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

eems to mean that the whole world on the occasion of the marriage of Tvash/ar's daughter to Vivasvant — not to himself — pass through (a given point of observation) to witness the marriage. Thus they might illustrate separation from their ordinary places of abode. Or, a still more literal and philological translation of the passage would be : ' " Tvash/ar is preparing a marriage for his daughter/' thus saying (or noting) he (who ? Tvash/ar or Vivasvant?) passes through the entire world/ But the other versions read sam eti, and all the following stanzas (6-i i) have for their theme union with the principle of life. Since, now, vi occurs no less than thirty times in the entire hymn, it is possible that sam has given place to it, and the passage would thus revert to its original meaning in RV. X, 17, i ; AV. XVIII, 1, 53. Saya^a takes vi yati in the sense of going asunder, vahatum . . . prasthapayati iti buddhya tasya avaka^a;;^ datum ida//z visvam bhuvana^ prz'thivyantarikshadirupa;^ vi yati paraspara^ vigata;/z bhavati.

Stanza 6.

a, b. Or, ' Agni bestows life's breaths/ Agni is frequently identified in the Upanishads with the breaths of life : see

Maitri-Upanishad VI, 5. 9. 33 ; Pra^na-Upanishad I, 7.

Sâya/za, ' the Agni of the belly, the cause of the digestion of food and drink/ Similarly the sun (cf. the next stanza)

in Maitri-Up. VI, 1. 5; Pra.ma-Up. I, 5 ; II, 8 ; Tait. Ar.

I, 14, 1.

Stanza 11.

For vrishtyod (Padapa/^a, wzsh/ya ud) read vrzshtya,(/i)
lid with Roth, Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch.
XLVIII, 684.

IV, 3. Commentary to page 147.

At Kaui*. 51, 1-6 the following practices are prescribed :
1. ' While reciting AV. IV, 3 (the shepherd) follows the
cattle, (alternately) raising and digging into (the ground)

p. 367

a pole of khadira-wood (acacia catechu, a hard wood), which has been anointed with the dregs of ghee1. 2. He pours out water, sweeps together the (moistened dust) 2 ; then he offers, while walking, thrice to Indra milk of a cow with a calf of the same colour as herself. "3. He offers the bali (tribute offering) to the (four) regions. 4. He reveres each of the regions3. 5. In the middle (between the four regions) he offers a fifth bali-offering. 6. The remainder he pours down (upon the ground)/ The hymn is one of the raudraga^a in the Ga/zamala, Ath. Pam. 32, 17; see Kauj\ 50, 13 note. The Anukrama^t accordingly designates it as raudram uta vyaghradevatyam. It has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, I II, 499; Grill2, pp.33, 118 ff.

Stanza 1.

)/ The hymn is one of the raudraga^a in the Ga/zamala, Ath. Pam. 32, 17; see Kauj\ 50, 13 note. The Anukrama^t accordingly designates it as raudram uta vyaghradevatyam. It has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, I II, 499; Grill2, pp.33, 118 ff.

Stanza 1.

Saya/za suggests, very properly, that the man (purusha) in question is the robber mentioned below. Pada d is difficult ; Ludwig compares RV. I, 24, 7, which according to Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, IT3 ff., refers to the banyan-tree (nyagrodha, va/a). The branches of that tree take root anew, are ni/£ina, or nihita, and therefore grow until they are out of sight (hiruk, an antarhitanamadheyam, a word for 'out of sight' according to Yaska's Naigha/z/uka, III, 25). Prof. Roth, as quoted by Grill, p. 118, suggests an arrow, or spear, but the expression devo vanaspatir (cf. VI, 85, 1) is favourable to the other construction. Saya^a, helplessly, vananam adhish^ata devas tatra*ntarhito vartate tadvad vyaghradayo * pi antarhita bhavantu.

1 The symbolism is transparent : he pierces the imaginary track of the dreaded hostile creatures, and thus pierces the creatures themselves.

2 According to Ke^ava and Sayawa he then places his left hand upon the dust and with his right scatters half of it. The words ninayanaff* samuhya refer back to the practice at Kauj. 19, 17. 18 ; see the introduction to II, 26, p. 303.

3 According to Kejava he recites in this connection AV. Ill, 26 ; cf. Kauj. 14, 25.

p. 368

Stanza 2.

c. ' The rope full of teeth,' by familiar figure of speech, the serpent ; cf. VII, 108, 1 ; XIX, 47, 7. 8 (partially verbal parallelism with our stanza) ; Sat. Br. IV, 4, 5> 3»

Stanza 5.

• c. Literally, ' let him go on the falling down of the paths,'
• i. e. ' where the paths are precipitate.' Saya^a arrives at a similar result, even though he handles his text very freely, sa ka. patha/^ madhye dhvaz/zsena dhva^sakena kash/ena marge/za apa gaMatu. Ludwig, 'wo die pfade abbrechen ; ' Grill, ' auf nachstem wege pack' er sich.'

Stanza 6.

b. Saya/za reads api sirshna/i, glossing, ^irasi bhava h\msaka^ irzngadaya^ avayava api mudhk bhavantu, ' the destructive members of the body on the head, horns, &c, shall be dulled/ c. All translations, including our own, are mere guesses, nimriik, ' sunset/ is not found except in connection with the setting of the sun. Saya/za' s drzsh/ivishayo na bhavati has suggested our ' out of sight shall go.' Grill has in mind the root mar£, 'injure,' something like nimrzkto, 'injured, destroyed ; ' but there is no such word, godha (Pet. Lex.

t in connection with the setting of the sun. Saya/za' s drzsh/ivishayo na bhavati has suggested our ' out of sight shall go.' Grill has in mind the root mar£, 'injure,' something like nimrzkto, 'injured, destroyed ; ' but there is no such word, godha (Pet. Lex. ' sinew ') is equally difficult. Saya?za, ' a kind of wild beast/ As it has also the meaning ' large lizard,' we have said * dragon,' a pure conjecture. Ludwig's ' in der tiefe soil das krokodil gehn ' does not differ materially. Grill, ' mit lahmer sehne geh's zu grund.'

d. sa.s3.yur (air. Key,) mrigih is also not clear. Saya/za, ' the evil beast inclined to lie down.' Ludwig, ' tief hinabspringend geht das wild.' We have adopted with profound misgivings the translation of the Pet. Lex., Grill, and Zimmer (p. 79). The latter regards ^a^ayur as an epithet of the tiger (cf. sts. 1, 3, 4, 7) ; cf.5 however, ^a^aghatin, and ^a^ada, names of birds of prey. Prof. Roth, however, as quoted by Grill, holds now a different opinion, ' a bird of prey which swoops down from on high.'

p. 369

Stanza 7.

a, b. Cf. VI, 56, 1 ; X, 4, 8, a similar formula calculated to regulate the snapping of the serpent's mouth. The Padapa/^a treats sa;/zyama/£ both times as a noun-compound, but it is easier to construe it as saw yama^, an injunctive aorist. The sense is the same. Saya^a treats vi yama^ also both times as a noun, sa;//yama^ sawyamanaw samyag vyaghradinaw mantrasamarthyena niyamanaw yad asti na *sau viyama^ viruddhayamanaw bhavati, &c. The passage seems to refer to the jaws of the wild beasts.

c, d. This may either refer to brahma, ' charm/ or to some plant or amulet, of which the Sutra, to be sure, makes no mention. The hemistich is hypermetric, fairly curable by throwing out atharva^am. The Anukrama/n, kakummati garbhoparish/adbrzhati.

IV, 4. Commentary to page 31.

A characteristic mixture of pharmaceutical applications and drastic symbolism constitutes the practices of the ritual, Kaui-. 40, 14 ff., as follows: 14. 'The hymn IV, 4, and, in addition, the following mantra is recited : " Bulls have dug thee up, thou art a bull, O herb ! Thou art a bull, full of lusty force ; in behalf of a bull do we dig thee up ! " During these recitals the plants u^Mushma and parivyadha 5 are dug up with an iron instrument (Darila, a ploughshare). 15. Two decoctions are made from these plants, poured into milk, a drawn bow is placed into the lap, and then the decoctions are drunk 2. 16.