The contents of this volume are not liturgy but practice, and the table of contents is the fastest proof of it: charms against kshetriya, the hereditary disease; leprosy cured by a dark plant; charms for scrofulous sores called apachit; barley and water as universal remedies; the healing properties of bdellium; exorcism by an amulet from the varana-tree; a hymn to all magic and medicinal plants. Bloomfield arranges the book BY PURPOSE rather than by the order of the Veda itself, so that a reader meets it as its users did — as a repertory of remedies, indexed by what has gone wrong.
Hymns of the Atharva-Veda — SBE Vol. 42 (Clarendon Press, 1897) — second scan
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I III-
THE
SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST
O]
Bonbon
HENRY FROWDE
Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.C.
(JWw ?)orft
THE MACMILLAN CO., 66 fifth avenue
THE
SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST
TRANSLATED
BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS
AND EDITED BY
F. MAX MULLER
VOL. XLII
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1897
I All rights reserved]
PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
BY HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA
TOGETHER WITH
EXTRACTS FROM THE RITUAL BOOKS
AND THE COMMENTARIES
TRANSLATED BY
MAURICE BLOOMFIELD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1897
[All rights reserved']
CONTENTS.
Introduction : — BJI„M
PAGES
I. The names of the Atharva-veda and their meanings xvii
II. The position of the Atharva-veda in Hindu Literature in general ...... xxviii w III. The Atharva-veda in the view of its Ritualistic
** Literature .... . . . lvii
° Prefatory remarks ....... lxxi s:
«*» Hymns, Translation and Commentary : —
I. Charms to cure diseases and possession by demons of disease (bhaisha^yani).
Book v, 22. Charm against takman (fever) and related diseases vi, 20. Charm against takman (fever) . ^ i, 25. Charm against takman (fever) .
vii, 116. Charm against takman (fever) v, 4. Prayer to the kushMa-plant to destroy
^ takman (fever)
j xix, 39. Prayer to the kush/^a-plant to de-
^s stroy takman (fever) and other ailments .
^ i, 12. Prayer to lightning, conceived as the
K4 cause of fever, headache, and cough y i, 22. Charm against jaundice and related
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8,p. 513 diseases vi, 14. Charm against the disease balasa vi, 105. Charm against cough i, 2. Charm against excessive discharges from the body 8, 233 ii, 3. Charm against excessive discharges from the body, undertaken with springwater 9' 277
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vi, 44. Charm against excessive discharges from the body ....... 10, 481 i, 3. Charm against constipation and retention of urine 10, 235 vi, 90. Charm against internal pain (colic), due to the missiles of Rudra 11,506 i, 10. Charm against dropsy . . . . 11, 241 vii, 83. Charm against dropsy . . . .12, 562 vi, 24. Dropsy, heart-disease, and kindred maladies cured by flowing water . . . . 12,471 vi, 80. An oblation to the sun, conceived as one of the two heavenly dogs, as a cure for paralysis 13, 500 ii, 8. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease . 13, 286 ii, 10.
kindred maladies cured by flowing water . . . . 12,471 vi, 80. An oblation to the sun, conceived as one of the two heavenly dogs, as a cure for paralysis 13, 500 ii, 8. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease . 13, 286 ii, 10. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease . 14, 292 iii, 7. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease . 15, 336 i, 23. Leprosy cured by a dark plant . . . 16, 266 i, 24. Leprosy cured by a dark plant . . . 16, 268 vi, 83. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apaât 17, 503 vii, 76. A. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apaât 17, 559
B. Charm for curing tumours called ^ayanya 17, 560
C. Stanza sung at the mid-day pressure of the soma . . . . . .18, 562 vii, 74. A. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apaât 18, 557
B. Charm to appease jealousy . . . 18,559
C. Prayer to Agni, the lord of vows . . 18, 559 vi, 25. Charm against scrofulous sores upon neck and shoulders 19, 472 vi, 57. Urine (^dlasha) as a cure for scrofulous sores iv, 12. Charm with the plant arundhati (lakshd) for the cure of fractures v, 5. Charm with the plant sila^i (laksha, arundhati)
for the cure of wounds ....
vi, 109. The pepper-corn as a cure for wounds i, 17. Charm to stop the flow of blood . ii, 31. Charm against worms .... ii, 32. Charm against worms in cattle .
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IX
v, 23. Charm against worms in children iv, 6. Charm against poison iv, 7. Charm against poison vi, 100. Ants as an antidote against poison v, 13. Charm against snake-poison vi, 12. Charm against snake-poison vii, 56. Charm against the poison of serpents, scorpions, and insects vi, 16. Charm against ophthalmia vi, 21. Charm to promote the growth of hair vi, 136. Charm with the plant nitatni to promote the growth of hair ..... vi, 137. Charm to promote the growth of hair iv, 4. Charm to promote virility .... vi, in. Charm against mania .... iv, 37. Charm with the plant a^a^rmgi to drive out
Rakshas, Apsaras, and Gandharvas ii, 9. Possession by demons of disease, cured by an amulet of ten kinds of wood .... iv, 36. Charm against demons (pua^a) conceived as the cause of disease ii, 25. Charm with the plant pmniparwi against the demon of disease called kawva vi, 32. Charm for driving away demons (Rakshas and PLra^as) ii, 4. Charm with an amulet derived from the
^arigida-tree, against diseases and demons xix, 34.
cause of disease ii, 25. Charm with the plant pmniparwi against the demon of disease called kawva vi, 32. Charm for driving away demons (Rakshas and PLra^as) ii, 4. Charm with an amulet derived from the
^arigida-tree, against diseases and demons xix, 34. Charm with an amulet derived from the
^•ahgi^a-tree, against diseases and demons xix, 35. Charm with an amulet derived from the
^•ahgi^a-tree, against diseases and demons vi, 85. Exorcism of disease by means of an amulet from the vara«a-tree vi, 127. The ^ipudru-tree as a panacea xix, 38. The healing properties of bdellium . vi, 91. Barley and water as universal remedies viii, 7. Hymn to all magic and medicinal plants, used as a universal remedy ....
vi, 96. Plants as a panacea ii, 33. Charm to secure perfect health .
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CONTENTS.
ix, 8. Charm to procure immunity from all diseases 45, 600 ii, 29. Charm for obtaining long life and prosperity by transmission of disease . . . . 47,308
II. Prayers for long life and health (ayushyawi).
iii, n. Prayer for health and long life ♦ . . 49, 341 ii, 28. Prayer for long life pronounced over a boy . 50, 306 iii, 31. Prayer for health and long life . . . 51, 364 vii, 53. Prayer for long life 52, 551 viii, 1. Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death 53, 569 viii, 2. Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death 55, 573 v, 30. Prayer for exemption from disease and death 59, 455 iv, 9. Salve (a^-ana) as a protector of life and limb 61, 381 iv, 10. The pearl and its shell as an amulet bestowing long life and prosperity . . . . 62, 383 xix, 26. Gold as an amulet for long life . . 63, 668
III. Imprecations against demons, sorcerers, and enemies (abhiâirikam and kr/tydpratihara«ani).
i, 7. Against sorcerers and demons . . . 64, 237 i, 8. Against sorcerers and demons . . . 65, 239 i, 16. Charm with lead, against demons and sorcerers 65, 256 vi, 2. The soma-oblation directed against demons
(rakshas) 66} 458 ii, 14. Charm against a variety of female demons, conceived as hostile to men, cattle, and home 66, 298 iii, 9. Against vishkandha and kabava (hostile demons) 67, 339 iv, 20. Charm with a certain plant (sadawpushpa)
which exposes demons and enemies . . 68, 398 iv, 17.
That arrangement is an editorial decision with a cost, and the contents record the cost honestly: each entry carries TWO page numbers, one for the hymn and one for its commentary at the back, and the second is always the larger — a hymn on page 12 is discussed on page 471, one on page 40 on page 675. The commentary is not an appendix to this book; it is most of it. Müller argues in the Vedic Hymns volumes of this series that a first translator is a decipherer and that the notes "must always constitute the more important part". Here that principle is visible in the pagination.
shares a method with Vedic Hymns, Part I — SBE Vol. 32 (trans. F. Max Müller, 1891)
And Bloomfield opens with the Atharva-Veda's standing rather than its content: his first two introductory chapters are "The names of the Atharva-veda and their meanings" and "The position of the Atharva-veda in Hindu Literature IN GENERAL", followed by "The Atharva-veda in the view of its Ritualistic Literature". A translator who must argue his text into the canon before translating it, and who separates how the tradition's ritual literature regards it from how the literature at large does.