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

word to arundhata, though it is followed by the present a^nute. The MSS. with accent, arundhate.

f. The MSS. have, mr/ga isvk ive*rate, which we have translated. Roth and Whitney emend mrzgad risyk ive*rate, ' as antelopes flee from the wild beast/

XIX, 39. Commentary to page 5.

Neither the Kaiuika, nor Darila and Ke^ava, make any mention of this hymn, though it might, but for the commentaries, be understood to be included in the kushthdlmgdik (sc. rikdik) in Kaui\ 28, 13. It is not, moreover, included in the takmana^anaga^a of the Ga/zamala, Ath. Pam. 32, 7 : see Kaiu. 26, 1, note. Its failure to appear in the latter is fortuitous, since the Ga^amala, like other Atharvan PanVish/as, draws freely upon the nineteenth book; Kau.rika's silence, on the other hand, is in accord with the general attitude of this Sutra towards .the nineteenth (and twentieth) books of the Sa^hita ; see Kaorika, Introduction, p. xl. Sayaz/a in his introduction to the hymn says that the hymn is employed in the Ratrikalpa1, on the occasion when incense of kush//£a is offered (to whom ?) in connection with AV. XIX, 34, etu deva/fc iti shash//*a;/z suktam (sc. pa££ame*nuvake) asya ratrikalpe kush^apradane viniyoga^ purvasuktasamaya (XIX, 38) ukta^.

The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 198 ff.; cf. also Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, Index, p. 457 b. For the nature of the kush^a, see the introduction to V, 4.

1 The quotation occurs neither in the Pish/aratrya/fc Kalpa (Ath. Park. 6), nor in the Aratrika (Ath. Paru. 7), but in the Purohitakarma (Ath. Pam. 4, 4), where it is quoted together with XIX, 38.

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Stanza 2. b, c. The two Padas are translated in accordance with the text of the edition, which emends the MS. readings with great ingenuity, as follows : naghamaro nagharisho na ghaya^ purusho rishat. For the two syllables naghal the MSS. everywhere present nadya ; so also Shankar Pandurang Pandit's MSS. of the text with Saya/za's commentary, and the Padapa/^a (nadya). The Devanagari MSS. confuse badly, in the case of doubtful words, the characters for dya and gha ; see, e.g. the writings va^dya for vamgha, Kaus. 8, 14, and apadya for apagha, 36, 22 ; 42, 22 ; 82, 4. Thus far the emendation seems therefore well founded, an impression which is strengthened by Saya;za's abortive attempts to get sense out of nadyS by correlating it with nadi, * river/ and even worse. As regards nagharisho of the edition, Shankar Pandit's MSS.

Thus far the emendation seems therefore well founded, an impression which is strengthened by Saya;za's abortive attempts to get sense out of nadyS by correlating it with nadi, * river/ and even worse. As regards nagharisho of the edition, Shankar Pandit's MSS. waver between nadyarisho, nadyayusho, and nady^yusho, and the PadapaMa between nadya-risha^ and nadya-ayusha^ ; the element ayusha seems to be due to a secondary effort to contrast the word with mara in the preceding, and thus strain sense out of it. The formation nagharisha is guaranteed by AV. VIII, 2, 6 ; 7, 6, where it is also an epithet of a curative plant. By the side of purusho rishat the MSS. have also piirushorshat and purusho rishat (Padapa/^a : purusha^ rishat, and purusha^ r/shat). These emendations may be regarded as a specimen of the best that can be done with the corrupt text of the nineteenth book. — 'Three names hast thou,' i. e. na-gha-mara (' forsooth-not-death '), and na-gha-risha (' forsooth-not-harm '), in addition to the ordinary name kush/^a. This refers to varieties of the plant (cf. V, 4, 8), which, in the common manner of the Atharvan, justify opportunistic formations, coined with the freest fancy, and expressive of salient qualities.

Stanza 3.

a. ^ivala, ' vivida,' ' quickening,' or ' full-of-life/ is the honorific epithet of an independent plant (AV. VI, 59, 3 ; VIII, 2, 6 ; 7, 6), probably the arundhati (see the ihtroducp. 678tion to IV, 12). The Atharvan has a way of formulating qualities as father, mother, brother, &c. of the object they are attributed to ; see the note on V, 5, 1.

b. I have not followed the edition in emending ^ivanto, the unanimous reading of the MSS., to ^ivalo. A glance at VIII, 2, 6 ; 7, 6 shows ^ivalam by the side of ^ivantim ; and ^ivanta, givanti, ^ivantika are sufficiently authenticated as names of remedial plants. The emendation seems entirely groundless. For another father of the plant, see V, 4, 9 b.

Stanza 4.

a. Cf. VIII, 5, 11 ; V, 4, 9 a, b, and also 1 b. The fulsome praise in the manner of kathenotheism. When another plant is employed the expressions are no less exorbitant ; cf. e.g. VI, 15, 1.

Stanza 5.

a. The MSS. have \xih ^ambubhyo angirebhyas, or angireyebhyas, for which the vulgate substitutes boldly, trir bhr/gubhyo angirobhyas. I have followed it, not without some misgivings, in translating angirobhyas ; the text, however, may possibly disguise some patronymic derivative of angiras. Saya/^a comments upon angireyebhyas, with the words, angirasam apatyabhutebhya// ^ambubhya^.

bhyo angirobhyas. I have followed it, not without some misgivings, in translating angirobhyas ; the text, however, may possibly disguise some patronymic derivative of angiras. Saya/^a comments upon angireyebhyas, with the words, angirasam apatyabhutebhya// ^ambubhya^. But I could not go so far as to substitute trir bhrigubhyo for tri/z jambubhyo, the lectio difficilior, apparently for the reason merely that the Bhrz'gu and Angiras are frequently mentioned together. 6ambu and especially its patronymic 6ambavya are well authenticated, the latter being a schoolname of a sautra-.rakha. The wSambavya-grzhyasutra is a version closely related to the 5ankhayana-grzhyasutra ; cf. Indische Studien, XV, 4 and 154.

e. saka//z somena tish//£ati (cf. V, 4, 7 b): both soma and kiish/^a are mountain-plants; the former has the epithet girish/M, ' dwelling upon the mountain,' RV. IX, 18, 1, &c, and the mountains are called somaprzsh//£a, ' having soma upon their backs/ AV. Ill, 31, 10. For kiish/^a as a mountain-plant, see V, 4, 1 ; VI, 95, 3.

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Stanza 6.

The same stanza at V, 4, 3 ; VI, 95, i, with the variant fourth Pada, deva^ kush/v£am avanvata ; see the notes at V, 4, 3. In Shankar Pandit's edition with Saya/za's commentary the last four Padas of the preceding stanza are here added at the end, as a refrain.

Stanza 7.

The same stanza at V, 4, 4 ; VI, 95, 2, with pushpam (pushyam) for ^aksha;/am in Pada 3, and devâk kush/?//am avanvata in Pada 4 ; see the notes at V, 4, 4. In Mr. Pandit's edition the same refrain as in the preceding stanza*

Stanza 8. a, b. It seems difficult to abstain from comparing with this passage certain features of the well-known legend of Manu and the flood. In the 5at. Br. I, 8, 1, 6 the northern mountain upon which Manu's ship settled is styled * Manu's descent,' manor-avasarpa/zam, and in the version of the flood-legend in the Mahabharata I, 12795 (cf. also the Matsyopakhyana 49) it is called nau-bandhana. If the vulgate is correct in its restoration of the word ikshvako to ikshvakor in the next stanza (9), ' the ancestor of Ikshvaku,' i. e. Manu, may be imagined as landing with his ship upon the mountain, and finding the remedy. The Rig-veda, II, 33, 13, speaks of pure, most wholesome, and strengthening remedies which ' Father Manu ' chose, and it seems altogether likely that the two independent legends should blend here in the mind of the poet, and that he should have in mind when speaking of the descent of his golden heavenly ship upon the Himalaya the very spot where Manu descended.