double treatment of the ragasdya, either as a more solemn and elaborate priestly srauta-practice, or a more popular and direct gvthya-practice. The former is given at Vait. Si. 36, 1-13: it presents in a compendious form the practices current in other srauta-works, with particular attention to the chronology of the months. The sprinkling (abhisheaniya) and the tiger-skin figure as the prominent points. The more popular phase of the practice is stated in a double form at Kaus, 17, 1-29. The first (Kaus. 17, 1-10) is the simplest. Only the king and his chaplain (purohita) are here actively engaged: 1. ‘While reciting the hymn he who is about to sprinkle a king prepares at the banks of a great river! “holy water” from the ingre- dients prescribed (in st. 5; cf. Kaus. 9). 2. He causes. a porridge to be cooked, and sprinkles the king who stands upon darbha-grass on the south-side of the vedi (called) parigrzhya’. 3. He seats the king upon a couch (placed) on a bull’s skin*®. 4. They (the king and the purohita) fill for one another a water-vessel (with water). 5. They exchange them. 6. The Brahman says: “In common to us be the good we do, in common the bad.” 7. (The king says): “ He (of us two) who shall do evil, his may the evil be; the good deed alone shall belong to both of us.” 8. (The purohita) gives the porridge (to the king) to eat. g. Then he causes him to mount a horse, and turn to the north-eastern direction (aparagita, “the unconquered”’).
' According to Déarila near the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, or Sarasvatt.
* Darila, parigyzhya parigrzhyavedihs parigrahavam, sa yogo (!). Ch Tait.-S. I], 2, 10, 5; Maitr. S. 1, 6, 3 (p. 89, 1. 14); Apast. or. lV, 5, 4, and AV. XII, 1, 13.
* I fail to see why Professor Weber (I. c., p. 140, note 5) ignores my obvious emendation of talparshabham to talpa (i. e. talpe) arshabham. ‘The bull’s skin takes here the place of the tiger-skin. The more elaborate ceremony (mahabhisheka), described in the sequel (Kaus. 17, 11 ff.), brings in the tiger-skin. The present form of the ragasfya is the ‘simple one’ (laghu, laghvabhisheka), according to Kesava and Sayama.
280 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
10. A thousand (cows), or a choice village, is the fee for the priest.’
The Kausika continues further with another mode of consecration for an ekaradga, ‘sole ruler” In this the tiger-skin takes the place of the bull’s skin. Four princes and a number of servants and subjects participate in this. See Weber, l. c., p. 141 ff.
The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda,
III, 458; Weber, l.c., 139. By itself it figures as the
abhishekagava in the Gazamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 30.
c,d. The king is all-powerful. But there is yet another
king, more powerful than he, death. Death is present in
person now, as at all times, but he shall assent to the rule
of the king.
This stanza recurs in a hymn to Indra, RV. III, 38, 4. The manly Asura is primarily Indra. Since Indra is the typical king (kshatriya), stanzas in praise of Indra lend themselves readily to adaptation to praises and beatifica- tion of royalty; cf. III, 1, 4; 2, 5, and elsewhere.’
The tiger, as well as the lion (st. 7), is the king of animals : Sat. Br. V, 5, 4, 10; XII, 7, 1, 8; hence his skin is a mark of royalty. Control of the regions is a sine qua non of royalty; cf. e.g. Maitr. S. Il, 1,12, and the dig-vyastha- pana-mantraz at Tait. S. I, 8,13,1.2; Tait. Br. I, 7, 7,1. 2.
' I am inclined to think that ‘ sole ruler,’ and not ‘simple king,’ as Weber (p. 141) renders it, is the meaning of ekaraga; cf. ekarag in Ait. Br. VIII, 15, 1 (scholiast, eka eva raga); AV. III, 4, 13° RV. VIII,’ 34, 3, and’ ekavrasha; AV. IV, 22; Y.5ee eee which is rubricated in the sequel of this description (Kaus. 17, 28). Kesava, moreover, introduces Saitra 11 with the words, maha- bhishekavidhim vakshyamah. The entire passage Kaus. 17, 11-29 deals with this more pompous ceremony.
IV, 9. COMMENTARY. 381
See in general, Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ.
Phil. XII, 432.
d. The heavenly waters are the very ones with which
the king is consecrated. By a bold figure of speech they,
as they are about to moisten him, are said to long for
him !
a. Some MSS. and Sayaza read abhi... asrzgan for
abhi... asi#an. Sayaza glosses, Abhimukhyena samsrig-
antu.
e.d. The passage is not quite clear: subhuva/ may refer to the waters, or to the attendant priests (so Sayama, seva- kaganaz). The word dvipinam harbours a double entente : dvipa is ‘island.’ Vaguely, the position of the king, as he is surrounded by the consecrating water, suggests an island in the ocean.
IV,9. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 61.
The hymn is rubricated at Kaus. 58, 8 in a practice calculated to bestow long life upon the young Aryan, after he has been invested with the holy cord (cf. Hir. Grzh. I, 11, 5), to wit: ‘ While reciting IV, 9, an amulet of salve is fastened (upon the youth).’ See also Santikalpa 17 and 19'; Ath. Paris. 4,1. A persistent tradition has it that the mountain Trikakud (‘ Three-peaks’), in more modern times TrikiZa or Trikota, between the Penjab and the Himalayas, is the source from which the salve is derived. See the Pet. Lex. under af#gana, trikakud, and traikakuda, and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, pp. 29,69. The Anu- kramawzi describes the hymn as traikakuda#ganadaivatam ; it has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 507 ; Grill’, pp. 35. 123 ff., and exhibits noteworthy points of contact with RV. X, 97.
' Erroneously quoted by Sayawa as Nakshatrakalpa.
3282 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
b. The majority of Shankar Pandit’s MSS. read akshyam ; this he has taken into the text. Other MSS. read akshyam. But there is also MS. authority for dksham, the reading of the vulgate, and Sayava, who glosses it by #akshuf, ‘eye.’ But 4ksham does not mean ‘eye, and akshyam is other- wise unquotable. Nevertheless, we have translated akshyam, for the passage seems to be a tantalising reverberation of Sat. Br. III, 1, 3, 12. ‘When Indra slew Vvztra, he trans- formed that eye of his (Vrztra’s) into the mount Trikakud. The reason, then, why (ointment) from mount Trikakud (is used), is that he thereby puts eye into eye. This seems to show that the ointment was applied about the eye’, and apparently silences Professor Roth’s objection, as reported by Grill, that this is too narrow a view of the usefulness of the ointment. Cf. also Maitr. S. III, 6, 3; Tait. S. VI, 1, I, 5, which are equally pertinent.
e,d. The Paippalada reads, utasmyvztatvasyes=sisha uta
ssah pitubhoganam. Pada e looks like an appendage;
og Haale, BN Bal P
Cf. RV. X, 97, 12= Vag. S. XII, 86. The difficult word of the stanza is madhyamasir, all the renderings of which, both native and western, are mere conjectures. Sdayaza, here, either ‘wind’ (i.e. who dwells in the middle region), or, arir mitram arer mitram iti nitisdstroktamavdalama- dhyavarti raga. The gloss at RV. is similar to the latter interpretation. Still more fanciful is Mahidhara at Vag. S.
Cf. II, 4, 2, and for the meaning of vishkandha, see the note On ria
' Sayaza on st. 3, anakti akshushi anenesti 4#g¢anam.
Iv, 10. Commentary. 333
d. We have taken ptrusha in the sense which it fre- quently has in the Veda, namely, ‘menial, servitor. (Cf. Rie Ge, AV. Xe Pe Sat. Br. VI; 3, 1, 225. ‘and probably also RV. VI, 39, 5 (discussed erroneously by Pischel, Vedische Studien, I, 43). Ludwig, ‘ und dein leben, o mensch ;’ Grill, ‘auch deinen lebensgeist, du mann!’ Sayava reads ptirushas with some MSS. (both Samhita and Padapazha), all of which, however, present the word as an enclitic without udatta. With the nominative the sense is, ‘may I as thy servitor (O salve) obtain horses, &c.’
For baldsa, see the discussion in the note on V, 22, It.
The poison of the serpent is considered as a disease; hence
it is mentioned along with takman and balasa.
Cf. Tait. Ar. VI, 10, 2; Hir. Grch. I, 11, 5.
IV, 10. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 62.
The hymn is employed at Kaus. 58, 9 in connection with a practice for bestowing long life and prosperity upon the young Brahmanical disciple after the investiture: ‘ While reciting IV, 10 an amulet of pearl is fastened (upon the youth).’ Cf. also Santikalpa in the introduction to XIX, 34.
The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rig- veda, III, 462; Grill?, pp. 36, 124 ff. Cf. also Pischel in Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morg. Gesellsch. XXXVI, 135 ff. The Anukramavzi, sankhamavzistiktam.
Stanza l.
In this and the subsequent stanzas the fanciful sources of the pearl, some of which become commonplace in the later literature, are paralleled with great fidelity in the imaginations of Arabic and classical writers; see Pischel, l.c. The glint on the surface of both pearl and shell
384 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
suggests gold; and the changes are rung upon this com-
parison. See also Yaska’s Nighazu I, 2, where krzsana is
put among the names for gold; cf. especially st. 6.
a. Sayava, rokananam rokamananam bhasvarazam nak-
shatradinadm. He has in mind, doubtless, the beautiful
stanza RV. X, 68, 11,‘as a black steed with pearls, thus
did the Fathers stud the sky with stars.’
b. For sadanvaz, see our note on II, 14, 1 d.
b. Sayama, ‘from the body of Vvitra, or from the cloud.’ The latter alternative hits the point. According to the familiar Hindu notion, the pearl is a drop of rain, and thus it here breaks through the cloud, like the sun, itself a small sun.
Pada a accounts for the presence of the word krzsana
among the names for gold, Yaska’s Nigh. I, 2. With Pada c
cf. RV. I, 35, 4. The extra fifth Pada is formulaic, and
betrays its character as an appendage by the change of
person (tarishat) ; see the note on II, 4, 6.
e. The MSS. available for the vulgate read karsanas;
so also the majority of Shankar Pandit’s MSS. The
emendation of the Pet. Lex. to kdrsanas is now substan-
tiated by Sayava (karsanak krisanasambandhi mami), and
a minority of Shankar Pandit’s MSS.
IV, 12, COMMENTARY TO PAGE Ig.
The purport of this hymn is manifest both from its
wording, and its function in the ritual. It is to cure
external lesions, and fractures of bones. The Kausika
Iv, 12. Commentary. 385
deals with it twice, 28, 5. 6, and 28, 14. The practice described in the former place is assigned by Kesava to the healing of broken bones, wounds, and flow of blood caused by weapons (asthibhange rudhirapravahe sastrabhighatadau bhaishagyam). It consists in sprinkling the patient at dawn when the stars fade (with a decoction of the laksha-plant, Kesava adds), then giving him to drink a so-called prisha- taka’, a mixture of ghee and milk (so Darila; cf. Kaus. 49, 15), and finally anointing him with it: 28, 5. rohawisty avanakshatre:vasizkati. 6. prishatakam payayaty abhy- anakti. At Kaus. 28, 14 the performance is very similar, lakshalingabhir (sc. r7gbhir) dugdhe phaw/an payayati, ‘while reciting the stanzas characterised by the mention of the laksha-plant (according to the commentators, AV. V, 5 in addition to our hymn) he gives the patient to drink a decoc- tion (of the plant) in milk.’ Darila distinctly describes this as a cure for wounds (arusho bhaishagyam), while with Kesava the scope of the charm is broader, namely, ‘against wounds from knives, clubs, stones, burns, in fact all wounds of the body.’
The name ]aksha, under which the plant addressed in this hymn goes consistently in the ritual books, does not occur in our hymn, but instead arundhati. In AV. V, 5,7 the laksha is mentioned—apparently a dz. Aey. in the Mantras —and it there appears distinctly as an alternate designation of the creeper called arundhati, or sila#i?, a parasitic plant which grows up on the stems of many trees (V, 5, 5), and which is otherwise described in the same hymn; cf. also Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 67. Since the plant is employed to cure wounds (arus), the student of the Atharvan need hardly be warned that there is a punning symbolic connection between the disease and the simple ; cf. Darila’s
' For prishataka, see Gobh. Grvh. III, 8, 1 ff.; Grzhyasamgraha Il, 59, and my note on the same, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XXXYV, p. 580.
* Possibly also rdhami; see the note on stanza 1. Sayama at VI, 59, 1 explains arundhati as sahadevi (cf. the text of VI, 59, 2).
(42) ce
386 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
anni lc lt i ca gt
statement, arusho bhaishagyam, at Kaus. 28, 14, and the
doubtless conscious mention of arts and arundhati in V,
5, 4-53 cf. also VIII, 7,6. The word is, however, likely
to be a-rundhati, a feminine present participle with a priva-
tive; so Sayavza at VI, 59, 2.