The commentators fitly treat this charm as a cure for all diseases (sarvabhaishagyam). The practices at Kaus. 27, 27-8 are of the simplest sort, and their symbolic relation to the hymn superficially obvious: 27. ‘ The stanzas of the hymn are recited over the patient while (fetters with which he has been bound) are being torn off 28. He is sprinkled with water mixed with the dregs of ghee from a water- vessel.’ . The hymn figures also ina list designed to bestow long life (4yushyagava) in the Gazamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 4; see Kaus. 54,11 note. According to Sayavza the hymn is also a member of the aszholingagama, ‘a list characterised by (driving away) distress,’ consisting of II, 33; III, 11; IV,13; V, 30; [X,8. But the Gavamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 31, strings together a very different group under the same caption; see Kaus. 32, 27 note. Cf. also Vait. Sa. 38,1; Ath. Paris. 33, 3.
The hymn recurs with variants, RV. X, 163; AV. XX, 96, 17-22; the first stanza at Par. Gvzh. III, 6, 2. In its Rig- veda form it constitutes also a part of the Apast. Mantra- brahmavza I, 17, 1-6, employed at Apast. Grzh. III, 9, 10; see Winternitz, Das Altindische Hochzeitsritual, p. 99. The many, often perplexing designations of the parts of the body are paralleled in the catalogues of the parts of the horse’s body, at the horse-sacrifice, TS. V, 7, 11 ff. (cf. also -9G5.-Nil, 3,16)» Maitr. S211, 15;°2 ff.5 Vag. S. BaaV se ff; (Cf. also AV. X, 2; XI,’8.
The hymns in question have been translated and com- pared with certain Teutonic charms by Adalbert Kuhn in his ever-charming work on ‘ Indische und germanische Segens- spriiche, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XIII, 63 ff. These comparisons are of permanent interest for folk-psychology, even though the genetic relationship of the charms may be doubted. The Atharvan version has been rendered in addition by Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, 205 ff.; for RV. X, 163 see Ludwig's and Grassmann’s translations.
[42] bd
322 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. OOS a pe ee
a. Sdyava here defines ushvihabhya/ etymologically as,
{rdhvam snigdhabhyad raktadina utsnatabhyo va nadi-
bhya#, but at RV. snayubhya for nadibhyak. Cf. AV.
VI, 134, 1; .TX,'8, 215 X, 10, 20, and the schol. at Pavzzini
IIT, 2, 59.
b. hdlikshv4t is obscure: Sdyava, tatsambandhad (tat
refers to klomnd#) mamsapindaviseshat, ‘a ball of flesh
adjoining the lungs.’ The word may possibly be related
to hird, ‘ canal, vein.’
c,d. The tautological use of bhasadyam and bhasadam is justified in the mind of the Atharvan poet, because it heightens the effect of the cumulative pun upon bhamsasad. RV. X, 163, 4 exhibits but two of these stems.
d. kasydpasya vibarhewa (sc. brahmava). For Kasyapa, see the notes on I, 14, 4; IV, 20, 7.
II, 36. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 94.
The practices associated with this hymn are part of the ‘women’s rites’ (Kaus. 32, 28-36, 40), and they are pre- sented under the special rubric of pativedanani (Kesava, patilabhakarmavi), ‘practices by which a husband is ob- tained,’ Kaus. 34, 12-16 (cf. also Kaus. 75, 7), as follows: 13. ‘While reciting the hymn the maiden is given to eat a pudding of rice and sesame, such as is cooked for guests. 14. Upon an altar, made out of clay from a cave inhabited by animals (cf. stanza 4), are placed the substances recited in the hymn (gold, bdellium, &c.; cf. st. 7); these are anointed with the dregs of ghee, and given to the maiden
Ii, 36. Commentary. 423
at the door’. 15. Having sacrificed by night rice and barley from a copper vessel to Gami’, the maiden walks forth with her right side turned towards (the vessel ; cf. st. 6). The maiden, having been washed and cleaned to the west of the fire, while stanza 5 of the hymn is being recited, is made to do what is told in the stanza (upon a ship) anointed with the dregs of ghee (i.e. she is made to ascend the ship).’ After that follow certain oracles to decide whether the maiden shall succeed in obtaining the husband or not.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud.
V, 219 ff.; XIII, 214 ff.; Ludwig, Rigveda, III, 476;
Grill’, pp. 55, 102 ff.; cf. also Zimmer, p. 306.
a. Literally, ‘may a suitor come to our favour,’ i.e.-
a suitor who shall gain our favour. Sdayaza, sobhanas
buddhim 4 gamet .. . kalydzim buddhis prapya. Cf.
Sankh. Grih. I, 6, 1 ff.; Apast. Gvth. I, 2, 16; 4, 1-2;
Ind. Stud. V, 276, 291 ff.
b. The suitor comes‘ with our fortune,’ since the betrothal of a daughter is regarded in that light.
ce. Sayavza, samaneshu samdnamanaskeshu .. . yad va samanavz manyamaneshu sahvzdayeshu.
d. Sayava reads fisham for oshdm, and glosses, isham
aishati rugati apanudati du/khagatam iti Ushasz sukha-
karam. |
a,b. Cf. RV. X, 85, 40. 41, where Soma, Gandharva, and
Agni are said to be the mythical first husbands of every
maiden. Sdyawa has in mind the same passages, since he
glosses brahma with gandharva, and identifies Aryaman
with Agni, leaning upon the slender support of Asv. Grih.
* So that she may adorn and anoint herself with them.
? The personified goddess of femininity, or maternity; Darila,
gamika (?) matvvka. Cf. AV. V, 1, 4, and Kaus. 34, 20,
324 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
I,7,13. Cf. AV. XIV, 1, 31, which shows that sdmbhvitam alludes consciously to sambhala in st. 1.
ce. Dhatar, the god of divine order and creation, just as the three gods in the first hemistich, is especially charged with the arrangement of marriage ; see VI, 60, 3.
Sayava, with one of Shankar Pandit’s MSS., reads maghavan (mamhantyabhogyapadarthayuktaZ), in agree- ment with 4khard%; also abhiradhayanti, which he glosses by abhivardhayanti, yad va. . . putrapasvadibhiZ samrzddha bhavanti. For the juxtaposition of Indra and Bhaga, cf. VI, 82. For Bhaga in relation to matters of love, VI, 102, 3.
a,b. Judging from IV, 22, 3; V, 23, 2; X, 10, 11, the
divinity addressed as ‘lord of wealth’ is Indra (Maghavan
in st. 4).
c,d. The sense is: Every suitor who approaches her
shall indicate his esteem, or admiration, so that the event
shall not fail to result auspiciously. Cf. the symbolic
realisation of this arrangement in Kaus. 34, 15, above.
a. Some MSS. read gulgulu for guggulu (Sayama, dhipanadravyaviseshah).
b. auksha, ‘balsam,’ according to Sdyavza = pralepana-
dravyam. It seems to be simply ‘ bull’s grease;’ see the
sloka quoted by Kesava at Kaus. 34, 14 (repeated by
Sayavza on our passage), as also by Darila, Kesava, and
Ath. Paddh. at Kaus. 79, 9 (in elucidation of the word
aukshe), and cf. our introduction to AV. I, 34. See also
the analogous passage AV. VI, 102, 3, and aukshagandhi
as the name of an Apsaras, IV, 37, 3.
c. For the plural patibhyaZ, see Ind. Stud. V, 205 ff., 221.
d. pratikamaya is emended by the Pet. Lex. to prati-
kamydya (cf. sts. 5, 6, 8, and VI, 60, 3): Sadyaza, endm
kanyam kamayamanam. The Paippalada reads patikamaya,
Iii, I. Commentary. 325
which makes good sense, ‘in order to obtain the love of a husband.’
The second nayatu seems superfluous, derived, perhaps,
from some parallel expression in which nayatu was the last
word. The entire stanza is loosely connected with the
hymn; the plant addressed seems to have no reference to
the proceedings in hand. Cf. AV. III, 18.
IlI, 1. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 121.
In accordance with our title for this and the following hymn is their designation in the ritual as mohandni (sc. siktani), ‘charms for causing bewilderment ;’ see Kaus. 14. 17. With them go in the subsequent Siitras (18-21) the following performances: 18. ‘Chaff (of rice), underlaid with porridge, is sacrificed from a mortar. 19. (Or) in the same way small grain! (is offered). 20. Twenty-one pebbles are shaken (in a winnowing-basket?) against (the enemy). 21. (A pot of rice) is offered to the goddess Apva.’ The sym- bolism is obvious: the chaff or the small grain symbolises the dispersion of the enemy; the pebbles shaken against them the destructive attack of the sacrificing king. An offering is made to the goddess of evacuation (from the body). See the note on III, 2, 5. The present hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 518; Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 180 ff. The Anukramavzi, sendmohanam.
Agni, the fire, figures largely as the typical leader of the vanguard of armies, e.g. in the battle-hymn, RV. X, 84, 2, and in Tait. S. I, 8, 9, 1; Tait. Br. I, 7,3, 4. <A special ‘army-fire, senA4gni, is mentioned at Kaus. 60, 5, and in the
* Darila, kamikvikah; Kesava, kawikih; Sayama, kamikikam. * Cf. Darila and Kesava on the Sfitra, and emend sfirye in both texts to sirpe.
326 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
scholion to Paraskara’s Grihya-sitra I, 10. The preparation of such a fire is described at Kaus. 16, 9 ff. Professor Weber, l.c., suggests that the name of the war-god Kumara (Skanda) is in reality one of the manifestations (mirti) of Agni-Siva-Rudra ; cf. our introduction to XI, 2.
Professor Aufrecht in Kuhn’s Zeitschrift, X XVII, 219, advances very good reasons for believing that this stanza is constructed awkwardly out of Rig-veda reminiscences. Especially noteworthy is his emendation of amimrzvan to 4mimridan, ‘they have taken pity,’ in the light of RV. II, 29,4; VI, 50,5; X, 34,3. Yet we must question whether the Atharvan versifex did really compose that ideal stanza, suggested by Aufrecht, or the more uncouth performance, handed over to us by the redactors. I incline to the latter view, and have rendered the text as reported unanimously in the Saunakiya-tradition!, though fully conscious that damimrvzdan is the better reading in the abstract. The stanza puns upon marut and the base mrzma.
The anacoluthon in the two hemistichs can be removed,
as Sayama does, by emending tan in Pada cc to tim. Magha-
van in Pada a, in reality goes with Indra in Pada c.
Repeated with variants at RV. III, 30,6. Sdayaza com-
ments upon the Rig variant pra sii ta (te), not upon prdsita’
(Padapa¢ha). In Pada d, I have emended (independently
from Weber) vishvak saty4m to vishvaksatyam, literally,
‘having fulfilment away,’ i. e. ‘ bereft of fulfilment.’
' The Paippalada also has amimrezan.
Ill, 2. 3. COMMENTARY. 209
III, 2, COMMENTARY TO PAGE I2I.
For the employment of the hymn in the practices, see
the introduction to the preceding. Previously translated
by Weber, Indische Studien, III, 183 ff.; cf. also Bergaigne
et Henry, Manuel Védique, p. 139 ff. The Anukramazi,
senamohanam.
Repeated with variants at RV. X, 103, 12. For the variants pratimohayanti and pratilobhayanti see Contri- butions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XII, 422 ff. The goddess Apva (metrically apuva), ‘impurity, is a drastic embodiment of ‘defecation from fear. The enemy shall not contain themselves from fear. Cf. udarabhedi bhayam at Bhagavata Purdvza, III, 15, 33, and passages like Tait. S. VI, 2, 2,5; 3,2, 3- Yaska, Nirukta IX, 33, as restored by Weber, clearly explains the word in this way. See in general Ind. Stud. IX, 482; XVII, 184; and AV. IX, 8, 9.
III, 3. COMMENTARY TO PAGE I12.
This and the following hymn are made the basis, at Kaus. 16, 30-33, of a performance that ensures the restor- ation of a king who has been driven out from his kingdom by a hostile king (pararagena, according to Darila), to wit : 30. ‘In the domain of the kingdom, from which the king has been driven out, a rice-cake in the form of a couch (sayanavidham)?* is placed upon darbha-grass, and sub- merged in water. 31. A lump of earth taken from that
? This reading is not quite certain: most MSS. of the Sfitra, and D4rila read sayanavidhim. Kesava, however, and after him Sayama, read sendvidham (senakaram), ‘having the form of an army;”’ cf. for the interchange between aya and e our remarks in Amer. Journ. Phil. V, p. 27. Either reading makes good sense: the couch would symbolise permanent, peaceful possession of the kingdom; the army, its conquest by force of arms.
328 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
(region) is spread over the fire-place!, and (the king) con- sumes a mess of porridge, mixed with milk. 32. The utensils are taken from the same place as the lump of earth. 34. On the morning of the fourth day (the king) eats the (submerged) rice-cake, and then he is called (to his kingdom).’ Professor Weber remarks that an exiled potentate could scarcely expect to be restored by any more simple device. The symbolism of the practice is obvious: especially the bed and the clod of earth from the native sod (‘heimathsscholle’) are suggestive. Cf. Kausika’s rite at 16, 27. 28 in connection with AV. I, 9 (introduction). Stanzas 1 and 2 are rubricated at Vait. Sa. 9, 2 and 30, 27. The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 441 ff.; Weber, Indische Studien, XVII, 185; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Veédique, p. 140 ff. The Anukramavzi, nanadevatyam utas:gneyam.
Stanza l.