Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1its considerable divergence, owing to its duplex character. It is a hymn to lightning ; and, on the other hand, the diseases attributed to lightning present even more salient and practical points, destined to be prominent in its designation and ritual application. So the Anukrama^i describes it as a yaksh- mana^anaw suktam, 'a hymn which cures consumption' (cf. the word kasas ' from cough ' in st. 3) ; in the Ga^a- mala, Ath. Park 32, 7, it is one of the takmanlsanaga/za, 1 Note the words stana^ and stanayitniir respectively, in VII, 10 and VII, n, as the probable, and even more inane reason for the juxtaposition of the two hymns in the redaction. 248 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. 'a group of hymns designed to cure takman, fever' (cf. Kaui*. 26, 1, note). Kau.rika employs it twice, presenting its two main characteristics. In 38, 1-7 it is used in a charm against thunderstorms, preceding the employment in a similar charm of AV. I, 13 and VII, u, both of which are palpably hymns addressed to lightning. But in 26, 1-9 it is employed further in a performance which is dis- tinctly described by Darila as a .rirorogabhaisha^ya^, ' cure for headache ' (cf. muffia .nrshaktya in st. 3 a), and by Kcrava as, atikase ^irshaktijirovedanaya^ ka. karmam, ' rites against excessive cough and pains in the head/ The latter practice is as follows : 1. ' While reciting AV. I, 12 (the priest) lets (the patient) drink of fat1, honey, ghee, and sesame-oil. 2. (The patient), his head covered with a turban made of mu^a-grass2 (saccharum munja roxburgiense), goes along carrying in his left hand parched grain3 in a sieve, from which he scatters it with his left hand. 3. (The patient then goes on, carrying) in his left hand the sieve and the turban, in his right hand a bow- string and an axe. 4. The (patient goes) in front of the priest who gives the orders4. 5. On the spot where the disease seizes upon him he puts down the sieve and the turban. 6. And (also) the bowstring. 7. He returns home5. 8. (The patient) puts ghee up his nose. 9. (The priest) while supporting the patient's head with a staff (of bamboo) having five knots mutters (the hymn).' The sense of these practices, obscure though they are in many 1 Kcyava, mawsameda^. 2 Kam. mau%-a-pra,ma ; Darila, prajna ushnteh&m ; Kcrava, mau#g-a-induka (cf. indva in the Pet. Lex., and especially in Kauj. 26, 30). 3 Kaur. pulyani ; Kej. lagan. Symbolic scattering of the fever. 4 Ke^ava here is the least obscure of the commentators, vya- dhitam agre krz'tva. 5 The text of the Sutra is very obscure. One MS.
2. indva in the Pet. Lex., and especially in Kauj. 26, 30). 3 Kaur. pulyani ; Kej. lagan. Symbolic scattering of the fever. 4 Ke^ava here is the least obscure of the commentators, vya- dhitam agre krz'tva. 5 The text of the Sutra is very obscure. One MS. of the text reads avra^anam ; the rest, avra^atam. Darila has avra^a/rc twice (see notes 7 and 10 on p. 71 of the edition); this may be for the participle avra^an, and has served as the basis of the translation. I, 12. COMMENTARY. 249 details, is clearly a symbolic act of drawing the disease out of the head, and depositing it where it is supposed to have come from ; cf. the introduction to VI, 26. One is tempted, at first sight, to accuse the medicine man of the banalite of employing mu^a-grass simply because it puns with muffia, i release/ and this would be no more than Atharvanesque. Possibly, however, there is a little more contained in the practice. In 5at. Br. VI, 3, 1, 26 we have the following legend : ' Agni went away from the gods, he entered the mu^a-grass. Therefore that is hollow, and for that very reason it is as it were disfigured by smoke. The mu^a is the womb here of AgmV In that case we have here the usual attractio similium. The mu%*a is employed in drawing off the effect of lightning, because it is the natural home of fire (lightning). Cf. also 5at. Br. VI, 6, 1, 23. Uncanny is the rite which the Kaorika prescribes in connection with the hymn at 38, 1-7. It is directed against stormy weather, durdina, the relation of which to lightning, of itself obvious, is stated explicitly in the Hariva/^ra 9609, tumula^ durdina/^ £a**sid vidyutstanayitnumat, 'and there arose a crashing storm accompanied by lightning and thunder.' The passage of the Sutra may be translated as follows: 1. 'When one goes against a storm he faces it1 while reciting AV. I, 12. 2. Stanza by stanza (he faces the storm hurling) jets of water2 (against it). 3. (And he faces it) with a sword, a firebrand, and a club 3. 4. (And he faces it) naked while wiping his forehead. 5. Into a coal-pan which he has removed outside (of the house) he makes an oblation of (the leaves of) the horse-radish 1 Kcrava, durdinam abhimukham upatishMate. 2 udava^rai^: the Brahma^as have innumerable times the ex- pression va^TO va apa^, e.g. *Sat. Br. VII, 2, 1, 17. 3 kishkuru (with variants) is unknown elsewhere, but Ke^ava in glossing it with laku/a=lagu</a is clearly well-informed. The word is doubtless identical with kishku, which the scholiast at Pa#£. Br. VI, 5, 12 glosses with da«</a.
3e.g. *Sat. Br. VII, 2, 1, 17. 3 kishkuru (with variants) is unknown elsewhere, but Ke^ava in glossing it with laku/a=lagu</a is clearly well-informed. The word is doubtless identical with kishku, which the scholiast at Pa#£. Br. VI, 5, 12 glosses with da«</a. 25O HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. tree1 and pebbles. 6. He puts on (fagots of) the kera2 and arka (calotropis gigantea) plants. 7. Beaten by the rain, with dishevelled hair3, going thrice around a pit he quickly buries into it the arka-wood.' The symbolism of this performance is not altogether transparent ; the use of the arka is doubtless founded upon a double entente : arka is ' flash of lightning/ and its cessation is coaxed by burying the arka-wood in the pit. Stanza 1. a. For gar&yu-ga, ' born of the (cloud-)womb/ cf. abhra-^a in st. 3, and such expressions as vidyiin meghasakha, ' the lightning whose companion is the cloud/ in the Suparaa- khyana 3, 2. The more literal meaning of the word is 'placenta-born,' an idea thoroughly Indie. Cf. Sat. Br. VI, 5, 3) 5, trivrzd dhi pragatih pita mata putro*tho garbha ulb3.mga.rayu. Cf. also VI, 6, 1, 24. Professor Kern some years ago was good enough to impart to me his own some- what different view : ' As to ga.ra.yuga.-, I think that is what the Norse skalds called a kenning, an oratorical peri- phrasis of vatsa, and this is a veiled expression for light- ning ; cf. apam vatsa as denoting the fire of lightning, and the sri vatsa, the lightning figure on the breast of Vishnu/ (Letter of May 10, 1887.) — For the epithet vr/shan as applied to lightning see now my article on .nishma, Con- tributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Mor- genlandischen Gesellschaft, XLVIII, 565 ff. The entire passage has a good parallel in RV. IX, 74, 3, "se yo vrishtir ita usriyo vr/sha apam neta yd itautir rigmiya/i, where Soma is obviously compared with lightning. b. The edition reads vatabhra^a(^), but the text is not absolutely certain, as Sayana comments upon vatavra^ ah 4. 1 Darila, jigrupatram. 2 Darila, kerdparwixti y a surash/re riumd&r ike *ti; Kerava, pa/er- akasamidha^. 8 pratilomakarshitas is explained in the light of ke^eshu karshita in the Mr/H^aka/ikd 16, 25. 4 Saya/za refers the entire stanza to aditya, ' the sun/ I, 12. COMMENTARY. 25 1 Both readings are worthless ; I have substituted in my article on the Seven Hymns, vata-abhra-g-a/i. It is refreshing to see for once an emendation rendered abso- lutely certain by a later discovery.
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.
1its considerable divergence, owing to its duplex character. It is a hymn to lightning ; and, on the other hand, the diseases attributed to lightning present even more salient and practical points, destined to be prominent in its designation and ritual application. So the Anukrama^i describes it as a yaksh- mana^anaw suktam, 'a hymn which cures consumption' (cf. the word kasas ' from cough ' in st. 3) ; in the Ga^a- mala, Ath. Park 32, 7, it is one of the takmanlsanaga/za, 1 Note the words stana^ and stanayitniir respectively, in VII, 10 and VII, n, as the probable, and even more inane reason for the juxtaposition of the two hymns in the redaction. 248 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. 'a group of hymns designed to cure takman, fever' (cf. Kaui*. 26, 1, note). Kau.rika employs it twice, presenting its two main characteristics. In 38, 1-7 it is used in a charm against thunderstorms, preceding the employment in a similar charm of AV. I, 13 and VII, u, both of which are palpably hymns addressed to lightning. But in 26, 1-9 it is employed further in a performance which is dis- tinctly described by Darila as a .rirorogabhaisha^ya^, ' cure for headache ' (cf. muffia .nrshaktya in st. 3 a), and by Kcrava as, atikase ^irshaktijirovedanaya^ ka. karmam, ' rites against excessive cough and pains in the head/ The latter practice is as follows : 1. ' While reciting AV. I, 12 (the priest) lets (the patient) drink of fat1, honey, ghee, and sesame-oil. 2. (The patient), his head covered with a turban made of mu^a-grass2 (saccharum munja roxburgiense), goes along carrying in his left hand parched grain3 in a sieve, from which he scatters it with his left hand. 3. (The patient then goes on, carrying) in his left hand the sieve and the turban, in his right hand a bow- string and an axe. 4. The (patient goes) in front of the priest who gives the orders4. 5. On the spot where the disease seizes upon him he puts down the sieve and the turban. 6. And (also) the bowstring. 7. He returns home5. 8. (The patient) puts ghee up his nose. 9. (The priest) while supporting the patient's head with a staff (of bamboo) having five knots mutters (the hymn).' The sense of these practices, obscure though they are in many 1 Kcyava, mawsameda^. 2 Kam. mau%-a-pra,ma ; Darila, prajna ushnteh&m ; Kcrava, mau#g-a-induka (cf. indva in the Pet. Lex., and especially in Kauj. 26, 30). 3 Kaur. pulyani ; Kej. lagan. Symbolic scattering of the fever. 4 Ke^ava here is the least obscure of the commentators, vya- dhitam agre krz'tva. 5 The text of the Sutra is very obscure. One MS.
2. indva in the Pet. Lex., and especially in Kauj. 26, 30). 3 Kaur. pulyani ; Kej. lagan. Symbolic scattering of the fever. 4 Ke^ava here is the least obscure of the commentators, vya- dhitam agre krz'tva. 5 The text of the Sutra is very obscure. One MS. of the text reads avra^anam ; the rest, avra^atam. Darila has avra^a/rc twice (see notes 7 and 10 on p. 71 of the edition); this may be for the participle avra^an, and has served as the basis of the translation. I, 12. COMMENTARY. 249 details, is clearly a symbolic act of drawing the disease out of the head, and depositing it where it is supposed to have come from ; cf. the introduction to VI, 26. One is tempted, at first sight, to accuse the medicine man of the banalite of employing mu^a-grass simply because it puns with muffia, i release/ and this would be no more than Atharvanesque. Possibly, however, there is a little more contained in the practice. In 5at. Br. VI, 3, 1, 26 we have the following legend : ' Agni went away from the gods, he entered the mu^a-grass. Therefore that is hollow, and for that very reason it is as it were disfigured by smoke. The mu^a is the womb here of AgmV In that case we have here the usual attractio similium. The mu%*a is employed in drawing off the effect of lightning, because it is the natural home of fire (lightning). Cf. also 5at. Br. VI, 6, 1, 23. Uncanny is the rite which the Kaorika prescribes in connection with the hymn at 38, 1-7. It is directed against stormy weather, durdina, the relation of which to lightning, of itself obvious, is stated explicitly in the Hariva/^ra 9609, tumula^ durdina/^ £a**sid vidyutstanayitnumat, 'and there arose a crashing storm accompanied by lightning and thunder.' The passage of the Sutra may be translated as follows: 1. 'When one goes against a storm he faces it1 while reciting AV. I, 12. 2. Stanza by stanza (he faces the storm hurling) jets of water2 (against it). 3. (And he faces it) with a sword, a firebrand, and a club 3. 4. (And he faces it) naked while wiping his forehead. 5. Into a coal-pan which he has removed outside (of the house) he makes an oblation of (the leaves of) the horse-radish 1 Kcrava, durdinam abhimukham upatishMate. 2 udava^rai^: the Brahma^as have innumerable times the ex- pression va^TO va apa^, e.g. *Sat. Br. VII, 2, 1, 17. 3 kishkuru (with variants) is unknown elsewhere, but Ke^ava in glossing it with laku/a=lagu</a is clearly well-informed. The word is doubtless identical with kishku, which the scholiast at Pa#£. Br. VI, 5, 12 glosses with da«</a.
3e.g. *Sat. Br. VII, 2, 1, 17. 3 kishkuru (with variants) is unknown elsewhere, but Ke^ava in glossing it with laku/a=lagu</a is clearly well-informed. The word is doubtless identical with kishku, which the scholiast at Pa#£. Br. VI, 5, 12 glosses with da«</a. 25O HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. tree1 and pebbles. 6. He puts on (fagots of) the kera2 and arka (calotropis gigantea) plants. 7. Beaten by the rain, with dishevelled hair3, going thrice around a pit he quickly buries into it the arka-wood.' The symbolism of this performance is not altogether transparent ; the use of the arka is doubtless founded upon a double entente : arka is ' flash of lightning/ and its cessation is coaxed by burying the arka-wood in the pit. Stanza 1. a. For gar&yu-ga, ' born of the (cloud-)womb/ cf. abhra-^a in st. 3, and such expressions as vidyiin meghasakha, ' the lightning whose companion is the cloud/ in the Suparaa- khyana 3, 2. The more literal meaning of the word is 'placenta-born,' an idea thoroughly Indie. Cf. Sat. Br. VI, 5, 3) 5, trivrzd dhi pragatih pita mata putro*tho garbha ulb3.mga.rayu. Cf. also VI, 6, 1, 24. Professor Kern some years ago was good enough to impart to me his own some- what different view : ' As to ga.ra.yuga.-, I think that is what the Norse skalds called a kenning, an oratorical peri- phrasis of vatsa, and this is a veiled expression for light- ning ; cf. apam vatsa as denoting the fire of lightning, and the sri vatsa, the lightning figure on the breast of Vishnu/ (Letter of May 10, 1887.) — For the epithet vr/shan as applied to lightning see now my article on .nishma, Con- tributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Mor- genlandischen Gesellschaft, XLVIII, 565 ff. The entire passage has a good parallel in RV. IX, 74, 3, "se yo vrishtir ita usriyo vr/sha apam neta yd itautir rigmiya/i, where Soma is obviously compared with lightning. b. The edition reads vatabhra^a(^), but the text is not absolutely certain, as Sayana comments upon vatavra^ ah 4. 1 Darila, jigrupatram. 2 Darila, kerdparwixti y a surash/re riumd&r ike *ti; Kerava, pa/er- akasamidha^. 8 pratilomakarshitas is explained in the light of ke^eshu karshita in the Mr/H^aka/ikd 16, 25. 4 Saya/za refers the entire stanza to aditya, ' the sun/ I, 12. COMMENTARY. 25 1 Both readings are worthless ; I have substituted in my article on the Seven Hymns, vata-abhra-g-a/i. It is refreshing to see for once an emendation rendered abso- lutely certain by a later discovery.
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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