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

is washed down upon the yellow birds, where it belongs. Cf. the notes on st. 4, and the introduction to VII, 116.

p. 265

daily 249, where turmeric still appears prominent among the curative agencies). Stanzas similar to I, 22 occur, RV. I, 50, 11-12; Tait. Br. Ill, 7, 6, 22-23; Apast. Sr. IV, 15, 1.

Stanza 1.

b. For hrzddyota the RV., Tait. Br., and Apast. vSY. have
hrzdroga (cf. Ridraga, Wise 321) ; see also AV. V, 20, 12 ;
VI, 24, 1. Still another name is hr/dayâmaya, AV. V, 30,
9 ; VI, 14, 1 ; 127, 3. For the root dyut, cf. AV. IV, 12,
2; XII, 3, 22: hrzd-dyota literally means 'heart-break;'
Saya/za takes it as e heart-burning,' hrzdaya/^ sa//ztapayati
(cf. Lat. splendida bilis).

c. The Vedic Hindu is deeply impressed with the redness of the cow, which is contrasted with its white milk, RV. I, 62, 9, &c. ' O sage mir wie geht es zu, gibt weisse milch die rothe kuh.' Perhaps we have here, too, an allusion to the divine Rohita in the thirteenth book of the AV. ; see Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, and our Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, 429 fT.

Stanza 2.

The anacoluthon in Padas c, d, seems to be occasioned by ayam, which is a sort of vox media fit for both second and third persons singular.

Stanza 3.

a. I have followed Bergaigne and Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 135 note, in emending the unintelligible rohimr devatya(^) to rohimdevatya(>&), 'the cows whose divinity is Rohwi.' I differ from these scholars in co-ordinating it with gavo, rather than supplying rikâh ; see the abovementioned Contributions, p. 437. Rohi/zi is the female of Rohita, a personification of the red, ascending (ruh), ruling sun. The stanzas devoted to Rohmi occur AV. XIII, 1, 22 ff. Saya/za's comment on Padas a, b, is, devatya/z devatasu bhava/z . . . uktavar/za (sc. rohimk) ykk kamadhenvadayo gava^ santi, uta api yak manushyasa;/zp. 266bandhinyo rohim/t rohinya/i lohitavar^sl gava^ santi tdbhiA ubhayavidhabhir gobhi^.

Stanza 4.

b. ropawaka is glossed by S4ya//a at RV. I, 50, 12 by .yarika, ' thrush ;' Saya^a on our hymn, twice, kash/^a^uka (harit pakshi : the word is not in the lexicons). Darila at Kaui1. 26, 20. haridravar^a^- ^i/aka/^ (not in the lexicons ; cf. £L££ika, RV. X, 146, 2). Ke^ava, kash/^a(mu)sukam (!), and kash//#a^u(sh)ka/£andana (! a kind of sandal). The commentators seem therefore to waver between a bird and a plant.

c. haridrava is glossed by Saya^a at RV. VIII, 35, 7 by pakshin^ but the same work at I, 50, 12, as also the scholiast at Tait. Br.

(!), and kash//#a^u(sh)ka/£andana (! a kind of sandal). The commentators seem therefore to waver between a bird and a plant.

c. haridrava is glossed by Saya^a at RV. VIII, 35, 7 by pakshin^ but the same work at I, 50, 12, as also the scholiast at Tait. Br. Ill, 7, 6, 22, has haritaladrumeshu (a kind of tree !). Saya/za on our hymn, twice, gopitanakakhya haridvar/zM pakshi/za/z (gopitanaka is not in the lexicons, but gopita is ' wagtail ') ; Darila, ib., pita.? kitakkh ; Ke^ava, twice, gopitilaka.

I, 23. Commentary to page 16.

The practices connected with this and the next hymn are defined by the commentators as a cure for white leprosy, .svetakush/Mpanodanaya (Saya/za), .svetakush/Zzabhaisha^yani (Ke.yava). They are stated at Kau^. 26, 22- 24, as follows : 22. * While reciting AV. I, 23 and I, 24 (the priest) having rubbed dung (upon the sores) until they are red, smears upon them the substances, mentioned in the mantras1. 23. He cuts off the white (scurf). 24. (The patient?), having been covered, performs the rites to the Maruts.' The latter, described at Kau^. 41, 1-7, arep. 267 primarily designed to produce rain, and their employment here, secondarily, may be intended to put the patient into a sweat. The point is problematic and not cleared up by the scholiasts.

1 Ke^ava and Saya/za mention bhrmgara^a (eclipta prostata; note the pun between rag-a and ra^ani, &c. in I, 23, 1), haridra (yellow sandal, or yellow turmeric), indravarum (colocynth), and nilika. Darila has a somewhat different statement, too corrupt to be reported here.

The entire hymn is repeated with variants at Tait. Br.

II, 4, 4, 1. 2. The third stanza of the next hymn is there added to the charm.

Both this and the next hymn have been translated by
Weber, Ind. Stud. IV, pp. 416 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda,

III, 506, 509 ; Grill2, pp. 19, 77 ff. ; cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, pp. 258 ff. ; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 391 ; and Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 135. The Anukramam designates I, 23 as vanaspatyam, and I, 24 as asurivanaspatidevatyam.

Stanza 1.

Saya/za refers the adjectives dark, &c, to the plants, indicated by Kaujika's commentators. The word ra^ani (as well as all others designating night) has also the meaning ' curcuma longa.' Cf. the scholiast at Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, 1, ra^anakshame oshadhe . . . atra haridra ra^anuti kekit. The two meanings are blended with the idea of ' rich in colour/ by virtue of which the word puns with ra^aya.

Stanza 2.

b.

o the meaning ' curcuma longa.' Cf. the scholiast at Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, 1, ra^anakshame oshadhe . . . atra haridra ra^anuti kekit. The two meanings are blended with the idea of ' rich in colour/ by virtue of which the word puns with ra^aya.

Stanza 2.

b. A considerable number of MSS., here as well as in 3 d, followed by Saya/za, read pr/thak for pr/shat, which also makes good sense. The Tait. Br. also reads pr/shat.

c. This seems to be addressed to the patient : his natural colour shall return to him. Grill takes offence at the parenthesis x and proposes to refer sva^ to the plant ; cf. also Ludwig, and Bergaigne et Henry, 1. c, note. But the plants are of a colour different from the leper's spots (hence their virtue), and sva/z is inappropriate. Saya^a, as in our translation, he rug/za . . . svakiya/z prag avasthito van^a/z.

1 Cf. Aufrecht, Festgruss an Otto von Bohtlingk, p. 3.

p. 268

And still more explicitly the scholiast at Tait. Br., dehasya svakiya/z purvasiddho vanza/&.

I, 24. Commentary to page 16.

For the application of the hymn in the ritual, and previous translations, cf. the introduction to I, 23. Stanza 3 is repeated at Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, 2.

Stanza 1.

Saya/za states the little legend (akhyayika) as follows : The dark plant here in question was the gall (pitta, dosha) of the primordial bird supar/za (garutman). The Asuri (asura//a//z maya ka^ana stri) engaged in battle with him and conquered. The gall captured in the battle she embodied into the form of trees (nili, and so forth). This neat story would commend itself at once but for the word ^ita, which does not mean ' she conquered ' (Say.,^itavati), but ' she was conquered.' The story is so pat as to tempt to the emendation ^itva, or (as Ludwig suggests) ^itam. In general, of course, asura in the Atharvan, as elsewhere, stands for the hostile powers conquered by the Devas, e. g. AV. II, 27, 3. 4 ; IV, 19, 4 ; VI, 7, 2 ; VIII, 5, 3 3 IX, 2,17.18; X, 3, 11; 6,22-8; XI, 5, 7; 10, 10. 15; XII, 1, 15. But a different tone prevails occasionally. In VI, 108, 3 the Asuras are said to know wisdom ; in VI, 100, 3 the ant (upa^ika), which is employed as an antidote against poison, is called the daughter of the Asuras; in II, 3, 3; VI, 109, 3 they dig remedies into the ground, and finally, in VII, 38, 2, the Asuri attracts to herself Indra from the company of the gods, so that, according to Ka//z. S. XIII, 5, he lives with the Asuras (cf. Ind. Stud. Ill, 479 ; V, 250, 453). The sense of Saya^a's story is therefore not irrelevant.