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

Vedische Studien, I, pp. 313 ff, where the charm is interpreted erroneously as directed against the house-cat. Cf. our brief criticism in the Journ. Am. Or. Soc. XV, 153, note.

Stanza 1.

a. Saya^a reads lakshmam for lakshmyam, commenting, asaubhagyakara^/ £ihnam. To lalamyam he remarks, lalame bhava^ tilakasthctnagatam.

d. The Pada is hypermetric, unless we read pra^ayaratim with double sandhi. Ludwig would cure the passage by substituting nir for pra^ayai, but the latter word seems guaranteed b^ AV. V, 25, 8, pra^ayai tva (tva a) nayamasi, and possibly this is the original reading (cf. Geldner, I.e., 314). In adhering to the traditional text I have supposed the meaning to be that she who has the character of an Arati is rendered fit for marriage and child-birth by the charm. Very problematic this is, to be sure. Saya^a takes pra^ayai with Pada c, yani . . . saubhagyani £ihnani . . . tani . . . asmakaz/2 pra^-ayai . . . bhavantu, . . . yani purvani nLfearitani asaubhagyakara/zi £ihnani . . . aratiw ^atrum . . . prapayama/z !

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Stanza 2.

a. ara/zim is air. Key., reminding us of ara^a, c strange/ dra^ya, ' waste, forest/ and axa.nya.ni (-«?), the personified goddess of the forest, RV. X, 146. Saya/za reads ara/nm, commenting, arama/nm alakshmiw daurbhagyakara^z £ihnam . . . yadvd aramani/^ sarvadd parya/anakârmim artikarlm va alakshmim. Shankar Pandit retains the reading of the MSS., savishak (for savishat in our edition), but Saya^a reads sâvishat. Cf. the Vag*. S. in the Ka;zvajakha X, 2, 1; XX, 1, 1 (= IX, 5; XVIII, 30 of the M^dhyamdina-^akha), and Weber, Ind. Stud. IV, 248, 412; XIII, 108. See also Apast. Sr. XIII, 7, 13.

Stanza 4.

Saya;za treats all these epithets as referring directly to a woman ; we prefer to regard them as personifications of evil qualities, imagined as dwelling within the person whose characteristics are foul. Saya^a, vrzshasye*va danta yasya^ sa vrzshadati sthuladanta nari . . . gaur iva sedhati gak.knatUti gosedha stri . . . vvkritam dhamati ^abdayate iti vidhama, phutkaradivividha.rabdakâri/zi . . . lalamya//z lalamasthâne lala/aprante bhavam . . . mWdhyam vueshe//a Mdhzm vilW/zam, vilfo%am iva sthita//z kesa.na.rn pratilomyarupam. Our rendering of vilidhyam is not at all certain.

I, 19. Commentary to page 120.

The hymn is one of a list of battle-charms, si/^gramikam (sc. suktani), rubricated in Kau^. 14, 7, and associated with ceremonies of a general character, preparatory to going to battle. The Ga/zamal£, Ath. Pam.

at all certain.

I, 19. Commentary to page 120.

The hymn is one of a list of battle-charms, si/^gramikam (sc. suktani), rubricated in Kau^. 14, 7, and associated with ceremonies of a general character, preparatory to going to battle. The Ga/zamal£, Ath. Pam. 32, 13, has a similar list, somewhat more extensive, which is entitled apara^-itaga/za : see the note at Kau^. 14, 7, and cf. the introduction to I, 2. The hymn is also employed against certain portentous occurrences, as when Brahma/zas carry arms (Kau^-. 104, 3), when images of the gods dance, shake, laugh, sing, or indulge in other freaks (Kau^. 105, 1), or

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when a bull sucks a cow (Kaiu. 113, 3). Cf. also Ath.
Parii". 17, 2. The hymn has been translated by Weber,
Indische Studien, IV, 413 ; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry,
Manuel V<£dique, p. 134.

Stanzas 3, 4.

These two stanzas are an expanded version of RV. VI.
75, j 9. The latter part of that hymn contains suggestions
which have been freely utilised in the battle-charms of the
Atharvan.

I, 22. Commentary to page 7.

The proceedings of the practitioner, Kauy. 26, 14-2 r, are entirely symbolic ; the main effort is to banish the yellow colour to yellow creatures and objects (the sun), where it properly belongs, and to derive for the patient redness from that quarter where it is peculiarly at home, namely a red bull ; cf. RV. I, 62, 9, and Aufrecht in the introduction to his edition of the Rig-veda, vol. ii, p. xvii. The practices are as follows :

26, 14. 'While reciting AV. I, 22 (the priest) gives (the patient water) to sip, which is mixed with hair from (a red bull) the object mentioned in the mantra (st. x). 15- And having poured (water) upon the back of the bull (he lets the patient drink it). 16. He ties on as an amulet upon the (patient) sitting upon the skin of a bull (the piece of skin) pierced by the peg with which it is fastened (when it is spread out) l, after having steeped it in cow's milk and anointed it with the dregs of ghee2. 17. He gives (the patient the milk) to drink. 18. He feeds (the patient) with

1 The words ' the piece of skin/ &c. are all of them a tentative rendering of jankudhanam, to which Darila, £arma«o vistaraya kilakabandha^ ^ahkusthapanam. Sayawa, in the introduction to the hymn, raktago^arma^idramamm . . . tanmambandhanam. Ke^ava, go rakta^armaMidramamm. Cf. also Kaur. 27, 29, to AV. Ill, 7, 1.

2 Cf. Kau^. 7, 15.

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a, £arma«o vistaraya kilakabandha^ ^ahkusthapanam. Sayawa, in the introduction to the hymn, raktago^arma^idramamm . . . tanmambandhanam. Ke^ava, go rakta^armaMidramamm. Cf. also Kaur. 27, 29, to AV. Ill, 7, 1.

2 Cf. Kau^. 7, 15.

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porridge made of haridra (turmeric, or curcuma, a yellow plant), daubs him from head to foot both with the remnants of the porridge and (additional porridge) from which he has not eaten, (places him upon a couch), ties the (three birds) mentioned in the mantra x by their left legs to the foot of the couch, and washes (the patient) off (upon the birds). 19. He makes the patient step forward (after having first given him a stirred drink, mantha, in accordance with the paribhasha at Kauy. 7, 18). 20. He makes (the patient) address (with the hymn) the chattering (birds). 21. Having glued together with lac the hairs from the breast (of the red bull) and getting them covered with gold (the patient ties that on as an amulet).'

Saya^a in his introduction defines the purpose of the hymn as against heart-disease and jaundice, hrzdrogakamiladirogopa^antaye ; Kcrava advances a broader construction, according to which it cures in addition epilepsy and. fainting (vismaya ?), apasmara-vismaya-hrzdroga-kamalakarohmakani bhaisha^yâni. Adalbert Kuhn, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XIII, 113 ff., has assembled from Greek, Roman, and Teutonic sources notions and practices analogous to those elaborated by Kaasika. The principle that the yellow disease belongs by right to yellow objects, birds, and plants, is there again applied practically, with a touch, here and there, of similia similibus curantur. In addition to Kuhn's translation we note Weber's, Ind. Stud. IV, 415 ff. ; cf. also Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 343 ; Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, pp. 134-5 ; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 388 ; Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, 247 ff. (espe-

1 The juka, ropawaka, and haridrava mentioned in st. 4. Saya«a, in his introduction, jukakash/toukagopitanakakhyana^ pakshi- »am. Darila defines haridrava^ by haridravama^ ^i/aka^. Ke^ava, sukah kash/$a(mu)sukam (!) ka, gopitilaka^z £a. They seem to refer respectively to the parrot, the thrush, and the yellow wagtail, all doubtless birds prevailingly yellow. The yellow jaundice of the patient, accentuated by his coat of yellow curcuma, is washed down upon the yellow birds, where it belongs. Cf. the notes on st. 4, and the introduction to VII, 116.

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daily 249, where turmeric still appears prominent among the curative agencies). Stanzas similar to I, 22 occur, RV.