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

akshas, PLra^as, &c, instigated by (some hostile) disturbance.' The same fatuous authority, however, at XIX, 35i 5 says, vishkandham viriish/askandham eva/^namana;// vatavii-esham maharogam, ' vishkandha, a serious disease of that name, caused by wind (in the body), producing dislocation of the shoulders.' Professor Weber is the author of the modern interpretation of the word, ' drawing the shoulders apart, rheumatism' (see Indische Studien, IV, 410 ; XIII, 141 ; XVII, 215, and cf.the Pet. Lex. ; Zimmer, 1. c, 390; Grill2, p. 75). I have been struck by the fact that both Darila and Kesava in their comments upon Kaus. 42, 23 ; 43, 1. 2, the Sutras which rubricate AV. II, 4 and 111,9, tne principal sources of our knowledge of the vishkandha, omit all mention of disease of any kind. To begin with, these passages of the Sutra are not part of the bhaisha^yani (Kaur. 25, 1-32, 27). Further, Darila speaks only of pua^ana^anam and pi^a^a^atanam, Ke^ava of vighna^amanam and vishkandhavighna^amano (mamA). Observation has taught me that the commentators' knowledge of the practices is superior to their knowledge of the meanings of words— all India is in this regard an easy prey to its perverse etymological habits1— and I should think itp. 283 more conservative for the present to hold that vishkandha, as well as the opportunistic sawskandha at AV. XIX, 34, 5, are designations of hostile demoniac forces. One may easily be convinced, by examining, with the aid of Whitney's Index Verborum, all the passages in which the word occurs, that the latter meaning suits as well as the former. Of course the boundary-line between disease and possession by demons is an evanescent one in all Atharvan writings. The formation vishkandha, moreover, suggests vyawsa (RV. I, 32, 5, &c.) and vigrlva (RV. VIII, 4, 24), both of them designations of demons (cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. IV, 410). Thus it has seemed best to leave the word untranslated for the present.

1 I recommend a continuous reading of Yaska's Nirukta to any

Stanza 2.

a. ^-ambha, ' convulsions, cramps, or colic.' The translation is reasonably certain. Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 142, describes the trouble as an infantile disease, perhaps teething; cf. also Zimmer, 1. c, 392, and Henry, Le livre VII de 1' Atharva-veda, p. 53. The etymology of the word, and the epithet sa^hanu, Shutting the jaws/ at AV. VIII, 1, 16, seem to lend themselves at first sight to such an interpretation, but it is after all too narrow.

mer, 1. c, 392, and Henry, Le livre VII de 1' Atharva-veda, p. 53. The etymology of the word, and the epithet sa^hanu, Shutting the jaws/ at AV. VIII, 1, 16, seem to lend themselves at first sight to such an interpretation, but it is after all too narrow. Saya^a, ^ambhat hiwsakat krztyade^, yad va ^ambha iti dantavueshasya akhya, rakshasadantavLreshakrztat khadanat. See, however, his very different interpretation at VIII, 1, 16. At Kauj. 32, 1 ; 35, 15 occurs the word ^"ambhagrzhita. Darila at 32, 1 defines it as^ambho raksha^, tena grzhita/z ; according to Kaarika and Kcrava, the patient is an infant which is put to the mother's breast and fed with rice and fennel steeped in milk 1. All this would still pass readily as a cure of diseases connected with teething. But in Kaus. 35, 12-15 we have the following performance:

one who wishes to know how much grain may be found among the chaff. And Yaska is the high priest ; how much worse are the epigoni !

1 Kauj\ ^ambhagr/hitaya (Ke.r. balakaya) stanaw praya^ati, priyahgutawi/ulan abhyavadugdhan pdyayati.

p. 284

. . . garbhadrzVnha?zani, ^ambhagrz'hitaya . . . gy*km trir udgrathya badhnati. losh/an anvrikani pnlrayati. ^yamasikatabhi^ j-ayana^ parikirati. The scene here is child-birth, the passage is part of the strikarmam, c women's rites ' (32, 28-36, 40), and the ^ambha has seized the baby or the foetus, either at the moment of birth, or prematurely. Hence the title of the ceremony, ' performances for steadying the womb or foetus.' According to Darila, the woman herself receives the treatment, being tied about with a threefold bowstring (^-ambhena grzhito garbho yasya striya^ tasya gyâm tvigunkm krz'tva badhnati), fed with lumps of earth (^ambhagrzhita/^ [!] prclrayati), and having her bed strewed about with black sand. Here ^ambha seems to refer to some irregular behaviour of the foetus ; cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, pp. 423 (middle), and 421 (bottom), and the introduction to VI, 17. The word has at any rate no special connection with the teeth, as may be seen, too, from Tait. S. IV, 5, 11, 2.

Our translation of vuara by ' tearing pain ' (Say.
jariravuara^at) is of the etymologising sort. The Pet.
Lex., more cautiously, regards it as the name of a demon.
Cf. vuarika at XIX, 34, 10, which Saya;^a glosses by
vueshe/za hi//zsakam.

Stanza 5.

I am quite agreed with Ke^ava and Saya^a (ma/dbandhanasutraprakr/tibhuta/^) in not regarding the juxtaposition of the hemp with the ^angk/a as due to some biological relationship, or therapeutic virtue (cf. Weber, Ind. Stud.

ses by vueshe/za hi//zsakam.

Stanza 5.

I am quite agreed with Ke^ava and Saya^a (ma/dbandhanasutraprakr/tibhuta/^) in not regarding the juxtaposition of the hemp with the ^angk/a as due to some biological relationship, or therapeutic virtue (cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 142). The hemp represents the thread with which the amulet of ^angi^a was tied on. A thread, or rope of hemp is mentioned also at Kauj-. 25, 28; 72, 15. See the introduction to the hymn. The hemp, of course, comes from the sap of the furrow ; gahgida,, the tree, from the forest.

Stanza 6.

The same stanza with variants occurs at AV. XIX, 34, 4.
The last Pada is a formula, occurring in addition at IV, 10,
6 ; XII, 2, 13 ; XIV, 2, 67.

p. 285

II, 7. Commentary to page 91.

Saya/za (and similarly Ke^ava) define the purpose of this hymn as a charm to obviate curses, evil eye, and danger from the attack of demons : laukikavaidikakro^ayor brahma/za^ape krura^akshu^purushadrzsh/inipate pua^ayakshadibhaye. According to Kaoy. 26, 35 the procedure consists in investing the person threatened with (an amulet made of) the substance mentioned in the mantra. The commentators define this as yavama;zi, ' an amulet of barley V The word yava is not mentioned in the hymn, the nearest approach to it is japatha-yopani, ' wiping out curses.' As o and ava have almost identical phonetic values in the Veda (cf. our statement of the facts, Amer. Journ. Phil. V, pp. 25 ff.), we must suppose that yava has been read by the ritualists out of the syllable yo- of yopani ; cf. too, the synonym rapatha-yavani at IV, 17, 2, and the well-known formula yavo^si yavaya*smad dvesha^, ' barley art thou, ward off hatred from us' (Tait. S. I, 3, 1, 1 ; Sat. Br. Ill, 6, 1, 11 ; Hira/zyak. Sr. IV, 2, 42, in addition to the places mentioned in Kauiikasutra, index C). Upon this basis the word and the article yava are suggested. The pun is so familiar as to leave no room for doubt in the mind of the Hindu acquainted with this style of literature. Cf. the introduction to VI, 91 ; and the note to IX, 2, 13.

The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 148 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 508 ; Grill2, pp. 24, 81 ff. The Anukrama/zi, bhaisha^yayurvanaspatidaivatyam. Cf. also Santikalpa 19 2.

Stanza 1.

At Apast. vSr. VL 20, 2 the stanza occurs in the following corrupt form : atharvyush/a deva^*uta vWu ^//apatha^-ambhani/z : apo malam iva pra^i^ann asmatsu ^apathah adhi. Cf. II, 25, 4- 5.

1 Sayawa, however, commenting on virudh in st. 1, durva yavo va.