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

been suggested to the ritualist by the epithet uttanaparzza in stanza 2, but Sayazza there has in mind again the pa/a, since he quotes AV. II, 27, 4? and in his comment on st. 1 sa)/s outright, pa/Mkhyam oshadhim. Kau.rika's performance is as follows: 36, 19. 'While reciting III, 18, a bazzaparzzi-plant is mashed, mixed with a spray (of milk) from a red she-goat, and scattered round about the bed (of the rival woman). 20. While reciting stanza 6 a, a leaf (of the plant) is fastened beneath the bed. 21. While reciting stanza 6 b (a leaf) is thrown upon the (bed)/ We would draw especial attention to the totally different employment of the stanzas in Apast. Grzh. Ill, 9, 5. 6, in illustration of the loose, subjective symbolism which governs their manipulation. The general purpose of the practice is. however, there the same as with Kau^ika.

The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. V, 222; XVII, 264 ff. ; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 307. The Rigveda version by Ludwig (932) and Grassmann in their well-known works 2 ; the version of the Apast. Mantrabr. by Winternitz, Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell, p. 98. The Ath. Anukramazzi, atharva*nena suktena sapatniprazzuttyai vazzapar/zam oshadhim astaut.

Stanza 2.

a. Sayazza here and at RV., uttanapar/ze uttanani urdhvamukhani par/zani patraz^i yasya/L

1 According to the Pet. Lex. the common name for this plant is uzwhali, similar to the indigo-plant ; it is also known as suryavaztfrf. Both bazzaparzzi and ^arapunkha seem to mean * having arrow-form leaves/

2 The RV. version seems on the whole secondary to that of the
AV. : dhama for zzuda in st. 2 c ; kuru for kn'dhi in 2 d.

a a 2

p. 356

Stanza 4.

c. I read adha, ' now/ upon the basis of adha in some

MSS., Saya/za's adha, and with reference to atha in the

RV. Most MSS. read adha^ (' low shall be my rival/ &c) ;

this is the text adopted by the vulgata, and Shankar

Pandit.

Stanza 5.

A very similar stanza occurs XII, i, 54; Saya^a is seduced by its pratika, aham asmi sahamana(>4), to confuse it with the present, and to suppose that Kau^. 38, 30 quotes it, instead of XII, 1, 54.

Stanza 6.

The Sutra does not place the plant about and upon the husband, but about and upon the rival. Saya/*a follows through thick and thin. Apast. Grih. Ill, 9, 6 correlates the stanza with the husband : ' she embraces the husband with her arms/ with the stanza alluding to the word upadhana (Mantrabr. I, 15, 6).

Ill, 23. Commentary to page 97.

the rival. Saya/*a follows through thick and thin. Apast. Grih. Ill, 9, 6 correlates the stanza with the husband : ' she embraces the husband with her arms/ with the stanza alluding to the word upadhana (Mantrabr. I, 15, 6).

Ill, 23. Commentary to page 97.

This hymn furnishes the mantras for the well-known house-practice, called puwsavanam in the Grzhya-sutras 1. The Atharvanic form of it is described in Kauj. 35, 1-4, as follows: 1. Now the rites for producing a son. 2. (They are made) in behalf of the woman after she has laid aside the linen soiled by her menses, under a male constellation. 3. While reciting III, 23 an arrow is broken to pieces over her head, and (a piece of the arrow) is fastened (upon her as an amulet). 4. Into a cup made from a plough (the practitioner) puts milk of a cow which has a calf of a colour identical with her own, and rice and barley, mashes it up, adds to the mixture two adhyandzi plants, or leaves from a great pala.ra (butea frondosa) and a vidart (batatas pani-

1 Cf. Sahkh. I, 19. 20; Aw. I, 13; Par. I, 14; Gobh. II, 6;
Khad. II, 2, 17 ff. ; Hir. II, 2 ; Apast. VI, 14, 9.

p. 357

culata), and does with the mixture as in the case of the paidva-ceremony (i.e. he puts it up the right nostril of the woman with his right thumb; cf. Kauj. 32, 21, in the introduction to X, 4) 1.

Stanzas 2-4 are repeated with variants in vSafikh. Grih.
I, 19, 6 ; stanzas 2, 4, 5 (entire or in part) in Hir. Grth. I,
25, 1. The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud.
V, 223 ; XVII, 285 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 477 ff. ;
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 319. The Anukrama/zi,
/£andramasam uta yonidevatyam, brahma*nena putraw
prarthayad yonim abhish/uya pra^aya, iti.

Stanza 2.

d. Ten lunar months reconcile this statement with the biological facts; see Weber, Nakshatra, II, 313; Zimmer,

366.

Stanza 4.

Hir. Grih. I, 25, 1, yani prabhu^i virya/zy rz'shabha ^anayantu nak, tais tva/^ garbhi/d bhava . . . prasur dhenuga bhava. 5ankh. Grih. I, 19, 6, purusha^ for rishsbhak.

Stanza 5.

a. Ludwig, 'das pra^apatyam vollziehe ich dir;' Zimmer, 'ich verschafTe dir Zeugungsfahigkeit;' Weber, 'ich thu dir an das Zeugungswerk ' (Ind. Stud. XVII, 286) ; ' ich schaff5 dir Zeugungsfahigkeit ' (ib. V, 224) ; Saya^a, pra^apatina . . . nirmitaw pra^otpattikarara karma.

Stanza 6.

Cf. VIII, 7, 2, and perhaps III, 9, 1. The plants are
undefined ; see the Sutra, and Sankh. Grih. I, 19, 1 ; 20,
3.4.

1 The complicated practice is not clear in every detail.

V, 224) ; Saya^a, pra^apatina . . . nirmitaw pra^otpattikarara karma.

Stanza 6.

Cf. VIII, 7, 2, and perhaps III, 9, 1. The plants are
undefined ; see the Sutra, and Sankh. Grih. I, 19, 1 ; 20,
3.4.

1 The complicated practice is not clear in every detail. For phala^amasa and adhya«^/e, see Kaurika, Introduction, pp. lii and xlv, and *Sahkh. Grih. I, 19, 1 ff. The Gr/'hya-texts, cited in the preceding note, contain quite a number of parallels. There seems to be a cheap symbolism in the choice of the names of the two plants, adhyaw^a : aWa, ' egg,' and vidari : vi dar, ' burst, cleave/

p. 358

Ill, 25. Commentary to page 102.

The practices of the Sutra, Kaiu. 35, 22-28, embody symbolically a large portion of the statements and similes of the hymn, to wit : 22. ' While reciting the hymn he (who wishes to subject a woman) pushes her with his thumb (cf. st. 1). 23. He puts on (the fire) twenty-one (pieces of kudi-wood) \ with their thorns to the east (or forward ; cf. st. 3), adorned (i. e. anointed with ghee), over which the hymn has been pronounced. 24. (Then he puts on the fire) the twenty-one tips of the kudi, together with threads (which have been wound about them). 25. For a period of three days (literally, nights) he burns thrice each day kush/^a (costus speciosus) dipped in butter. 26. Having put the mattress (?) of his couch face downward he sleeps upon it (three nights) 2. 27. He places warm water into a tripod, fastens 3 it to the foot (of his bed), and lies agitating it with his great toes. 28. By means of a bow which is darbhyusha (? cf. Kaiu. 32, 8, in the introduction to VII, 74, and Kaonka, Introduction, p. li), and has a bowstring of hemp, with an arrow whose barb is a thorn, whose plume is derived from an owl, whose shaft is made of black ala-wood (see Kau^ika, Introduction, p. xlvi), he

1 The word kudi is to be supplied from the next Sutra. For kudi=badari, 'Christ's thorn/ see Kausika, Introduction, p. xliv. Darila observantly sees in this practice the symbolic realisation of st. 3, ya plihanam iti lihgat.

2 This translation of the Sutra is a doubtful paraphrase of Ke^ava's and Saya;/as statements. The Sutra is: dirghotpale *vagrzliya sa/rcvLyati. Darila, mamkakese (! ? maw^akam) adha^ krzta (? krztva) tatra sazrcvuati; Ke^ava, kha/vam adhomukhapa/- /ikaw grzhitva . . . svapiti ; Saya/za, kha/vaya adhomukhapa/Zikaw gn'hitva triratra/rc svapiti. The practice refers symbolically to st. ib, 'do not hold out upon thy bed/ All this does not explain dirghotpale; cf.