d. The great embryo which is mentioned here, and which figures in the sequel, is apparently described in st. 21 as a part of the honey-lash ; in st. 5 the embryo is said to come from the honey- lash. The embryo suggests the lightning (fire\ which seems therefore to be viewed here as a child of the waters, represented by the honey-lash, coinciding thus with the conception of the apa//z napat (cf. Oldenberg, I.e., pp. 99, 118 ff.). But the intolerable mysticism of sts. 5 ff. leaves everything in doubt.
In Pada b kslasa/i may be thrown out as a gloss which disturbs the metre (^agati). Cf. with Pada c the statement of the use of the madhugraha, 'portion of honey,' which is given to the Brahmans, Katy. Sr. XI, 4, 17. 18 ; see Hille- brandt, Soma, p. 242.
By a characteristic leap of fancy the fluid-yielding lash is now regarded as a milch-cow, and the rhetorical properties usually connected with her ecstatic praise are exploited. For Pada d, cf. XII, 1, 45 ; RV. IV, 42, 10 ; VI, 48, u ; VIII, 69, 10.
nection with the moisture of the clouds, and suggests the morning- dew.
590 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Cf. AV. IX, 10, 6 = RV. I, 164, 28, and AV. VIII, 9, 13. For the three gharmas (RV. VII, 33, 7), see the discussions of Geldner, Vedische Studien, II, 139 ; Henry, I.e., p. 68. I am disposed to think that there is here at least an allusion to the ritual gharma, either the hot milk, or the pot in which the hot milk is cooked ; cf. Vkg. S. XXXVIII, 6 ff., and Haug, Vedische Rathselfragen, p. 40.
Cf. the interesting formula at lAty. Sy. Ill, 5, 15, . . . pita upatish//£anta apo ye ^akvara ^zsha-bha ye svara^as te arshantu te varshantu te krmvantv isham xxxg&m rayaspo- sha/^ tad videya. The words j-akvara^ and ^vara^as allude incidentally to the groups of saman-stanzas of that name. In Pada d apa^ may possibly be accusative (Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar2, § 393 a), co-ordinated with ui^am.
b. Cf. Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 566.
Stanzas 11-13.
Rubricated at Vait. Su. 31, 7, together with other formulas (VI, 47 and 48), designed for the three daily pressures of the soma. Cf. in general Bergaigne, Re- cherches sur l'histoire de la liturgie Vedique, Journal Asiatique, vol. xiii (1889) ; Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 3 ff. More secondary is the employment of the stanzas, Ka.us. 139, 15, at the introduc- tion of the pupil to the study of the Vedas, which rests upon the occurrence of the word var^as in the stanzas. Cf. the first var>£asyaga/za in the Ga/^amala, Ath. Parij. 33, 10 (Kau.y. 13, 1, note).
For va^^ishiya, read va^sishiya with Whitney, Index
Verborum; cf. Proc. Amer. Or. Soc, May, 1886 (Journ.,
vol. xiii, p. cxviii).
Ix, 2. Commentary. 59 1
Identical with RV. I, 23, 24 ; AV. VII, 89, 2 ; X, 5, 47.
Cf. XIV, ], 35, and Hillebrandt, Soma, p. 251. In Vait. Su. 30, 13, the stanza figures at the sautrama/zi-rite, as is suggested by the presence of the word sura. Cf. Contri- butions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 148 ff. ; Oldenberg, Nachrichten der Gottingischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 1893, p. 342 ff.
Repeated almost identically at VI, 69, 2 ; cf. Hillebrandt, I.e., p. 240.
c, d. In Pada b divi seems to stand secondarily for adhi
in st. 10. At any rate tarn in Pada c and sa in d seem to
refer to bhumyam in b. Very differently Henry in his
note.
This and the following sections are written in Brahma/za- prose. The present stanza seems to contain a mystic correlation of the parts of the lash with cosmic forces, all of which are obscure. For the embryo, cf. the note on st. 4. Here garbha, ' embryo/ seems to be a part of a real whip.
IX, 2. Commentary to page 220.
In the cosmogonic hymn, RV. X, 129, 4 = AV. XIX, 52, 1, desire (kama) is said to have been 'the first seed (product) of the mind/ which came from ' the one' after it had sprung into existence through creative fervour (tapas). In the philosophical hymns of the Atharvan, and in the disquisitions of the Upanishads, this Kama, the creative desire (not sexual love, as in AV. Ill, 25), takes a place among the very numerous primeval cosmic forces, and appears as one form of the tentative monotheistic per-
592 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
sonifications of primeval force ; it then does not differ materially from ' the one ' (ekam), ' the being ' (sat), and the more vigorously personalised Brahma, Pra^apati, Vi^va- karman, Svaya^bhu, &c. The Greek mythology similarly connects Eros, the god of love, with the creation of the universe ; see Plato's Symposium 6. Of such hymns the Atharvan has two, XIX, 52, in addition to the present. Cf. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, p. 402 ff. ; Scherman, Philosophische Hymnen, p. 76 ff.
The personification of Kama as a supreme being suggests very quickly his power to protect those who worship him, and to destroy the enemies of the worshipper. The Atharvan naturally rings the changes upon these more ordinary divine qualities : the personal Kama is dealt with much in the same spirit as Agni, many of whose attributes are conferred upon him. For the relation of Kama to Agni, see Weber, Ind. Stud.V, 225 ff. In the ritual the entire hymn, as well as single stanzas of it, is degraded into ordinary witchcraft charms against enemies, without special signi- ficance : see Kam\ 49, 1 ; 48, 5 ; 24, 29, and cf. 46, 9, note ; Vait. Su. 24, 1 o 1. The hymn has been translated in full by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 529 ; Henry, Les livres VIII et IX de l'Atharva-veda, pp. 84, 118 ff. More or less frag- mentary translations are offered in the two works cited above ; cf. also Hillebrandt's Vedachrestomathie, p. 40 ff.
a, b. For the distinction between ghrz'ta and a'^ya, see
the Grzhyasa^graha I, 106 (Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl.
Gesellsch. XXXV, p. 567).
This and the following stanza are rubricated along with certain other mantras in the du//svapnana^anaga^a, a series of stanzas designed to obviate the effect of evil dreams, in the Ga^amala, Ath. Pam. 32, 8. See Kam\ 46, 9, note.
3 Quoted in the Ath. ParLrish/as (e.g. 10) as kamasuktam.
Ix, 2. Commentary. 593
b. Prof. Roth in the Pet. Lex., s. v. bhas, regards this passage as corrupt, and conjectures yasmad bibhatse ya£ ka na*bhinande, ' which I loathe and which I do not enjoy.' The motive of the correction, in addition to the poor metre, is the usual transitive use of abhi nand, ' take pleasure in,' and the like ; this does not seem to me to warrant so com- plete a transformation of the text.
c. The Pada is hypermetric, and may be normalised by
reading munka for mu^ami. But the imperative first sing,
act. without ni is not elsewhere known in the Atharvan.
b. asvagata occurs but one other time, AV. XII, 5, 40, asvagata parih/zuta, a very obscure passage. The Pet. Lexs. translate ' heimatslosigkeit ; ' Ludwig, ' unfreiheit ' (cf. Der Rigveda, III, 284); Henry, * dependance.' The adjective asvaga occurs in a closely parallel passage, XII, 5, 45, asvagam apra^asa/^ karoti ; I would compare svastha and asvastha, c well ' and ' unwell ; ' svasthata and asvas- thata, ' well-being ' and 'diseasedness.' For avarti Va£*. S. XXX, 12 has avarzti, ' trouble ' (Ludwig, ' verarmung ') ; cf. perhaps Avestan hamvareti of opposite meaning, ' defence, courage.5
Vak Vira^- (cf. A7*and. Up. I, 13, 2) is the same Vak who is designated RV. VIII, 100, 11, 'as the milch-cow whom the gods begot;' cf. AV. VIII, 9, 2, and Oldenberg, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XXXIX, 54 ft In Pada d the metre is sensibly relieved by dropping paj-avo (so also st. 16); nevertheless I should hesitate to correct, because the same RV. stanza states ' that multiform animals (pasavak) speak her (vak).' The argument may, of course, be turned the other way, by assuming that pa^avo is due to a reminiscence from that very stanza.
a, b. For indragm, nominative for vocative, coupled with
kama, vocative, cf. Delbruck, Altindische Syntax, p. 105.
[42] Q q
594 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The dual number of the verb in the next Pada may be due to the dual number of indragm.
d. This seems to be the full form of the Pada which occurs previously (st. 4) in a defective form.
The same stanza with one variant occurs in a different
connection at III, 6, 7. This, as well as the next stanza,
seems to be interpolated.
It is impossible to reproduce the chain of puns in this
clap-trap stanza ; yava-yavano, moreover, is somewhat
ambiguous, as yavan may come either from yu, ' ward off'
(so we, with Whitney in the Index Verborum), or ya, ' go '
(so Ludwig). The Pet. Lexs. do not analyse the word,
simply translating it 'abwehrend.' Cf. in a general way
the hymns II, 7 ; VI, 91.
Stanza 16,
Pada a ends at trivarutham (read .yarma as three syllables) ; udbhii seems to be a gloss. Pada b is hypermetric, and may be relieved by casting out brahma and krz'tam (Henry). For Padas c, d, cf. st. 5 c, d, apparently the more original source of the passage.
At IsSl Upanishad IV, the 'one' (ekam) is similarly lauded,
nai*nad deva &pnuvan purvam arshat (ar^at). Cf. Ath.
Paru. 48, 2.
Cf. Va^. S. XXIV, 25, 29 ; AV. II, 31, 2 ; VI, 50, 3.
Manyu is ' courage,' personified ; cf. RV. X, 83, 84.
The purpose of the passage seems to be to ensure whole- some desires, fit and capable of realisation ; evil thoughts,
Ix, 3- Commentary. 595
unfit for fulfilment, shall not trouble the suppliant. But
dhi'ya^ may refer perhaps to the hostile prayers of the*
enemy, which shall not injure him that prays to Kama.
IX, 3. Commentary to page 193.
The character of this hymn is such that its proper object did not reveal itself clearly, until its application appeared plainly stated in the Kaorika. Zimmer, p. 153 (cf. the translation, p. 151 fif.), supposes that the hymn is a charm to free one's house from imaginary witchcraft practices, which have been placed as fetters upon it (cf. stanzas 5, 6, 24). Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 464 fif., translates the hymn under the title, ' Removal of a house,' without stating the precise situation ; he comes very near the truth, yet misses the main point. Grill2, pp. 60, 188 ff., fails to find any reason for a removal, and construes the hymn (just as III, 12) as a dedicatory ceremony after the erection, and before occupation. And Henry, Les livres VI 1 1 et IX de 1' Atharva- veda, pp. 87, 121 ff., seems to underrate the significance of its employment in the Sutra. He suggests that the hymn alludes to the building of a house, but accentuates the successive removals of the ancillary frame, the scaffolding, as the house advances from stage to stage.
The Kaujika treats the hymn in 66, 22-30, and Ke^ava epitomises the treatment very well by designating the ceremony as ^alasavam, i.e. the solemn bestowal upon a priest of a house as dakshma. See his comment on Kaus. 64-66, especially page 365, lines 1, 2, and cf. also the intro- duction to XI, T. The Kauiika's rather elaborate treatment is as follows : Su. 22. ' While reciting AV. IX, 3, that which is about to be given along with the house is (placed) within (the house) covered up. 23. It is recommended, moreover, that the objects mentioned in the hymn (be given as addi- tional gifts). 24. While reciting st. 18 the door is removed. 25. While reciting st. 22 they take up the water-vessel and the fire and enter the house. 26. That (water-vessel) is anointed with the dregs (of ghee) after they have arrived
Qq2
596 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
within (the house), while the (entire) hymn is being recited,
27. Having sprinkled the house (with water) from the anointed water-vessel, having recited the stanzas (of the hymn) over it, having addressed (the recipient), the giver, being made to speak (what?), presents (the house)1.
28. (The recipient) while reciting st. 15 accepts it. 29. While reciting the first stanza he loosens the objects mentioned in the stanza 2. 30. Addressing them with st. 24 he carries them off/
The Anukrama/n designates the hymn simply as skla.- devatyam. For previous translations see above.
One may imagine that the upamit is a vertical post, the pratimit a slanting support to hold the house in position, the parimit a crossbeam connecting the vertical posts ; but no certainty can be reached in words which are likely to be technically flavoured. Cf. Kaus. 66, 29, above.