1 The name ashadM^ means ' invincible/ Here, as frequently elsewhere, its symbolic suggestiveness is utilised to secure success or victory for the person who performs under the two constellations of that name; cf. Weber, Nakshatra, II, 374, 389.
Iv, 38. Commentary. 413
Cf. Zimmer, pp. 283-5. The kr/tam, or the kr/tani in Pada c (cf. sts. 2 c and 3 b), are either the winnings, or the winning numbers, or combinations, of the dice. Cf. Apast. Sr. V, 1, 20.
a. Saya^a, vi^invatim ekatra nirbadhe kosh^e tri^aturan akshan vueshe/za samu£/£invati//z sa^ghikurvatim. Muir, ' who collects and scatters ; ' Ludwig, { die aufhaufende, zuschuttende.' These technical terms are very obscure : the scholiasts are untrustworthy because they have in mind different games and different times.
Saya^a combines Padas e and f with 4 a, b, making his fourth stanza, and then continues as follows : 4 c, d + 5 a, b = 5; 5 c— f=6; 6 = 7; 7 = 8. His comment on this stanza is rendered very problematic through bad readings : ada- dhanas for adadana ; jeshanti (ava^eshayanti) for sishati ; prahan for praham. For parinr/tyati, cf. ,anr/tyata/£ . . . gandharvasya, IV, 37, 7. We have assumed with great reluctance that sishati is a desiderative participle from sa = san, 'gain.'
We read pramodate for pramodante with Saya;^a and two
of Shankar Pandit's MSS., and bibhrati for bibhrati. The
anacoluthon in the second hemistich is thus easily removed.
The three stanzas are designated at Kaiu\ 21, 11 as karkipravada^ (sc. rik&k), c the stanzas that mention the word karki (cf. sts. 6, 7).' They are employed in a rite, designed, according to the scholiasts, to secure the pros- perity of cattle (Saya^a, gopush/ikarma ; Ke^ava, go^anti), as follows : ' The karkipravada stanzas are recited over a young cow, upon which are placed twelve halters, and which is anointed with the dregs of ghee. Then, while
4 14 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
pronouncing Padas 7 c and 7 d, the things indicated in (these) mantras are done (i. e. fodder is given to the young cow, and she is fastened with the halters)., In consideration of these practices, and the statements of the stanzas them- selves, we have thought that the purport of the hymn is a more special one, to wit, to secure the return of the young cows from pasture, and have formulated the caption accordingly. The stanzas are also employed at Kaii^. 66, 13 at a so-called sava, or formal bestowal of the dakshi^a : a karki (young white cow), together with an anubandhya, a cow designed for the cattle-sacrifice, are given to the priests as a particular kind of reward.
This part of the hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 455.
Because the Tait. S. Ill, 4, 7, 1 mentions an Apsaras by the name of mari/£i, Saya;za connects this stanza with the preceding gambling charm. The true sense seems to be that the cows which wander ' in den tag hinein ' are in charge of the daily sun ; as he comes daily without fail, so do the young cows return. But the text is vague and fanciful, marred moreover by an anacoluthon.
Saya;/a explains karki by karkavar/za ^ubhra iya.m gau/i. Accordingly we, ' white calf.'
V, 4. Commentary to page 4.
Next to the soma-plant the kush//za is one of the most
valued members of the Vedic flora. According to the
medical books it is costus speciosus, or arabicus. The
word is not mentioned in the Rig-veda, but is common in
the Atharvan where three hymns, V, 4 ; VI, 95 ; XIX, 39,
are devoted to accounts of its origin and its healing
properties. It is the prince of remedies, like unto the steer
among domestic animals, and the tiger among the beasts
of prey. Like the soma, his good friend and companion,
Commentary. 415
he grows upon the mountains, especially upon the high peaks of the Himalaya. In fact both soma and kush///a came from the third heaven ; the kush//£a grew originally under that wonderful a^vattha-tree (ficus religiosa), under whose shelter the gods themselves are accustomed to assemble. A pretty myth tells how a golden ship (soma, the moon ?), with golden tackle and oars, descends from heaven, and alights upon the Himavant mountains, bringing kush//£a, the visible embodiment of the heavenly ambrosia. The use of the plant is varied, its effect most reliable. Hence it is designated as VLfvabhesha^-a, ' all-cure.' and vuvadha- virya, ' potent at all times.' Headache, consumption, and afflictions of the eye are cured by it. But especially it seems to have been regarded as the specific against fever (takman) in all its forms. It seems to have been a fragrant plant since in AV. VI, 102, 3 it is employed in a love-charm in connection with salve, licorice, and spikenard. The kush/^a itself must have been prepared as a salve, since in Kaus. 28, 13 the patient is anointed with a mixture of ground kush//za with butter ; cf. especially Ke^ava's gloss to the passage. Curiously enough in the later literature kush/Aa is the ordinary designation of leprosy, doubtless a species of euphemism ; cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 258 ff. Excellent accounts of the kush/Zza- plant are given by Grohmann, Indische Studien, IX, p. 419 ff., and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 63 ff.
The employment of this hymn in the Kaujika-sutra is of a general character : all the stanzas of the Atharvan which contain the word kush//^a are classed together at 28, 13 as kush/Zzalinga/* (sc. rik&h) ; while they are being recited the patient is anointed with kush/^a, ground up with butter, which is rubbed in without pressure (apratiharam : see Pet. Lex. s.v. har with prati, and Bohtlingk's Lexicon, vol. ii. p. 290 c). Darila describes this, quite precisely, as a cure for fever, while Ke^ava sets it up for a variety of diseases, ra^ayakshma (a kind of consumption; see Zimmer, I.e., p. 375), headache, leprosy (kush^/za), and pain in all limbs. The Ga/zamala, Ath. Parii-. 32, 7, counts the hymn as
41 6 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
takmanlyana, ' destructive of takman ' (see Kaitf. 26, 1, note), but the Anukrama/zi describes it as yakshmana^ana- kush/^adaivatyam, the author being Bhrzgu-Angiras. The hymn has been translated by Grohmann, I.e., 419 ff. ; Zimmer, I.e., 63 ff., and Grill2, pp. 9, 141.
b. Himavant is identical with Himalaya.
c. Professor Roth, cited by Grill in his note, suspects srutva and suggests srutva. The latter seems more difficult, and I am at a loss to appreciate why the reputation of the kush//m among men might not be so stated.
The entire verse is repeated in AV. VI, 95, 1 ; and with a single variant in XIX, 39, 6.
a. A tree as the seat of the gods occurs in RV. X, 135, 1, yasmin vrzkshe supala^e devai^ sampibate yama^, ' the tree of beautiful foliage within which Yama drinks with the gods;' cf. also RV. I, 164, 20. 22, and Kuhn, Die Herab- kunft des Feuers und des Gottertrankes \ pp. 126 ff.
b. trztiyasyam it6 divi indicates the parallelism which this myth establishes between the kush^a and the soma. The a^vattha-tree is elsewhere said to drip with soma (Kuhn, I.e., 128). The same expression is employed for soma at Tait. S. VI, 1, 6, 1 ; Tait. Br. I, i, 3, 10; III, 2, 1, 1; cf. our Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XVI, 11 ; also the Pet. Lex. s.v. div. 1, c, and tridiva.
e, d. For amr/tasya kakshanam, cf. RV. I, 13, 5. The Pada is replaced in AV. XIX, 39, 6. 7 by tata/z kush//zo a^*ayata ; the word avanvata is rendered variously : Roth, in Grill's note, c (dorthin) wollten haben ; ' Grohmann, p. 421, ' spendeten ; ' Zimmer, p. 64, ' dort besassen ; ' Grill, i dort ward den Gottern zu teil.'
c. The vulgata here and at VI, 95, 2, which is a repeti- tion of this stanza, reads pushyam. We have rendered
V, 4- Commentary. 417
pushpam, with some of the MSS., and Whitney, Index
Verborum, s.v. If we retain pushyam the sense would not
be changed materially ; the two words are hopelessly
blended, since the writing of Devanagari MSS. in such
a case is totally unreliable.
a. The Anukrama/zi designates the stanza as bhuri^, on account of the apparently hypermetrical first Pada. This may be corrected so as to yield an anush/ubh, either by crasis of panthana asan, or by substituting the older form pantha(s). The former is the more conservative alternative, since the nominative plural panthas does not occur in the Atharvan.
d. niravahan wTith its two prepositions indicates vividly the two chief features of the myth : nir, ' forth (from heaven) ; ' a, ' to (the mountain upon which it grows).'
The stanza, both by its metre (gayatri), and subject matter, betrays its character as an interruption of the mythological history of the kushMa. It seems, too, in a measure, modelled after VI, 95, 3, with which it shares its last Pada. Nevertheless I would not go as far as Grill does, and print the stanza at the end of the hymn, because it may have been composed as a liturgical interruption of the mythological account. To say that it was inserted because of the assonance of a vaha in Pada b with niravahan in 5 d is begging the question, since this assonance may be part of the original endeavour. To be sure, the redactors of the Atharvan are quite capable of such betises, but they should not be charged with them except for good cause !
b. a vaha, 'restore,' literally/ bring hither.' The word is not otherwise quotable in this sense. Similar expres- sions, however, are employed to indicate the restoration of a disturbed mind ; here, perhaps, with reference to the delirious ravings of the fever-patient ; cf. punar da, AV. VI, in, 4, and perhaps a ga and ud ga, II, 9, 3. The sense
[42] e e
41 8 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
is fairly secure owing to its juxtaposition with nfsh kar (cf. st. 10, and II, 9, 5, &c).
b. Cf. AV. XIX, 39, 5. 8 for somasya sakha.
d. ^akshushe, ' to my eye/ not in the sense of the oculist, there being no implication of disease of the eye, as is the case in the expression upahatyam akshos in st. 10. The poet has in mind that eye with which ' to see the sun ' (suryam drise, drisaye suryaya, or svar drzs6) is the poetic prayer for life. This is quite clear. The eye here is that which finally does go to the sun, stiryani Mkshur gakk/iatu, RV. X, 16, 3; cf. with this and the preceding Pada the formula at the animal sacrifice, e.g. Ait. Br. II, 6, 13, ' may thy eye go to the sun ; may thy breath unite with the wind,'
c, d. namany uttamani : literally, * highest names ; ' cf.
AV. XIX, 39, 2, where the names are stated with much
fancy.
For the diction of this stanza, cf. AV. VI, 95, 3; XIX, 39, 3. 4; and V, 22, 2; XIX, 34, 10.
The stanza is rubricated separately as a member of the
takmana^anaga^a in the Ga^amala ; see Kaus. 26, 1, note.
The Anukrama/zi designates it as ush/nggarbha, mkrit
(nivrz't), because Pada b seems defective. By reading
akshios tanuvo the defect is remedied : akshos here, as
well as in part of the MSS. at XIX, 60, i, stands for
akshyos with defective presentation of the sound-group
kshy as ksh. See also IV, 20, 7, where all MSS. read
£aturakshas for ^aturakshyas. The case is the same as
appears in mekshami for mekshyami, AV. VII, 102, 1 ;
sakshe for sakshye, II, 27, 5 ; vibhunkshama^a- for -kshya-
ma»a-, Kau^. 23, 9 ; 38, 26, and more remotely like jama
for jyama, AV. I, 24, 4, and jamaka for .syamaka, Kaoy.
V, 5- Commentary. 419
74, 16. Morphological deductions, such as Professor Hopkins, Amer. Journ. Phil. XIII, 21 ff., bases upon these defective writings, are therefore subject to the gravest suspicion. In general, Devanagari MSS. must be watched very closely for the loss of y, especially if preceded by two consonants; cf. especially the hopeless confusion between the words arghya and argha.
V, 5. Commentary to page %o.
The only mention of this hymn in the practices of the Kau^ika is the one implied in 28, 14, laksh&lingabhir (sc. rzgbhir) dugdhe pha/z/an payayati, where the commentators agree in presenting our hymn along with AV. IV, 12, as 'the stanzas characterised by the mention of the laksha- plant.' For the practices connected with the plant that goes by the names Arundhatf, Sila^i, Laksha (possibly also Roham), see the introduction to IV, 12, and the note on its first stanza.