Professor Aufrecht in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXVII, 219, advances very good reasons for believing that this stanza is constructed awkwardly out of Rig-veda reminiscences. Especially noteworthy is his emendation of amimrzVzan to amimrzV/an, ' they have taken pity/ in the light of RV. II, 39, 4 ; VI, 50, 5 ; X, 34, 3. Yet we must question whether the Atharvan versifex did really compose that ideal stanza, suggested by Aufrecht, or the more uncouth performance, handed over to us by the redactors. I incline to the latter view, and have rendered the text as reported unanimously in the vSaunakiya-tradition *, though fully conscious that amimr/^an is the better reading in the abstract. The stanza puns upon marut and the base mma.
The anacoluthon in the two hemistichs can be removed,
as Saya^a does, by emending tan in Pada c to tarn. Magha-
van in Pada a, in reality goes with Indra in Pada c.
Repeated with variants at RV. Ill, 30, 6. Saya^a com-
ments upon the Rig variant pra su ta (te), not upon prasuta^
(Padapa/^a). In P&da d, I have emended (independently
from Weber) vishvak satyam to vishvaksatyam, literally,
' having fulfilment away/ i. e. ' bereft of fulfilment/
The Paippalada also has amimrz>zan.
Ill, 2. 3. COMMENTARY. 327
III, 2. Commentary to page 121.
For the employment of the hymn in the practices, see
the introduction to the preceding. Previously translated
by Weber, Indische Studien, III, 183 ff. ; cf. also Bergaigne
et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 139 ff. The Anukrama^i,
senamohanam.
Repeated with variants at RV. X, 103, 12. For the variants pratimohayanti and pratilobhayanti see Contri- butions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, 422 ff. The goddess Apva (metrically apuva), ' impurity ,' is a drastic embodiment of 'defecation from fear/ The enemy shall not contain themselves from fear. Cf. udarabhedi bhayam at Bhagavata Pura/za, III, 15, 33, and passages like Tait. S. VI, 2, 2, 5 ; 3, 2, 3. Yaska, Nirukta IX, 33, as restored by Weber, clearly explains the word in this way. See in general Ind. Stud. IX, 482 ; XVII, 184 ; and AV. IX, 8, 9.
Ill, 3. Commentary to page 112.
This and the following hymn are made the basis, at Kaor. 16, 30-33, of a performance that ensures the restor- ation of a king who has been driven out from his kingdom by a hostile king (parara£*ena, according to Darila), to wit : 30. ' In the domain of the kingdom, from which the king has been driven out, a rice-cake in the form of a couch (iciyanavidham) * is placed upon darbha-grass, and sub- merged in water. 31. A lump of earth taken from that
1 This reading is not quite certain : most MSS. of the Sutra, and Darila read ^ayanavidhim. Ke^ava, however, and after him Saya^a, read senavidham (senakaram), ' having the form of an army ; ' cf. for the interchange between aya and e our remarks in Amer. Journ. Phil. V, p. 27. Either reading makes good sense : the couch would symbolise permanent, peaceful possession of the kingdom ; the army, its conquest by force of arms.
328 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
(region) is spread over the fire-place1, and (the king) con- sumes a mess of porridge, mixed with milk. 32. The utensils are taken from the same place as the lump of earth. 34. On the morning of the fourth day (the king) eats the (submerged) rice-cake, and then he is called (to his kingdom).' Professor Weber remarks that an exiled potentate could scarcely expect to be restored by any more simple device. The symbolism of the practice is obvious : especially the bed and the clod of earth from the native sod (' heimathsscholle ') are suggestive. Cf. Kau^ika's rite at 1 6, 27. 28 in connection with AV. I, 9 (introduction). Stanzas 1 and 2 are rubricated at Vait. Su. 9, 2 and 30, 27. The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 441 fT. ; Weber, Indische Studien, XVII, 185 ; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 140 ff. The Anukrama/zi, nanadevatyam uta«gneyam.
Agni figures here as the war-god, capable of bringing vic- tory to the cause of the dethroned king. Cf. Ill, 1 and 2. With him are united the fighting Maruts who hitch up Agni that he may bring (vah) the king. Saya;/a, curiously, makes the king subject of a^ikradat (cf. RV. X, 45, 4), ' the king calls (!) upon thee that he may again enter his king- dom/ In Pada d amiim is perhaps replaced by the name of the king, in the manner of the ritual ; cf. e. g. Va£\ S. IX, 40; Tait. Br. Ill, 2,3, 7.
The stanza is difficult and full of double intent. The crucial word seems to us to be sautrama?/ya. This is a sacrifice originally devised by the gods to cure Indra from the effects of over-indulgence in soma ; see our Contribu- tions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 153 ff. ; Oldenberg, Nachrichten von der Koniglichen Gesellschaft
1 The Sutra, ^yotirayatanam ; Darila, ^yotisha ayatana^ sthanam uttaravedim avakirya.
Ill, 3. COMMENTARY. 329
der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1893, p. 342 fif. But secondarily this rite is also employed by an exiled king, who is also shaky, as it were (mankur iva £a£ara, like the somatiputa, 6at. Br. V, 4, n, 13)1. Throughout this stanza Indra is both the god, and the dethroned king ; the gods are the heavenly physicians (the A^vins and Sarasvati), as well as the Brahmans who are engaged in the restoration of the king. We have therefore rendered sautrama^ya dadhrzshanta by ' infuse courage with the sautrama;d-sacri- fice.' The veiled sense of the entire passage is : ' However far the king (Indra) is he shall come back to friendly relations with his people, when the priests (deva/i) chant their songs and apply the sautramam to his restoration. Indra is the typical king, AV. IV, 6, 11 ; VI, 98, 1 ; Tait. S. II, 2, 11,6; the Brahma/^as are the human devas, times without end, Sat. Br. II, 2, 3, 6 ; Tait. S. I, 7, 3, 1 ; Maitr. S. I, 4, 6 ; Kaus. 6, %6 ; cf. Indische Studien, IX, 153 ; X, 16, 35, 36-
Varu/za's relation to water appears here as in IV, 16, 3 (see the note there) ; Soma grows upon the mountains (Veda and Avesta). The sense is : Even if the exiled king is separated by mountain and sea from his people, let him quickly, untrammelled by such restraints, as an eagle, come to them.
a. The accent of havyam is suspicious : we should
expect havyam. It is either to be emended, or indicates
that the Pada has been adapted from a different sphere.
The eagle brings the soma from a distance to be offered to
Indra. For such adaptations, cf. e. g. the hymn I, 2.
1 For the sautramam in general, see Weber, Indische Studien, X. 349, and especially the same author's recent treatise, ' Uber die Konigsweihe (ra^asuya)/ in the Transactions of the Royal Academy at Berlin, 1893, p. 91 if.
330 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
d. We have rendered ava gamaya, * render accepted/
because the word does not mean elsewhere ' bring down '
(Weber). Our authority is Darila on Kam\ 16 , 27, avaga-
mana = anuraga, 'affection ;' see the introduction to I, 9.
Saya^a, ima^ ra^*anam asmin rashfre bodhaya (similarly
Ludwig).
Ill, 4. Commentary to page 113.
The Sutra treats this hymn along with the preceding as a charm for the restoration of a king ; see the introduction to III, 3. Support for such a construction may be derived from st. 5. This, however, is not borne out by the text of the stanzas themselves. These are more general in character, and seem to indicate as their theme the election of a chief. See Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 250; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 162 ff. Note especially st. 2, and the play upon the word varu^a (as if from root var, ' choose ') in sts. 5, 6. The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, III, 252; Zimmer, p. 164; Weber, Indische Studien, XVII, 190 ff. ; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 141 ff. The Anukrama/zi, aindram.
The first hemistich is hypermetric, and Weber, Zimmer,
and Bergaigne- Henry each differ in their attempts at
restoration. We are not at all certain that this need is
urgent : Pdda a is a good ^agati-line, ending at ud ihi ; for
Pada b see Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des Rigveda, pp. 66,
6j. If the pruning-knife must be used patir in b is most
easily spared, and a most natural interpolation.
a. gan is vox media, either injunctive, or perfect-aorist. The latter in its sense of prophetic aorist is in the Atharvan stylistically very close to the injunctive : often things desired are stated as having been already accomplished. See e. g. I, 23, 4.
Ill, 5. COMMENTARY. 33 1
Recurs with marked variants at Tait. S. Ill, 3, 9, 2 ; Maitr. S. II, 5, 10.
The expression ay&m ra^ varu/za^ in st. 5 a is too pointed to signify merely ' that king Varu/za : ' varu/za is used here with false etymological intent as ' chooser ; ' the word plays upon the sense of ahvat, and vrz/zatam in st. 2. Similarly varu7zaL£ in the next stanza means (Indra), with the remain- ing gods (Varu;za, Mitra, &c), all choosing the king, and again, with double entente : ' Come on, O king, thou hast come to an agreement with the leaders of thy people who are the electors' (cf. Ill, 5, 7). All this is thoroughly Atharvanesque.
Cf. Vait. Su. 13, 2, where this stanza is employed in con- nection with a personified Pathya Svasti, the wife of Pushan (ib. 15, 3), 'the prosperous path,' as an embodiment of success and well-being. Cf. also ib. 24, 8 ; 3J, 20, and the Pet. Lex. under pathya 3. In Pada d most MSS., both of the Sa^hita and Padapa//za, read va^a, ' rule ; ' some MSS., Saya/za, and the Western authorities, vasa, 'dwell.' Cf. AV. XII, 4, 27. For the interchange of s and s, see the present writer in the Proc. Amer. Or. Soc, May, 1886 (Journ., vol. xiii, p. cxvii ff.). Cf. also the note on V, 19, 5.
Ill, 5. Commentary to page 114.
The par/za-tree figures in many sacerdotal performances, being identical with the pala^a (butea frondosa). Its branches and especially its wood are employed directly, and in the form of utensils, at most sacrifices (cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 59) ; its sanctity is accentuated by myths which derive the plant directly from heaven, and that, too, in connection with the descent of the soma (cf. st. 4). A divine archer, who guards the soma, shoots at
332 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
the eagle that robs the soma ; the eagle looses a feather (par/za), which alights upon the earth and becomes the par;za-tree. See RV. IV, 26 and 27, and the extensive legen- dary material attaching thereunto, and cf. Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks, pp. 148, 192 ; Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc.
XVI, 20, 24.
No very specific instructions are recorded in the ritual regarding the manipulation of the hymn. At Kau^. 19, 22, in the course of the so-called push/ikarma;zi, ' practices designed to engender prosperity' (Kaui*. 18, 19-24, 46), we have the mere statement that this and other hymns, dealing with amulets, are recited, while the amulet in question (mantrokta), after it has been steeped in sour milk and honey for three days (Kaui\ 7, 19), is fastened on the person desiring its protecting influence 1. Accordingly, the Atharva/ziya-paddhati (Kauj. 19, 1 note) mentions it in a long list of pushrika mantrap. Cf. also .Santikalpa 17, and 19 2. The Anukrama/zi describes it as saumyam (cf. st. 4) . . . (etena) par/^ama/zim uktarshir (i.e. Athar- van) astaut. Translated by Weber, Indische Studien,
XVII, 194 ff.
d. For aprayavan of the vulgata, read aprayavam (gerund) with the Index Verborum ; cf. XIX, 55, 1, and Va£\ S.
XI, 75.
For the relation of the par/za to soma, see the introduc- tion above.
In Pada c Weber emends priyasam to bhriyasam, and Saya/^a hovered on the edge of the same correction, priya- sam bhriyasam dharayeyam. It is, however, not certain, for in Lazy. 5r. Ill, 2, 10 (also Drahyaya/za) we have manas tanushu piprata^, parallel to manas tanushu bibhrata/z, RV.
1 Saya/za, te^obalayurdhanadipush/aye.
2 Cited erroneously by Saya/za as Nakshatrakalpa.
Ill, 5. COMMENTARY. 333
X, 57, 6 ; Va£\ III, 56 ; KauJ\ 89, 1 ; Tait. Br. II, 4, 2, 7. Nay, we have the passage with piprata^ in another place in the Tait. Br. (Ill, 7, 14, 3) itself, and it would seem, therefore, that piprata^ (Pet. Lex. * erhalten') has a meaning closely analogous to that of bibhrata^.