The first hemistich is not easy to render, owing to the plays upon the words, and their ad hoc personifications. It might be rendered, ' Prati^ina (" Back-hurler ") is our magic priest (angirasa), Adhyaksha (" Overseer ") our officiator.' The word angirasa at any rate implies an allusion to that use of the word which couples it especially with witchcraft, and contrasts it with holy practices (athar- va/za, ^anta) : see the introduction to this volume ; the note on XI, 4, 16 ; and cf. VIII, 5, 9. Note also the pun between kritya(/i) and akr/tya, and cf. V, 8, 7.
Cf. IV, 12, 7. Here, as there, rz'bhii may be either appel- lative, or refer to the mythic JZibhu.
a. The image of things floating down a river is employed
with great predilection to indicate loss of power, harmless-
ness : e.g. I, 8, 1 ; VI, 113, 2 ; X, 4, 3.
The gift of an outsider to the Fathers must either have
been regarded as a defilement, or as an attempt to alienate
their affection and protecting care. In Pada b the sacrifice
is the hostile sacrifice as in VIII, 5, 15; the name of the
604 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
enemy is frequently called out in hostile formulas and prayers, e.g. IV, 16, 9; Kauj. 47, 10. 22. For the difficult word sa^dcryat, here and in the next stanza, see the notes on II, 8, 5 band IV, 16, 8.
For the conception of the sins of the gods, see the notes on VI, 111,3; II3i TJ anc* Proc. Amer. Or. Soc, March, 1894 (Journal, vol. xvi), p. cxix ff. Ludwig's rendering, 1 sin against the gods, and against the Fathers,' is perfectly admissible, but the other seems to us more pregnant and probable.
d. kuru/ini, translated by ' crowned with a crest,' is in truth a air. key. of unknown value. The Pet. Lexs. suggest its equivalence with kiri/in, ' ornamented with a diadem/ Cf. also kurira and kuririn, the latter in the closely related hymn, V, 31, 2. Hema^andra also reports a word kuru/in, ' horse,' and Ludwig, apparently on this basis, translates 1 mit rossen.' The head of the bogey may have been orna- mented in some fanciful way with a crest. But the point is altogether problematic. Cf. also tiri/in, VIII, 6, 7.
With the first hemistich cf. the little legend at Maitr. S.
Ill, 8, 8 (106, 11); Tait. S. VI, 2, 11, 1 ; Sat. Br. Ill, 5,
The ' lords of the beings ' allude to Rudra, who is called bhutapati ; cf. Bhava and 5arva in the concatenating next stanza, and see the introduction to XI, 2.
b. Cf. the perfect parallel, Manu VIII, 44, yatha nayati
asrz'kpatair mrzgasya mr/gayu^ padam, * as the hunter
tracks the (wounded) animal by its drops of blood.'
A metaphorical description of the fate of him that prac- tises witchcraft. The counter-charm (kr/tyapratihara/za) is
X, 4- Commentary. 605
sure to prevail in the end. For pratyadaya read pratya-
dhaya with the Pet. Lex. and Roth, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch.
MorgenL Gesellsch. XLVIII, 681.
X, 3. Commentary to page 8i.
At Kaus. 19, 22 there is a performance which is supposed to result in the fulfilment of every desire (Ke^ava, sarva- kama). It consists simply in reciting one of four hymns in praise of certain amulets, while fastening the amulet extolled in the hymn, after having steeped it for certain three nights in a mixture of sour milk and honey (in accordance with the ParibhasM-sutra, Kauy. 7, 19). For the character of the amulet derived from the vara^a-tree, as treated by the Atharvan poet, cf. the introduction to VI, 85. The third stanza naturally figures in the du^svapnamLyanaga^a, a list of hymns designed to remove the effect of evil dreams, in the Ga^amala, Ath. ParLr. 32, 8 (Kauy. 46, 9, note). Cf. also Santikalpa 17 and 19. The hymn has been translated by Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 60 ff.
b. For the epithet, ' thousand-eyed,' cf. the note on IV, 20,4.
X, 4. Commentary to page 152.
The central feature of this charm against serpents is the frequent allusion to the white horse of Pedu (Paidva) : from earliest times onwards, this is said to be a slayer of serpents. For its mythic origin, see Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, II, 451-2, 498, who identifies it plausibly with the steed of the sun. In the practices of the Atharvan, Kau^. 32, 20 ff. \ some insect is substituted for the unattainable mythical horse2. The hymn is employed at Kslus. 32, 20-25, as follows : 20. ' While reciting X, 4 the (person bitten) per-
1 Cf. also Kaur. 35, 4. 8, and the introductions to VI, 11 and 17.
2 Cf. Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 1 58 ; Kaujika, Introduction, p. xliv ff.
606 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
forms the rite to Takshaka (described at Kau^. 28, 1 ; see the introduction to IV, 6). 21. Having ground up the paidva1, he puts it with his right thumb up the nose in his right nostril. 22. If afraid of serpents he hides (the paidva) away in the seam of his garment. 23. While st. 25 of the hymn is being recited (the patient suffering from a snake- bite) is rubbed from (his head) to the tips of his feet. 24. Having heated the bitten spot while reciting the last stanza of the hymn, he throws (the torch with which the heating is done) upon the serpent. 25. (In the absence of the serpent he hurls it upon the spot) where he was bitten/ The hymn is also cited, along with other mantras against serpents, at Kau.r. 139, 8, in the course of practices pre- paratory to the study of the Veda. It has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 520 ff.
c, d. apama (the Padapa/^a in perplexity, apa-ma) seems untenable, unless we admit an irregular change of final as to a before r ; cf. Joh. Schmidt, Die Pluralbildungen der Indogermanischen Neutra, p. 124 ff. We emend to apamo. arad and arishat (! with some MSS.) are prophetic aorists : lit. ■ it has hit a post and come to grief/
a. The general sense of this passage seems fairly clear, but it is full of obscure details, and the metre so much dis- turbed as to cast suspicion upon the text. The Pet. Lexs. identify taru^akam with tarimaka in darbhataru/zaka, 'a young shoot of darbha-grass ; ' it seems therefore best to place taru/^akam in apposition with darbha^. But it is not quite clear what kind of grass is meant, nor what it is meant to do. According to Ait. Br. VII, 33, 1 ; Sat. Br. Ill, 1, 2, 7, &c. ; Asv. Grih. IV, 6, 11, the darbha-shoots are employed in the ritual ; possibly its purificatory power is
1 The paidva is some kind of insect. Most cleariy Ke^ava at Kauj. 32, 22, paidva/rc hiraT/yavarrcasadwa^ ki/a^ &trito va sa paidva ity u^yate.
X, 4- Commentary. 607
engaged against the serpents, as a flame which burns them.
Or, perhaps the young darbha-grass in which the serpent
lurks (cf. st. 13 d) is invoked against the serpent.
b. The horse of Pedu is meant, it seems : even its tail burns the serpents. For the unintelligible parushasya we are tempted to substitute arushasya, relying upon the oft emphasised whiteness (jveta) of Pedu's horse (RV. I, 116, 6 ; 118,9; IX9; IO; x> 39> 10).
c. Cf. st. 20, and I, 8, 1 ; VI, 14, 3 ; 113, 2 ; X, 1. 10 ;
RV. X, 155, 3: things that float away on the water are
harmless and powerless.
d. The vulgata reads var, enclitic ; Whitney in the Index Verborum, var. But many MSS., both here and in the next stanza, have var. According to Pischel, Vedische Studien, II, 74 ff., this is the true reading: injunctive of the s-aorist, second person singular (avarsham, avar, avar) from root var, 'ward off, hinder, obstruct.' The sense would be, 'ward off the fierce poison of the serpent (so that it be) devoid of strength.' But in the next stanza var would need to be construed as the third singular aorist indicative, ' he did ward off, &c.,' which renders this construction proble- matic. Perhaps the words var ugram, being metrically superfluous, are merely a gloss to visham.
Our rendering of the an. Aey. ara;#ghusho is purely ety-
mological, and very doubtful. Ludwig manipulates it as
a proper noun. Perhaps it is the designation of some
serpent-killing bird.
For kasar/nla, the TS. 1, 5, 4, 1 has kasamira (kadraveya), as the name of a personified serpen t-rzshi. ratharvf is a &tt. Aey. of unknown connection. Ludwig suggests that the word means ' die die radform liebt.' Both are wanting in the list of serpent divinities, Pa#£. Br. XXV, 15, 3.
608 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The first hemistich recurs at VI, 56, 1 c, d ; cf. the note there.
a. agha^va seems here to be the designation of a serpent. In RV. I, 116, 6 agha^va with different (bahuvrihi) accent seems to be Pedu, the possessor of the serpent-killing horse ; cf. Bergaigne, I.e., p. 451. The relation of the two is very obscure. For sva^a and the subsequent designations of serpents, see the note on VI, 56, 2.
c. kandavisham and kanaknakam are air. Aey. ; it is not
even certain that the latter refers to a particular substance :
the word may be an adjective qualifying kandavisham. It
seems to be an intensive formation from root kan.
a, b. taiidi and ghritdki seem to be fanciful names of plants, ' the piercer,' and ' dripping with ghee.' The latter is personified in many ways, as night (AV. XIX, 48, 6) ; Sarasvati (RV. V, 43, 1 1) ; cf. ghrztapadi as an epithet of Ida (e.g. Sat. Br. I, 8, i, 26).
Rubricated at Ath. Paru. 33, 3.
X, 6. Commentary to page 84.
The chief interest of this rather banale production lies in the practice which it harbours. From st. 2 we gather that the hymn is addressed to an amulet prepared from the ploughshare. In st. 6 the amulet itself is spoken of as a ploughshare1, but in addition it is said to be * strong khadira-wood ' (acacia catechu). From Darila at Kau^.
1 Cf. also the allusions to the ploughshare in sts. 12 and 33.
X, 6. Commentary. 609
35, 4, we may gather that there was a part of the plough- share which was called ' the chin of the ploughshare ' (phala^ibuka). This must have been made of wood, since of it might be made a vessel having the form of a soma-cup (Darila, ibidem). All doubt is dispelled by the same com- mentator's glosses on Kaui\ 19, 22. 23 (p. 53, notes 10 and 12 of our edition). Here it is stated with direct reference to st. 6 of the present hymn, that ' the chin ' of the plough was made of khadira-wood, and that an amulet fashioned out of khadira-wood in the likeness of the plough is the object extolled in the present hymn1. The khadira is a very hard wood (cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 58) ; at .Sat. Br. XIII, 4, 4, 9 it is said to be daru^a, 'hard/ and is compared with the bones of the body. The chin of the ploughshare can scarcely be anything else than the point of the instrument, and we are thus brought face to face with the primitive wooden plough. The metal ploughshare seems to have been known as well, if pavira, AV. Ill, 17, 3 ; Ykg. XII, 71 ; Tait. S. IV, 2, 5, 6; Maitr. S. II, 7, 12, has that meaning (cf. Zimmer, 1. c, p. 236). The appropriate- ness of the embodiment of ' the chin of the plough, made of khadira-wood/ into an amulet lies on the one hand in the character of the plough and the ploughshare as emblems of prosperity (cf. stanzas 12 2 and 33) ; on the other, in the qualifications of the khadira, ' the wood that chews up (khad) the enemies ' (cf. AV. VIII, 8, 3).
The hymn is rubricated at Kauj. 19, 22 ff. In Su. 22 the amulet is tied on in the manner described at Kauj. 7, 19 (cf. the introduction to X, 3). In the obscure next Sutra (23) the four amulets3 mentioned in Sutra 22 seem to be passed along the cords (with which they are fastened) 4 by means of a chip of gold (cf. hira/zyasrag in st. 4) ; they are then bent, and put on each three times. In Su. 24 a fire is
1 Not so Ke^ava, khadirapalajamamm, 'an amulet from the leaves of the khadira-tree.'
2 Cf. the mantra in Kauj. 20, 5.
8 Darila, uktamawei1 ^atasra^ suvar/zasragma^atutva;/* nitva.
*Cf. Sat. Br. XII, 3, 4, 2.
[42] R r
6lO HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.