giihg\d6*si gahgldo rakshita*si gahgidak (so the MSS. ; the edition corrects to angira asi gahgida, &c). The tempta- tion in both cases is to change at least one of the nomi- natives to a vocative ; see the note on XIX, 35, 1. Grill translates the two roham in Pada a by two synonymic expressions, 'Verheilung wirkst du, ja du heilst.' This simply veils the difficulty. It may be worth noting that the MSS. of the Kaorika in quoting the hymn at 28, 5 read unanimously rohi/zi ; this is the reading of Saya/za, and of the Paippalada for all three occurrences of the word, and it suggests ' red,' a quality which is borne out by certain epithets of the plant, hira/zyavar/za, ' golden-coloured/ in
V, 5, 6. 7 ; suryavar/za, ' sun-coloured,' in V, 5, 6 ; .mshma, ' fiery/ in V, 5, 7. The name of the plant, laksha, ' lac-dye ' — cf. the Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 — also suggests ' red,' and this may be a third thought which runs through the mind of the versifex while composing the stanza. I attach no text- critical significance to the metre of the stanza (gayatri), which differs from that of sts. 2-5 on the one hand, and 6 and 7 on the other; cf. e.g. RV. VII, 103 ; AV. II, 4 ;
VI, 111, &c.
b. I have reluctantly refrained from emending asti to asthi 1i ' bone/ The rather superfluous copula at the begin- ning of the Pada is suspicious, and the translation of pesh- /ram by * bone ' is not at all certain. Both the related pmta and pes? mean ' flesh/ and that, not ' bone/ may be the meaning of peshzram. This fits here as well as at AV. VI, 37, 3, the only other place where the word occurs, and Hillebrandt in the vocabulary of his Vedachrestomathie states a similar view, * losgeschlagenes stuck fleisch, fleisch- fetzen/ although his derivation from the root pish, ' crush/ separates needlessly our word from pi^ita and pe.n. With this change, Padas a, b should be translated ' what bone and flesh in thy person has been injured and burst, (may Dhatar,
1 By way of illustrating the easy confusion of these two words we may mention that Saya«a at IV, 10, 7 a, reads asti for asthi.
C C 2
388 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
&c.).' Note, too, the parallelism which is thus established with Padas c, d in st. 3 (asthi in both stanzas, and pesh/ram = ma^sasya). Saya#a comments upon presh^am instead of p^shfram.
c, d. dhata in alliteration with dadhat.
Almost every feature of the detailed account of the parts of the body, here and in the following two stanzas, may be paralleled from the Teutonic charms, e.g. Kuhn, 1. c, p. 51 :
' ben zi bena bluot zi bluoda
lid zi geliden sose gelimida sin/
The Norwegian charm mentioned on the same page recites marrow, bones, and flesh :
'marv i marv, been i been, kjod i kjod/ A charm from the Orkneys recites (1. c, p. 54) :
' Sinew to sinew, joint to joint,
Blood to blood, and bone to bone,
Attend thou in God's name ! '
a. As the Pada stands it is hypercatalectic. The Paippa- lada omits te, which may have crept in from Pada c. But even this leaves a bad final cadence : perhaps bhavatu is to be read dissyllabically (bhotu, in the manner of the Prakrit hodu). For the metrical equivalence of ava and o, see the author's article, ' On certain irregular Vedic Subjunctives,' Amer. Journ. Phil. V, 25 ff. (p. 10 fT. of the reprint). Saya/za reads jam for sam in each of the four Padas.
The metre is very irregular ; the Anukrama?n describes the stanza as tripada yavamadhya bhuriggayatri, not a bad characterisation, as the middle Pada is larger than the other two. By reading sottish/^a we obtain a good octosyllabic Pada a; b is a trish/ubh, and c is a catalectic anush/ubh (read urdhua^). Hillebrandt and Grill assume that this and the following stanza are later accretions, and both metre and sense seem to bear them out. But these matters are so
Iv, 1 6. Commentary. 389
very subjective! Ludwig does not construe Pada b as
a comparison, but translates ' gutes rad, gute felge, gute
nabe hat der wagen.' Evidently, he also has in mind an
exoteric origin of the stanza.
Cf. RV. VI, 54, 7. The stanza consists of two eleven- syllable and two octosyllabic Padas. The first Pada may be righted by reading patitua, or possibly yadi v& kartam, &c. (cf. yadi va in Pada b). The Anukramam baldly counts thirty-six syllables as they stand, without resolution, and designates the stanza as brzhati.
c, d. The subject of sim dadhat seems to me (as to Grill) to be Dhatar, the fashioner in st. 3 ; r/bhii belongs to the comparison, as in X, 1, 8. The 7^/bhus are known to have constructed the chariot of the A^vins, but they are not counted among the divine physicians (Rudra, the A^vins, the waters, and Sarasvati). Kuhn and Ludwig make rzbhu the subject of sam dadhat, but the former regards it as an epithet of Dhatar.
IV, 16. Commentary to page 88.
Professor von Roth, who first treated this hymn in his well-known essay, entitled ' Abhandlung iiber den Atharva- veda' (Tubingen, 1856), remarks on p. 30: 'There is no other hymn in the entire Vedic literature which presents divine omniscience in terms so emphatic, and yet this beautiful fabric has been degraded to serve as an introduc- tion to an imprecation. One may surmise, however, in this case as well as in the case of many other parts of this Veda, that fragments of older hymns have been utilised to deck out charms for sorcery.'
We may remark, however, that the stanzas of this hymn
do not occur in any other connection, and there is no
tangible evidence that they were constructed for any other
purpose than that before us. Certainly the Atharvavedins
had nothing better in view, and accordingly the hymn is
rubricated in the sixth book of the Kaujika which is
390 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
devoted to sorcery (abhiMrika). At Kaiw. 48, 7 the con- juring enemy, as he comes on, is met by the recital of this hymn; at 127, 3 the third stanza, in praise of Varu/za, figures in an expiatory rite when the constellation, 'the seven Rishis ' (the dipper), is ominously obscured by some nebulous mass, or comet (yatra dhumaketu/z saptarshin upadhupayati). The Anukrama/n describes the hymn as satyanrztanviksha/zasuktam, 'a hymn which searches out truth and untruth/
There are many translations of the piece : Roth, 1. c, pp. 29 ff ; Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morg. Gesellsch. VII, 607 ; Max Muller, Chips from a German Workshop, I, 40 ff. ; Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 63 ff. (cf. also II, 451); Metrical Translations, p. 163 ; Kaegi, Der Rig-veda2, p. 89 ff. (p. 65 ff. of Arrowsmith's translation) ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 388; Grill2, pp. 32, 126 ff; cf. also Hille- brandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 38 ff; Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 146 ff.
Cf. Psalms xxxiii. 13; cxiii. 5 ; cxxxviii. 6 ; cxxxix. 2; Jer. xxiii. 23, and see for scriptural parallels to the next stanzas the notes to Kaegi's translation. Sayana refers esham to the enemies ; most translators, to the human race in general. We supply, devanam from deva/z in Pada d. Some MSS. of the PadapazVb. read tayat and £arat ; the latter is adopted by Saya/za, kaxaxxasWam ka nasva.ra.rn ka vastu manyate.
a. Saya;za explains vankati by kau/ilyena pratarayati, ' leads astray by means of guile/ Cf. the formula, namo vacate, pariva££ate, stayuna;/z pataye nama/£, Mait. S. II, 9, 3 ; Tait. S. IV, 5, 3, 1 ; Vag. S. XVI, 21, addressed as part of the ^atarudriya-litany to god Rudra in his capacity of master-thief (Mahidhara also, vankati pratarayati). The Paippalada reads, yas tish//£ati manasa ya^ ka vankatx, sup- porting in a measure Saya/za' s and Mahidhara's glosses.
b. The Padapazvfo. reads nulayan, a participle, not a
Iv, 1 6. Commentary. 39 1
gerund ; pratankam is left as an accusative dependent upon £ar, a verb of motion. The meaning 'hiding-place' for pratanka suits its only other occurrence, AV. V, 13, 8 : ' the poison of all (serpents) who have run into their hiding- place is without force.' Cf. also pratakvan, Maitr. S. I, 2, 12 ; Tait. S. I, 3, 3, 1 ; Va^. S. V, 32, and Pet. Lex. (epithet of a pit). Saya;za reads nilayam, and glosses pratankam with prakarshe^a krzM/zra^-ivana/^ prapya. The Paippa- lada has pralayam, absolutive, in the place of pratankam.
c, d. The last two Padas foreshadow Varu/za's later func- tion as Neptune (apa^ pati/£) ; cf. RV. II, 38, 8 ; AV. Ill, 3, 4 ; Maitr. S. II, 6, 8 ; Tait. S. I, 8, 12, 1 ; V, 6, 1, 1 ; V&g: S. X, 7, and Weber, Ra^asuya, p. 44, note 1. The two oceans are the heavenly and earthly oceans ; cf. RV. X, 136,5.; AV. XI, 2, 25; 5,6.
Varu/m's spies are the stars, ' the eyes of night ' (RV. X, 127, 1), ' the beholders of men,' AV. XIX, 47, 3 fT. Cf. our Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, p. 170.
b, c. Saya^a reads purastat for parastat, and construes sa//zkhyata as the nom. of the stem sa//zkhyatar (prama^a-
yita).
d. The Pada is exceedingly difficult, ni minoti has the sanction of all MSS., and is apparently the reading of the Paippalada also. The gamester throws down (ni vapati, Kaiu. 41, 13) his dice, and it is implied here, of course, that it is done successfully, that the player obtains the stakes (krz'tam, see Pet. Lex., s. v. krz'ta 3 c), because Varu/za cannot be otherwise than successful. As the player plants down these (successful dice) thus does Varu/za establish these laws (tani, sc. vratani?). Saya/za, who did not primarily influence our conclusion, in part approaches the same interpretation, tani papinam .rikshakarmam tattatpa-
392 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
panusare?za ni minoti ni kshipati . . . yatha kitava/£ akshan atmano ^ayartha^ nikshipati. The Pet. Lex. (V, 764 ; VII, 409) emends, to nf Minoti and vi Minoti without real gain, tempting as the emendation is in the light of RV. X, 43, 9 = AV. VII, 50, 6, and AV. IV, 38, 3. Grill suggests nf minoti (or minati) in the sense of ' reducing, causing to vanish the strength of men' (cf. Sayazza), but neither expression will bear such an interpretation (nf minati does not occur). The translators offer the greatest variety of versions, without, as a rule, adhering closely to the text.
Sayazza reads visitM and rushanta/'z (so also the Paippa-
lada). For sinantu of the vulgate the MSS. have Minantu,
£^inattu, and sinantu (Sayazza, ^/zinattu ^/zindantu).
a. varuzza is metrically superfluous, an obvious gloss.
c. The MSS. read sramsayitva. and .sraz/zsayitva. Sayazza, correctly, sraz/zsayitva (^"alodararogezza srasta^z krztva).
d. Sayazza, followed by Shankar Pandit, reads abandha/i for abandhra/z. The Pet. Lex. s. v. 2 kart, ' like a leaking tub wound about with rags ' (to stop the leakage). Sayazza, ase/z ko^a iva parikz-ztyamana/z (krz'ti /^edane), ' like the broken sheath of a sword.'
Literally, ' with Varuzza who is fastened lengthwise, &c.' The word varuzza/z could be well spared from all three Padas, if it were not for the metrical symmetry with the next stanza. Or it might be changed to the vocative varuzza. For samamyo and vyamyo, cf. AV. XVIII, 4, 70 : the words are clear. Ludwig and Sayazza erroneously connect them with amaya, ' disease.' vidcsya is naturally derived from vidcra, ' foreign country ; ' in that case sa/zz- dcsya is an artificially formed opposite ' native, indigenous.7 So Sayazza. Both words are a?r. key. An alternate possibility
Iv, 17- Commentary. 393
is to render sa^de^ya, ' subject to command ; ' then videsyk is ' exempt from command/ Or, again, each may be translated independently : sa///de.rya, ' subject to command ;' vide^ya, ' foreign : ' their juxtaposition in a magic formula may be of the punning order. For sa;^de^ya, cf. our note on II, 8, 5 b. The divine and the human (noose of) Varu/za refers either to divine and human disease (so, apparently, Saya^a), or to diseases instigated by gods and men. The formula grovels in the lowest bathos of hocus-pocus.
IV, 17. Commentary to page 69.