The beginning of the mahanamni-verses is given by Saya^a, as follows : vida. maghavan vida, gatum anu jaMsisho disak (Ait. Ar. IV, 1). Cf. Proc. Berl. Acad. 1868, p. 244.
b. The expression ubhaya/£ saha has been rendered, not
without grave misgivings, upon Saya^a's authority, ubhaya
ity anena ^aturatradinaw dvigu/zitatva/zz vivakshitam.
Three earths and three heavens are mentioned frequently ; see Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. v, p. 304 ff., and the note on IV, 20, 2. Nine are unique.
According to Saya^a the mantras called ^aturhotara/z are Tait. Ar. Ill, 1-5. Cf. the Pet. Lex. s. v.
d. We have followed Saya/za, who reads sa7nsrita/i sritk/t. The error which extends to the PadapaMa seems to be due to the singulars ahita nihita hita at the end of the next stanza.
XI, 9. Commentary to page 123.
Arbudi and Nyarbudi, two divinities, friends of Indra
(indramedinau, sts. 4 and i8)5 are implored to help in
battle, and destroy the enemy. These two are associated
632 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
in XI, 9, and especially XI, 10 with a third, Trisha;/zdhi, ' Three-joints/ who is evidently the personification of a three-jointed weapon (va^rewa tnsha;/zdhina in XI, 10, 3 and 27). Cf. the trisha/^dhi ishu, or the trikaWa" ishu, ' three- jointed arrow,' in Ait. Br. I, 25, 5 ; III, ^, 5 ; Sat. Br. II, 1, 2, 9. Further, the employment of the two hymns (XI, 9 and 10) in the Kaurika renders it possible to assume that all three divinities are personifications of peculiar weapons, or machines employed in the rough warfare of the time. The warlike practices in question (Kcrava and Saya/za, ^ayakarmam) are described, Kau.r. 16, 21-26, as follows:
21. 'With the two hymns, XI, 9 and 10 (the king's chaplain, the purohita), exhorts (the warriors) in accordance with the indications (of the hymns). 22. For sacrifice he employs "speckled ghee1." 23. He next performs the practices which end with the act of handing over (the bow), and the practices of scattering (snares and traps in the way of the enemy 2). 24. Along with the scattered (snares, &c.) he places three-jointed weapons (trisha^dhini), weapons that have the form of bolts (va^rarupa^i), and weapons that have the form of arbudi 3. 25. A white-footed (cow) is anointed with the dregs of ghee and fastened with a rope of darbha-grass to the staff which serves the king to rest upon (?). 26. A second (white-footed cow) is driven (toward the enemy).' The last two Sutras bristle with
1 Cf. XI, 10, 19, ' Speckled ghee' is ghee mixed with sour milk. See the Pet. Lex. s. v. p/Yshadagya.
2 They are given in detail, respectively at Kauj. 14, 8-1 1 (cf. the introduction to VI, 97), and 14, 28-9.
3 Darila : The trishawdhini are for cutting (^edaya), the va^ra- rupam are for breaking (bhedaya), the arbudirupa/zi are for bringing to fall (pataya). To these vague statements may be added the following, va^rarupam pa^urazrcgakapalakartn'ka shash/i/£atu- shkam arbuder eva rupaw yeshaw vartulani. And further ' all are made of brass, all are tied with ropes/ They would seem to be destructive instruments placed in the way of the enemies' attack. Saya^a explains trisa/^dhini (!) as lohamayani patram, ' brazen vessels.' Ke^ava offers nothing of consequence.
Xi, 9- Commentary. 633
difficulties. Saya//a says ^itipadi;^ gam, ' a white-footed cow,' but Darila at Kauj. 14, 22 (cf. AV. Ill, 19) has me- shim, ' a white-footed she-goat/ At AV. XI, io, 6 (see the note on the passage, and cf. also XI, 10, 20) a white-footed, four-footed arrow is spoken of ; this seems to indicate that the white-footed animal is let loose as a symbolic arrow, to find its way into the camp of the enemy (scape-goat ?) : in this way Sutra 26 obtains sense. Further, the word upa- sanga is obscure. We have translated tentatively and doubtfully according to Darila's indication, vLsrama/zartho- rdhvagadandak ; Ke^ava has simply ragno (Cod. rkg-ni) dandah ; Saya/m. xagnas /£ihnitaketuda;^e rahasyaz/2 ba- dhniyat, ' he shall secretly tie (the cow) to the staff of the characteristic banner of the king.' The Pet. Lex. assumes for upasanga the meaning ' vicinity/ but the word ordinarily means ' quiver.' Is there a ' staff of the quiver ? '
We have no information in the Veda itself regarding Arbudi and Nyarbudi, aside from this and the next hymn. Say ana, says that they were serpents (see st. 5), the sons of that Serpent-^zshi Arbuda (Kadraveya, the son of Kadru), to whom tradition ascribes the composition of RV. X, 94 and 175; cf. Asv. Sr. V, 12, 9. 23 ; X, 7. Four words are concerned in the elucidation of this matter, arbuda (arbuda), and nyarbuda, arbudi and nyarbudi, and their manifold meanings do not bridge over to our subject with any degree of firmness. Only one point I would suggest : the forms with the prefix ni are in all probability the result of a verbal misconstruction. Arbuda in the Rig-veda is a demon-serpent whom Indra is bound to slay. At RV. II, 11, 20 we have ny arbuda;;^ vavrz'dhano asta/z, 'thou (Indra),having waxed mighty, didst prostrate Arbuda ; ' similarly VIII, 32, 3, ny arbudasya vish/apa//z varshma/2a//z brz'hatas tira, ' pierce the high resting-place of great Arbuda ; ' cf. also I, 51, 6; II, 14, 4. I believe that nyarbuda and nyarbudi owe their intrinsically meaningless prefix ni to such verbal juxtapositions which could be easily misunderstood. A still greater curiosity is the friendly relation of Arbudi and Nyarbudi, as ancillary war-gods, with Indra, notwith-
634 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
standing Indra's hostility to "Arbuda in the RV. Note also the apparent epithet of Indra, nardabuda, at TS. Ill, 3, 10, i. Whether it is in any way connected with this cycle of ideas it is impossible to say.
The present hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, ,530-1.
Saya/za, ' Make manifest to the enemy our equipments for battle, so that fear shall arise in their minds.' For udaran Saya/^a proposes either c demons in the air/ udgatan antariksha^aran raksha/zpLra^adin, or ' fiery portents,' surya- ra^miprabhava ulkadaya antarikshya utpata^. For ami- trebhya^ Ludwig proposes a different construction, ' make all that visible with the enemy,' i. e. may their weapons and plans not remain hidden from us !
b. For the construction of this Pada (repeated in st. 26 c), cf. Delbruck, Altindische Syntax, p. 106.
e, d. The Padapa/^a reads samdrishta. and gupta, neuters
plural in agreement with mitra/zi. Saya/za comments upon
s&fndrishtak and gupta^, supplying ' warriors ' with it :
this does not change the sense. Ludwig, ' erblickt soil
euer verborgenes werden, so vile unsere freunde sind, o
Arbudi.' For the eliptic vocative singular, arbude, cf.
stanzas 3 and 11.
d. The word bhogebhi/^, ' with (thy) curves,' would seem to indicate that Arbudi is primarily a serpent ; cf. RV. VI, 75, 14 ; Tait. S. II, 1, 4, 5. 6 ; V, 4, 5, 4. But it may also refer to some snare-like machine, similar to a serpent. Saya^a, sarpaj-arirai^ parivesh/aya.
For women as mourners over the dead, and their con-
ventional practices, see our essay on the subject, Contribu-
tions, Second Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 336 ff. Our
Xi, 9- Commentary. 635
explanation of krzdhukami', ' with short (mutilated) ears,' is very doubtful, and on p. 340 of the essay just quoted I have asked whether the entire stanza does not perchance refer to demons of the battle-field. I do not place great confidence in Saya/za's naively ingenious explanation of krzdhukarTz? by ' short-eared, because all ear-ornaments have been removed.5 Ludwig is relieved by making a proper name of the word.
- a. The Pada is problematic : our translation implies that the women, bereft of their relatives who have fallen in battle, sit in a bent attitude longing for their lost kin. It would be possible to imagine another situation : with bent back the women who miss their relatives seek them on the battle-field, where Arbudi has pierced them. Saya/za offers nothing usable. Ludwig's translation is not clear, i die abreisst den ruckenwirbel, wahrend sie im geist den sohn sucht,' &c.
Saya/za presents futile etymologies for aliklava1 and ^ashkamada. P&da d, amitreshu samikshayan is cut of construction, and superfluous : samikshayan is in reality the nominative singular masculine of the participle (as in st. 6 b). The expression has assumed the character of a refrain (cf. stanzas 11 and 35), and is similar to the equally formulaic amitrebhyo drzse kuru, in stanzas 1,15, 22, and 24.
c. Saya/za reads urugrahaiA (uru/za//z graha//ai/£), and
bahuvankai/^ (b&huna, vakrabandhanai^), i. e. ' with thy
thighs and arms.' The parallelism is noteworthy, and
uru- may be the correct reading. Conversely, of course,
Saya;za may have accentuated an incidental parallelism.
1 aliklaba^ vmsh/aklaibyayukta viklaba^ tadvipaiita aliklaba^, ' viklabas are creatures afflicted by extraordinary impotence ; ' the converse of that are aliklabas (!); cf. the note on XI, 2, 2.
636 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Cf. the essay quoted in the note on stanza 7 (especially p. 340, note). For pa/aurav of the vulgata, Shankar Pandit, following Saya/za and some MSS., has substituted pa/urav. Saya/m on Pada b, ura^ vaksha>fethala;/z pa/urau tatpra- de^au (£a) aghnana^. Here, doubtless, belongs too pa/ura in Tait. S. V, 7, 21, 2; 22, 1, a designation of a part of the body, described by the commentator as c ribs in the back.' The translation of the air. Key. aghanm/£ in Pada c is that of the Pet. Lex., and purely etymological. Saya?za, c distressed by the grief due to the loss of their husbands ' (aghena . . . arta^).
a, b. -All the matter pertaining to the female demons is extremely problematic. Saya/za takes svknvatik literally, * accompanied by the dog Sarameya as a playmate/ He explains rupaka/z as ' ghostly armies which by the force of magic are perceptible in outline merely ' (mayava^at keva- la//z rupamatre^a upalabhyamana/z senarupaka^). The word rupaka suggests the root rup, ' injure ;' cf. XI, 2, 3.
c, d. Saya/za garbles his text, and comments as follows,
patre anta^ madhye rerihati/zz puna^-punar lihatif/z durnihi-
taishi/zi;/z dush/anikshiptam ikk/iantim vas&m (!) gam.
a. Our rendering of kha^ure reflects simply our own and
Saya/za's perplexity, durabhutaw khaw khaduram (!) aka^e
durade^e.
Much in this is obscure and bizarre. Saya/za does not help much, except that he agrees with the Pet. Lexs. in reading -vaUina/z for -vasina/z in Pada d ; see bastava.nna/z for bastavasina^ in VIII, 6, 12, and cf. V, 20, 2 b. Accord- ingly our rendering. The entire stanza seems to depict a blend of a human and demoniac army (£ das wilde heer '), altogether fit to strike terror into the heart of the enemy.
Xi, Io. Commentary. 637
Saya^a: ' Trisha;/zdhi is a certain god who routs armies, or designates a weapon, a club which has three joints ; ' cf. our remarks in the introduction to the hymn. The natural- istic basis of the quasi-divinity is (Rudra's) lightning.
Even the trees and other vegetation, as well as animate beings, may exercise their powers to the destruction of the enemy, as is stated unambiguously in the closely parallel stanzas VIII, 8, 14. 15, where the arrangement of the first two hemistichs is a different one. Cf also Kaiu. 73, 5.
For the loosely construed refrain at the end of this verse, see the note on stanza 9.
XI, 10. Commentary to page 126.
The hymn continues the subject of XI, 9, but the appeals
for help to Arbudi and Nyarbudi are subordinated ; Tri-
sha/^dhi is here the prominent figure : his momentous
powers are engaged for the destruction of the enemy. For
the employment of the hymn in the Atharvanic practices
and the meaning of Trisha/^dhi, see the introduction to the
preceding hymn, and the note on XI, 9, 23. It has been
translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 531 fif.
For ketii, see the passages and the literature quoted by
the Pet. Lex. s. v. 7) ; Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, I2,
p. 32, note 51. Both Saya/za and Ludwig render the word
here, as in stanzas 2 and 7, by ' flag/
a, b. The vulgata, depending upon the Padapa//za, con- strues vedara^yam as a compound, it is difficult to say in what sense. We have taken isam veda in the sense of a quasi periphrastic perfect (cf. Whitney, Sanskrit Gram-
638 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
mar2, § 1070, c). Similarly Sayana, isam veda hritavyatvena ^•anatu (!). The word trishawdhe is metrically superfluous and grammatically unassimilable : it has been omitted in our translation. At best it must be emended to trishawdhir. The construction of Pada b is problematic ; perhaps it is to be put with what follows, ' may the evil brood, &c, together with the red portents, &c.' The arunak ketava^ are personified as evil forces in this hymn ; see the matter referred to in stanza 1.