Hymns of the Atharva-Veda — SBE Vol. 42 (Clarendon Press, 1897) — second scan

Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.

1Pet. Lex., ' riickhalt ' (?). Perhaps ' support, or protection in guilt ' is nearer to the true sense. Perhaps, again, an emendation to adharmo, ' lawlessness/ would not lead too far afield. 654 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Stanza 49. Kaiw. 62, 18. 19. A cow and utensils for milking are placed to the north of the fire, the cow is milked during the recitation of a certain hymn, and the milk poured upon the porridge. Pada a is short by two syllables : supply karma, or the like ? Stanzas 50, 51. Kaus. 6a, 22. 23: 'With stanza 50 (and XI, 1, 28) gold is placed upon (the porridge); with stanza 51 a homespun garment accompanied by gold is put down in front of it.' These, of course, are additional gifts (piece de resistance). Stanza 50. Ordinary fire in wood, lightning in the (cloud-)waters, and the fire of the heavenly luminaries, are reflected in the gold, presented by him that cooks the porridge : in giving the gold he becomes luminous, illustrious. Cf. I, 9, % ; XI, i, 28. Stanza 51. Since all animals have skins, nay even the porridge has a self-made garment, it is fit that the Brahman should also have one. In Pada c kshatre^a seems to mean * covering,' and it may stand for £/£atre/za from £/zad, ' cover,' though kkdXra. ordinarily means ' umbrella.' Cf. the variants ahi- kshetra and ahikshatra for ahiMatra, ' mushroom,' i. e. ' serpent's umbrella/ Stanza 52. Kau^. 63, 1. 2 : * With this stanza they clothe themselves in the same garment. A second garment (which they put on) becomes a garment (that carries off) evil : that, accord- ing to some authorities, is given to a human being of the lowest character.' Cf. Kau^. 18, 1. 4, where a black gar- ment (krz'sh/za^ailam), symbolic of misfortune, is put on, and afterwards dropped into the water, in order that the mis- fortune may depart. Stanza 53. Cf. the note on XI, 1, 28. For Padas c, d, cf. stanzas 19 a, b. The point of the stanza is not altogether clear : it XII, 3* COMMENTARY. 655 seems as though the smoke rising from the porridge (the earth) symbolises a cloud, and thus procures rain. Stanza 54. At Kaiu. 63, 8 ' other chaff of grain (phalikara;/a in Sutra 7) is thrown (into the fire) while reciting this stanza.' Previously, in Sutras 6 and 7, similar substances (tusha and kambuka) have been thrown into the fire, and cast aside with the left foot; see the note on XI, 1, 29. The stanza is extremely obscure, and I have lost confidence in the interpretation of it advanced in Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 576.

2into the fire, and cast aside with the left foot; see the note on XI, 1, 29. The stanza is extremely obscure, and I have lost confidence in the interpretation of it advanced in Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 576. Its purpose seems to be, rather, to cause the fire to blaze up anew, perhaps, in order to drive away demons. As the sky can assume different colours, and, especially in the morning, can drive away its blackness for the brightness of the dawn (Pada c), so the fire may be enlivened unto redness by sacrificing (chaff) into it. RV. X, 3, 1 d is almost identical with our Pada c. The Paippalada, suit- ably to the metre, reads at many in Pada b, and nuantim in c ; for apa£*ait, see the passage in the Contributions, cited above. Stanza 55 ff. With the remaining stanzas the bestowal of the brah- maudana and the concomitant gifts takes place (Kau^. 6$, 2,2,). The series of formulas beginning here are closely related to the sarpahuti, AV. Ill, 27 ; Maitr. S. II, 13, 21 ; Tait. S. V, 5, 10, 1 ff. ; cf. Weber, Indische Studien, XVII, 295 ff. For the names of the serpents, see the notes on VI, 56 ; VII, 56, and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 94 ff. The expression ^"ara mr/tyave in the third line of the for- mula reminds us of the bahuvrihi ^aramrztyu, XIX, 24, 8 ; 26, 1 ; 30, 1. This suggests here a tatpurusha ^aramr/tyu, ' death from old age ; ' the passage would then mean, ' may he lead us to death from old age.' In stanza 59 the asso- ciation of Vishnu with the dhruva dis is remarkable : we should expect the urdhva. For the association of Indra (not Yama) with the southern direction, see Weber, 1. c, p. 296. 656 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. XII, 4. Commentary to page 174. The hymn is an elaborate plea of the Brahmans for one of the numerous sources of income which they managed to devise. Especially all sorts of ominous occurrences are set down as occasions for expiatory performances (praya^itti), at which the performing Brahman comes in for his dakshma (see the thirteenth book of the Kaorika), and every kind of irregularity in the birth of a domestic animal is amended by ceremonies in which the animal finally expiates its own existence by going over into the possession of the Brahman. See, for instance, AV. Ill, 28, and Kau^. 109-111. A cow which after a certain time (see st.

3in the birth of a domestic animal is amended by ceremonies in which the animal finally expiates its own existence by going over into the possession of the Brahman. See, for instance, AV. Ill, 28, and Kau^. 109-111. A cow which after a certain time (see st. l6) is discovered to be sterile (vara) is viewed in this light : she belongs to the Brahmans, and the present hymn recounts in picturesque language, accompanied by fierce threats, the urgency of pass- ing her on to the Brahmans whom nothing hurts. Similarly in Tait. S. II, t, 2, 2, a sterile sheep is said to be ' cattle for the gods' (i.e. in effect, for the Brahma/zas) ; cf. also Tait. Br. I, 2, 5, 2, and see in general Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 61 ff. In Kb.us. 44 and 45 the ceremonies for slaughtering a vara are described; it seems according to 45, 17 that they are wound up by giving the animal away. The present hymn is rubricated in Kaar. 66, 20 along with X, 10 ; nothing is stated except that she is bestowed upon the Brahmans, after having been solemnly sprinkled while the hymns are recited. Cf. in general Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 272, and the same scholar's translation of the hymn, ibid. 448 ff. The metre of this composition is regular anu- shAibh ; this, together with the style and contents, betrays the late character of the hymn. Stanza 1. The parenthetic expression, ' and they have noted her,' is admonitory : the Brahmans do not fail to know that a sterile cow exists ; they are sure to claim their own ! Ludwig suggests abhatsata or abhantsata for abhutsata, 4 and those who have bound her/ but there is no relative pronoun, and the sense resulting is strained. XII, 4- COMMENTARY. 657 Stanza 3. a For ku/a, cf. Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, 138. asya seems to refer to gava/£, understood from the context. b. ka7am ardati is difficult : ka/am is unquestionably a Prakritic form for kartam, AV. IV, 12, 7 (cf. similarly keva/e, RV. VI, 54, 7). For ardati one would expect some word for ' fall/ or ' push/ but the word means ' burst, go to pieces.' Perhaps ka/am is the subject, ' the deep ground bursts' (cf. RV. IV, 17, 2 ; AV. XIX, 9, 8, descriptive of earthquakes), but this does not quite do justice to ka7am. d. The Paippalada has for diyate the preferable reading ^iyate, ' his property is wrung (from him).' For the inter- change of the sound-groups di and gi (dy and gy)y see the writer in Amer. Journ. Phil. VII, 482. Stanza 4. a.

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.