Both Pushan, the guardian of the distant ways, and Vastoshpati, the genius of home, are invited to co-operate with the person desiring adherents, in order to put a stop to dissension -and disintegration.
VI, 74. Commentary to page 135.
This is one of the sa//zmanasyani (sc. suktani), ' charms designed to produce harmony/ treated at Kau^. 13, 5. See the introduction to III, 30 for the practices connected with these hymns.
d. The word jrantam seems suspicious. Possibly bantam
is intended ' with the peace of Bhaga.' The root jam is
used with words for * strife,' vigraha, Kathasaritsagara 56,
96 ; vaira, Mahabh. XIV, 2509.
Cf. Tait. S. II, 1, 11, 3, with the variant rudra^ for ugra^ (Saya^a = rudrd^). Sclya/za explains tri/zaman as the threefold fire of the earth, lightning, and sun, or, as the threefold fire of the sacrifice (^arhapatya, &c). Cf. the gloss at Tait. S., 1. c.
VI, 75. Commentary to page 93.
This hymn is an abhi/£arika-hymn, and is, accordingly,
rubricated twice in the sixth adhyaya of the Kaasika,
which is devoted to hostile (witchcraft) practices. The
496 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
so-called sawsthitahoma/£, * final oblations/ in the case of auspicious (janta) performances, are undertaken while VII, 97 is being recited. Thus according to Kaur. 6, 3 (cf. also 3, 19, note). But in the case of abhi^arika-practices, accord- ing to the Paribhasha-sutra 47, 10, a sinister turn is given to the sarasthitahoma^ by reciting the present hymn with them 1. The more special practice attached to this hymn is at Kaus. 48, 29-31. The sacrificial straw is spread with the thumb. Reed-grass (or an arrow, ^ara?) is thrown upon it from baskets made of kadvindu 2. By means of a leaf of the red a^vattha an oblation3 (of ihgWa-oil ; 47, 3), dashed with poison, is offered. There is no special rapport between the hymn and the ceremony.
Previous translations by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 373 ;
Grill 2, pp. 22, 165 ff. The Anukrama/zi, mantroktade-
vatyam aindram sapatnakshayakama^. The entire hymn
recurs with variants, and markedly different arrangement
of the Padas, at Apast. Sr. Ill, 14, 2 ; cf. also Tait. S. V,
1, 10, 3ff.
VI, 77. Commentary to page 106.
This charm is obviously a patchwork of mantras of various original values. The first hemistich of stanza 1 is identical with VI, 44, 1 a, b. The second hemistich of st. 3 is also formulaic (cf. V&g. S. XII, 8), and fits poorly into the present conception of the hymn. The second stanza (= RV. X, 19, 5) is clearly derived from a charm calculated to bring stray cattle home. As the hymn stands it would answer this purpose quite well, but the Kaujika, 36, 5-9, as explained by the commentaries, treats it as a charm for capturing a runaway woman, or holding in check a woman
1 The oblations in the latter case, implicitly, are not of ghee, but of ingk/a-oil ; cf. 47, 3.
2 Cf. 47, 1 ; Tait. S. II, 1, 5. 7. Our rendering of the air. Aey. kadvindukoshMai/£ is conjectural.
3 This is the nairbadhyazra havis (st. 1). For these especially pointed havis, see the note on VI, 39, 1.
Vi, 77- Commentary. 497
disposed to run away 1. The proceedings consist in fasten- ing a band down the cross-beam of the house and then fastening it to the middle post2. Then the foot of the (woman's) bed is fastened to an utpala-plant (nymphaea) 3. Further it is fastened to an Skrishta. 4. Finally sesame is offered by means of a coal-rake (akarsha : cf. Darila). The two words kkrishta. and akarsha both contain the root karsh with a, * drag back ; ' cf. akr/sh/imantra, ' charm for drawing a person to one's self/ Hitopade^a, book I, sloka. 90. There can be no doubt as to the meaning of the performances : they are intended to hold fast, or to compel the return of a person that has gone off.
The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 468, under the heading a^va^ (' horses').
For the use of the aorists in this and the following stanza, cf. Delbruck, Syntaktische Forschungen, II, 87. To our feeling presents would be preferable to the aorists, and we might perhaps have better so rendered. In Pada d Saya^a supplies iva (luptopamam) with a^van, and striyam with atish/Zzipam, in slavish adherence to the Sutra. See the introduction.
Padas b, c are formulaic : cf. V&g. S. XII, 8.
3 Sayawa, palayana^ilaya^ striya nirodhanakarma^i. The posi- tion of the charm in the second part of the fourth adhyaya of the Sutra, among the strikarma/zi (Kau^. 32, 28-36, end), shows that Kaujika himself regards it as a practice concerning women.
2 The symbolism is obvious. For the parts of the house, cf. Ill, 12, 6. and the introduction to III, 12. See also Zimmer, Altin- disches Leben, p. 153.
8 This is very doubtful. The word utpale here, as at Kaiu. 35, 26 (see the introduction to III, 25), is very problematic. Sayawa has upale, ' to a stone/ Apparently a specious, easier reading.
4 Whatever that may "be. Darila, alsrzsh/a^ mat/rke*ti prasi- ddhabhidhanas tasmin jayanapadaw badhnati. See Pet. Lex. under matrz'ka.
[42] K k
498 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
VI, 78. Commentary to page 96.
In the light of the words bhut&ia (st. 1 a), and rash/re^a (st. % b) it would seem as though this blessing related to the marriage of a royal personage (kshatriya). The central idea of this charm is the bhuta^ havis, 'oblation that produces power;' cf. especially IV, 8, i, and the ya.ro havis, ' oblation that yields glory/ VI, 39. The latter forms also part of the practices of a king (see the introduction to VI, 38). But there is nothing in the treatment of the hymn, Kaui*. 78, 10. 14-16, to show that it refers to a royal couple, though that is not conclusive as regards its original intent. The practices consist in pouring the dregs of ghee upon the heads of the couple, after they have come home (a kind of consecration, abhisheka) ; in causing them to eat together of fluid food (rasa ; cf. st. 1 d) and porridge ; and, finally, in offering as much barley mixed with ghee as can be held in the two hands placed side by side.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Indische
Studien, V, 238 ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 371 ff. ; Grill 2,
pp. 57, 166. The Anukramam to the first two stanzas,
Mndramasyau (cf. & pyayatam, st. 1 ; abhi vardhatam, st.
2) . . . ^ayabhivrz'ddhyai ^andramasam astaud raylm ka.
dampatyor aprarthayat ; to the third stanza, tvash/ri.
a, b. For bhutena the Paippalada reads bhutasya ; Grill suggests bhutyena. But the use of the noun in apposition, rather than the attributive adjective, seems to be idiomatic in connection with these pregnantly employed havis : see ya.ro havis, VI, 39, 1 (cf. the note there), and abhivarta;^ havfs, RV. X, 174, 1. Weber regards Agni as the subject of a pyayatam ; Saya/za, the bridegroom. The latter is correct, but it would seem as though the passage alluded to the moon (cf. the Anukramam), the typical bridegroom ; cf. RV. X, 85, 6 ff. = AV. XIV, i, 6 ff
d. The Paippalada has sa rasenabhi vardhatam. The rendering of the P&da is not at all certain ; the word rasena
Vi, 79- Commentary. 499
(and payasa in st. 2) surely alludes to sexual sap (cf. RV. I, 105, 2): some such sense as 'he causes the wife to increase with his semen ' is to be expected. But vardhatam is not causative, and we have given a purely philological rendering. Cf. also RV. X, 174, 1 d ; AV. 1, 29, 1 d. Weber, ' das (weib) mog' umwachsen er mit kraft ; ' Ludwig, ' die soil er mit dem besten gedeihen machen (vardhatam) ; ' Grill, ' fur's weib . . . nehm er an zeugungskraften zu.'
VI, 79. Commentary to page 141.
The performance which accompanies this charm at Kau5\ 21,7 consists in placing a stone upon a grain-bag (cf. st. 2 b)5 sprinkling it, laying upon it a handful of grain with each of the three stanzas, and letting (another person also) lay on (three hands full). The hymn is also rubricated at Vait. Su. 31,4; Gop. Br. II, 4, 9, where nabhasaspati is explained as vayu, ' wind/ and deva sa^sphana as aditya, c sun.' The Atharva^iya-paddhati (Kaor. 19, 1, note) counts the hymn among the pushrika mantra^, ' hymns that produce pros- perity.' The hymn recurs with notable variants at Tait. S. Ill, 3, 8, 2-3 ; cf. also III, 3, 8, 6.
c. The Padapa//£a does not analyse asamatim, either here or at RV. X, 60, 2. 51. The Pet. Lex. renders it by * incomparable/ Bohtlingk, in the smaller lexicon, emends it to asamarti, ' exemption from injury ; ' cf. asamartyai in the passage cited above from the Tait. S. We with Saya/za, matir manam pari££/zedas tena saha vartata iti samati/^, tadvaiparityam asamati^.
c. The Pada is formulaic : Tait. Br. Ill, 7, 5, 7, tasyas te bhakshiva/za>£ sy&ma ; Maitr. S. I, 4, 3 ; 5, 3. 10 ; Apast.
1 The later tradition regards asamati as a proper name ; cf. Saya/za on RV., and Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 33.
K k 2
500 HYMNS OF THE ATH ARVA-VEDA .
5r. IV, 13, 7, tasyas (tasya) bhaktivano bhuyasma ; cf. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar2, §4630!.
VI, 80. Commentary to page 13.
The subject matter of this hymn is identical with a Brahma/za legend, told at Maitr. S. I, 6, 9 ; Ka//£. S. VIII, t ; Tait. Br. I, 1, 2,4-6 (cf. also Sat Br. II, i, 2, 13-16). The substance of the story is that certain demons (asura) called kalaka%"a piled up a fire-altar in order to ascend by it to heaven. Indra joined them, adding a brick of his own. When they had climbed to heaven, Indra pulled out his brick and they tumbled down. They became spiders, all but two who flew up and became the two heavenly dogs. In our essay, 'The two dogs of Yama in a new role,' printed in the third series of Contributions, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 163 ff.1, it has been shown that the two heavenly dogs, otherwise the two dogs of Yama, are the sun and the moon. The mythic character of the kalaka^*a is altogether uncertain. We have surmised (1. c, p. 169) that they are either the galaxy, or the stars in general, conceived as spiders. Possibly some especial group of stars, three in number (cf. st. 2 of our hymn), is intended.
All this is embalmed in the present hymn in a technical oblation (havis ; cf. the note on VI, 39, 1) which is designated ' the majesty of the heavenly dog/ i. e. presum- ably, ' the majesty of the sun.' This and an appeal to the three kalaka/^a are the central points of the hymn, and the ritual, in a fashion altogether obscure, manipulates the prayer as a cure for paralysis (pakshahatabhaisha^yam, Darila and Kei-ava) 2. But the sense of the Sutras, Kam\
1 Cf. also the note on IV, 20, 7 b.
2 Cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, pp. 253, 256. Accord- ing to Saya/za, kakakapota^yenadipakshihatam, it would seem as though paralysis was supposed to be inflicted by strokes of the wings of crews, pigeons, eagles, and other birds (cf. also Ke^ava). Apparently purely symbolic : pakshin, ' winged, bird,' and paksha, ' side, half (hemiplegia).
Vi, 8 1. Commentary. 5oi
31, 18. 19 is also not at all clear. With the help of the commentators some such practice as the following seems to be restorable. The paralysed part of the body is rubbed with earth taken from the footprint of a dog, while keeping in quick motion. Then the part is fumigated by burning an insect (taken from a dog). The dog — the word occurs only in the commentaries, not in the Sutra itself — refers, of course, to the ' heavenly dog ' in the mantra ; the quick motion is opposed to the palsy of the patient ; the use of the insect seems to symbolise the fate of the kalaka;^a5 who in the legend become spiders. Cf. the article cited above, p. 166.
The third stanza is employed also in a nondescript
fashion at Vait. Su. 23, 20 ; Ath. Pam. 39, 1 (tadagadividhi)
and 42, 3 (snanavidhi). The hymn has been translated by
Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, tf^