edhas at the end of the third Pada may perhaps be regarded as an instrumental : ' When Agni with his flame, &c. ; ' cf. Lanman, Noun-Inflection in the Veda, p. 562. The second hemistich seems to refer to widow-burning (cf. st. 1 7 c, and RV. X, 18, 7). The word pakvat, rendered f from the (cooked) porridge/ seems to harbour something of a double entente : ' from the cooked remains of the body, after it has been burned upon the funeral-pyre/ The well-cooked porridge anticipates symbolically the successful conclusion of life, to be followed by a happy life hereafter. Cf. also stanzas 7-9, 11, &c.
1 The translation of this Sutra is by no means clear, and does not agree with Ke^ava's treatment, tatra hvayasva iti padena patnfw (Gammu MS. patn?) ahvayita.
2 Ke,?ava, ' with the third Pada : ' yavantav agre prathamam iti padena apatyani anvahvayita. But how can tmiyasyam mean with the third Pada ?
646 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
We read ^ivadhanya^ (accented) with some MSS. and RV. I, 80, 4. But the vocative is not impossible : * around this living (father), ye (children) that refresh the living/ The children might be so called in the sense that they continue the life of the parents. In the fourth Pada vam ^anitri either refers to two children, or the parents : * the mother (female) of the two parents/ See also the next stanza, vkm could be easily corrected to vo.
Stanzas 7-10.
Kaui". 61,1.2: ' While reciting stanza 7 the act indicated in the mantra is performed (i.e. they turn to the east). With the four mantras (7-10) they go around the water- vessel (turning towards each direction 1).'
Cf. Kaushitaki-Upanishad I, 2, 3, where it is said that all those who depart from this world go to the moon (soma), the moon being the door of the world of light. Therefore shall man and wife turn to Soma's region where the pious (sukr/ta/^) departed dwell. Cf. upon this point, Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 168. In Pada d the double meaning of pakva, alluded to in the note on st. 2, seems to gain special prominence : pakva is at once the cooked porridge, and the cooked ashes of the deceased couple.
-a, b. Note the threefold play upon the word ud, in uttaram, uttaravat, and udiku
c. The piirusha (cosmic man) is the pankti ; that is to say, like the metre pankti he consists of five constituent parts. Cf. Ait. Br. II, 14, 7 : ( Man is composed of five parts, hair, skin, flesh, bones, and marrow/ This statement about the piirusha appears to be solely for the purpose of bridging
1 Kcrava, pra^i^-pra^im iti ^atasrzhhir rigbhik pratiduam upa- tish/^ate mantroktam.
Xii, 3- Commentary. 647
over to the virag who is identified in the next stanza with the fifth direction, the nadir (dhruva).
Kaor. 61, 3 : * While reciting the stanza (the sacrificers) face reverently every direction.' Apparently the nadir, as it were, embraces all the other directions. For dhruva as a designation of the fifth direction, see III, 26, 5 ; 27, 5, &c. Vira^* obviously has reference to the metre of that name ; she is, too, the daughter of Purusha (cf. Pet. Lex. under vira^ 3), who is said to be the metre pankti in st. 10. A complicated chain of symbolism.
c, d. Aditi is called upon to protect the porridge, for she is the cooker of the porridge, by distinction : cf. the legends in Maitr. S. II, 1, 12 ; Tait. Br. Ill, 7, 11, 2, and the note on XI, 1, 1.
Stanzas 12, 13.
According to Kaui*. 6t, 4 (cf. Kcsava) the water-vessel is next, with stanza 12, taken from the skin and placed upon the ground, and the water contained in the vessel is used throughout the ceremony. The sacrificer and his wife doubtless come down from the skin ; hence (the earth) is called upon to embrace them, &c. In stanza 13 the water is implored to purify the sacrificial vessels from impure contact (as indicated by the Paribhashd-sutra, Kaui". 8, 14). For the connection of the non- Aryan d&s? with the sacrifice, see Ludwig, Der Rigveda, p. 212.
Stanzas 14, 15.
At Kau^. 61, 18 the mortar and pestle, and the scrubbed winnowing basket, are placed upon the (afore-mentioned) skin, while stanza 14, along with Pada a of XI, 1, 9, is being recited. Cf. the note on XI, 1, 9 for the substitution of mortar and pestle in the place of the two press-stones. With stanza 15 the pestle is placed upright (in the mortar : Kauj. 61, 21, musalam u££/zrayati). It is also rubricated in Ath. Paru*. 10.
648 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Stanzas 16, 17.
At Kauj*. 61, 13. 14 the employment of stanzas 16 and 17 is prescribed, without adhering to their order in the Sawhita : ' With stanza 16 the sacrificer, his wife, and children (sapat- yau) touch the grain (which has previously been poured into a pot, Sutra 11). With the second hemistich of stanza 17 the sacrificer takes hold of his wife's hand/
Judging from the Kaimka's employment of the stanza the presence of real sacrificial cattle at this stage of the ceremony seems doubtful: the grain that goes to make the porridge seems to be likened to cattle ; cf. stanzas 18, 21. In Pada b the Paippalada reads medhasvan for^yotishman, in Pada c tarn for tan ; according to the Index Verborum most MSS. read tarn for tan, but the present reading seems preferable.
Stanzas which similarly promise the reunion of families in the next world are AV. VI, 120, 3 ; IX, 5, 27 ; XVIII, 3, 23. The second hemistich seems to come from the mouth of the departed, who perhaps is conceived to desire that his wife shall follow him to the funeral-pyre ; cf. st. 2. These statements are, however, hardly definite enough to permit us to connect them with the formalised later rite of Suttee.
This is rubricated along with XI, 1, 9 b at Kaui". 6j, 22 : avahanti, ' the pestle is beaten down (upon the grain).' As it comes down it smites and drives off the hostile powers, but at the same time, as in the case of the axe which slays the sacrificial animal (cf. Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 556), the fiction is kept up that it does not really injure the grain. The statement strengthens the impression that the grain is viewed in the light of sacrificial cattle, as in stanzas ?6, 21.
Xii, 3. Commentary. 649
For the employment of this stanza in the Sutra, see the notes on XI, 1, 11, and 9. The grain which is to form the porridge is addressed, as though it were the cooked por- ridge that spreads in the dish, and is enriched with ghee. The second hemistich shows this to be anticipatory, for the act of the stanza is the winnowing of the grain. Cf. stanza 53. In Pada c varshavrzddham shows that the basket is made of reeds, not of dead wood ; cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 238.
Stanzas 20, 21.
Kauj. 61 , 26-28 : ' With stanza 21 the wife as she removes (the husks) is addressed. With stanza 20 the husband and wife touch (the husks) after they have been removed. With part of stanza 20 d (the grain) is again poured into the winnowing-basket.' There is no mention of the preparation of soma which is suggested by amsun in stanza 20 c : the word must therefore refer to some part of the ceremony which the Sutra ignores, unless the grain is figuratively called soma.
The meaning of the first hemistich is far from clear.
The Brahma^a is either the priest (cf. XX, 2, 3), or some
holy text. Perhaps s&mmita. brahma/zena means 'have
been measured out by the Brahma/za;' cf. stanzas 28
and 33.
It seems again as though the animals here refer to the
grain, as in stanzas 16 and 18 : the grain is varied in colour ;
the porridge when cooked is solid in colour. In Pada c
the Padapa^a reads tarn, but we have taken ta;/z=:tan.
Stanzas 22-24.
Kaiu. 61, 31 : ' With stanza 22 the pot is anointed.' As
the Sutra does not rubricate the next stanza (23), where
the anointing is mentioned, by itself, we must understand
65O HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
that stanza 23 is included in the quotation. e With stanza
24 he places fire about (the pot)/ In st. 22 d brahma;/a
seems to be a gloss.
Kauj. 61, 34. 35: 'With this stanza and XI, 1, 17 the
two purifying blades of darbha-grass are placed over the
pot, and water is poured upon the grain.,
Stanzas 28, 29.
Cf. XI, 1,18. 19, and see the notes there for the practices
that go with the stanzas.
Pada a may be addressed either to the fire, or some officiating person, perhaps the wife. In Pada b the sin- gular atmanam is peculiar : the word seems, either to have reached the extreme limit of pronominal usage, or, as we have translated, refers to the interior of each grain of corn, which is to be penetrated by the water. In Pada d the Paippalada has pradi.ro yathaimam, upon the basis of which we would propose pradfoo yathe*ma^, 'according to these regulations.' Or, perhaps, the Pada is to be rendered (with the same emendation) : ' measured was the grain as these regions of space (were measured).' It is possible, too, to imagine pradfoo as a verb, and read pradfoo yathe*mam in still closer accord with the Paippalada, * as thou didst order this (woman).' The word pradfco is mentioned under pradij in Whitney's Index Verborum for this passage.
Stanzas 31, 32.
Kaus. 61, 38-40. A barhis (seat of darbha-grass) is prepared for the porridge : with 31 a the sickle is handed over to him who shall cut the grass, with part of 31 b he cuts it, with 32 the grass is strewn. Cf. Ka.us. 1, 24. 25 ; 8, 11.
d. amanyuta (Padapa^a, amanyuta//) is to be regarded either as a homophonous instrumental from the abstract
Xii, 3- Commentary. 65 1
amanyuta (better amanyuta), or a denominative participle in ta (Whitney, Sk. Gr.2, §1176 b). The latter is the more probable construction. Possibly, however, we must read amanyu ta^, ' without anger they/ amanyu being an adverb. The word yasam in Pada c seems indeed to demand ta/z in Pada d.
c, d# The Paippalada has, tatra deva/z saha devair vLrantu, and dakshi/zato for rztubhir. Pada c stands sorely in need of correction : we propose tasmin devai/£ saha devfr vLrantu. But for the metre tasmin deva/£ saha devibhir vij-antu would be even simpler. Cf. in a general way VI, 59, 2, note.
Kaar. 61 , 43. A wooden platter is placed upon the barhis. In Pada c tvash/ra is used consciously for tash/ra : the conceptions of the earthly carpenter, and the heavenly carpenter, Tvash/ar — sukr/t and rupakr/t are his standing epithets — are blended into one. The difficult word in this stanza is vanaspate, which along with the statements in the first three Padas (agnishfoma) seem to refer origin- ally to the yupa, the post to which the sacrificial animal is tied. See, e.g., 5at. Br. Ill, 6, 4, 1 ff. There is no occa- sion here, as far as can be seen, for a yupa, and Kau^ika makes no mention of one. It looks very much as though a stanza concerned with the yupa had been secondarily adapted. Similarly at Kaui\ 15, 11 our stanza figures in connection with a chariot, which is also secondary.
Kaui". 62, 9. The porridge is put down to the west of the fire. The meaning of the ' sixty autumns,' as indeed the sense of the entire passage, is extremely obscure ; cf. stanzas 41, 42. The point of the stanza may again lie in the double meaning of pakva (cf. stanza 2) : in sixty years, that is at the end of his life, the sacrificer shall reach heaven by the pakva, in the double sense of the porridge he has offered to the Brahmans, and the cooked ashes of the funeral-pyre.
652 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Stanza 35.
Employed along with XI, 1, 21 at Kaiu. 61, 41 ; see the
note on XI, i> 21, and cf. Vait. Su. 10,9. In the order of the
Sutra this stanza precedes stanza 34. Cf. XVIII, 3, 29.
Stanza 36.
Employed along with XI, 1, 24 at Kau.f. 62, 1 ff. ; see the note on XI, 1, 24. The ladle is placed upon the altar, and in the sequel the porridge is dipped out, as indicated in the second hemistich of the present mantra (cf. Kaay. 62, 6. 7). See also AV. IV, 14, 7.
Stanzas 37, 38.