344 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
firm by reciting the two ‘ firm’ stanzas (dhruvabhyam, sts. 1 and 2). The ceremonies are concluded in Kaus. 43, 12-15 with sprinkling the house, the recitation of more mantras, an especial oblation to Vdstoshpati, feeding the Brahmans, and final blessings. )
The hymn has been treated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 463; Zimmer, p. 150 ff.; Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 234 ff.; Grill?, pp. 59, 108 ff.; cf. also Hillebrandt, Veda- chrestomathie, p. 45. The Anukramazi designates the hymn as saldsiktam, and vdstoshpatisaladaivatam. -Similar themes are treated in Asv. Grzh. II, 8; Par. Grzh. III, 4; Sankh. Grth. III, 2, 3; Hir. Grzh. I, 27; Apast. Grzh. VII, 17: Apast. Mantrabr. II, 15; Bharadvaga’s Grzh: II, 3; cf. Oldenberg, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxix, pp. 92, 212, 345 ff.
a, b. The words dhruvds and kshéme convey each the idea of good settlement, and sound foundation; cf. Vag. S. XVIII, 7; Tait. S. IV, 7, 3,1, ksémas ka dhrétis ka, and RV. I, 73,4; VII, 88, 7, dhruvdsu kshitishu. Hence the renderings of Ludwig, Weber, and Hillebrandt ‘im gliicke, in-frieden, &c., do not quite catch the point. Cf.also AV. UES vig
d. upa sam karema seems to convey the idea of close
union. In the only other passage quoted by the Pet. Lex.
it refers to sexual intercourse, bhartaram upasaszkaret
(Brzhat-Samhita 77, 26). SAyaza, vyavaharema.
The wording of the stanza is formulaic. In Par. Gvzh.
II, 17, 9 Pada b is applied to the furrow of the field; see
also the other Grzhya-texts, cited in the introduction.
For sinv¢tavati, ‘full of abundance,’ see Oertel in the Proceedings of the Amer. Or. Soc., May, 1891 (Journ., vol. xv, pp. xcv ff.), and our Contributions, Fifth Series, ib. XVI, p. 19. Ludwig, ‘reich an trefflichkeit ;’ Zimmer, ‘ reich an wonne;’ Weber, ‘reich an frohen liedern;’ Hillebrandt, ‘reich an lieblicher rede ;’ Grill, ‘ reich an herrlichkeiten,’
Iii, 12. Commentary. 345
Hillebrandt and Grill regard the first two Padas as
defective, but they are anush¢ubh, no poorer than many
others inthe AV. The Anukr., brzhati.
a. dharuzi is in intentional relation with dhruvad, hence ‘a supporter ;’ cf. Tait. S. IV, 3, 7, 2. Grill, ‘ vielfassend, vielbergend;’ Zimmer and Hillebrandt, ‘ geraumig.’ The Pada is catalectic.
b. brzhakkhandaZ, ‘ with broad roof. The translation is problematic, the word being dz. Aey. AAandas does not by itself ever occur in the meaning ‘ roof’ (k#adis, £adman). Some support may be derived from st. 5c, tv/nam vasana, since in Hir. Grzh. the roof is smoothed with a stanza containing the same Pada. The words there used are khannam (sc. salam) abhimrzsati. Sayaza, prabhitakha- dana, mahadbhis Aandobhir devair upeta va. For pfiti- dhanya? of the text of the Saunakiya-sakha, the Paippalada reads pfitadhany4; this underlies our translation. (Cf. paripditeshu dhanyeshu, Manu VIII, 331, and perhaps also the expression krzta dhanaZ, RV. III, 35, 7.
d. Cf. Sankh. Gvzh. III, 3, 9, 4 syandantas dhenavo
nityavatsaZ. The majority of Shankar Pandit’s MSS.
(both Padapaz/a and Samhita) read 4spandamana&.
ce. Most MSS., and the editio princeps, read u#fZantu ;
Sayawa, Shankar Pandit, with some MSS., and the Paippa-
lada, ukshantu, the basis of our translation. Again, our
translation presupposes the reading udnd& for unnd of the
edition: the MSS. read utné (cf. VII, 45,2; VII, 18, 1,
and the Index Verborum, p. 67). The Paippaldda,
Shankar Pandit with some of his MSS., and Sayama have
udnd; cf. RV. I, 85, 5, (maritaz) udabhir vy wundanti
bhfima.
346 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
d. For ni tanotu, cf. AV. VII, 90, 3; VII, 31, 3, and the plant nitatni, used to prevent the falling out of hair at AV. VI, 136, 1. Sayava, nitaram karotu.
a. The words manasya patni are addressed directly to the house (sal4), as may be gathered from IX, 3, 21; the house, after it is erected, is deified, since the weal or woe of its inhabitants are now dependent upon its behaviour. Sayana, mananiyasya vastupate% patni, ‘O wife of Vastupati who is to be honoured!!’ Grill’s etymological combinations — are superfluous; his comparison of Zend nmané-pathni and nm4n6-paiti (Gathic, demana) contrary to phonetic law. Ludwig and Weber, ‘herrin des maasses ;’ Ludwig at IX, 3, 5 ff.(Der Rigveda, III, pp. 464-5), ‘ herrin des verweilens ;’ Zimmer and Hillebrandt, ‘ genie des baues ;’ Grill, ‘ hort der mst
b. Sdyava reads nirmita for nimita.
a,b. The expression 4 roha, ‘ascend, harbours two double ententes, borrowed from other well-known events in life. First, sexual connection, in a manner similar to the union of the’two sticks with which fire is churned (see e.g. VI, 11, 1, and cf. III, 6,1); secondly, the various acts of ascend- ing which form parts of the consecration of a king, the ragastiya (cf. Kaus. 17, 3.9; AV. IV, 8). The rule of the king is indicated clearly in the next Pada (cf. AV. I, 10, 1), and in the anointing of the post, prescribed at Kaus. 43, 10. The word virégan in Pada b, which we have rendered ‘ruling, again suggests the alternate meaning, ‘shining ;’ cf. ‘the shining roof’ in AV. III, 7, 3. The vamsa is a very important part of the house ; sometimes it splits, and elaborate performances are prescribed in Kaus. 135 to meet that misfortune.
* Still worse is the alternate interpretation, mtyamanam dhan- yadikam manam tasya patni p4layitrz.
Ill, 12. COMMENTARY. 347
ce; d. Both Paddas are hypermetric; the first may be mended by excluding gvzhd4z4m (so in our version), which seems to have crept in from st.gc; the second by chang- ing sdrvavirah to suvirak or sdvirak. The'translators render upasattdro, erroneously, by ‘inmates;’ this is certainly incorrect, as may be gathered from Vag. § XXVII, 2. 4, m4 a rishad upasattd te agne; AV. II, 6, 2, ma te rishann upasattdro agne. Sdyava, upavadanakartarak; Ludwig, fancifully, ‘nicht sollen dich verletzen die belagerer der hauser !’ |
Occurs with many variants in the Grzhya-sitras of Asv.,
Par., Sankh., Hir., Apast., Bharadvaga, Manava; see the
introduction, and Professor Kirste’s edition of the Hiramzya-
kesin, p. 54, notes.
b. The reading gagata saha, alsz in Hir. and Bhar. ; M4n. has gagada saha; Par. gagadai# saha; the pine texts show still greater differences. For gagat, see Zimmer, p 150,and AV. 1X, 3,17. Oldenberg in the Sacred Books, vol. xxix, pp. 345, 395, and ee p. 205 renders both gagat and gagada by ‘companion;’ Ludwig, ‘mit dem lebenden;’ Weber, ‘nebst allem was sich riihrt.’ The others,-as above. Sayava, gamanasilena gavadina saha.,
e, d. Sayavza has kumbhaz which approaches the reading
of Sankh., kumbhy4/; and kalasir, like Apast, and- Bhar.
The last seems preferable to kalasair of our texts; cf. the
note on VI, 59, 2b.
Im the Paippalada this stanza is wanting here, appear- ing (with variants) in another hymn; Grill in his transla- tion places it before stanza 7, without a statement of his- motive. Cf. Kaus. 43, 10; Vait. Si. 16, 1 (with the vikara, adhvaryo for nari), and in general AV. 1X, 3, 22,and Raus. 66, 25.
e. Sayana reads patrim and samindhi (samdiptan kuru).
Shankar Pandit, with most of his MSS., reads im4m patrén,
referring im4m to the house.
348 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
d. Weber emends, abhi ksharaty enan, but neither change is necessary. See II, 12, 4, ish¢apirtam avatu naz.
Identical with AV. IX, 3, 23, and quoted frequently in the Atharva-Parisishzas (16; 19%, 3, &c.).
III, 13. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 146.
The first six stanzas of this hymn recur in Tait. S. V, 6, 1, 2-4; Maitr. S. II, 13, 1, in connection with certain oblations of water (kumbheshzakaZ, or apas grahaZ), and they are evi- dently originally atthome in the Yagus-ritual. The etymolo- gical puns, heaped up in the first four stanzas, explain the various names of water quite in Nirukta and Brahmavza-style. The seventh stanza does not occur in the Yagus-samhitas ; it is the one that is characteristically Atharvanic : it narrows down the general subject of the praise of the waters to the special subject in hand, the deflection of a river from its course’. The Kausika, 40, 1-6, supplies the very inter- esting practices engaged in for the same purpose, to wit: ‘1. He who desires that a river shall go a certain way, walks along that way, pouring out water, while reciting the pre- sent hymn. 2. He sticks up the (kinds of grass or reeds called) kasa, dividhuvaka, and vetasa*. 3. While reciting st. 7 a, he places gold upon the mouth of the river (that is, the point from which the river shall branch into the desired channel). 4. With st. 7 b he ties a frog, striped like the reed-plant ishika, through the arm-pits (pits of the fore- feet) with two threads, one red and the other blue® (and places him into the outlet). 5. With st. 7 c he envelopes
* For its employment in the Vaitana-sfitra, see the note on the stanza.
* For the explanation of these varieties of water-plants, see Darila and Kesava. Sayama, kasasaivalapaserakavetasasakhah.
* Cf. the introduction to VII, 116, and the notes on IV, 17, 4; VIII, 8, 24.
Iii, 13. Commentary. 349
the frog in an avaka-plant (blyxa octandra)!. 6. With st. 7 d he pours water (over the frog)”
The symbolism of these performances is unmistakable: they anticipate the presence of the water with all its life. The gold (40, 3) reflects ‘the golden-coloured, clear, pure waters’ (AV. I, 33, 1: see also st. 6 of our hymn); the river grasses and reeds symbolise the river-vegetation. Above all the frog, securely tied so that he cannot leap away, and the water-bringing avaka affiliate this practice with one of the most interesting practices of Vedic common life ; see our article, ‘On a Vedic group of charms for extin- guishing fire by means of water-plants and a frog,’ in the second series of Contributions, Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 342 ff.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Indische
Studien, XVII, 240 ff.; cf. also Bergaigne et Henry,
Manuel Védique, p. 143. The Anukramazi, varuzam (cf.
Kaus. 40, 7), uta sindhvabdaivatam.
The etymologies in this and the next three stanzas are dominated by that punning spirit which has made etymo- logy by far the feeblest product of the linguistic endeavours of the Hindus. In the present instance, however, the deri- vation of nadi, ‘river, from nad, ‘roar,’ is likely enough. The mythological event alluded to is the well-known rush of the waters over the dead body of the (cloud-) dragon Vritra, slain by Indra; cf. e.g. RV. I, 32.
Varuma (and Mitra) are also instrumental in procuring water, but it is rather the quiet streaming down of refresh-
? Cf. Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, p. 349, and add Sat. Br. XIII, 8, 3,13; Laty. Sr. Ill, 5, 13 ff.
? Kaus, 40, 7-10 continues with an expiatory performance, con- sisting.chiefly of oblations to Varuma, the god of the waters, in case this new watercourse should threaten the surrounding country with an inundation. The hymn is employed further with many others at Kaus. 41, 12 for sprinkling certain oblations, offered by one about to start upon a business tour. Cf. also Ath. Paris, ro.
350 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
ing rain, than the storm-flood at the time of the monsoon. The notion of conquest by thunderbolts, as weapons used against demon serpents, is not present. See Bergaigne, La Religion Védique, III, 122 ff. (especially pp. 125-6). The root valg, which here represents the motion of the waters, seems to contain an almost playful touch: it is used of the gamboling of animals. The allusion to Indra’s ‘meeting of the waters as they went’ is obscure. The Maitr. S. reads samprakyuta for yat préshita.
b. The lexicons and the translators derive avivarata from var, ‘enclose. Sdyavza, correctly, it seems to us, from var, ‘choose,’ avivarata vrvztavan yushman svatmasat kartum aikkhat. What sense is there in saying of Indra that he hindered the waters, and when did the waters flow against his will (‘ contre le gré d’Indra, Bergaigne)? An obvious paradox. Soma is said, RV. IX, 94, 1, to purify himself by acting wisely in choosing the waters: apd vvimzanah pavate kaviyan; cf. also V, 48, 1. Indra here is said to appro- priate the waters for his purpose, the benefaction of men.