Xii, 4- Commentary. 659
d. The cow belongs not even to every ordinary Brahma/za, but only to him that knows all her mystic properties ; cf. the numberless occurrences in the Brahma/zas of the expres- sions, ya evam veda, &c, and ya eva//z vidvan, &c.
The divinities that belong to the earth are in all pro-
bability the Brahma^as themselves; cf. the note on XII,
3, 38. The stanza betrays sharp competition between the
Brahma/zas.
e, d. Ludwig proposes to read either vidvan for vidyan, or narada for narada/4. Neither seems necessary : vidyat is the optative of narration, a moderated form of categorical statement. A better way to ease the construction is to read sa ha for saha in Pada d.
The statement is significant : it seems as though stanzas
of a more antique and floating character respecting the
va^a existed prior to the Atharvan redaction. For va^et
read, of course, vaset with the Index Verborum ; cf. the
note on III, 4, 7.
Stanzas 29, 30.
d. Ludwig suggests ^ighaz/zsasi, and this is correct as far as the change of the third person to the second person is concerned. The attraction of the proper third person in st. 30 has operated. But I have furthermore changed both stems to glgdiMsa.- from the root gam : the sense is much simplified. In st. 30 d read y&knytiys. with the Index Ver- borum.
Cf. the interesting parallel stanza .Sat. Br. Ill, 4, 2, 7. It
may be questioned whether the real gods are supposed to
mediate between the va^a and the Brahmans, or whether
deva and brahman are used synonymously. Cf. the notes
on st. 23 and st. 40.
U u 2
660 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
a, b. The call svadha is the ordinary and typical exclama- tion in connection with formulas addressed to the Fathers, in distinction from svaha, the call to the gods. The con- struction of the hemistich involves a zeugma. If we compare expressions like a sfiryaya vrtskyaite, Tait. Br. II, i, 2, 10 ; a vmv£yantam aditaye dureva/z, RV. X, 87, 18, it would seem as though the datives pitr/bhyo and devatabhya^ are to be construed with na a vrtskyate (vrtskate), derived from the sense of Pada 4 ; cf. also st. 28 d. See in general the note on st. 12.
Stanza 38.
Brzhaspati is the divine representative of the Brahmans : he undertakes to collect the debt incurred by the un- righteous owner of the vaisS. from his descendants by causing the priests to dun them for the debt.
For viliptyam (MSS. also viliptim) the Paippalada has vilaptim (for vilapatim ?). Neither form seems to suggest anything usable. Perhaps viluptf, ' miscarrying,' a deriva- tive of vilupta, ' destroyed,' in the neuter ' dead offspring ' is the true reading, of which the extant forms are perplexed popular etymologies (viliptf, ' soiled;' vilapati, 'whining'). Only it does not appear clear why vilupti should have been misunderstood ; hence the suggestion is very problematic.
c. The Paippalada reads tan for tarn: 'And Narada replied to them ' — a more facile reading.
Stanzas 43-47.
There seems to be considerable disorder in the arrange-
ment of these stanzas. We should naturally expect 47
immediately after 43. This may have been displaced by
44 : the concordance of kasya(/£) in 43, and viliptya^ in 44
Xiii, I. Commentary. 66 1
(cf. vilipt? ya in the otherwise identical st. 46) renders stanza 44 suspicious. The original order, throwing out 44, may have been 43, 47, 46, 45.
XIII, 1. Commentary to page 207.
The thirteenth book of the Atharvan consists of four hymns devoted to the worship of a divinity called Rohita, and his female Rohim. There can be no doubt that ' the red ' sun and his accompanying female, who in the course of the literature is designated as Ushas, Surya, Surya Savitri, or Dyu1, are primarily in the mind of the poet. Rohita accordingly is identified with Agni (stanzas 1, 1 1. 12), Surya (stanzas 1, 32. 45 ; 2, 1) and other manifestations of the sun 2. But there is also another equally obvious side to the composition : it represents an allegorical exaltation of a king (rags.) and his queen (mahisht). The heavenly Rohita and his female are called upon to protect and exalt the king and queen ; the names of the divinities, rohita and rohizn, are felt by the Atharvan poet to furnish especially good ground for calling upon them to undertake this pro- tection, since they afford an inexhaustible mine for puns with words that mean 'rise, ascend' (cf. st. 4a), In the royal ceremonies (ra^akarma/zi) the king frequently ascends (a ruh, or a kram), a throne, or skin, or horse ; the act, of course, symbolises every time the moral ascendency of the potentate. Cf. Vait. Su. 36, 7 ; Kaas\ 17, 3. 9. 13. 22 ; Ait. Br. VIII, 6, 12 ; and the ra^asuya at Vag. S. X, 1 ff.,
1 Cf. Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 186.
2 The word ' identified ' is perhaps too strong. The composition of this book is by no means a unit ; it is indeed at times very difficult to see upon what ground the various stanzas have been compiled evidently with the main purpose of glorifying Rohita. But at any rate the compiler finds it especially natural to adapt stanzas in praise of other sun-divinities, and to glide over into the diction familiar to them. At Kaui\ 24, 42 rohita is explained directly as the sun (aditya). Another relation of Rohita is Agni with two red steeds (rohitabhyam), La/y. Sr. I, 4, 2 if.
662 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
where the verb a ruh occurs with especial frequency. In general the relationship of many stanzas of the present hymn with those in vogue at the ra^asuya, the ceremonies at the consecration of a king, is very close ; they have been collected and discussed in our remarks on the Rohita-book ; see the article cited below.
In the Tait. Br. II, 5, 2, 1-3 a considerable number of the stanzas at the beginning of this hymn recur with variants which betray the fact that the Taittiriya-version is older and better than that of the Atharvan 1. The com- mentator (p. 600) explains the rohita as the horse employed at the a^vamedha, the horse-sacrifice, and we may regard it as possible that certain stanzas in this compilation were originally composed for this purpose (cf. the note on st. 22).
The hymns of book XIII are designated at AV. XIX, 23, 23 2, and Ka.us. 99, 4 as rohitani (sc. suktani). Neither the Kauj-ika, nor the Vaitana, each of which rubricates individual stanzas, contributes anything of consequence towards the elucidation of the hymn 3. In Ath. Pam. 13, 2 (Hira^yagarbhavidhi) the first two hymns of the book are employed. This is distinctly a royal rite, intended to ward off all evil (sarvapapanodana). Stanzas i, 12 ; 2, 36. 37 are employed in another ra^akarma, called the Ghrztaveksha/zam, Ath. Fans. 8, 1. Nowhere is there anything calculated to define these hymns more narrowly.
The present hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 536 ff. ; cf. also Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 395 ff. The entire Rohita-book has been translated and expounded by Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas (Paris, 1891); cf. Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII,
1 AV. XIII, 1, 1 in Tait. Br. II, 5, 2, 1 ; AV. 3 in Tait. 3; A V. 4 in Tait. 1 ; AV. 5 in Tait. 1 ; AV. 6 in Tait. 3 ; AV. 7 in Tait. 3 ; AV. 8 in Tait. 2 ; AV. 10 in Tait. 2.
2 Cf. Indische Studien, IV, 433.
3 At Kaiu. 99, 4 the rohita- hymns are addressed to the sun during an eclipse.
Xiii, I. Commentary. 663
429 ff. ; Regnaud, Le Rig- Veda et les Origines de la Mytho- logie Indo-Europeenne, p. 315 ff.
In Pada d the Tait. Br. reads na^ for tva ; the latter seems due to secondary adaptation. The stanza in its Atharvan form clearly bespeaks protection for a king from Rohita. Its first hemistich is addressed, very secondarily, at Kaiu. 49, 18, in a witchcraft-practice to a sinking ship.
The appearance here of a stanza that deals with Indra and the Maruts is not as arbitrary as it may seem to be at first sight. In a certain sense Pada 3 a is in catenary construction with 2 b. The Maruts are the vis, the people ; Indra is the typical king. And, with a quick turn in the second hemistich of the present stanza, Rohita again sug- gests the king, who listens to the people (the vis, the Maruts) : the word svadusa7//muda^ conveys between the lines the prayer, ' so that they (the people) shall be de- lighted with the sweet gifts of royalty.'
Cf. XIII, 3, 26 d, and the introduction, for the allitera- tions in Pada a. The Taittiriya version of Pada c, tabhi^ sa#zrabdho avidat shad urvi'/z, has correct metre, and the aorist third singular avidat is in accord with the tenses and numbers of the verbs immediately following. Ludwig evades the syllepsis in the plural avindan, rendering, ' von disen (frauen) erfasst haben die sechs weiten ihn aufgefunden.'
The present stanza, together with 4 a, b, exhibits a very pronounced allusion to practices akin to the ra^asuya ; cf. the dig-vyasthapana-mantrM, Tait. S. I, 8, 13, 1-2, and see for details our article cited above, p. 432. For the form asthan (asthat), ib. 438 ff. Cf. the first abhayaga;/a of the Ga/^amala, Ath. Pari?. 32, 12 (Kaiu. 16, 8, note).
664 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The Taittiriya version again has the mark of priority (a^a ekapad for a^a ekapada/z). The a^a ekapad is cer- tainly the sun; cf. Tait. Br. Ill, i, 2, 8, 'the one-footed goat (with double entente, "driver," and again, "non-born"1) has risen in the east, delighting all gods ; at his urging all the gods go.' Cf. the note at XI, 4, 21.
The gayatri, the rhythmic measure of Agni, is his repre-
sentative upon earth (cf. RV. I, 61, 8 ; Journ. Amer. Or.
Soc. XVI, 9). The assimilation of Rohita and Agni, which
appears frequently in the sequel, begins here. Note the
variants, Tait. Br. II, 2, 5, 2.
d. Repeated at RV. X, 123, 8 d, where the Pada appears to be secondary, since the word rupam, supplied here from Pada b, is there wanting. Cf. similarly the inferiority of RV. VI, 58, 1 a to Tait. Ar. I, 10, 1 (3 a).
c. tva is metrically superfluous, and hardens the sense. Without it, ' he shall not abandon me, lest I abandon (him).' Our rendering of nathito, ' when implored/ is uncertain : ordinarily (e.g. Ill, 1, 2) it means 'in distress/ The sense would then be, ' may I not in distress abandon thee.'
c. Repeated in st. 37 d. The rendering is conjectural
owing to the obscurity of the word ma^mani, which occurs
here only. Cf. RV. I, 143, 4.
c. I am inclined to think that Ludwig is correct in
emending the air. Aey. ush/zihaksharo to ushmhaksharo =
ushm'ha aksharo, and in rendering aksharo by om (the
pra^ava) ; cf. 5ankh. Sr. I, 1, 36 (pra^avo ye ya^-amahe
vasha^kara^). For other suggestions, cf. Henry's careful
discussion in his note (1. c, p. 27 fif.).
1 Cf. Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, III, 23.
Xiii, I. Commentary. 665
The five stanzas beginning here are rubricated at the godana-ceremony, the trimming of the youth's beard at the time of puberty, Kau.y. 54, 10. Their connection with the rest of the hymn is problematic. In stanza 18 d Rohita, as a variant of Agni in 17 d, is mentioned, and this alone may have induced the diaskeuasts to place the entire series here.
This and the next two stanzas exhibit the word va^aspati. They, along with other stanzas containing the same word, are known in the ritual (Kauj. 41, 15) as va/£aspatilinga/2 (sc. rikdik), and are employed at practices designed to ensure gain in business, while addressing the rising sun.
d. The word parameshMin seems to refer for the nonce to the young man, who, during the moment of his consecra- tion, assumes in the exorbitant language of his environment the role of the lord on high.
According to the Index Verborum the MSS. read nau for no (both times ?).