The three stanzas are designated at Kaus. 21, 11 as karkipravadaz (sc. rikah), ‘the stanzas that mention the word karki (cf. sts. 6, 7). They are employed in a rite, designed, according to the scholiasts, to secure the pros- perity of cattle (Sayava, gopush¢ikarma; Kesava, gosdnti), as follows: ‘The karkipravada stanzas are recited over a young cow, upon which are placed twelve halters, and which is anointed with the dregs of ghee. Then, while
414 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-YEDA.
pronouncing Padas 7c and 7d, the things indicated in (these) mantras are done (i.e. fodder is given to the young cow. and she is fastened with the halters).’ In consideration of these practices, and the statements of the stanzas them- selves, we have thought that the purport of the hymn is a more special one, to wit, to secure the return of the | young cows from pasture, and have formulated the caption accordingly. The stanzas are also employed at Kaus. 66, 13 at a so-called sava, or formal bestowal of the dakshima : a karki (young white cow), together with an anibandhya, a cow designed for the cattle-sacrifice, are given to the priests as a particular kind of reward.
This part of the hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 455.
Because the Tait. S. III, 4, 7, 1 mentions an Apsaras by
the name of marizi, Sdyava connects this stanza with the
preceding gambling charm. The true sense seems to be
that the cows which wander ‘in den tag hinein’ are in
charge of the daily sun; as he comes daily without fail, so
do the young cows return. But the text is vague and
fanciful, marred moreover by an anacoluthon.
Sayava explains karki by karkavarvza subhré iyam gauh. Accordingly we, ‘white calf.’ |
V, 4. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 4.
Next to the soma-plant the kush¢/a is one of the most
valued members of the Vedic flora. According to the
medical books it is costus speciosus, or arabicus. The
word is not mentioned in the Rig-veda, but is common in
the Atharvan where three hymns, V, 4; VI, 95; XIX, 39,
are devoted to accounts of its origin and its healing
properties. It is the prince of remedies, like unto the steer
among domestic animals, and the tiger among the beasts
of prey. Like the soma, his good friend and companion,
V, 4. Commentary. 415
he grows upon the mountains, especially upon the high peaks of the Himalaya. In fact both soma and kushza came from the third heaven; the kush//a grew originally under that wonderful asvattha-tree (ficus religiosa), under whose shelter the gods themselves are accustomed to assemble. A pretty myth tells how a golden ship (soma, the moon ?), with golden tackle and oars, descends from heaven, and alights upon the Himavant mountains, bringing kushzha, the visible embodiment of the heavenly ambrosia. The use of the plant is varied, its effect most reliable. Hence it is designated as visvabheshaga, ‘all-cure.’ and visvadha- virya. ‘ potent at all times.’ Headache, consumption, and afflictions of the eye are cured by it. But especially it seems to have been regarded as the specific against fever (takman) in all its forms. It seems to have been a fragrant plant since in AV. VI, 102, 3 it is employed in a love-charm in connection with salve, licorice, and spikenard. The kush¢ha itself must have been prepared as a salve, since in Kaus. 28, 13 the patient is anointed with a mixture of ground kush¢#a with butter; cf. especially Kesava’s gloss to the passage. Curiously enough in the later literature kushéha is the ordinary designation of leprosy, doubtless a species of euphemism; cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 258 ff. Excellent accounts of the kush¢/a- plant are given by Grohmann, Indische Studien, IX, p- 419 ff., and Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 63 ff.
The employment of this hymn in the Kausika-sitra is of a general character: all the stanzas of the Atharvan which contain the word kush¢/a are classed together at 28, 13 as kush//alingah (sc. rikah); while they are being recited the patient is anointed with kush¢/a, ground up with butter, which is rubbed in without pressure (apratiharam: see Pet. Lex. s.v. har with prati, and Bohtlingk’s Lexicon, vol. ii. p.2g0c). Déarila describes this, quite precisely, as a cure for fever, while Kesava sets it up for a variety of diseases, ragayakshma (a kind of consumption; see Zimmer, l.c., p. 375), headache, leprosy (kush//a), and pain in all limbs. The Gavamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 7, counts the hymn as
416 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
takmandasana, ‘destructive of takman’ (see Kaus. 26, 1,
note), but the Anukramavi describes it as yakshmanasana-
kush//adaivatyam, the author being Bhrzgu-Angiras. The
hymn has been translated by Grohmann, l.c., 419 ff. ;
Zimmer, l.c., 63 ff., and Grill’, pp. 9, 141.
b. Himavant is identical with Himalaya.
e. Professor Roth, cited by Grill in his note, suspects srutvd and suggests srutvd. The latter seems more difficult, and I am at a loss to appreciate why the reputation of the kush¢#a among men might not be so stated.
The entire verse is repeated in AV. VI, 95,1; and with a single variant in XIX, 39, 6.
a. A tree as the seat of the gods occurs in RV. X, 135, I, yasmin vrzkshé supalasé devaiZ sampibate yama4, ‘ the tree of beautiful foliage within which Yama drinks with the gods ;’ cf. also RV. I, 164, 20. 22, and Kuhn, Die Herab- kunft des Feuers und des Gottertrankes1, pp. 126 ff.
b. tritiyasyam itd divi indicates the parallelism which
this myth establishes between the kush¢/Za and the soma.
The asvattha-tree is elsewhere said to drip with soma
(Kuhn, I.c., 128). The same expression is employed for
soma at Tait. “S.'Vij\-1,/6)91y Tait. Br. °l, 4) 3a
2, 1,13; cf. our Contributions, Fifth Series, Journ. Amer.
Or. Soc. XVI; 11; also the Pet. Lex. s.v) div, “ofan
tridiva.
ce, d. For amrétasya kakshavam, cf. RV. I, 13,5. The Pada is replaced in AV. XIX, 39, 6. 7 by tata kush¢ho agayata; the word avanvata is rendered variously: Roth, in Grill’s note, ‘(dorthin) wollten haben ;’ Grohmann, p. 421, ‘spendeten ;’ Zimmer, p. 64, ‘dort besassen;’ Grill, ‘dort ward den Gottern zu teil.’
ec. The vulgata here and at VI, 95, 2, which is a repeti- tion of this stanza, reads pushyam. We have rendered
V, 4. COMMENTARY. 417
pushpam, with some of the MSS., and Whitney, Index
Verborum, s.v. If we retain pushyam the sense would not
be changed materially; the two words are hopelessly
blended, since the writing of Devanagari MSS. in such
a case is totally unreliable.
a. The Anukramazi designates the stanza as bhurig, on account of the apparently hypermetrical first Pada. This may be corrected so as to yield an anush/¢ubh, either by crasis of panthana 4san, or by substituting the older form pantha(s). The former is the more conservative alternative, since the nominative plural panthas does not occur in the Atharvan.
d. niravahan with its two prepositions indicates vividly
the two chief features of the myth: nir, ‘ forth (from heaven);’
a, ‘to (the mountain upon which it grows).’
The stanza, both by its metre (gayatri), and subject matter, betrays its character as an interruption of the mythological history of the kush/Za. It seems, too, in a measure, modelled after VI, 95, 3, with which it shares its last Pada. Nevertheless I would not go as far as Grill does, and print the stanza at the end of the hymn, because it may have been composed as a liturgical interruption of the mythological account. To say that it was inserted because of the assonance of 4 vaha in Pada b with nirdvahan in 5d is begging the question, since this assonance may be part of the original endeavour. To be sure, the redactors of the Atharvan are quite capable of such bétises, but they should not be charged with them except for good cause!
b. 4 vaha, ‘restore, literally, ‘bring hither.’ The word is not otherwise quotable in this sense. Similar expres- sions, however, are employed to indicate the restoration of a disturbed mind; here, perhaps, with reference to the delirious ravings of the fever-patient ; cf. punar da, AV. VI, 111, 4, and perhaps 4 ga and ud ga, II,9,2. The sense
[42] Es
418 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
is fairly secure owing to its juxtaposition with nish kar (cf. st.10,and Ly 9; 5, icy.
b. Cf. AV. XIX, 39, 5. 8 for somasya.sakha.
ad. akshushe, ‘to my eye,’ not in the sense of the oculist, there being no implication of disease of the eye, as is the case in the expression upahatyd4m akshds in st. 10. The poet has in mind that eye with which ‘to see the sun’ (siryam drisé, drisdye stiryaya, or svar drisé) is the poetic prayer for life. This is quite clear. The eye here is that which finally does go to the sun, stiryaw #akshur gakkhatu, RV. X, 16, 3; cf. with this and the preceding Pada the formula at the animal sacrifice, e.g. Ait. Br. II, 6, 13. ‘may thy eye go to the sun; may thy breath unite with
the wind.’
e,d. ndmany uttamdani: literally, ‘highest names;’ cf. AV. XIX, 39, 2, where the names are stated with much
fancy.
For the diction of this stanza, cf. AV. VI, 95, 3; XIX, 39, 3-45 and V, 22,2; XIX, 34, Lo.
The stanza is rubricated separately as a member of the
takmanasanagava in the Gavamala; see Kaus. 26, 1, note.
The Anukramazi designates it as ushvziggarbha nifvzt
(nivvzt), because Pada b seems defective. By reading
_ akshids tanivo the defect is remedied: akshds here, as
well as in part of the MSS. at XIX, 60, 1, stands for
akshydés with defective presentation of the sound-group
kshy as ksh. See also IV, 20, 7, where all MSS. read
katurakshas for faturakshyds. The case is the same as
appears in mekshami for mekshydmi, AV. VII, 102, 1;
sdkshe for sakshye, II, 27, 5; vibhunkshamaza- for -kshya-
maza-, Kaus. 23, 9; 38, 26, and more remotely like sama
for syama, AV. I, 24, 4, and samaka for syAmaka, Kaus.
V, 5. Commentary. 419
74, 16. Morphological deductions, such as _ Professor Hopkins, Amer. Journ. Phil. XIII, 21 ff, bases upon these defective writings, are therefore subject to the gravest suspicion. In general, Devanagari MSS. must be watched very: closely for the loss of y, especially if preceded by two consonants; cf. especially the hopeless confusion between the words arghya and argha.
V, 5. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 20.
The only mention of this hymn in the practices of the Kausika is the one implied in 28, 14, lakshalingabhir (sc. vigbhir) dugdhe phaz/an payayati, where the commentators agree in presenting our hymn along with AV. IV, 12, as ‘the stanzas characterised by the mention of the laksha- plant.’ For the practices connected with the plant that goes by the names Arundhati, Sila#i, Laksha (possibly also Rohavi), see the introduction to IV, 12, and the note on its first stanza.,
The hymn has been translated by Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 67; Grill*, pp. 10, 143; the last two stanzas by Kuhn, Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung, XIII, p. 61. The Anukramazi designates it as lakshikam, ‘ per- taining to the laksha-plant.’
a. The Atharvan poets signalise with great predilection their knowledge of the power of any substance which they employ by stating that this knowledge extends to the father, mother, and other relatives of the substance. Or, again, they indicate their control over any disease, or hostile force, by assuming the same knowledge of their kindred. Of the latter class are the boasts made in V, 13, 7; VI, 61, 1, and VII, 74,1. ‘The former class concerns plants exclu- sively. Dyaus, the heaven, and Pvzthivi, the earth, are father and mother of plants, III, 23,6; VIII, 7, 2, and perhaps also III,9,1- Fanciful names are given to the parents of plants: I, 24, 3, sdrfipad nama te matd sdrdipo ndma te pita (cf. Kaus. 26, 22,note); VI, 16,1, vihdlhon&ma
Ec¢2
420 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
te pitd maddvati ndma te mata (of the plant abayu, mus-
tard); XIX, 39, 2, givald ndma te mata givanto ndma te
pita (of the plant kushzha) ; V, 4, 9, uttamd nama te pita
(of the same plant). The names of the ancestors in our
stanza are peculiarly fanciful and heterogeneous.
ce. silaZi, only in this hymn; cf. silazgala (silavga + ala), VI, 16, 4; Kaus. 51, 161, ‘a creeper or weed growing in grain-fields. See Kausika, Introduction, p. xlv, and cf. also our note on st. gc.
d. For nyd#kani, cf. nyd#kanam, AV. IV, 36, 6, and RV.
VIII, 27, 18, where Sayava explains the word by nitaraz
gamanam.
a. Cf. with this the designation of the plant in IV, 12, 1, rohazi (rohivi), and the note there.
b. kanyala here and XIV, 2, 52; the suffix -la with dis- paraging function as in vrzshala.
e. gayanti occurs also as the proper designation of a plant, equal to the common givanti: see the lexicons.
d. sparavi calls to mind Lat. pro-sper and spés, but
sphira and the root sphai (I. E. sphéi) have a better claim
upon these words.