). Cf. also Vait. Su. 28, 17 ; Ath. Pam. 17, 2. 1 Saya/za here, sarvasmad rogasthanat. 0 0 2 564 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Stanza 4. b. varu;za represents an awkward attempt to vary the diction : it might be designated as a rhetorical uha or vikara. The true completion of the expression requires madhyama. VII, 115. Commentary to page 168. The symbolic rites which attach themselves to this hymn are described in Kaui\ 18, 16—1 8, to wit: 16. 'Having fastened a hook to the left leg of a raven, and a rice-cake to the hook (the performing priest), while reciting AV. VII, 115, i, lets (the crow go) so that he does not return1. 17. Having put on a blue garment, having covered that with a red one2, having wound about a white cloth (as a turban), while reciting the second stanza of the hymn, he sets down the turban by means of a hook, and with his left hand casts it, together with the hook, into the water. 18. While reciting the third stanza of the hymn (he throws) the covering 3 (red) garment (into the water) ; while reciting the fourth stanza the (under, blue) garment.' Cf. also 5antikalpa 4 ; Ath. Pam. 33, 3. The hymn, which is related to I, 18, has been translated 1 This part of the performance executes in practice the state- ment in RV. X, 95, 14 where Pururavas threatens to fly away with- out returning, throwing himself into the lap of Nirrni, the goddess of misfortune; cf.
3ch is related to I, 18, has been translated 1 This part of the performance executes in practice the state- ment in RV. X, 95, 14 where Pururavas threatens to fly away with- out returning, throwing himself into the lap of Nirrni, the goddess of misfortune; cf. nirrztyabhimukho in Ke^ava's comment, and anavrz'tam iti prapatanavwesha/zam in Darila's, with the diction of the RV. stanza. The black bird is fit to shoulder the evil (attractio similium), as in AV. I, 22, 1. 4; Kauy. 26, 18. 2 For the colours blue and red, cf. the introduction to VII, 116; the notes on IV, 17, 4 ; VIII, 8, 24; and Kau^. 32, 17; 40, 4; 48, 40. Cf. also nilalohita in the Pet. Lex., and Winternitz, Das Altindische Hochzeitsrituell, pp. 6, 12, 23, 67. 8 I now propose to read trztiyaya^annam, i. e. trz'iiyaya a^an- nam, instead of trz'tiyaya ^annam, in deference to aX'Mdya in Su. 1 7. Even then the translation ' covering garment' for a^annam is pro- blematic, and based upon our interpretation of Ke^ava's comment. It means naturally ' the covered (blue garment)/ VII, Il6. COMMENTARY. 565 by Muir. Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 348 ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 499 (cf. also 338); Grill2, pp. 4T, 187 ff. ; Henry, Le livre VII de PAtharva-veda, pp. 45, 124. The Anukrama/zi, savitra;// ^atavedasam. Stanza 2. a. patayalur is air. Aey. Ludwig, i die zum fall bringende (Lakshmi) ; ' but note the short a in the first syllable : patayami in the RV. is the causative of pat, not patayami, which is a simple present. Stanza 3. Rubricated at Ath. Paris. 7. a. The number 101 is regularly inauspicious, occurring in connection with diseases, varieties of death, &c. ; cf. AV. Ill, 9, 6 ; V, 1 8, 1 2 ; VIII, 3, 27 ; XI, 6, 16 ; XIX, 46, 5. VII, 116. Commentary to page 4. The chief interest of this charm against takman is its reference to the ancient Hindu custom of quenching fire — here its representative the fever — by a frog. I have else- where assembled from the Vedic writings a considerable number of passages which become intelligible in the light of this custom ; see my article entitled, * On a Vedic group of charms for extinguishing fire by means of water-plants and a frog,' Contributions, Second Series, Amer.Journ. Phil. XI, 342 (24 of the reprint) ff.1 The role of the frog here is distinctly the same, and is especially significant for the identification of fire and fever which is indeed superficially obvious in all the hymns and practices connected with the takman.
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.
No commentary for this page.