Indra's double Brzhaspati here slays Vala, as in RV. X, 67 and 68 ; cf. also II, 23, 18 : II, 24, &c. Vala (Vrztra) is often described as lying unloosened, undone, after Indra's attack ; hence the comparison.
c. The Pada may be rendered, more concisely, ' as a skilful butcher the joints (of an animal)/ Our rendering is based upon the conviction that the poet has in mind the ritual butcher. Cf. RV. I, 162, 18. 20, and Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 556. The point of the stanza is, of course, that the parts of the house shall not be damaged in the course of their transfer to the priest.
Cf. Kaur. 63, 22, which also leaves some of the terms in this Sutra in the dark.
2 The buttresses, supports, and connecting beams.
Ix, 3- Commentary. 597
Again the terms are technical, and not at all clear. I have rendered paksha by 'side/ in deference to ulukapakshi (sc. sSlISl) in Pacini, IV, 1, 55, and Mahabhashya, IV, 29 b. Cf. AV. 111,7, 3, £atushpaksha//z khdi&ik (Saya^a. £atushko^am), 1 roof with four sides or facades ; ' see also st. 21 of our hymn. Zimmer and Grill, ' seitenpfosten ; ' Ludwig, ' zimmer ; ' Weber in his comment on III, 7, 3 (Ind. Stud. XVII, 210), ' vierbeschwingtes dach ; ' Henry, ' chambranles.'
c. For manasya patni, see our comment on III, 12, 5.
a, b. The difficult expression in this hemistich is rawySya (kam), which is a air. Xey. when accented with the svarita on the last syllable. Ordinarily the word is ra«ya, one of whose meanings when used as a noun is ' pleasure, joy.' This meaning is at the base of our translation ' for comfort ;' but what are those ropes (jikyani) which are tied within for comfort? Non liquet. The Pet. Lexs. and Zimmer give it up. Ludwig translates etymologically, ' dass die theile in ihrer lage verharren/ and Grill follows the suggestion up by proposing the emendation ramaf/aya. Henry, ' pour (te) maitriser ' (cf. his note). The real difficulty is with .sikyani, which is doubtless an obscure technical term.
c, d. The second half of the stanza, as it stands, disturbs the run of the metre (Anukr., pathyapahkti), and possibly needs correction. By dropping manasya patni and uddhfta the last Pada is restored as .riva nas tanve bhava, in accord- ance with similar expressions in I, 12, 4 ; VIII, 1, 5 ; 2, 16. Cf. st. 21 c, d, e, which is similarly irregular, and also contains the expression manasya patnim.
The various designations of the house represent a fairly complete summary of the huts and other sheltered places
598 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
which are needed in the larger Vedic (.srauta) sacrifices ; see the Pet. Lex. under each, Zimmer, p. 154, and cf. especi- ally Vkg. S. XIX, 18 ; Tait. S. Ill, 2, 4, 3. 4. The divergent metre of the stanza (8 + 8 + 12: Anukrama/zi, parosh/nh), and the interruption which it occasions in the account of the breaking up of the house, render it very suspicious. The bestowal of sacrificial epithets upon the house are obviously intended to enhance its value in the eyes of the recipient.
Technical terms again render this stanza obscure. I imagine a covering of wicker-work, the openings in which suggest a thousand eyes, stretched across a beam and slant- ing down from it to both sides (vishuvati) in the manner of our roofs. The passage seems, perhaps, to harbour a com- parison of the roof with the head and the head-dress of a woman (cf. opa^a and vishuvati, and see the note on VI, 138, 1). Professor Geldner, Vedische Studien, 1, 136, renders the stanza: ' die in der mitte als diadem ausgespannte tausendaugige befestigte aufgesesetzte stange losen wir durch besprechung.' But what occasion is there for a pole with thousand eyes, i.e. countless holes 1 ? Ludwig renders akshum opa^am by ' das locherige geflecht ; ' Grill, ' das ausgespannte flechtennetz ;' Zimmer, I.e., and p. 265, ' das netz das uber den schopf (gespannt ist) ; ' Henry,/ le reseau
tendu/
a. He that bestows a house in this world gets it back again
in heaven. Ludwig, ' in jener welt (soil) es ihm entgegen-
kommen.' Kaujika's construction of the hymn renders the
meaning very clear.
At this point the recipient of the house (cf. Kaiu. 66, 28, above) begins to see to it that the house shall produce for
1 The employment at A V. VIII, 8, 18, of the root han, ' slay/ with akshugala'bhyam does not prove akshu to mean * pole, club : ' that which catches the enemy may be imagined to slay him ; cf. also st. 7. Sayawa at RV. I, 180, 5, divides a-kshu, ' not perishing/
Ix, 3- Commentary. 599
him all expected benefits, and he does not hesitate to ' take his mouth full.' The picture is a vivid one.
c. Similar and yet different is RV. X, 121,5, yo antari-
kshe ra^aso vimana^ ; cf. also RV. VI, 7, 7 ; 69, 5 ; AV.
IV, 25, 2.
e. The Pada is de trop in form and sense (Anukr. , trya- vasana pa#£apada*ti.yakvari). If it originally stood here at all, it is spoken by an agent of the recipient who receives the house for him (tasmai). Or tasmai is an ethical dative, 4 in the interest of him (the donor).'
Stanza 17*
b. A bold and bea uiful comparison this, between the house and night who gathers to her bosom all creatures. In the hymn to night, RV. X, 127, 5, we have : ' The throngs (of beings) have gone to rest, those who go on foot and fly by wing ; gone to rest have the preying eagles.' Cf. also AV. Ill, 12, 5. Grill applies the pruning-knife to this and the preceding Pada (11 + 12: Anukr., prastarapankti), in order to exact two anush/ubh Padas, trzWair vasana ratri *va sa.\dL £*agannive.yani. This amounts to independent com- position, not very good at that, since it leaves the first Pada, a good trish/ubh, in bad shape.
a, b. With vi ^ayate and pra^ayate, cf. vi^avati pra^avati in stanzas 13, 14.
Ludwig here, as in st. 4, translates paksha by ' room : ' 'das zweizimmerig, vierzimmerig, &c. gebauet wird;' the Pet. Lex., Zimmer, and Grill, ' pfosten.' But see the note on st. 4, and cf. Kaur. 135, 9 (p. 287, 1. 5), ash/asthu?/o dai-apaksha/^, showing that paksha and struma cannot both mean ' pillar, post.' The exact meaning of the word is after all not clear. Cf. Henry's note on the passage.
c. For agnfr garbhe, see Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XVI, pp. 15, 16.
600 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The expressions ' turned towards ' imply friendly recep- tion on the part of the house, and eagerness on the part of the future possessor ; hence at Kauj. 66, 2,5 the house is entered along with water and fire. Cf. Ill, 12, 8, and Kau^. 43, 10.
d. The waters and Agni are the door of the order, or the
law of the universe, i. e. they are the primal elements.
Hence Agni is styled frequently r/tasya prathama^a/*,
rz'tasya garbha^ ; rztasya dhurshad ; see Grassmann's Lexi-
con, under rztasya.
Is identical with AV. Ill, 12, 9; see the note on the passage.
According to Kau^. 66, 30 the house is actually carried off at this stage; the stanza offers especial security that Kaiuika construes the hymn aright. Cf. with his construc- tion the rather forced interpretations of Grill, p. 192, and Henry, p. 128.
IX, 8. Commentary to page 45.
This is a charm against diseases in general (sarvabhai- sha^yam), without indication as to remedies, either in the form of drugs, or talismans. At Kaui\ 32, 18. 19 the patient is taken hold of while the hymn is being recited. During the recital of the last two stanzas the sun is faced reverently. According to Saya/za at II, ^ the hymn is a member of the a;^holingaga^a, ' a series designed to drive away distress ; ' see the introduction to II, ^.
The hymn has been translated by Zimmer, Altindisches
Leben, p. 378 ff. ; Henry, Les livres VIII et IX de l'Atharva-
veda, pp. 1 05, 141 ff.
For vilohita, see the note on XII, 4,4; for kar/zajula,
Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 287, and the introduc-
tion to VI, 90.
IX, 8. COMMENTARY. 6oi
karikusha is a air. Aey. of unknown meaning. For visa- lyaka, cf. sts. 5, 20, and VI, 127, 1. 3 ; XIX, 44, 2. In the last two hymns, and in the present hymn, Shankar Pandit reads visalpaka^ ; Saya/za at VI, 127, visalpaka// ; at XIX, 44, 2, visarpaka/& (vividhaw sara^a^ilo vra/zavi^esha/^, ' a run- ning wound'). See Zimmer, p. 386 ; and cf. Wise, p. 414.
The rendering of pramota (air. Aey.) is Zimmer's con- jecture. It may be rendered ' dumb ' with equal propriety and equal uncertainty. Cf. Sk. muka, Lat. mutus. The Pet. Lex., * eine bestimmte krankheit.' All renderings are based upon the suggestion of the passage itself.
Stanzas 6-8.
For udvepayati, cf. V, 22, 7. 10 ; for vuvirarada, cf. XIX, 34, 10 ; for gavihike, I, 3, 6 ; for balasa, V, 22, 1 1. In st. 7 c antar angebhyo is suspicious, as is also antar atmano in st. 9 c. Both are probably to be emended to antarangebhyo and antaratmano (or possibly with oxytonesis, cf. Whitney, Sk. Gr.2, § 1289). Accordingly our translation.
For a-pva, ' impurity ' (par excellence), ' diarrhoea/ cf. the note on the goddess Apva in III, 2, 5 ; for antar atmano, the note on antar angebhyo in st. 7 c.
Pada a is directly joined in sense to 10 b: the bilam is identical with vastibilam, ' opening of the bladder/ in 1,3,8. The plain sense is that disease shall pass off in the form of urine from the bladder, in the form of faeces from the belly.
The word madayanti (not madayanti ; cf. pataya-, ' fall : ' pataya-, ' fell ') is not altogether clear. Perhaps c madden '
602 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
is nearer the truth. Bohtlingk, ' betauben ; ' Zimmer, ' lah- men.' Cf. the root ram in its two meanings of ' delight ' and ' rest.'
For vidradha, cf. Grohmann, Indische Studien, IX, 397 ; Zimmer, p. 386, and Wise, pp. 210, 284, 288, 362 ; for vati- kara, see Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, 427 ; the notes on VI, 44, 3 ; 109, 3, and the introduc- tion to 1, 12 ; for akg-i (Wise, p. 296, alaghi x), see Zimmer, p. 390. Henry's bala^i is scarcely due to oversight : he seems to have in mind some children's disease, bala-^i.
For ush/n'habhya//, see the note on II, ^} 2.
For vidhii, ' beat,5 cf. vidhukranta, a designation of a cer- tain musical bar. For the second hemistich, cf. the note on
X, 1. Commentary to page 72.
This hymn belongs to the class called kr/tyapratihara;^ani, a series of hymns * which repel sorceries or spells,' assembled in the list at Kau^. 39, 7. The practices associated with this group of hymns, Kaui*. 39, 7-12, are obscure. They begin with ' the pouring of the great consecration ' (see the introduction to IV, 17). The performer then takes the holy water obtained by the ' great consecration,' and at night takes off his shoes, puts on a turban, and proceeds to the place where the spell is supposed to have been in- stituted, sprinkling the holy water as he goes. A formula is recited indicating that the holy water is sprinkled for certain female personifications of holiness and beneficence (yatayai, &c, Kaui*. 39, 9). If no spell is found he casts away (the materials with which he is performing 2 ?). The
1 Cf. also andhalag-i, Pet. Lex. and Wise, p. 412.
2 The holy water, or the turban ? Darila, sa/^skarawam apa- kshepa^.
X, I. Commentary. 603
next Sutra (11) is obscure; cf. the note on V, 14, 9. For Sutra 12, see Kaiuy. 35, 28 in the introduction to III, 25. Various single stanzas and Padas of the hymn (20 c ; 2 1 c, d ; 25 ; 32) are employed in other phases of witchcraft in Kaos*. 39 ; see the index.
The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 520 ff. Cf. the closely related hymn V, 31.
The spell is in the nature of some terrifying, evil-working figure (bugbear, bogey, bogle ; German popanz), not merely a magical rite. See the performances in the Sutra, above.