II, 4. Commentary to page 37. The plant called gahgida illustrates very perfectly the absence of any boundary line between disease and demon- ology in the Atharvan. On the one hand it is employed against a variety of diseases, fever (takman), internal sores (balasa), and other minor manifestations, or symptoms, designated as ^ambha, vuara and vkarika, ayarika, and pr/sh/yamaya (II, 4, 2 ; XIX, 34, 10), receiving therefore the epithet vuvabhesha^a, 'all-healing,' XIX, 35, 5; it is moreover the specific against rheumatic troubles, if vi- shkandha and sa^skandha (11,4, 1 ff. ; XIX, 34, 1. 5 ; 35, 1) shall turn out ultimately to have this meaning (see the note on st. 1 c). On the other hand it obviates all the dangers arising from hostile demons and sorceries, as is expressly stated in all the three hymns devoted to its praise (II, 4 ; XIX, 34 and 35). The plant is not mentioned outside of the Atharvan which, in lieu of description, indulges in the customary vague rhodomontades. The gods themselves have thrice produced the gahgida, Indra has put strength into it, and (XIX, 34, 6) the seers of yore are said to have known it by the name of Angiras— a very pretty conceit, but for the fact that it harbours nothing more than a stolid pun (^ahgi^/as and angiras). From the Kausika and its commentaries we learn at least one thing that it is a tree. In the Sutra, 8, 15, it occurs in a list of 'holy' (sknt&A)
Ii, 4- Commentary. 28 1
trees, as is expressly stated by Ke.yava, atha .rantavrzksha u^yante. Darila at 8, 15 ; 42, 23 describes it as a white tree growing in the Dekkhan, ar^-una^ a£ala iti dakshi/za- tya^ ; Kcrava at 8, 15, and Sayana at II, 4, 1 say that it is familiar in Benares, vara/zasya?^ prasiddha^. S&ya/za, in the introduction to our hymn, as also to AV. XIX, 34, has ^-angiWavrzksha, and in the commentary at XIX, 34, 1 he places the home of the tree in the north, uttaradcre pra- siddha^, all of which would seem to show that the tree is known in many parts of India.
The following is the literature on the gahglda: Groh-
mann, Indische Studien, IX, 417 ff. ; Weber, ib. XIII, 141 ;
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 65.
The hymn II, 4 is employed, Kau^. 42, 23, in a practice which, according to Darila, is destined to drive away demons (pua^aMtana) ; according to Kcrava — I state the text literally — it is, purushahave (cod. purusho have ; cf. XIX, 34, 3) akaryakarazzena vighna^amanakarma ; and further, kz'ztyadushazzarthe (cod. krz'tva-) apyayati vigh- na.ramanarakshakarazza/z vighna/z viskandhe (!) yak (the latter passage is not printed in my extracts from that authority in the edition). The practice consists in tying on as an amulet the substance mentioned in the hymn : dir- ghayutvaye*ti mantroktaw badhnati. Darila says gahgi- ^/amaf/im, and Kesava more explicitly states that an amulet derived from the gahgida be tied on with a thread of hemp, gahgidamanim ja/zasutre/za badhva saMpatya*bhimantrya badhnati. The hemp refers to stanza 5, and it seems to me quite likely that Kej-ava is right in thus describing the association of the hemp with the ^angi^a as altogether external. The hymn has been translated by Weber, Indische Studien, XIII, p. 140 ff.
This hymn, as many others, begins with an irregular
stanza, two trish/ubh and two anush/ubh Padas ; cf. RV.
VII, 103; AV. IV, 12; VI, in, &c.
b. Sayazza reads rakshama/za/z for dakshamazza^.
2 82 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
1 I recommend a continuous reading of Yaska's Nirukta to any
Ii, 4- Commentary. 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 Whit- ney'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 untrans- lated for the present.
a. ^-ambha, ' convulsions, cramps, or colic.' The transla- tion is reasonably certain. Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 142, describes the trouble as an infantile disease, perhaps teeth- ing; 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 interpreta- tion, but it is after all too narrow. Saya^a, ^ambhat hiwsakat krztyade^, yad va ^ambha iti dantavueshasya akhya, rakshasadantavLreshakrztat khadanat. See, how- ever, 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.
284 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
. . . garbhadrzV#ha?zani, ^ambhagrz'hitaya . . . gy*km trir ud- grathya badhnati. losh/an anvrikani pnlrayati. ^yamasi- katabhi^ 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 steady- ing the womb or foetus.' According to Darila, the woman herself receives the treatment, being tied about with a three- fold bowstring (^-ambhena grzhito garbho yasya striya^ tasya gy&m 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.
I am quite agreed with Ke^ava and Saya^a (ma/dban- dhanasutraprakr/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.
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.
Ii, 7- Commentary. 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 brah- ma/za^ape krura^akshu^purushadrzsh/inipate pua^aya- kshadibhaye. 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 intro- duction 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^yayurvanaspatidaivat-
yam. Cf. also Santikalpa 19 2.
At Apast. vSr. VL 20, 2 the stanza occurs in the following
corrupt form : atharvyush/a deva^*uta vWu ^//apatha^-am-
bhani/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.
2 Cited erroneously by Sayawa as Nakshatrakalpa.
286 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
b. We may note Grill's ingenious emendation of gkmydih
to ^amya/z, an adjective from g&mL But no such form
occurs. Cf. AV. II, 10, i ; RV. IV, 4, 5. Saya/za,
ga,mykk gamik sahottpanna bhagini.
A number of the attributes stated in this and the pre- ceding stanzas are repeated at VI, 43, 1. % ; XIX, 32, 1. 3. 7 in connection with the holy darbha-grass. The terms are too general and fabulous to permit definite conclusions as to the plant which the poet here has in mind.
a. The MSS. are divided between the readings pari
^m&'m (so our edition) and pari mam. I have followed
Saya/za and Shankar Pandit in adopting the latter version.
c, d. The metre is irregular (Anukr. vir&d uparish/adbrz- hati) : c is a catalectic Pada ; d has ten syllables, one of which may be suppressed by reading tarshur.
b. For the sentiment cf. Tait. Ar. II, 6, i. Saya/za, ya^ purusha^ suhart . . . tena suhrzdayena mitre/za saha na^ asmakam, sukha^z bhavatu iti ^esha/z, ' we together with our friend shall be happy/ I am not convinced that this is correct. Are we to read, ya^ suhart tena vayam saha ?
c. £akshurmantra, * he who bewitches with his eye,' also in XIX, 45, 1. Saya^a separates £akshur from ma(ntrasya, explaining the latter by gupta^z bhashama/zasya pLrunasya, ' the calumniator who speaks secretly/ But cf. the ' thou- sand-eyed curse' at VI, 37, 1; amitra^akshus at Kaui". 39, 11 ; and ghoram >£akshus, ' evil eye/ at IV, 9, 6 ; XIX, 35, 3-
II, 8. Commentary to page 13.
The word kshetriya is interpreted by the Atharvavedins quite unanimously as ' inherited disease/ Three hymns,
Ii, 8. Commentary. 287
II, 8 and 10; III, 7 (cf. also IV, 18, 7; V, 30, 4), are designed to drive it out, and the Kaorika rubricates all of them among the medical charms (bhaisha^yani), 26, 41-27, 4; 2jy 7_8 ; 27, 29-31. Darila at 26, 43 defines it as 'family disease,' kaulo vyadhi/z ; Kcrava at 27, 4 1 as, pitrzparyagata^ kshetriyaroga^ kush//*akshayaroga^ graha^idosha^ sarva- .yariraspho/akarav£ ; similarly Say. at II, 8, 1. The scholiast at Tait. Br. II, 5, 6, 3 (p. 628) has kshetra^ garbhasthanaw tatrotpannatvat, i. e. ' disease which has arisen while in the womb' (rather differently at II, 5, 6, 1, pp. 626-7). The practices connected with these hymns are obscure in detail, and their application is remote.