Sayaza, in the introduction to the hymn, describes the practices associated with it at Kaus. 42, 19-21 as designed to remove the blemishes of a woman afflicted with the evil characteristics mentioned in the samudrika-treatises. These blemishes are supposed to be on her face, hands, feet,and other members, mukhahastapddadyangeshu sAmu- drikoktadurlakshawayuktayaz striyds taddoshanivrzttaye. The sdmudrika-books (treatises on chiromancy) treat of both good and evil characteristics, for in his comment on st. 1c he says, yani samudrikasdstraprasiddhani .. . sau- bhagyakarawi #ihnani santi. Cf. Pet. Lex. under 2. simu- dra, and Kesava to Kaus. 42, 19, simudrike strilakshazam vyakhydtam, and note also Kaus. 18, 38, samudra ity akakshate karma.
The practices. of the Kausika are as follows: 42, Ig. ‘While reciting AV. I, 18, the face of the woman afflicted
* Cf. with these statements Sayaza’s comment on vastf, I, 3, 6
? dhanurakaro mfitrasayo vastir udyate.
I, 18. Commentary. 261
with evil characteristics is sprinkled after each verse, com- mencing at the braid of hair at the right. 20. Having made an offering of chaff from a vessel made of the wood of a palasa-tree (butea frondosa), he pours the rest (of the chaff) after (the first oblation). 21. Chaff, husks, refuse of grain, and shavings are placed upon the heel of her left foot.’
There are good and evil characteristics (lakshmi = lak- shana, cf. AV. VII, 115), and the main point of the prac- tices is their removal by washing, and by placing all kinds of offal where it will easily drop from the person under treatment, and cause symbolically the removal of the bad points.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. .
IV, 411 ff.; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 498 (cf. also 338) ;
and Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, pp. 313 ff., where the
charm is interpreted erroneously as directed against the
house-cat. Cf. our brief criticism in the Journ. Am. Or.
Soc. XV, 153, note.
a. Sdyava reads lakshmam for lakshmyam, commenting,
asaubhagyakaram kihnam. To lalamyam he _ remarks,
lalime bhavam tilakasthanagatam.
d. The Pada is hypermetric, unless we read pragdyaratim with double sandhi. Ludwig would cure the passage by substituting nir for pragdyai, but the latter word seems guaranteed by AV. V, 25, 8, pragdyai tvad (tva 4) nayamasi, and possibly this is the original reading (cf. Geldner, l.c., 314). In adhering to the traditional text I have supposed the meaning to be that she who has the character of an Arati is rendered fit for marriage and child-birth by the charm. Very problematic this is, to be sure. Sdyana takes pragdyai with Pada c, yani...saubhagy4ani Aihnani ... tani... asmakam pragayai... bhavantu,... yani pfir- vam nifsaritani asaubhagyakarami Aihnani... aratim satrum ... prapayamas!
262 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Sayaza treats all these epithets as referring directly to a woman ; we prefer to regard them as personifications of evil qualities, imagined as dwelling within the person whose characteristics are foul. SAdyawa, vrishasyesva danta yas- ya sa vrishadati sthiladanta nari... gaur iva sedhati gakkhatisti gosedha stri...vikrztam dhamati sabdayate iti vidhama, phitkaradivividhasabdakarini . . . lalamyaz lalamasthane lala¢aprante bhavam ... vilidkyam viseshexa lidham vilidham, vilidham iva sthitam kesanam prAtilo-
myardpam. Our rendering of vilidhyam is not at all certain.
I, 19. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 120.
The hymn is one of a list of battle-charms, sAsmgrami- kaxi (sc. siktani), rubricated in Kaus. 14, 7, and associated with ceremonies of a general character, preparatory to going to battle. The Gazamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 13, has a similar list, somewhat more extensive, which is entitled aparagitagava: see the note at Kaus. 14, 7, and cf. the introduction to I, 2. The hymn is also employed against certain portentous occurrences, as when Brahmamas carry arms (Kaus. 104, 3), when images of the gods dance, shake, laugh, sing, or indulge in other freaks (Kaus. 105, 1), or
I, 22. Commentary. 263
when a bull sucks a cow (Kaus. 113, 3). Cf. also Ath.
Paris. 17, 2. The hymn has been translated by Weber,
Indische Studien, IV, 413; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry,
Manuel Védique, p. 134.
Stanzas 3, 4.
These two stanzas are an expanded version of RV. VI,
75,19. The latter part of that hymn contains suggestions
which have been freely utilised in the battle-charms of the
Atharvan.
I, 22. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 7.
The proceedings of the practitioner, Kaus. 26, 14-21, are entirely symbolic; the main effort is to banish the yellow colour to yellow creatures and objects (the sun), where it properly belongs, and to derive for the patient redness from that quarter where it is peculiarly at home, namely a red bull; cf. RV. I, 62, 9, and Aufrecht in the introduction to his edition of the Rig-veda, vol. ii, p. xvii. The practices are as follows:
26, 14. ‘While reciting AV. I, 22 (the priest) gives (the patient water) to sip, which is mixed with hair from (a red bull) the object mentioned in the mantra (st. 1). 15. And having poured (water) upon the back of the bull (he lets the patient drink it). 16. He ties on as an amulet upon the (patient) sitting upon the skin of a bull (the piece of skin) pierced by the peg with which it is fastened (when it is spread out), after having steeped it in cow’s milk and anointed it with the dregs of ghee”. 17. He gives (the patient the milk) to drink. 18. He feeds (the patient) with
* The words ‘the piece of skin,’ &c. are all of them a tentative rendering of sankudhanam, to which Dérila, karmamo vistaraya kilakabandhaA sankusthdpanam, Sdyama, in the introduction to the hymn, raktagokarmakfidramanzim . . . tanmamibandhanam. Kesava, go raktakarmafidramanim. Cf. also Kaus. 27, 29, to AV. III, 7, 1.
7 ie mes. 7, 28.
264 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Soe mete ee porridge made of haridra (turmeric, or curcuma, a yellow plant), daubs him from head to foot both with the remnants of the porridge and (additional porridge) from which he has not eaten, (places him upon a couch), ties the (three birds) mentioned in the mantra! by their left legs to the foot of the couch, and washes (the patient) off (upon the birds). 19. He makes the patient step forward (after having first given him a stirred drink, mantha, in accordance with the paribhasha at Kaus. 7, 18). 20. He makes (the patient) address (with the hymn) the chattering (birds). 21. Having glued together with lac the hairs from the breast (of the red bull) and getting them covered with gold (the patient ties that on as an amulet).’
Sayava in his introduction defines the purpose of the hymn as against heart-disease and jaundice, hyzdrogaka- miladirogopasantaye; Kesava advances a broader construc- tion, according to which it cures in addition epilepsy and fainting (vismaya?), apasmara-vismaya-hrzdroga-kama- lakarohivakani bhaishagy4ni. Adalbert Kuhn, in Kuhn’s Zeitschrift, XIII, 113 ff., has assembled from Greek, Roman, and Teutonic sources notions and practices analogous to those elaborated by Kausika. The principle that the yellow disease belongs by right to yellow objects, birds, and plants, is there again applied practically, with a touch, here and there, of similia similibus curantur. In addition to Kuhn’s translation we note Weber’s, Ind. Stud. IV, 415 ff.; cf. also Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 343; Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Védique, pp. 134-5; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 388; Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, 247 ff. (espe-
+ The suka, ropawzaka, and haridrava mentioned in st. 4. Sayama, in his introduction, sukakash¢hasukagopitanakakhyanam pakshi- nim. Déarila defines haridravah by haridravarnmas hifakah. Kesava, sukah kash¢ha(mu)sukam (!) a gopitilakam ka. They seem to refer respectively to the parrot, the thrush, and the yellow wagtail, all doubtless birds prevailingly yellow. The yellow jaundice of the patient, acéentuated by his coat of yellow curcuma, is washed down upon the yellow birds, where it belongs. Cf. the notes on st. 4, and the introduction to VII, 116.
I, 22. Commentary. 265
cially 249, where turmeric still appears prominent among
the curative agencies). Stanzas similar to I, 22 occur,
RV. I, 50, 11-12; Tait. Br. III, 7, 6, 22-23; Apast. Sr.
tN, th, 1
b. For hriddyotd the RV., Tait. Br., and Apast. Sr. have hridroga (cf. Ridraga, Wise 321); see also AV. V, 20, 12; VI, 24,1. Still another name is hvzdayamaya, AV. V, 30, g; VI, 14,1; 127,3. For the root dyut, cf. AV. IV, 12, 2; XII, 5, 22: hrid-dyotd literally means ‘heart-break ;’ Sayama takes it as ‘heart-burning, hvidayam samtapayati (cf. Lat. splendida bilis).
ce. The Vedic Hindu is deeply impressed with the red- ness of the cow, which is contrasted with its white milk, RV. I, 62, 9, &c. ‘Osage mir wie geht es zu, gibt weisse milch die rothe kuh.’ Perhaps we have here, too, an allu- sion to the divine Rohita in the thirteenth book of the AV.; see Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas, and our Contribu- tions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, 429 ff.
The anacoluthon in Padas c, d, seems to be occasioned
by ayam, which is a sort of vox media fit for both second
and third persons singular.
a. I have followed Bergaigne and Henry, Manuel Vé- dique, p. 135 note, in emending the unintelligible rdéhivir devatya(Z) to rohividevaty4(Z), ‘the cows whose divinity is Rohiwi.’ I differ from these scholars in co-ordinating it with gavo, rather than supplying rékah; see the above- mentioned Contributions, p. 437. Rohiai is the female of RKohita, a personification of the red, ascending (ruh), ruling sun. The stanzas devoted to Rohimi occur AV. XIII, 1, 22 ff. Sdyaza’s comment on Padas a, b, is, deva- tya/ devatasu bhava/... uktavarma (sc. rohinizk) yah ka- madhenvadayo gava# santi, uta api y4z manushyasam-
266 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
ee ene or ene Yor oat PSA ee
bandhinyo rohinih rohinyah lohitavarva gavah santi tabhi/
ubhayavidhabhir gobhiz.
b. ropavdka is glossed by Sayava at RV. I, 50, 12 by sarika, ‘thrush ; Sdyaza on our hymn, twice, kash¢/asuka (harit paksh?: the word is not in the lexicons). Dérila at Kaus. 26, 20. haridravarvas kitakad (not in the lexicons; cf. kikkika, RV. X, 146, 2). Kesava, kash¢/a(mu)sukam (!), and kAsh¢kasu(sh)ka#andana (! a kind of sandal). The com- mentators seem therefore to waver between a bird and a plant.
ce. hdridrava is glossed by Sayawa at RV. VIII, 35, 7 by pakshin, but the same work at I, 50, 12, as also the scholiast at Tait. Br. III, 7, 6, 22, has haritaladrumeshu (a kind of tree!). Sayavza on our hymn, twice, gopitana- kakhya haridvarnAh pakshinak (gopitanaka is not in the lexicons, but gopita is ‘ wagtail’); Darila, ib., pitas Zizakaz; Kesava, twice, gopitilaka.
I, 23. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 16.
The practices connected with this and the next hymn are defined by the commentators as a cure for white leprosy,. svetakush¢Zapanodanaya (Sayama), svetakush7¢ha- bhaishagy4ni (Kesava). They are stated at Kaus. 26, 22- 24, as follows: 22. ‘While reciting AV. I, 23 and I, 24 (the priest) having rubbed dung (upon the sores) until they are red, smears upon them the substances, mentioned in the mantras’. 23. He cuts off the white (scurf). 24. (The patient?), having been covered, performs the rites to the Maruts.’ The latter, described at Kaus. 41, 1-7, are
* Kesava and Sdyava mention bhrzhgaraga (eclipta prostata ; note the pun between raga and ragani, &c. in I, 23, 1), haridra (yellow sandal, or yellow turmeric), indravaruai (colocynth), and
nilika. Darila has a somewhat different statement, too corrupt to be reported here.
I, 23. Commentary. Bo
primarily designed to produce rain, and their employment
here, secondarily, may be intended to put the patient into
a sweat. The point is problematic and not cleared up by
the scholiasts.
The entire hymn is repeated with variants at Tait. Br.
II, 4,4, 1.2. The third stanza of the next hymn is there
added to the charm. ,
Both this and the next hymn have been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. IV, pp. 416 ff.; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 506, 509; Grill?, pp. 19, 77 ff.; cf. Wise, Hindu Sys- tem of Medicine, pp. 258 ff.; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p- 391; and Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Védique, p. 135. The Anukramazi designates I, 23 as vanaspatyam, and I, 24 as asurivanaspatidevatyam.
Sayaza refers the adjectives dark, &c., to the plants, indicated by Kausika’s commentators. The word ragani (as well as all others designating night) has also the mean- ing ‘curcuma longa.’ Cf. the scholiast at Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, I, ra#ganakshame oshadhe...atra haridra raganisti kefit. The two meanings are blended with the idea of ‘rich in colour, by virtue of which the word puns with ragaya.
b. A considerable number of MSS., here as well as in
3 d, followed by Sdyaza, read prfthak for prvé/shat, which
also makes good sense. The Tait. Br. also reads pvéshat.
ec. This seems to be addressed to the patient: his natural colour shall return to him. Grill takes offence at the parenthesis’ and proposes to refer sva% to the plant; cf. also Ludwig, and Bergaigne et Henry, 1.c., note. But the plants are of a colour different from the leper’s spots (hence their virtue), and sva/ is inappropriate. Sayava, as in our translation, he rugva...svakiya# prag avasthito varzah.