Recurs in V, 23, 11. The Tait. Ar. reads at IV, 36, hata^ krlminam ra^a, apy esha/7Z sthapatir hata^, atho matcUtho pita, atho sthura atho kshudra^, atho krzsh;/a atho ^veta^r, atho a^atika1 hata^, svetabhi^ saha sarve hata^ ; cf. also the next stanza of our hymn. For sthapati, see Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 202 ff. ; Uber den Va^-apeya, 9, 10(769, 770), Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie, XXXIX (1892); Uber die Konigsweihe, p. 65 (Transactions of the same Academy, 1893). Saya/za, sa^iva^. The scholiast at Tait. Ar. has anyo*pi ra^avyatirikta/z prabhu^. The etymologies suggested are unsatisfactory (see Pet. Lex. and Weber, 1. c.) ; it has occurred to me that possibly the word might be a loan-word with folk- etymological modification, being Avestan shoithrapaiti (cf. Achemenian khshatrapavan), 'satrap,' a word which later again finds its way into Indo-Scythian coins in the form
1 Scholiast, agatya ^atyamana^ asmabhir eva badhyamana^. Cf, with this also Mantrabr. II, 7, 4. krimim indrasya bahubhyam avankam patayamasi, hata^ krimaya^ sa\ratika^ sanilamakshika^. The scholiast defines sasatika^ by iiratikaya (! for a\ratikaya ?) saha vartamana^.
320 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
kshatrapa ; cf. Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, III, 161 ; IV, 1 86, 200.
Repeated in V, 23, 12. The Mantrabr. II, 7, 3 presents
a passage which concerns stanzas 4-6 of our hymn, hata^
kriminani kshudrako hata mata hata pitd, athai*sham
bhinnaka^ kumbho ya esham vishadhanaka^.
a, b. Saya/za, without regard to the oxytone accent of vcyas (nomen agentis), renders vej-aso . . . parive^asa^ as follows, nivei-asthanani mukhyagrz'ha^ . . . parita^ sthita^ samipagrzha^. Weber renders the two words by ' diener ' and * umdienenden ; ' Grill by * horige ' and ' zugehorige ; ' Ludwig and Hillebrandt by ' horige ' and ' der horigen horige.'
The metre of the stanza is quite irregular ; the Anukra- manl describes it at ^atushpan nivrzdushmk. The first and third Padas are catalectic ; in the second Pada yabhyam is yabhiam, or the like; the fourth Pada may also be sustained as a catalectic anush/ubh by substituting tava for te, or resolving te into tai' or taya.
c3 d. The Paippalada reads, atho bhinadmi taw kumbhaw yasmin te nihataw (! for nihitaw ?) visham ; cf. also the parallel stanza RV. I, 191, 15. Saya^a substitutes shu- kambham for kushumbham, and he has the support of some MSS. His comment is avayavavuesha, ' some part of the body.' Ludwig translates kushumbham by ' tail/ but the parallel passages of the Paippalada and Mantrabr. obviously point to some word like ' receptacle.' This word as well as kujumbha and kusumbha, ' water-pitcher of hermits/ seem to me to be extensions of kumbha by popular etymology, introducing the influence of kosha, kosa., ' basket/ and perhaps in the case of kusumbha the stem .mmbha-, 'purify/ Direct etymological analysis of such words is difficult because they become so readily the play-ball of kindred notions ; cf. Weber, 1. c. 204.
Ii, 33- Commentary. ^21
II, 33. Commentary to page 44.
The commentators fitly treat this charm as a cure for all diseases (sarvabhaisha^yam). The practices at Kauy. 27, 27-8 are of the simplest sort, and their symbolic relation to the hymn superficially obvious : 27. ' The stanzas of the hymn are recited over the patient while (fetters with which he has been bound) are being torn off. 28. He is sprinkled with wrater mixed with the dregs of ghee from a water- vessel.' The hymn figures also in a list designed to bestow long life (ayushyaga/m) in the Ga/zamala, Ath. ParLr. 32, 4 ; see Kauj. 54, t i note. According to Saya/za the hymn is also a member of the a/zzholingaga/m, ' a list characterised by (driving away) distress/ consisting of II, 33 ; III, 11 ; IV, 13; V, 30; IX, 8. But the Ga^amala, Ath. Paris-. 32, 31, strings together a very different group under the same caption ; see Kau^. 32, 27 note. Cf. also Vait. Su. 38, 1 ; Ath. Park 33, 3.
The hymn recurs with variants, RV. X, 163 ; AV. XX, 96, 17-22 ; the first stanza at Par. Grih. Ill, 6, 2. In its Rig- veda form it constitutes also a part of the Apast. Mantra- brahma/za I, 17, 1-6, employed at Apast. Grih, III, 9, 10 ; see Winternitz, Das Altindische Hochzeitsritual, p. 99. The many, often perplexing designations of the parts of the body are paralleled in the catalogues of the parts of the horse's body, at the horse-sacrifice, TS. V, 7, 11 ff. (cf. also I, 4, 36; VII, 3, 16); Maitr. S. Ill, 15, 1 ff. ; Va^. S. XXV, 1 ff. Cf. also AV. X, 2 ; XI, 8.
The hymns in question have been translated and com- pared with certain Teutonic charms by Adalbert Kuhn in his ever-charming work on ' Indische und germanische Segens- spriiche/ Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XIII, 63 ff. These comparisons are of permanent interest for folk-psychology, even though the genetic relationship of the charms may be doubted. The Atharvan version has been rendered in addition by Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 205 ff. ; for RV. X, 163 see Ludwig's and Grassmann's translations. [42] Y
322 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
a. Saya^a here defines ush/zihabhya/z etymologically as,
urdhva//z snigdhabhya^ raktadina utsnatabhyo va naaft-
bhya/i, but at RV. snayubhya^ for na^/ibhya/^. Cf. AV.
VI, 134, 1 ; IX, 8, 21 ; X, 10, 20, and the schol. at Pacini
III, 2, 59.
b. haliksh/zat is obscure : Saya^a, tatsawbandhad (tat
refers to klomna/z) mawsapk^avueshat, ' a ball of flesh
adjoining the lungs/ The word may possibly be related
to hira, ' canal, vein.'
c. d. The tautological use of bhasadyam and bhasadam is justified in the mind of the Atharvan poet, because it heightens the effect of the cumulative pun upon bha;^sasa^. RV. X, 163, 4 exhibits but two of these stems.
d. ka^yapasya vfbarhe^a (sc. brahmaz^a). For Ka^yapa, see the notes on I, 14, 4 ; IV, 20, 7.
II, 36. Commentary to page 94.
The practices associated with this hymn are part of the
'women's rites' (Kaiu\ 32, 28-36, 40), and they are pre-
sented under the special rubric of pativedanani (Kcrava,
patilabhakarmam), 'practices by which a husband is ob-
tained,' Kaor. 34, 12-16 (cf. also Kau.?. 75, 7), as follows:
13. 'While reciting the hymn the maiden is given to eat a pudding of rice and sesame, such as is cooked for guests.
14. Upon an altar, made out of clay from a cave inhabited by animals (cf. stanza 4), are placed the substances recited in the hymn (gold, bdellium, &c. ; cf. st. 7); these are anointed with the dregs of ghee, and given to the maiden
Ii, 36. Commentary. 323
at the door1. 15. Having sacrificed by night rice and barley from a copper vessel to Garni 2, the maiden walks forth with her right side turned towards (the vessel ; cf. st. 6). The maiden, having been washed and cleaned to the west of the fire, while stanza 5 of the hymn is being recited, is made to do what is told in the stanza (upon a ship) anointed with the dregs of ghee (i. e. she is made to ascend the ship).' After that follow certain oracles to decide whether the maiden shall succeed in obtaining the husband or not.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud.
V, 219 ff. ; XIII, 214 ff. ; Ludwig, Rigveda, III, 476;
Grill2, pp. 55, 102 ff. ; cf. also Zimmer, p. 306.
a. Literally, c may a suitor come to our favour,' i. e.
a suitor who shall gain our favour. Saya^a, sobhanam
buddhim a garnet . . . kslyanim buddhi;# prapya. Cf.
Sankh. Grih. I, 6, 1 ff. ; Apast. Grz'h. I, 2, 16 ; 4, 1-2 ;
Ind. Stud. V, 276, 291 ff.
b. The suitor comes ' with our fortune,' since the betrothal of a daughter is regarded in that light.
c. Saya;za, samaneshu samanamanaskeshu . . . yad va samana;^ manyamaneshu sahrzdayeshu.
d. Saya^a reads usham for osham, and glosses, usham
ushati ru£*ati apanudati du/zkha^atam iti usham sukha-
karam.
a,b. Cf. RV. X, 85, 40, 41, where Soma, Gandharva, and
Agni are said to be the mythical first husbands of every
maiden. Sayana has in mind the same passages, since he
glosses brahma with gandharva, and identifies Aryaman
with Agni, leaning upon the slender support of Asv. Grih.
1 So that she may adorn and anoint herself with them.
2 The personified goddess of femininity, or maternity ; Darila, ^•amika (?) matr/ka. Cf. AV. V, 1, 4, and Kaur. 34, 20.
324 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
I, 7, 13. Cf. AV. XIV, 1, 31, which shows that saz/zbhr/tam alludes consciously to sawbhala in st. 1.
c. Dhatar, the god of divine order and creation, just as
the three gods in the first hemistich, is especially charged
with the arrangement of marriage ; see VI, 60, 3.
Saya;za, with one of Shankar Pandit's MSS., reads maghavan (maMhaniyabhogyapadarthayuktaA), in agree- ment with akhara/£ ; also abhiradhayanti, which he glosses by abhivardhayanti, yad va . . . putrapa^vadibhi^ samr/ddha bhavanti. For the juxtaposition of Indra and Bhaga, cf. VI, 82. For Bhaga in relation to matters of love, VI, 102, 3.
a, b. Judging from IV, 22, 3 ; V, 23, 2 ; X, 10, n, the
divinity addressed as ' lord of wealth ' is Indra (Maghavan
in st. 4).
c, d. The sense is : Every suitor who approaches her
shall indicate his esteem, or admiration, so that the event
shall not fail to result auspiciously. Cf. the symbolic
realisation of this arrangement in Kslus. 34, 15, above.
a. Some MSS. read giilgulu for giiggulu (Saya^a, dhupanadravyavuesha^).
b. auksha, ' balsam/ according to Saya;za = pralepana-
dravyam. It seems to be simply 'bull's grease;' see the
.yloka quoted by Ke^ava at Kaus. 34, 14 (repeated by
Saya/za on our passage), as also by Darila, Kerava, and
Ath. Paddh. at Kau^. 79, 9 (in elucidation of the word
aukshe), and cf. our introduction to AV. I, 34. See also
the analogous passage AV. VI, 102, 3, and aukshagandhi
as the name of an Apsaras, IV, 37, 3.
c. For the plural patibhya/z, see Ind. Stud. V, 205 ff., 221.
d. pratikamaya is emended by the Pet. Lex. to prati-
kamyaya (cf. sts. 5, 6, 8, and VI, 60, 3) ; Saya/za, enaw
kanyaw kamayamanam. The Paippalada reads patikamaya,
Ill, I. COMMENTARY. 325
which makes good sense, ' in order to obtain the love of a husband/
The second nayatu seems superfluous, derived, perhaps,
from some parallel expression in which nayatu was the last
word. The entire stanza is loosely connected with the
hymn ; the plant addressed seems to have no reference to
the proceedings in hand. Cf. AV. Ill, 18.
Ill, 1. Commentary to page 121.
In accordance with our title for this and the following hymn is their designation in the ritual as mohanani (sc. suktani), 'charms for causing bewilderment ; ' see Kaui\ 14. 17. With them go in the subsequent Sutras (18-21) the following performances : 18. 'Chaff (of rice), underlaid with porridge, is sacrificed from a mortar. 19. (Or) in the same way small grain1 (is offered). 20. Twenty-one pebbles are shaken (in a winnowing-basket 2) against (the enemy). 21. (A pot of rice) is offered to the goddess Apva.' The sym- bolism is obvious : the chaff or the small grain symbolises the dispersion of the enemy ; the pebbles shaken against them the destructive attack of the sacrificing king. An offering is made to the goddess of evacuation (from the body). See the note on III, 2, 5. The present hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 518 ; Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 180 ff. The Anukrama/21, senamohanam.
Agni, the fire, figures largely as the typical leader of the vanguard of armies, e. g. in the battle-hymn, RV. X, 84, 2, and in Tait. S. I, 8, 9, 1 ; Tait. Br. I, 7, 3, 4. A special 'army-fire,' senagni, is mentioned at Kaus. 60, 5, and in the
1 Darila, kamkvika^; Kcyava, kamka^; Saya^a, ka/rikikam.
2 Cf. Darila and Kcrava on the Sutra, and emend surye in both texts to jurpe.
326 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
scholion to Paraskara's Grzhya-sutra 1, 10. The preparation of such a fire is described at Kauj. i6, 9 ff. Professor Weber, 1. c, suggests that the name of the war-god Kumara (Skanda) is in reality one of the manifestations (murti) of Agni-Siva-Rudra ; cf. our introduction to XI, 2.