Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1' chose, and it seems altogether likely that the two independent legends should blend here in the mind of the poet, and that he should have in mind when speaking of the descent of his golden heavenly ship upon the Himalaya the very spot where Manu descended. Nevertheless it may be fairly questioned whether navaprabhra/zz.s'ana here is a proper name, and does not mean simply, ' where the (heavenly) ship descended.' The character of the word as a compound is not at all secure. The majority of the MSS. of the Sa;/zhita read navaprabhra/^sanam with two accents, and one of Shankar Pandit's MSS. has nava/£ prabhra/z^anam. The MSS. of 680 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. the Padapa/^a are divided between na ava*prabhra^sanam and na ava pra*bhra;;wanam. At any rate the ship which brings down the kush//*a (Soma, the moon ?), and Manu's ship, may have nothing to do with one another except their mutual suggestion. Pada a seems to have stood ori- ginally, yatra n&v&k prabhra;/^anam. See Weber in Kuhn and Schleicher's Beitrage zur vergleichenden Sprachfor- schung, IV, 388 ; Grohmann, Indische Studien, IX, 423 ; Zimmer, 1. c, p. 30 ; Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii, p. 218, note. Stanza 9. a. We have not translated the text of the vulgate, yim tva. veda purva ikshvakor, a by no means certain restora- tion, since the MSS. of the Sawhita have ikshvako (ishvako), and those of the Padapa//za ikshvaka/z (fshvaka/^). Saya/za comments upon the nominative, puratana ikshvaku ra^a, and that presupposes a more natural reading, ya//z tva veda pfirva ikshvakur, the one adopted for our version. Although this handles the text more severely, I could not get myself to feel certain that purva ikshvako/^ could mean 'the ancestor of Ikshvaku/ as useful as this result is for the current inter- pretation of the preceding stanza 1. b. The text is doubtful, the MSS. read kush//£a kamya^ (kamya/z). Accordingly Saya^a takes kush^a as vocative and translates kamya/^ as a patronymic, ' the son of Kama/ I could not follow him, but the treatment of the words in the vulgate as a compound, kush///akamya/z, ' women fond of kush^a,' is also doubtful. Perhaps the use of the plants in unguents (AV. VI, 102, 3) is in the mind of the poet. Professor Whitney in the Index Verborum assumes a nomi- native singular masculine kush^akamyas. Ludwig, * der den kusht/ia. liebt (besser, der sohn derer, die den kush///a liebt).' e. The text as translated is, yim vayaso yam matsyas.
2is in the mind of the poet. Professor Whitney in the Index Verborum assumes a nomi- native singular masculine kush^akamyas. Ludwig, * der den kusht/ia. liebt (besser, der sohn derer, die den kush///a liebt).' e. The text as translated is, yim vayaso yam matsyas. 1 Ludwig in the same sense suggests putra ikshvakor, ' the son of Ikshvaku/ But why should this lectio facillima have been completely lost ? XIX, 53- COMMENTARY. 68 T The MSS. have ykm va vaso (or vaso) yam atsyas. S&ya/za, moreover, comments upon yamasya^, as follows : yamasya asyam iva asya^ yasya sa tadr/>o (vasa^) etannama devo veda. Matsya is the name of a royal sacrificer in Sat. Br. XIII, 5, 4, 9, and of a Rtshi skilled in special practices in Tait. Br. I, 5, 2, 1 ; and Vayasa, though not quotable as a proper name, might yet be such a one. But vayasa ordi- narily means * large bird,' and matsya suggests matsya, ' fish.' I see nothing good to be done with this suggestion. The translation of the Pada is altogether problematic. Stanza 10. a. The vulgate emends .rirshaloka/^ to ^irshaj-oka^, ' that burns the head ' (inadvertently omitted in the text). To be convinced, we need but watch Saya/za's contortions, when once he is misguided by the traditional text. He refers sirshalok&m to the kush//£a-plant instead of the tak- man : ' your head (O kushMa) is in the third heaven.' But every epithet in Padas a, b refers to the takman, as may be seen by comparing V, 22, 13 ; see the note to the passage. b. For sada^di, see the note on V, 22, 13 b. h&yana either sums up the varieties of the takman which are described in V, 22, 13 as ^arada, graishma, and varshika, and would then have to be translated c occurring through the year ; ' or it means simply ' yearly,' i. e. occurring (at a given time) every year ; ' cf. vuva^arada at IX, 8, 6 ; XIX, 34, 10. Involuntarily one thinks, too, of Zend zayana, ' winter' (Yasna 64, 20, Yasht 13, 8), and asks whether Vedic hayana does not primarily mean * winter ' and ' wintery ; ' afterwards poetically * year ' and { yearly.' Then hayana here might be added as a fourth variety of the takman to the jdrada, graishma, and varshika. Scarcely probable. c. For vLsvadhavirya, see V, 22, 3. XIX, 53. Commentary to page 224. This and the following hymn, being theosophic and cosmogonic in character, play no part in the practices of the Atharvan, except that they are recited (under the 682 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. designation kalasukta) along with the kamasukta (AV. IX, %\ and the purushasukta (AV. XIX, 6 = RV.
3hic and cosmogonic in character, play no part in the practices of the Atharvan, except that they are recited (under the 682 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. designation kalasukta) along with the kamasukta (AV. IX, %\ and the purushasukta (AV. XIX, 6 = RV. X, 90) in the tenth Atharva-parLrish/a, the Bhumidana. Saya/za has the following statement in his introduction to this and the following hymn : 'kalo a^vo vahati' iti suktadvayasya sau- varaabhumidane a^yahome viniyoga^, ukta;/z hi parmshfe, anvarabhya^tha^rihuyat kamasukta/^ kalasukta^/ purusha- suktam (Ath. Pam. 10, 1). The hymn has been treated many times : Muir> Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 407; Ludwig> Der Rigveda> III, 191 ; Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom3, p. 35; Lucian Scher- man, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und Atharva- Veda-Sanhita (Strassburg, 1887), p, 78 fif. ; Grill 2> pp. 73, 193 fT* ; cf. also Hillebrandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 41. The Anukrama/21 ascribes the authorship of the hymn to Bhrzgu, and defines stanzas 6-10 as, mantroktasarvatmaka- kaladevatya anushAibha iti* Stanza 1. a. Saya/^a imagines the seven rays as being tied to the mouthj neck, and feet of the steed, and explains them as being the six seasonSj each of two months, the thirteenth (lunar) month of the intercalary year being the seventh1. This is the same explanation as is offered by Saya/^a at RV. I, T64, % for sapta yu^-anti, and SayaTza to our pas- sage offers further in support of his interpretation RV. I, 164, 15, where the thirteenth month is probably described ; see Haug, Vedische Rathselfragen und Rathselspruche, p. 23 (Proceedings of the Bavarian Academy, 1876). Saya;/a here, as well as at RV. I, 164, 2, suggests the seven rays of the sun (cf. AV. VII, 107 ; X, 8, 9 ; XIII, 3, 10) as an alternate explanation, relying upon Yaska's Nirukta IV, 27. The occidental interpretations of this expression — 1 For the thirteenth month, see *Sat. Br. II, 2, 3, 27, and Professor Eggeling's note on his translation, Sacred Books, vol. xii, p. 321, note 6. Also, especially, Professor Weber's learned note in ' Die vedischen Nachrichten von den Nakshatra/ II, p. 336, note. XIX, 53- COMMENTARY. 683 none of them satisfactory — are enumerated by Scherman, pp. 78, 81, and Grill, p. 193. I am inclined to believe in the kinship of our passage with RV. I, 164, 2, and also in a semi-lucid blending of the attributes of time with those of the sun. Cf. AV. XIII, 2, 39, where Rohita, a form of the sun, is identified with time ; see Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, pp. 13, 44, and Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil.
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.
1' chose, and it seems altogether likely that the two independent legends should blend here in the mind of the poet, and that he should have in mind when speaking of the descent of his golden heavenly ship upon the Himalaya the very spot where Manu descended. Nevertheless it may be fairly questioned whether navaprabhra/zz.s'ana here is a proper name, and does not mean simply, ' where the (heavenly) ship descended.' The character of the word as a compound is not at all secure. The majority of the MSS. of the Sa;/zhita read navaprabhra/^sanam with two accents, and one of Shankar Pandit's MSS. has nava/£ prabhra/z^anam. The MSS. of 680 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. the Padapa/^a are divided between na ava*prabhra^sanam and na ava pra*bhra;;wanam. At any rate the ship which brings down the kush//*a (Soma, the moon ?), and Manu's ship, may have nothing to do with one another except their mutual suggestion. Pada a seems to have stood ori- ginally, yatra n&v&k prabhra;/^anam. See Weber in Kuhn and Schleicher's Beitrage zur vergleichenden Sprachfor- schung, IV, 388 ; Grohmann, Indische Studien, IX, 423 ; Zimmer, 1. c, p. 30 ; Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii, p. 218, note. Stanza 9. a. We have not translated the text of the vulgate, yim tva. veda purva ikshvakor, a by no means certain restora- tion, since the MSS. of the Sawhita have ikshvako (ishvako), and those of the Padapa//za ikshvaka/z (fshvaka/^). Saya/za comments upon the nominative, puratana ikshvaku ra^a, and that presupposes a more natural reading, ya//z tva veda pfirva ikshvakur, the one adopted for our version. Although this handles the text more severely, I could not get myself to feel certain that purva ikshvako/^ could mean 'the ancestor of Ikshvaku/ as useful as this result is for the current inter- pretation of the preceding stanza 1. b. The text is doubtful, the MSS. read kush//£a kamya^ (kamya/z). Accordingly Saya^a takes kush^a as vocative and translates kamya/^ as a patronymic, ' the son of Kama/ I could not follow him, but the treatment of the words in the vulgate as a compound, kush///akamya/z, ' women fond of kush^a,' is also doubtful. Perhaps the use of the plants in unguents (AV. VI, 102, 3) is in the mind of the poet. Professor Whitney in the Index Verborum assumes a nomi- native singular masculine kush^akamyas. Ludwig, * der den kusht/ia. liebt (besser, der sohn derer, die den kush///a liebt).' e. The text as translated is, yim vayaso yam matsyas.
2is in the mind of the poet. Professor Whitney in the Index Verborum assumes a nomi- native singular masculine kush^akamyas. Ludwig, * der den kusht/ia. liebt (besser, der sohn derer, die den kush///a liebt).' e. The text as translated is, yim vayaso yam matsyas. 1 Ludwig in the same sense suggests putra ikshvakor, ' the son of Ikshvaku/ But why should this lectio facillima have been completely lost ? XIX, 53- COMMENTARY. 68 T The MSS. have ykm va vaso (or vaso) yam atsyas. S&ya/za, moreover, comments upon yamasya^, as follows : yamasya asyam iva asya^ yasya sa tadr/>o (vasa^) etannama devo veda. Matsya is the name of a royal sacrificer in Sat. Br. XIII, 5, 4, 9, and of a Rtshi skilled in special practices in Tait. Br. I, 5, 2, 1 ; and Vayasa, though not quotable as a proper name, might yet be such a one. But vayasa ordi- narily means * large bird,' and matsya suggests matsya, ' fish.' I see nothing good to be done with this suggestion. The translation of the Pada is altogether problematic. Stanza 10. a. The vulgate emends .rirshaloka/^ to ^irshaj-oka^, ' that burns the head ' (inadvertently omitted in the text). To be convinced, we need but watch Saya/za's contortions, when once he is misguided by the traditional text. He refers sirshalok&m to the kush//£a-plant instead of the tak- man : ' your head (O kushMa) is in the third heaven.' But every epithet in Padas a, b refers to the takman, as may be seen by comparing V, 22, 13 ; see the note to the passage. b. For sada^di, see the note on V, 22, 13 b. h&yana either sums up the varieties of the takman which are described in V, 22, 13 as ^arada, graishma, and varshika, and would then have to be translated c occurring through the year ; ' or it means simply ' yearly,' i. e. occurring (at a given time) every year ; ' cf. vuva^arada at IX, 8, 6 ; XIX, 34, 10. Involuntarily one thinks, too, of Zend zayana, ' winter' (Yasna 64, 20, Yasht 13, 8), and asks whether Vedic hayana does not primarily mean * winter ' and ' wintery ; ' afterwards poetically * year ' and { yearly.' Then hayana here might be added as a fourth variety of the takman to the jdrada, graishma, and varshika. Scarcely probable. c. For vLsvadhavirya, see V, 22, 3. XIX, 53. Commentary to page 224. This and the following hymn, being theosophic and cosmogonic in character, play no part in the practices of the Atharvan, except that they are recited (under the 682 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. designation kalasukta) along with the kamasukta (AV. IX, %\ and the purushasukta (AV. XIX, 6 = RV.
3hic and cosmogonic in character, play no part in the practices of the Atharvan, except that they are recited (under the 682 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. designation kalasukta) along with the kamasukta (AV. IX, %\ and the purushasukta (AV. XIX, 6 = RV. X, 90) in the tenth Atharva-parLrish/a, the Bhumidana. Saya/za has the following statement in his introduction to this and the following hymn : 'kalo a^vo vahati' iti suktadvayasya sau- varaabhumidane a^yahome viniyoga^, ukta;/z hi parmshfe, anvarabhya^tha^rihuyat kamasukta/^ kalasukta^/ purusha- suktam (Ath. Pam. 10, 1). The hymn has been treated many times : Muir> Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 407; Ludwig> Der Rigveda> III, 191 ; Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom3, p. 35; Lucian Scher- man, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und Atharva- Veda-Sanhita (Strassburg, 1887), p, 78 fif. ; Grill 2> pp. 73, 193 fT* ; cf. also Hillebrandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 41. The Anukrama/21 ascribes the authorship of the hymn to Bhrzgu, and defines stanzas 6-10 as, mantroktasarvatmaka- kaladevatya anushAibha iti* Stanza 1. a. Saya/^a imagines the seven rays as being tied to the mouthj neck, and feet of the steed, and explains them as being the six seasonSj each of two months, the thirteenth (lunar) month of the intercalary year being the seventh1. This is the same explanation as is offered by Saya/^a at RV. I, T64, % for sapta yu^-anti, and SayaTza to our pas- sage offers further in support of his interpretation RV. I, 164, 15, where the thirteenth month is probably described ; see Haug, Vedische Rathselfragen und Rathselspruche, p. 23 (Proceedings of the Bavarian Academy, 1876). Saya;/a here, as well as at RV. I, 164, 2, suggests the seven rays of the sun (cf. AV. VII, 107 ; X, 8, 9 ; XIII, 3, 10) as an alternate explanation, relying upon Yaska's Nirukta IV, 27. The occidental interpretations of this expression — 1 For the thirteenth month, see *Sat. Br. II, 2, 3, 27, and Professor Eggeling's note on his translation, Sacred Books, vol. xii, p. 321, note 6. Also, especially, Professor Weber's learned note in ' Die vedischen Nachrichten von den Nakshatra/ II, p. 336, note. XIX, 53- COMMENTARY. 683 none of them satisfactory — are enumerated by Scherman, pp. 78, 81, and Grill, p. 193. I am inclined to believe in the kinship of our passage with RV. I, 164, 2, and also in a semi-lucid blending of the attributes of time with those of the sun. Cf. AV. XIII, 2, 39, where Rohita, a form of the sun, is identified with time ; see Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, pp. 13, 44, and Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil.
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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