In the ritualistic literature the terms atharva/^a and angi- rasa are differentiated, so that the former means 'holy,' being the equivalent of ^anta, while the latter means * per- taining to sorcery,' being the equivalent of abhL£arika. Cf. Kaus. 47, 2. 12; Vait. Su. 5, 10; Gopatha-Br. I, 2, 18 Rig-vidhana IV, 6,4. See Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XI, 387 ff. Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, p. 332, note; and the introduction to the present work. Especially in the passages quoted from the Vaitana-sutra and the Gopatha-Brahma^a this distinction is expressed clearly, and there seems to be no good reason to doubt that the writer here has it in mind. For angirasi^ (sc. oshadhi'^), see also AV. VIII, 5, 9 ; 7, 17. 24. Cf. also XIX, 39, 5.
Saya/za explains ha/^sa, alternately, as either the sun, or breath. The latter, if it withdraws from man, produces
Xi, 4- Commentary. 625
death, and consequently annuls all distinctions of time. There can be no doubt that the former is the correct inter- pretation. The stanza contains a blend of two personifica- tions of the sun. As ha/^sa the sun figures at AV. X, 8, 17; XIII, 3, 14; Tait. Ar. II, 15, 8; Tait. Br. Ill, 10, 9, 11 ; cf. the words ha^sa and paramaha;//sa in Jacob's Concordance to the principal Upanishads. The second conception of the sun underlies Pada a ; it is that of the a^a ekapad, or ekapada, for which see Roth, Yaska's Nirukta, Erlauterungen, p. 165; Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, III, p. 20 ff. ; Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, p. 25. We would refer any one that doubts that a^a ekapad is the sun to Tait. Br. Ill, 1, 2, 8, 'A^a Ekapad has risen in the east, delighting all beings. At his urging (prasavam) all the gods go,' &c.
Saya/za again suggests that the human body, with breath as the dominating force, is the subject of the stanza. The human body, consisting of skin, blood, and six other elements, is eight-wheeled, and held in position by one felloe, breath. Doubtless, the sun is again presented mys- tically. At AV. X, 8, 7 (cf. Muir, I.e., I, 9 ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 395) the stanza occurs with the variant eka- kakram for ash/a^akram. In this form it is obviously a continuation of st. 21 : we are at a loss to explain the mystic thought which underlies the change of eka to ash/a ; cf. ash/a'/£akra in AV. X, 2, 31. The stanza posits a theo- sophic riddle (brahmodya ; cf. Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 172 ff.); the second hemistich recurs in a different connec- tion at AV. X, 8, 13.
Stanzas 24-26.
The last three stanzas impart to the hymn the character of a conjuration, in accordance with its employment in the Kaiuika. See the introduction. In the last stanza apa;/z garbha is 'fire' (cf. RV. I, 164, 52; Tait. S. IV, 2, 3, 3), either the fire in the body, or, perhaps more probably, the fire of which the Brahman disciple takes care. See 5ankh. [42] s s
626 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Grih. II, io ; Asv. Grih. I, 20, ic-21 ; Par. Grih. II, 4, 1 ff. ; Gobh. Grih. II, 10, 46.
XI, 5. Commentary to page 214.
This hymn has been subjected to the treatment of a number of prominent scholars : see Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 399 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, 111,452 ff. ; Scher- man, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und Athar- va-veda-Sa#zhita, p. 84 ff. ; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Vedique, p. 161 ff. Neither of these scholars seems to us to state quite correctly the origin of this peculiar type of speculation. In our Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 167 ff, we have endeavoured to show that RV. X, 136 contains the glorification of the sun as a muni, a solitary ascetic : the present hymn may be under- stood best from a similar starting-point. The sun, who con- tributes elsewhere many of his qualities to the speculations regarding the primeval principle of the universe, is here for the nonce imagined as a Brahma^arin, a Brahmanical disciple, engaged in the practice of his holy vows ; next, by an easy transition, all the functions and powers of the BrahmaMrin are made the basis of a momentary cosmo- gonic and philosophical account of the origin and existence of the universe. This allegory is carried out with all the feeble consistency that characterises Hindu speculations of this sort, and the more gladly so, as it offers a good oppor- tunity for the apotheosis of Brahmanism, and the Brahmanic caste. The purely physical qualities of the sun peep out in a variety of stanzas, especially 1, 5, 6, 11, 23, and 26. Cf. the manipulation of the first stanza at Gop. Br. I, 2, 1.
Saya/za fitly quotes Apastamba's Dharmasutra, I, 1, 1,
15~17- Cf. also Gautama I, 8 ; Vish/m XXX, 44-45 5
Vasish/Aa II, 3-5 ; Manu II, 146-8. See also Kau^. $$y
18, note; Sat. Br. XI, 5, 4, 12.
It is not easy to differentiate the synonyms pnMti and
Xi, 5- Commentary. 627
piparti at the end of the two hemistichs. Saya/za, przVzati
purayati . . . piparti purayati palayati va. Ludwig and
Scherman render piparti by ' fordem.'
e. This Pada is peculiarly suggestive of the sun : cf. RV.
X, 136, 5. In the preceding Pada the apparently trivial
dirgha^majTu^, cwith long beard,' probably refers to the
rays of the sun.
For the identification of the brahma, or some kindred
primeval principle, with Indra, cf. AV. X, 7, 29 fif. See also
stanza 16.
The two Agnis are explained by Saya/za, correctly, we believe, as the fire of the sun and the terrestrial fire, eko *gni^ anudyatsuryatmako vartate, apara^ parthivo*gni/£ przthivya upari vartate. And further : ' The combined rays of this (terrestrial) fire and the sun, exceedingly strong in their fusion, expand upon heaven and earth/
Saya^a regards Varu;/a (cf. stanzas 14, 15) as the subject of the first hemistich, abhikrandan . . . megheshu stanita//z gargitam kurvan syatlhga/i (! Shankar Pandit ; the MSS. have syamtiga/i) syeta.va.ma.rn gaXapxxnam prapta^ evam- bhuto varu^a^. There is no reason for thus separating the two hemistichs. Sayana is squeamish about endowing a BrahmaHrin with a brihak kMpa/i ; but he enacts here the r61e of Pra^apati, and the predication of a penis is as natural as that of the more commonplace semen (retas).
d. Ludwig, ' ihr a^ya ist der mensch, regen und wasser.'
We have translated with Sayana. Cf. RV. X, 51, 8, ghritam
ka*pam purusha^ /£au*shadhinam, which carries the note
of a vague relationship with our passage, but does not
remove the obscurity.
S s 2
628 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
For brahma bhra^at (again the sun), cf. Kaiu. 97, 8 (p. 253).
XI, 6. Commentary to page 160.
The hymn is rubricated, Kau^. 9, 2. 4, in the two so-called jantiga/zas (cf. Ath. Parly. 32, 26. 27). These are lists of purificatory hymns and stanzas, employed especially at the preparation of the .yantyudaka, 'holy water' (Kaoy. 9, 8 ff.). According to the Ga/zamala, Ath. Park 32, 32 the hymn, with the exception of stanzas 7, 9, 22, and 23, which strike a different key, is a member of the a^holingaga^a, a list of stanzas characterised by the presence of the word a/^has, * misfortune, calamity ; ' cf. Kaoy. 32, 27. The chief interest of the hymn lies in the clear and fairly complete presenta- tion of the pantheon of the time. This is very much on the plane of the Ya^us-texts and the Brahma/zas.
For the group of divinities addressed in this stanza, see the introduction to XI, 2.
For the use of the word bhesha^ani as an equivalent of ' holy ' Atharvan charms, cf. 5ankh. Sr. XVI, 2, 9 ; A^v. Sr. X, 7, 3 ; Tank. Br. XII, 9, 10. See the introduction to the present volume.
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 72, assumes that saha
is the designation of a plant, and this view may be supported
from the Hindu lexicographers. In the Index Verborum
the word figures under the stem sahas. Our rendering
implies the adjective saha, ' mighty/
The entire stanza and certain turns of its expression are formulaic; see III, 7, 9. 10, and cf. the Pet. Lex. under artava.
Xi, 7- Commentary. 629
Stanzas 19, 20.
The two are identical, except that sarvan and sarvabhi^
are substituted in 20, for vfovan and vfovabhi^ in 19.
Cf. Kauj.56, 13; 74,3.
The little story (akhyayika) here alluded to is not, to our knowledge, illumined by the rest of the literature. Matali is mentioned once more, RV. X, 14, 3, in a totally different connection. Cf. Kaiu. 58, 25, and Kau^ika, Index D, under the stanza.
XI, 7. Commentary to page 226.
The Vedic writings are extremely shifty in assigning to a first cause the creation and maintenance of the universe, in the course of their cosmogonic speculations. There are purely philosophical abstractions like sat (being) and asat (non-being), tad (that), eka (the only) ; cosmic forces like brahma, kala (time), kama (love), pra/?a (breath) ; and per- sonal creators like Pra^apati, Purusha, VLrvakarman, Hira- /zyagarbha, and Paramesh/^in-. But further, in the course of the speculations of the Brahma^as, universal or special cosmogonic power is attributed to all sorts of trivial circum- stances, even down to the special features and implements of the sacrifice. The priestly power (cf. XI, 5), and the priestly activity, are made to stand for the cosmic force with which they aim to establish relations. Saya;/a is quite right, therefore, in correlating the present hymn with such a statement as is made in Tait. Br. I, 1, 9, 1 (cf. also Mait. S. II, 1, 12), where divinities are born of the leavings of the brahmaudana (see XI, 1 ; XII, 3) which had been eaten by Aditi. The hymn is nothing but a momentary symbolic transfer of the divine, or pantheistic attributes to a certain ritualistic feature made prominent for the time being. The writer knows that he is simply transferring his most fulsome cosmogonic conceptions in order to accen- tuate a to him important ritualistic act, the consumption of the leavings of the sacrifice. The veil is thin ; everything
6^0 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
that is said here fits the brahma, or some other embodi- ment, and Saya/za boldly establishes the equation ukkhlshta. = brahma. Accordingly, too, in at least two stanzas (15, 16) the ukkhxshfa is personified as the masculine u£Mish/as, quite in the manner of the relation of the neuter brahma to the masculine brahman. We may note, however, that the road for this drastic transfer is opened in a measure by the philosophical position of the word anna, ' food.5 This is a prominent link in the chain that unites man to the universe. See, e.g. Tait. Up. Ill, 3, and the stately array of passages in Jacob's Concordance to the principal Upani- shads, s.v. The interest of the hymn lies rather in the attempt which it makes to exploit exhaustively the chief concerns of Brahmanical existence and belief. Except for its metrical form it belongs to Brahma/za literature. See Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. v, p. 396 ff., and Scherman, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und Atharva-veda-Sa#zhita, p. 87 ff., where partial translations of the hymn are essayed.
d. The translation of Pada d is mere guess-work. Since vra means ' throng,' dra would seem to mean the converse ; cf. the root dra, ' run : ' ' that which is assembled and that which is scattered,' i.e. 'that which is confined and that which is free,' or the like. Saya/za, vra^ varako varu/za^ dra// dravaka/^ amrztamaya^ soma/z. The difficulty is in- creased by the appearance of another mystic monosyllable, ny&k in st. 4 a. The Pet. Lex. suggests that all three are artificial abbreviations.
a. This Pada is again nearly hopeless. The vulgate reads drz^zha sthiro, and Whitney in the Index Verborum classifies drimhs. as an imperative. But an imperative is out of place in this hymn which is throughout descriptive. Shankar Pandit with the Padapa/^a and Saya^a reads drz^zhasthiro as a compound (Saya/za, drz>zhanena sthirikrzto loka/£). I have thought of drzd/mdrzmh£{k)} ' he who fastens that
Xi, 9- Commentary. 63 1
which is firm : ' it is a mere guess. Cf. bhumidrzV//ha, V,
28,14; XIX, 33, 2. Saya/za glosses ny&k by netara^,
' leaders,' but we should then at least expect nya/£ with the
circumflex. I have preferred the singular ; cf. vra/? and
drA/i in 3 d.
Information regarding the great variety of terms con-
nected with the liturgy and the sacrifice in this and the
following stanzas is to be obtained every time from the
Pet. Lex. For this stanza, cf. Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III,
25. For the obscure expression tan mayi in Pada d, cf.
sts. 12, 14, and snr mayi in st. 1.