a. The MSS. have sakrén which Roth and Whitney emend to sakraé; Shankar Pandit adheres to the MS. reading. Sayavza comments upon sakra+nu vahati (sapta vittin anu anukrameva... dharayati). The seven wheels occur again at RV. I, 164, 3. 12, where Sayava refers them to the seven modes of subdividing the year. But the scholiast to the present passage, again, as in st. 1, has in mind the seven seasons (sapta r7tin), i.e., the six seasons and the intercalary month. A wagon with seven wheels occurs also at RV. II, 40, 3, where it is employed by Soma and Pfishan to carry the gods. Cf. also the Brzhaddevata, IV, 32.
b, Sadyava comments upon amritam tanv akshaZ, to wit :
684 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
asya akshax tanu samtatasz sikshmam amrvztam amaraza- dharmakam avinasvaram tattvam.
e. The MSS. have amgat, amgat (enclitic), and anyat. Shankar Pandit relying upon Sayavza adopts a#gat, which the latter renders by a#gan . . . vyaktikurvan. I do not see how we can well escape Roth and Whitney's emenda- tion to arvdn in the light of pratyan in the next stanza, and in that case it seems desirable to supply vahati, ‘ carries, from Pada a. But we may render also, ‘he turns towards all these beings.’ Muir, ‘he is at present all these worlds ;’ Grill, ‘er fahrt herbei mit jenen wesen allen ;’ Ludwig, ‘er (fahrt) herwarts alle dise welten ;’ Scherman, ‘er (fahrt) herwarts kommend alle diese wesen.’
d. All translators, except Scherman, render iyate as a verb of motion (Sayaza, ix gatau)!; Scherman, ‘ Kala wird als der erste gott angefleht.’ Cf. Tait. Br. III, 12, g, 1, rigbhizZ pirvahve divi deva iyate (schol. gakkhati), yagurvede tish/Zati madhye ahna/, simavedena+sstamaye mahiyate. Read seyate with crasis.
a. Ludwig explains the full jar as the sun: Sayama,
better, as the year with its days and nights, months and
seasons. The Pada is an irregular gagati (read ptrzak as
three syllables).
b. The MSS. of the vulgate, santaz, which is emended
to santam. Shankar Pandit gives santaz (accent!) as the
reading of both Samhita and Padapatha ; Sayawa translates
it by ‘good men,’ satpurushaz. The emendation can be
avoided : ‘him we see being in many places’
e. Ludwig, ‘er (fiihrt) hinweg alle dise welten ;’ Scher- man, ‘er (Kala) [fahrt] zuriickgewandt alle diese Wesen.’ The Pada is antithetical to st. 2 c, and indicates decay and death as over against life and growth. Cf. Mait. Up. VI, 14 (end), ‘From Time all beings flow, from Time they grow, and into Time they set.’ Possibly we may render, ‘he turns away from all these beings.’
' So also Ludwig here, but in the almost identical passage, X1X, 54, 6, ‘wirdangefleht.” It seems impossible to decide.
Xix, 53. Commentary. 685
a,b. In both Padas the caesura is after eva, the pas- sage before the caesura being defective; the first Pada is a gagati. Grill, p. 195, by way of amending the metre, goes far in the direction of composing the Padas anew. Ludwig reads san for sa7z in both Padas, and his suggestion is supported by one of Shankar Pandit’s MSS. of the Pada- pavda. He translates: ‘er allein ist, und als solcher hat > er dig welten gebracht, er allein ist, und als solcher kam er um alle welten herum,’
e. The caesura again after the first three syllables.
- Stanza 5.
The metre is irregular, especially in the first Pada: the Anukramazi, nivrzt (nifrzt) purastadbrzhati. Read przthvir in Pada b, and possibly divaganayat in Pada a.
b. The ‘three earths’ are meant; see IV, 20, 2, and
our note on the same. Sdyavza, sarvaprazyadharabhita’
prithiviz ; he also quotes RV. I, 108, g.
e. The MSS., both Samhita and Padapasha, kalé ha. I follow Roth and Whitney in reading kaléna.
d. The MSS. unanimously, havis tishz/ate, which is
emended by the same editors to ha vi tishzZate. In this
they were forestalled by Sdyawa, vi tishthate viseshena
asritasz vartate. Grill, ‘auf grund des Kala steht es fest,
a translation that seems less probable than ours.
a. The MSS. have bhitfm which Roth and Whitney
have changed to bhimim. Sayavza also comments upon
bhiitim, but he approaches closely to the value of bhimim,
bhavanavag gagat. We with the vulgate.
In Tait. Ar. IX, 3-6=Tait. Up. III, 3 ff. the funda-
mental principles prava, manas, vig#dna (similar to ndma
in this stanza), and Ananda are described ; cf. especially
the expression, 4nandad dhy eva khaly imani bhdtani
686 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
gayante with the second half of our stanza. See also AV. XI, 4, 4 ff., and Scherman, I|.c., p. 71. For the posi- tion of ndma in philosophical cosmogony, cf. also Tait. Ar. HE 2? 7.
For discussions of tapas and brdhma, see Scherman, I.c., p. 2 (note on RV. X, 129, 3), and Grill, p. 196, both con- taining references to previous efforts in behalf of these words. Sdyawza well translates tapas by, gagatsargana- vishayam paryadlofanam. In explanation of gyéshtdam he has, hirazyagarbhakhyam tattvam. His translation for brahma is mechanical: sango vedas, ‘the Veda and its Angas.’ For Pada d, cf. our notion of ‘ Father Time.’
d. Paramesh/¢/in is one of the numerous designations of the supreme being, almost monotheistic in character, which serves to form a transition stage from the earlier poly- theism to the pantheism of the Upanishads. Essentially the same idea is incorporated above in the term gyéshéha, which Sayaza fitly explains as hirawyagarbha, ‘golden embryo, another embodiment of the same idea. Simi- larly visvakarman, ‘ fabricator of the universe, svayambha, ‘ self-existing ;’ cf. the next stanza, and AV. X, 7, 17.
d. Kasyapa is a divine being identical or parallel with Pragapati. This style of literature is likely ever to have in mind the pun of the Tait. Ar. I, 8, 8, kasyapaz pasyako bhavati, ‘ Kasyapa is a seer,’ and this leads to the suspicion that the name is merely a personification of the sun; cf. our note on AV. IV, 20, 7. The epithet ‘self-existing’ must not be taken too literally: svayambhf is one of the many names of the supreme being (see the preceding note), and as such is mentioned along with the others. Muir, l.c., p. 408, note, suggests in the light of this passage the unlikely theory that, ‘this word must therefore be regarded as not necessarily meaning anything more than one who
Xix, 54. Commentary. 687
comes into existence in an extraordinary and supernatural manner.’
XIX, 54. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 225.
The hymn has been rendered by Muir, Original Sanskrit
Texts, V, 408; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 191 ; Scherman,
Philosophische Hymnen, pp. 80, 82. Cf. also the introduc-
tion to XIX, 53. |
See the Kat#a-Upanishad IV, 9: ‘ Both whence the sun
rises, and where he sets—on him all the gods are placed ;
no one whatsoever goes beyond that. This truly is that.’
Cf. also AV. X, 8,16; Sat. Br. XIV, 4, 3, 34=Brzh. Ar.
Up. I, 5, 23; and Tait. Ar. VIII, 8.
The MS. tradition reports this stanza as consisting of three (gayatri) Padas. But a better division of the re- mainder of the hymn results if we add two Padas of the third stanza (making a pankti), fuse the remaining two Padas of stanza 3 with the first two of stanza 4, and the remaining two of stanza 4 with the first two of stanza 5. This leaves the last two (trish¢Zubh) Padas of stanza 5 to make up one (our fifth) stanza. along with the two (trish¢ubh) Padas printed in Roth and Whitney’s edition as the sixth stanza'—an arrangement in form and sense manifestly superior to the traditional one. Sdayavza makes this arrange- ment and deserves credit for it.
d,e (=3 a, bin the MSS.). The MSS. have kalo ha
bhiitam bhavyam fa putré aganayat puraz (one of Shankar
Pandit’s Pada-MSS. pura). Roth and Whitney emend,
kalé ha bhitds bhavyam #a mantro aganayat pura. We
adopt this text with the exception of: mantro, for which
we have retained the original putro. Sdyawa reads and
1*Not so in Shankar Pandit’s MSS. of the text, where the arrangement is that of the vulgata, except that the last two trish/ubh Padas are added to stanza 5, making it to consist of six Padas,
688 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
comments, kalenai=va ie prerakeza putrak pragapatiz bhitam, &c.
Made up of st. 3 c,d and 4a, b in the MSS. With it
cf. Tait. Br, IE], 12,.9;'1- and, AV. XIX, 6, 13—= RE aoe,
g= Vag. S. XXXI, 7=Tait. Ar. III, 12, 4.
e (=4 a in the MSS.) The MSS, read kalé yagwam sam airayan; one MS. of the Padapdaf¢/a corrects airayan to airayat, as also Sadyavza, who reads and comments, sam- airayat udapaddayat. Shankar Pandit adopts this reading, and it is at the base of our translation. Roth and Whitney, on the other hand, restore kalé yag#asm sam airayan, which is the text translated by all our predecessors.
Made up of 4c, d and 5 a, b of the MSS.
e (=5 a of the MSS.). Sayaza reads devo for divo,
which leaves kalé to depend upon adhi tish¢/ata%, to wit:
angira ndma deva# ...sosyam atharva atharvavedasrash/a
devas #a kale svaganake adhi tishzZati. Shankar Pandit
adopts Sayava’s text.
Made up of 5 c, d and 6 of the vulgata.
b. vidhrztiz is translated by Sayava futilely, lokadharakan. Muir’s ‘ ordinances’ is untenable in the light of the remain- ing occurrences of the word (cf. Pet. Lex.); Ludwig, ‘ die reinen vidhvzti (zwischenraume, weltgegenden).’ Scherman cites Khand. Up. VIII, 4, 1 and AV. IV, 35, 1 in support of the rendering ‘zwischenraume.’ Perhaps ‘ boundary- line’ comes nearest to the sense of the original.
d. For iyate, cf. the note on XIX, 54, 2 d.
XX, 127. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 197.
The Vedic hymns furnish the germs of a not inconsider-
able part of the themes of the later epic narratives, notably
in the Mahabharata and the Purdwas. Especially the
danastutis, ‘gift-praises, either independent hymns, or
Xx, 127. Commentary. 689
stanzas at the end of hymns, lauding the generosity of kings or sacrificers to the officiating Brahmans, appear as preliminary stages in the development of epic narratives in praise of warlike kings and heroes. Closely allied with these are the so-called gatha nardsamsyah', ‘ stanzas - which sing the praises of men,’ slokas which occur in the Brahmava-texts, dealing with this theme in exorbitant terms. The Brahmanical authorities agree in assigning the so-called kuntapa-hymns, XX, 127-136, to this kind of literature, and the opening stanza of XX, 127 leaves no room for doubting their correctness. The Ait. Br. VI. 32 ff.* works up the material of the kuntapa-hymns at the sattras, the ‘soma-sessions, or prolonged soma-sacrifices, at which seventeen priests perform their functions. See Roth, Uber den Atharva-veda (Tiibingen, 1856), p. 6 ff.; Max Miiller, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 493; Haug’s translation of the Ait. Br., p. 430 ff., and Weber, Episches im vedischen Ritual, Proceedings of the Royal Prussian Academy, July 23, 1891, XX XVIII, p. 770 ff. (p. 4 ff. of the reprint).
AV. XX, 127 consists of four pieces, dealing with dif- ferent themes; the ritual employs each of them distinc- tively under the names nardsazmsi, raibhi, parikshiti, and karavya. Two of these names, narasamsi and raibhi, occur as early as RV. X, 85, 6; Tait. S. VII, 5, 11, 2. Quite a number of the stanzas of kuntapa-hymns are quoted in the Brahmavzas, exhibiting essentially the same textual corruption as the Atharvan version. The Sankh. Sr. XII, 14 ff. exhibits them in full: AV. XX, 127= Sankh. Sr. XII,
* Sometimes gathah (indragatha/) and narasamsyah are differen- tiated, being mentioned separately, Tait. S. VII, 5, 11, 2; Kaush. Br. AXX, §; Ait. Br. VI, 32, 3. 25; Sat. Br. XI, 5, 6, 8; Asv. Grth. III, 3, 1 ff.; Yagiav. I, 45. The Brrhaddevata, III, 154, states explicitly that the ndrdsamsi-verses are of the nature of danastutis.
* Cf. also Kaush. Br. XXX, 5; Sankh. Sr. XII, 14; Asv. Sr. VIII, 3, 7 ff.; Vait. SA. 32, 19 ff.; Gop. Br. Il, 6, 12 ff.
[42] Yy
690 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The first three stanzas, known in the ritual (Ait. Br. VI, 32, 4 ff.; Kaush. Br. XXX, 5; Gop. Br. II, 6,12) as the narasaszsyah (sc. rikah), contain a danastuti. Their appli- cation, especially in the Ait. Br., contributes nothing to their elucidation. At Tait. S. VII, 5, 11, 2 the commen- tator defines them as manushyavishaydkhyanapara szkah, ‘stanzas devoted to the narration of human affairs.’ But ndrasamsa can scarcely fail to allude in some manner to nardsamsa (Agni); cf. the next two parts.
The Rusamas are praised as liberal bestowers of dakshiza
in. RV. V;..30,,12-153 chsalso RV. VITL 3.-19= aaa ee
Zimmer, p. 129. The stanza is quoted Asv. Sr. VIII, 3,
10.5 SAnkn. Fs lie tdi ck,