General Index to the 49 Volumes of the Sacred Books of the East (SBE Vol. 50; comp. M. Winternitz, 1910)

S&ya/za, ' the Agni of the belly, the cause of the digestion

of food and drink/ Similarly the sun (cf. the next stanza)

in Maitri-Up. VI, 1. 5; Pra.ma-Up. I, 5 ; II, 8 ; Tait. Ar.

For vrishtyod (Padapa/^a, wzsh/ya ud) read vrzshtya,(/i)
lid with Roth, Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch.
XLVIII, 684.

IV, 3. Commentary to page 147.

At Kaui*. 51, 1-6 the following practices are prescribed : 1. ' While reciting AV. IV, 3 (the shepherd) follows the cattle, (alternately) raising and digging into (the ground)

Iv, 3- Commentary. 367

Saya/za suggests, very properly, that the man (purusha) in question is the robber mentioned below. Pada d is difficult ; Ludwig compares RV. I, 24, 7, which according to Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, IT3 ff., refers to the ban- yan-tree (nyagrodha, va/a). The branches of that tree take root anew, are ni/£ina, or nihita, and therefore grow until they are out of sight (hiruk, an antarhitanamadheyam, a word for 'out of sight' according to Yaska's Naigha/z/uka, III, 25). Prof. Roth, as quoted by Grill, p. 118, suggests an arrow, or spear, but the expression devo vanaspatir (cf. VI, 85, 1) is favourable to the other construction. Saya^a, helplessly, vananam adhish^ata devas tatra*ntarhito var- tate tadvad vyaghradayo * pi antarhita bhavantu.

1 The symbolism is transparent : he pierces the imaginary track of the dreaded hostile creatures, and thus pierces the creatures themselves.

2 According to Ke^ava and Sayawa he then places his left hand upon the dust and with his right scatters half of it. The words ninayanaff* samuhya refer back to the practice at Kauj. 19, 17. 18 ; see the introduction to II, 26, p. 303.

3 According to Kejava he recites in this connection AV. Ill, 26 ; cf. Kauj. 14, 25.

368 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

c. ' The rope full of teeth,' by familiar figure of speech, the serpent ; cf. VII, 108, 1 ; XIX, 47, 7. 8 (partially verbal parallelism with our stanza) ; Sat. Br. IV, 4, 5> 3»

c. Literally, ' let him go on the falling down of the paths,' i. e. ' where the paths are precipitate.' Saya^a arrives at a similar result, even though he handles his text very freely, sa ka. patha/^ madhye dhvaz/zsena dhva^sakena kash/ena marge/za apa gaMatu. Ludwig, 'wo die pfade abbrechen ; ' Grill, ' auf nachstem wege pack' er sich.'

b. Saya/za reads api sirshna/i, glossing, ^irasi bhava h\m-
saka^ irzngadaya^ avayava api mudhk bhavantu, ' the de-
structive members of the body on the head, horns, &c,
shall be dulled/

c. All translations, including our own, are mere guesses, nimriik, ' sunset/ is not found except in connection with the setting of the sun. Saya/za' s drzsh/ivishayo na bhavati has suggested our ' out of sight shall go.' Grill has in mind the root mar£, 'injure,' something like nimrzkto, 'injured, destroyed ; ' but there is no such word, godha (Pet. Lex. ' sinew ') is equally difficult. Saya?za, ' a kind of wild beast/ As it has also the meaning ' large lizard,' we have said * dragon,' a pure conjecture. Ludwig's ' in der tiefe soil das krokodil gehn ' does not differ materially. Grill, ' mit lah- mer sehne geh's zu grund.'

d. sa.s3.yur (air. Key,) mrigih is also not clear. Saya/za, ' the evil beast inclined to lie down.' Ludwig, ' tief hinab- springend geht das wild.' We have adopted with profound misgivings the translation of the Pet. Lex., Grill, and Zimmer (p. 79). The latter regards ^a^ayur as an epithet of the tiger (cf. sts. 1, 3, 4, 7) ; cf.5 however, ^a^aghatin, and ^a^ada, names of birds of prey. Prof. Roth, however, as quoted by Grill, holds now a different opinion, ' a bird of prey which swoops down from on high.'

Iv, 4- Commentary. 369

a, b. Cf. VI, 56, 1 ; X, 4, 8, a similar formula calculated to regulate the snapping of the serpent's mouth. The Pa- dapa/^a treats sa;/zyama/£ both times as a noun-compound, but it is easier to construe it as saw yama^, an injunctive aorist. The sense is the same. Saya^a treats vi yama^ also both times as a noun, sa;//yama^ sawyamanaw samyag vyaghradinaw mantrasamarthyena niyamanaw yad asti na *sau viyama^ viruddhayamanaw bhavati, &c. The passage seems to refer to the jaws of the wild beasts.

c, d. This may either refer to brahma, ' charm/ or to
some plant or amulet, of which the Sutra, to be sure, makes
no mention. The hemistich is hypermetric, fairly curable
by throwing out atharva^am. The Anukrama/n, kakum-
mati garbhoparish/adbrzhati.

IV, 4. Commentary to page 31.

A characteristic mixture of pharmaceutical applications and drastic symbolism constitutes the practices of the ritual, Kaui-. 40, 14 ff., as follows: 14. 'The hymn IV, 4, and, in addition, the following mantra is recited : " Bulls have dug thee up, thou art a bull, O herb ! Thou art a bull, full of lusty force ; in behalf of a bull do we dig thee up ! " During these recitals the plants u^Mushma and parivyadha 5 are dug up with an iron instrument (Darila, a ploughshare). 15. Two decoctions are made from these plants, poured into milk, a drawn bow is placed into the lap, and then the decoctions are drunk 2. 16. (The same

1 Darila and Ke^ava, u^^ushmd kapika^^u (mucuna pruritus) parivyadha^ suravalaka^ (or, sukaravalaka^) ; Sayawa ^mentions only one plant, kapitthakamulam, the root of feronia elephantum. For u^Mushma, cf. st. 4.

2 We now correct Sutra 1 5 as follows, dugdhe pha/z/av adhigyam (sc. dhanur) upastha adhaya pibati. Cf. Kau^ika, Introduction, p. lviii ff. The symbolism is quite apparent; see stanzas 6 and 7 of the hymn.

[4a] B b

370 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

performance takes place) while he sits upon a stake or
a pestle1' (generous suggestions! cf. VII, 90, 3). For
hymns (and their collateral practices) dealing with the
same subject, see VI, 72 ; ioi ; VII, 90 ; Kauj. 40, 16-18 ;

The Gandharvas, the divine libertines (IV, 37, 11), who enjoy themselves in the company of the heavenly nymphs, the Apsaras, are peculiarly likely to stand in need, and have a knowledge of regenerating plants. Hence the Gandharva digs them up. But why should Varu/za need an aphro- disiac ? At VII, 90, 2, a charm for inhibiting the redundant sexual power of an enemy, the divine law ofVaru^a 'withers excessive fire/ The paradox may be only a seeming one. Varu^a, as is well known, not infrequently appears in opposition to Indra, and his name even is occa- sionally, by etymological play (root var), assimilated to Vrztra, the demon, whom Indra at RV. I, 32, 7 turns in a castrate (vadhri) ; cf. RV. IV, 4a, 7; X, 124, 4. 5, and Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, III, 144 ff. Saya^a does not comment upon this extraordinary imputation against Varu/za, the most highly respected of all the gods.

c. I have followed Saya;za in regarding ud e^atu as transitive, udvrzttaw karotu, and, utkrzsh/aviryayukta//z karotu. Cf. the similar double use of the root lid ar (lid iyarti), and the simple root ir. The Pet. Lex., ' sich riihren, sich erheben.' This translation fits poorly for Pada c.

a, b. Saya^a with some MSS. (SamhitfL and Padapa//za) reads virohito for virohato, and construes it as an epithet of the penis, putrapautradirupe/za viroha/^asya nimittaw pum-

1 The first part of Sutra 1 6 in the edition is to be regarded with Kej'ava as an independent Sutra. Ke^ava was not at hand until the body of the text was in print.

Iv, 5- Commentary. 37 1

vya^anam. The sense is changed very little. Our trans- lation of abhitaptam iva*nati by * exhales heat like a thing on fire ' is somewhat uncertain, since anati means ' breathe.' The Pet. Lexs., 'nach luft schnappen, lechzen;' accord- ingly ' longs for cooling like a thing on fire/

a, b. Saya/za supplies irayatu with lid. This is at least approximately correct, as may be learned from RV. X, 97, 8, uk Miishma oshadhina^ gavo gosh/Md ive**rate. The only question is whether the simple verb, rather than the causative, is to be supplied : ' The fire of the plants &c. shall arise.' The ritual embodies with stereotyped sym- bolism the words uk £Mshma in the plant u^^ushma ; see the introduction.

c, d. Saya^a, supported by a few MSS., reads sa^pusham
and tanuvaj-am, glossing, samyak poshayitri/zam oshadhinaw
sambandhi yad vrfchnywn viryam asti tad asmin purushe
tanuva^a^/ jariradhinaw krztva dhehi.

Repeated at VI, 101, 3 ; cf. the practice, Kau^. 40, 15, above.

d. Saya^a, with one of Shankar Pandit's MSS., reads anu valguyata (nrztyata manasa). The Pet. Lexs. and Whitney, Index Verborum, regard sada as the instrumental of a air. Aey. sad, ' mounting/ But such a root-abstract is naturally feminine, and the participle anavaglayata is neuter, agreeing with pasasa supplied from Pada a. Saya/za correctly takes sada as ' ever.'

IV, 5. Commentary to page 105.

The purpose of this hymn, regarded from within, is clear, and its position in the ritual in connection with one of the strikarma^i (Kau^. 32, 28-36, 40) makes it certain that the Atharvavedins dealt with it in the light indicated by our

B b 2

572 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

title. Four of its stanzas (i, 3, 5, 6) appear in a different arrangement, and in connection with other material, in RV. VII, 55, and, as usual, the Atharvan recension smacks of adaptation to a particular purpose1. The Rigveda form itself, however, is open to the same suspicion ; both ver- sions may have draughted into service materials whose original connection in olden times (pura/za) has passed out of sight. Professor Aufrecht, Ind. Stud. IV, 337 ff., presented as early as 1858 a peculiarly lucid interpretation of both hymns (cf. Zimmer, pp. 149, 308), and more recently Pro- fessor Pischel, Vedische Studien, II, 55 ff., has made a determined attempt — in our opinion unsuccessful — to vin- dicate the interpretation of the Rigveda version as under- taken by Sha^guru^ishya and the Brzhaddevata. Accord- ing to Pischel, Vasish^a entered the house of Varu^a after he had fasted three days in order to steal food, and employed this charm to put all waking persons and dogs to sleep 2.

There is at any rate no question as to the purpose of the stanzas as arranged by the Atharvan diaskeuasts. Darila describes it as maithuna^ara^avighnana^akartar, ' removing obstacles in the way of an assignation.' The practices are stated at Kaus. 36, 1-4, as follows: 1. 'While reciting IV, 5 a sleeping-charm is performed. 2. The house is sprinkled with water from a vessel which has been anointed with the dregs of ghee, and the rest is poured upon the inside of the door. 3. The same act is repeated naked. 4. Then a mortar 3 is addressed (with the hymn) ; next, the northern corner (of the house), the southernmost foot of the

1 Note especially asyai in st. 6 of the AV. for sarve in st. 5 of RV. ; also svaptu for sastu (archaic) in the same stanzas.

* Pischel argues that Brahmans are known to have committed thefts in later times (MrzM^aka/ika* 46, 10, &c. ; see also Rig- vidhana I, 26, 2 ; Manu XI, 251). On the same principle it might be argued that Vedic Rishis acted as clowns (vidushaka) and even cooks, as in modern times. Cf. also Pa#£. Br. XXI, n, 2.

3 Does the mortar symbolise the vulva, just as the pestle the membrum virile, Kauy. 40, 16 (see IV, 4, introduction)?

Iv, 6. Commentary. 373

woman's bed, and the ropes (of the bed).' The hymn is rubricated also in Ath. Pam. 8, 1, and it has been trans- lated by Aufrecht, 1. c. ; Grill2, pp. 53, 119 ff. The Anu- kramam, varshabham.

a. ' Having a thousand horns,' of Agni, RV. V, 1, 8 ; Tait. Br. Ill, 7, 2, 7; AV. XIII, 1, 12 (cf RV. V, 2, 9). Saya;*a, both here and at RV. VII, 55, 7, suggests Surya, the sun ; Aufrecht, 1. c, p. 344, the moon, the father of sorcery ; Grassmann, in his translation of the Rigveda, I, 343, the starry heaven. In RV. I, 154, 6 the stars are said to be bhuri-^rmga, 'having many horns;' this seems to fortify Grassmann's view. Agni is also fitted for this epithet, since his flames and sparks may be viewed as horns. But lire (light) little befits the occasion.

c. Saya^a, pu/*yagandhaya^ ^obhanagandhayukta^. Pischel, 1. c, p. 57 ff., adduces proof that the Hindus of later times imagined that their women gave forth fragrance during intercourse ; hence, that the women here mentioned are awaiting their lovers. This narrow construction of the word is hardly necessary in the light of Manu V, 130; Marka/^eya Pura//a XXXV, 12, quoted by Pischel himself.

d. Saya;za, ida//z drtsyamknam harmyaw yathct dar^a-
naj-akti^unya^ tatha, * as these premises, though seen, are
(themselves) devoid of the power of seeing.'

IV, 6. Commentary to page 35.