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

en the original reading. We have at any rate translated tavasam as an abstract.

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Stanza 15.

Kau^. 60, 29 : ' (The sacrificer) puts (the vessel) down while reciting the first Pada/ Saya^a, prathamapadena ^■alakumbha;^ bhumau nidadhyat. Kau.r. 60, 34: 'With the remaining three Padas he places the water-vessel upon the skin.' Cf. also Ka.us. 61, 33.

a. Our rendering of Pada a leaves some misgivings. A more natural translation of it is, ' the share of food that has of yore been set aside for you/ But this leaves it hanging in mid-air.

Stanza 16.

Kau^. 61, 31 : The pot is placed upon the fire; cf. also
Kaui*. 2, 7.

Stanza 17.

Kauj. 61, 34. 35: The purifying two blades of darbhagrass are placed over the pot, and water is poured in ; cf. also Kaui*. 2, 8. The Paippalada read in Pada c, dadat pvag-km bahulam a^un (pa^un ?) me.

Stanza 18.

Kaus. 61, 36: With this stanza and XII, 3, 28 the grain is washed in water, and poured into the pot. Cf. also Kau^-. 2y 9.

Stanza 19.

Kaoy. 61, 37: With this stanza and XII, 3, 29 the porridge is allowed to cook.

d. For paktva in the vulgata, Shankar Pandit, following most of his MSS. and Saya/za, reads pakta ; this we have translated. Cf. also the Index Verborum, s. v. paktr/. The corruption is due to st. 18 d. Note the alliteration.

Stanzas 21, 22.

Kaui". 61, 41. 42: With stanza 21 and XII, 3, 35 the porridge is taken off the fire. With st. 11 the pot is turned to the right.

Stanza 23.

Kaiu". 6x, 44 rubricates only the second hemistich, a//zsadhrim (some MSS. a^zsadrim) ity upadadhati. The

6l6 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

difficult word in the stanza is the air. Aey. which the vulgata presents in the form a/^sadhri'm. The MSS. present in addition the forms awsaddhrim, a/^sadrim, and a;/zsaddnm. Shankar Pandit chooses awsadnm ; Saya/m aw^adhrim, glossing as follows : amsan bhagan devamanushyapitrzsaMbandhino dharayati*ti amsadhn tam . . . vedim. The only point that seems worth saving is the statement that the word refers to the vedi, not to the pot, as the Pet. Lexs. have it : ; vielleicht ein gcfass mit handhaben, henkeln auf beiden seiten.'

d. daivanam (sc. brahma/zanam). Read perhaps devatanam, metri gratia; cf. st. 25, and III, 3, 2; VI, 13, 1; XII, 3, 38; Va^.S. XV, 50.

Stanza 24.

Kau.r. 62, i : With st. 24 and XII, 3, 36 the performance indicated in the mantra is made, i.e. the sru£ is placed upon the altar (Saya^a, smkam vedyam sadayet).

a. The feminine hastam is an opportunist formation, made to suit the feminine sru^am.

tanza 24.

Kau.r. 62, i : With st. 24 and XII, 3, 36 the performance indicated in the mantra is made, i.e. the sru£ is placed upon the altar (Saya^a, smkam vedyam sadayet).

a. The feminine hastam is an opportunist formation, made to suit the feminine sru^am. Some MSS., the Paippalada, and Saya/za read hastam, a facile emendation which is, however, discredited by the universal reading dvitiyam.

Stanza 25. Kau.r. 63, 3 : Four descendants of the Rtshis who know the Bhrzgu-Angiras texts (i. e. the Atharvan writings) are seated. Sayaz/a, asane upavcrayet. C(. also Kauj. 65, 13.

b. Say ana, punar etan pra sida prapnuhi. This meaning of pra sad is not well authenticated : perhaps ' favour them ' is the true sense.

Stanza 26.

Not rubricated in the Kaurika, but Saya//a, in the introduction, supplies the action, datura arsheyan ritvlgo yagamana ahvayet. Not so, however, in the commentary upon the text, suhava ^obhanahvana patni arsheyan . . . puna/zpunar ahvayami. Whitney, in the Index Verborum, regards suhava as instrumental ' with efficient call,' at III, 26, 6 ; VII, 47, 1 ; 48, 1, in addition to our passage. But if wep. 617 compare AV. VII, 48, 1 with its parallel in RV. II, 32, 4, rakam aha;// suhavam (so RV. ; suhava, AV.) sush/uti' huve, it seems hard to refrain from emending suhava in our stanza to suhava;^ = suhavan. This we have done, supported further by RV. VII, 44, 2 ; 82, 4 ; 93, 1 ; X, 141, 4.

Stanza 27.

Kaur. 6$y 4 : The action indicated in the stanza is performed. Saya^a, tesham ri\N\gkm hastaprakshalanartham udakam dadyat. The stanza is nearly identical with VI, 122, 5 ; cf. also st. 17, and X, 9, 27.

Stanza 28.

Kauj. 62, 22: With stanza 28 and XII, 3, 50 he places gold upon the porridge (Saya^a, odane hira/zya/^ nidadhyat). Kaor. 63, 5 : With Pada b and XII, 3, 53 he sets it aside (? Sâya/za, ishat karshayet).

a. For the relation of light and gold, cf. I, 9, 2.

b. For pakvam kshetrat, cf. vrzksham pakvam, RV. Ill, 45, 4 ; pakvai iakha, RV. I, 8, 8.

Stanza 29.

Kaar. 63, 6. 7 : With Pada a the chaff is poured into the fire (Saya/za, agnau tushan ^uhuyat). With Pada b the refuse is swept aside with the left foot. The precise difference between tiisha and kambuka is not clear. Saya/za glosses the former by, brahmaudanarthata;/^ulebhya/z prithakkr/tan ; both Kau/ika and Saya/za render kambuka by phalikara/za. These indications we have followed.

ept aside with the left foot. The precise difference between tiisha and kambuka is not clear. Saya/za glosses the former by, brahmaudanarthata;/^ulebhya/z prithakkr/tan ; both Kau/ika and Saya/za render kambuka by phalikara/za. These indications we have followed. The fire obtains the more valuable and nutritious part of the refuse ; Nirrzti, the goddess of destruction, has the refuse pushed to her as a sop, uncannily, with the left foot.

Stanza 30.

Kau^. 63, 19. 20: Either with the entire hymn, or with the part of it that begins here, he first anoints the porridge with the dregs of ghee. Cf. especially st. 31.

a. I have taken the words .sramyata/^ &c. as genitives

6l8 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

singular, dependent upon viddhi. See Delbriick, Altindische Syntax, p. 159. Saya/za, as accusatives plural: diksharupa/^ tapas tapyamanan, &c.

Stanza 31.

Kaiu. 62, 15-17 : With the first hemistich of our stanza and XII, 3, 45 he makes a cavity (for ghee) on the top of the porridge (Saya^a, garta/^ kuryat). The stanza is varied by substituting the word brahman for adhvaryo, if a priest other than the Adhvaryu is addressed. With the second hemistich of each of the two stanzas he floods the porridge with ghee.

Stanza 32.

For purishi/za^ Saya/za quotes to the point Tait. S. II, 6, 4, 3 : pra^a vai pa^ava^ purisham, pra^ayai^vai^na;// pambhi^ purishavanta;^ karoti. Cf. sts. 26 a, b ; 25 d.

XI, 2. Commentary to page 155.

The hymn is addressed to Rudra (Siva-Agni), under the large variety of names or embodiments (murti) customary with that divinity. These vary from seven to nine in number, most of which, namely Rudra, Bhava, Sarva, Pa^upati, Ugra (cf. also the word foe in st. 27, as reflecting the name Lana *), occur in the hymn either as full proper names, or as standing epithets. Connected lists of these names occur frequently, e. g. AV. XV, 5 ; Va£\ S. XXXIX, 8. 9 ; Kaush. Br. VI, % ff. : Sat. Br. VI, 1, 3, 10-17 ; Sankh. St. IV, 18,5 ; Kauj. 51, 8; Par. Grzh. Ill, 8, 6 ; Asv. Grzh. IV, 8, 19 ; Hir. Grzh. II, 8, 6. 7 ; Marka/zafeya-pura/m, 52, 2 ff. : cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. II, 302; XVII, 130; Omina und Portenta (Royal Academy of Berlin, 1858), p. 400 ff. ; Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, IV2, 343, 403 ff.

The hymn is a prayer to Rudra, in his various aspects,

1 Saya^a cites the following versus memorialis : jarva/rc pa^upati/rc ko * gram rudrazrc bhavam athe * svaram, mahadevaw k& bhima^z k&.

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for protection and mercy, and it is rubricated, accordingly, at Kauj*. 50, 13.