b. Sdyaza reads vaibadha dodhata’ without support from the MSS. (Samhita or Padapatha). We have adopted this emendation which is indeed self-evident in the light of st. 7. It is of interest to note that the Pet. Lexs., Weber, and Grill felt constrained to resort to the same remedy. The name ‘ displacer’ for the asvattha becomes clear in the light of the natural history of the tree; see the introduction above, and Lassen, Indische Altertumskunde I?, 304 ff. Sayawza takes vaibadha as ‘sprung from the vibadha, i e. the khadira, the latter being so-called because it strikes with its thorns (kav¢akair badhate).
a. Sayaza with the Paippalada reads nir abhinaz (nir-
bhidya utpannossi); some of Shankar Pandit’s MSS. (both
Padapa//a and Sazzhita) support this by reading nirabhinno
(niZ abhinnaZ); cf. Pada c.
b. Sayama, correctly, arvave antarikshe; cf. RV. VIII, Ss a eV, $11, 1
e. Sdyaza, the Paippalada, and some of Shankar Pandit’s MSS., nir bhinddhi; cf. Pada a.
a. Sayana, the Paippaladda, and some of Shankar Pandit’s MSS., sarati.
336 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The stanza is repeated at IX, 2, 12 with the variant
sdyakapravuttandm for vaibadhapravuttandm. The similes
in this and the next stanza are put into practice in the rites
of the Sitra; see the introduction above.
III, 7. COMMENTARY TO PAGE I65.
" The words ‘he sprinkles him, &c.’ to the end of the sentence are all of them a paraphrase with the help of the scholiasts of the . words sankudhanagvalena ... avasi#dati. For sankudhana, see Kaus. 26, 16, as explained in the introduction to I, 22 (p. 263); for avagvala, cf. also Kaus. 28, 2, in the introduction to IV, 6 (p. 374), and Kaus, 24%; 33% 20,9; 40,05 aes
Iii, 7. Commentary. 337
a. At Apast. Sr. XIII, 7,16 most MSS. read raghush-
yato, genitive of the participle raghushyant, but two MSS.
report the reading of our text.
e, d. vishdvaya vishi#inam are in punning alliteration
with one another and with vi shyati, ‘loosen’ (understood ;
cf. vishaze vi shya in st. 2).
b. For padbhis the Apast. Sr., ib., reads padbhis; see our Contributions, Second Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 350 ff. (cf. also Sat. Br. XIII, 2, 7, 6), and especially pp. 352-3, where we have endeavoured to prove that the expression ‘ with (four) feet’ has come to have the general value of ‘quickly, nimbly, briskly.’ The fact that human beings have but two feet, the swifter animals four, is of far greater salience to the Hindu mind than to ours; cf. Maitr. S. I, 5, 10 (p. 78, 1. 12), Ait. Br. III, 31, 13, and especially Tait. S. V, 4, 12, 1.
338 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
e. Two of Shankar Pandit’s MSS. have gulphitam for
gushphitam; they are supported by Sdyawa (gulphitam
gulphavad grathitam), and the unanimous reading of the
MSS. at Apast. Sr. X, 10, 3; XIII, 7, 16. Another
variant of the word is gushditam, Sat. Br. ITI, 2, 2, 20.
b. ‘The- roof with four wings (sides)’ alludes vaguely to the antlers of the antelope, compared with the roof upon a house; the exact meaning of paksha, as part of a house, is not clearly defined; see our notes on AV. IX, 3, 4. 21. Sayaza, katushkonam &hadir iva. Possibly Grili is right in translating ‘a roof which rests upon four posts ;’ he thinks that the four feet of the animal (st. 2) are compared with
posts.
The stanza is closely parallel with II, 8,1; see the dis-
cussion there.
Parallel passages, at RV. X, 137,.6:; AN. VIj\oF, 3, mark the stanza as formulaic; its connection with the rest of the stanza is probably purely liturgical. The hymns of the third book are theoretically entitled to six stanzas only (or to six stanzas at least); see AV. XIX, 23, 3, and cf. the literature cited in Amer. Journ. Phil. VII, 470 (bottom).
a. Weber translates asute/, ‘through the act of propaga-
tion. This would comport well with hereditary disease,
but does not accord with the use of the word and the root
4 su in general. Sdyava, strikriyamazdya asuteh, asiyate
asixyate ity 4sutir dravibhdtam annam.
b,d. Note the alliteration between vyanasé and nasayami.
d. I have, very hesitatingly, construed apa ... ukfatu transitively, in accordance with the usual force of the ex-
[Il, 9. COMMENTARY. 339
pression, and the close parallelism with TI, 8, 2 ¢, d (cf. also VI, 83,,1), where kshetriydm is an accusative dependent upon apa ...uatu. For the subject of the verb cf. sa in st. 1. Perhaps apavasé in Padas a, b is also to be taken transitively, ‘when the constellations shine away (as they fade out in the morning the evil powers of night), &c.’ Sdayavza, as the Pet. Lex. s.v. Apa vas, construes all the derivatives from root vas in this stanza intransitively; cf. our note on IT, 8, 2.
III, 9. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 67.
The hymn, one of the most perplexing in the AV., is directed against a variety of bodily disorders, or demon- iacal forces, among which vishkandha and kabava stand out most clearly. For vishkandha see our discussion in the introduction, and in the note on the first stanza of IT, 4. The Kausika rubricates the hymn at 43, 1, 2, where Darila describes the performance as a pisdkanasanam, Kesava (and Sayaza in his introduction) as a vighnasamanam, to wit: 43, 1. ‘While reciting IIT, 9, an amulet of aralu (calosan- thes indica, a tree) is fastened (to the sufferer) by a red- dish brown thread (cf. st. 3); he is given a staff to carry (cf. st. 2), and he also carries a weapor?. 2. He is fumi- gated with (the smoke of burning) grain-chaff.’
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud.
XVII, 215 ff. The Anukramawt designates it as dyavaprz-
thiviyam uta vaisvadevam.
a. The Pet. Lexs. and Weber see in karsapha and vis- apha (both am. Aey.) the designations of certain demons or diseases (Weber, ‘des Abmagernden, Durchdringenden’). SAyana operates on the same line by means of character- istic etymologies, karsaphasya (karasaphasya) krzsasaphasya
ee Se OnE
? The commentators prescribe that the staff shall be anointed with the dregs of ghee and then be polished off, as in Kaus. 23, 11. The same treatment is also prescribed for the weapon,
340 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
va svapadasya vydghrade/, visaphasya vigatasaphasya spardhamanapurushakdlasarpadeZ vispash/asaphasya va kriragomahishaded. But the statement that beneficent heaven and earth are father and mother of demons is startling !; the usual Atharvanic way is to say that heaven and earth are the parents of some curative plant: III, 23, 6; VIII, 7, 2, &c. There is nothing in the way of such an interpretation, and it is to be noted that the amulet of aralu-wood, Kaus. 43, § (see above), is not otherwise indi- cated in the hymn. I do not venture to decide.
a. Sdyava with some MSS., both Samhita and Padapa/Za, and the Paippalada read asleshmazak for asreshmazah. Our translation is purely conjectural. Sdyavza depends upon the practices of the Sitra: ‘They (the people) carried the aralu-talisman, the staff, &c., being asleshmavzaf, i.e. unaffected (aslish¢az) by troubles, &c. ;’ or, ‘the gods, being free from phlegmatic diseases (sleshmopalakshitatridosha- dashitasarirarahitaZ), carried them.’ The first of these suggestions, barring the precision of its application, appears to contain something of the truth.
a. Sdyaza, quoting in support RV. II, 39, 4, and relying upon Bharatasvamin’s interpretation, renders khv¢galam by tanutrazam, ‘ protection of the body,’ and Kausika’s opera- tions seem to render this quite likely: he prescribes the fastening of an amulet by a reddish-brown thread. But in the RV., khv¢galesva visrdsak, the word seems to mean ‘crutch, support.’
ce. Sayaza with some MSS., Samhita and Pada, and the
Paippalada read sravasy4m; kabava is explained charac-
teristically as follows: kabud karburavarzak krira/ prazi,
tatsambandhi vighnad kabavas.
* It seems, however, to derive support from RV.I, 191, 6, which Sayava quotes very aptly.
Ill, TI. COMMENTARY. 341
d. bandhura%, apparently plural of bandhur, is hopelessly obscure; our translation ‘fastenings’ is no better than Séyaza’s asmabhir baddha&, or his alternate bandhura% asmabhir dharyamazak manzidamdadayah. The word ought to be identical with the stems vandhur, RV. I, 34, 9 (trayo vandhiraz ; cf. trivandhura), bandhura, and vandhtra, ‘the seat of a wagon. The matter is complicated still further by bandhura with discordant accent in st. 4.
The basis of this translation is again very unstable owing to the word bandhura which is lexically and grammatically obscure. Sadyaza presents an entirely different result: ' ‘O ye people who desire glory (by conquering the enemy), but go (into battle) bewildered as the gods by the wile of the Asuras, may your weapons (bandhura sambaddha dhrzta khadgadirfiipa hetiz!) destroy the kabava as the ape the dog!’
Sayava upon the basis of many MSS. (both Samhita and
Padapazha) reads bhatsyami (badhnami). Shankar Pandit
adopts this reading. In Pada d, Sdyava with some MSS.
reads arishyatha for sarishyatha ; cf. st. 4.
III, 11. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 49.
This hymn, whose first four stanzas are essentially the same as RV. X. 161=AV. XX, 96, 6-9, must have originally had the general value indicated by our title. But the Sfittra (Kaus. 27, 32-33) specialises, and directs its employment against gramya (sc. vyddhi), ‘venereal disease,’ (Darila, mithunasasvyogat). Kesava prescribes it against children’s diseases and venereal diseases (balarogagrzhite ka maithunadoshabhaishagyany ufyante . . . maithunaraga- yakshmami bhaishagyam); Sdyawva, against diseases of children, or disease contracted from women (balagraharoge nirantarastrisasgatiganitayakshmami fa). The practices
342 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
are as follows: 27, 32. ‘While reciting the hymn the patient is given to eat a porridge containing rotten fish’. 32. He is taken to the forest*, and (in the morning), when the constellations begin to fade, he is sprinkled with water which has been warmed by quenching in it burning sesame, hemp, cow-dung, and sacred firewood ® (all gathered in the forest).’ :
The hymn figures in the takmandsanagaza (Ath. Paris. 32, 7), and the ayushyagawa (ib. 32, 4) of the Gazaméla ; see Kaus. 26, 1 note; 54, 11 note. See also 58,11, and Vait. Sd. 38, 1. Stanza 4 is quoted in Ath. Paris. 18%, 1. The Anukramazi, aindragnam ayushyam. The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 231. There is no basis, as far as can be seen, for his caption, ‘Bei schwerer Geburt.’
For the disease ag#atayakshma (cf. AV. VI, 127, 3), and
ragayakshma, see Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 321 ff.;
Grohmann, Ind. Stud. IX, 400; Zimmer, p. 375 ff.
d. Most of Shankar Pandit’s and, apparently, all of Roth
and Whitney’s MSS. read dsparsam. Sayama, as the
vulgata, asparsham (prabalam karomi).
a. The divine attribute ‘thousand-eyed,’ predicated to Indra, Agni, Vishvu, &c. (see Pet. Lex. s. v. sahasraksha), is here transferred to the powerful oblation. Cf. the note on IV, 20,4")
— ee
' For pfitisapharf, see Kausika, Introduction, p. lii.
* In order to wipe away the effects of the dissolute habits of the village (gramya).
* For gvala, cf. Kaus. 27, 30 in our introduction to ILI, 7 (also Kaus. 28, 2; 29, 8). For santa, see Kaus. 8, 15. 16.
Iii, 12. Commentary. 343
The correlation of the hymn with diseases of children
(Kesava and Sayavza) is based upon this stanza. Kausika,
however, has other matters in mind.
III, 12. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 140.
The hymn forms in the ritual a part of a gaza or series entitled vastoshpatiyani (sc. siktani), ‘hymns pertaining to Vastoshpati, the lord of the homestead, Kaus. 8, 23 ff. (see index B, p. 384°, of the edition). More specifically it is employed in Kaus. 43, 8-11 as part of an extensive ceremony at the erection of a house entitled by the Atharva- Paddhati (see p. 118, note 11) as brihakkhalakarma, ‘ the great ceremony of house-building,’ in distinction from a less elaborate ceremony at Kaus. 23, 1 ff., entitled laghu- salakarma (see p. 61, note 12).
The performances-at Kaus. 43, 3 ff. begin with-an intro- ductory rite in connection with AV. VII, 41, designed to remove obstacles in the way of the builder; apparently this is known by the special name of syenaydga, or syenegya. See the discussion of this somewhat obscure point in the fifth series of our Contributions, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XVI, p. 12. Then the materials for building are brought on, and the excavation for the house is made, and next the actual work of erection is accompanied by the recitation of the stanzas of our hymn, to wit: 43, 8. ‘The hymn AV. III, 12 is recited while the (central post’) is being fixed and erected. 9. Having anointed it, the sixth stanza of the hymn is recited while the act stated in it is being performed (i. e. while the cross- beam is being placed upon the post). 10. Having taken a pitcher of water, and the fire, they enter the house while reciting the eighth stanza. 11. (The house) is rendered
* So according to Darila, madhyamasthiim4m ; Kesava and Ath. Paddl.., more generally, salam. Cf. Hir. Greh. I, 27, 2, dvarasth(- nam urkhrayati ; also Apast. Grzh. VII, 17, 3.