486 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The performances are as follows: 17. ‘While the hymn is being recited, the performer walks about the grain-field, hacking a piece of lead with an iron instrument'. 18. He scatters stones upon the field. 19. He ties a hair through the mouth of a tarda (insect) and buries him head down- ward into the middle of the field. 20. He performs the act which is to be done while walking *. 21. He offers a bali- offering to Asa (“region’”’), to Asapati (“lord of the regions”), to the two Asvins, and to Kshetrapati (“lord of the field”). 22. On the day when he performs the ceremonies for these (divinities?) he shall remain silent up to the time of sunset.’
The hymn is catalogued also in the first abhayagasa (cf. st. 1) of the Gawamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 12 (cf. Kaus. 16, 8, note). It has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, II], 499 ff.; Florenz, Bezzenberger’s Beitrage, XII, 312 ff. The Anukramazi, 4svinam abhayakamaz.
The renderings of tard4m and samankam are conjectured etymologically. For the latter, see the note on I, 12, 2c.
The name upakvasa is not even etymologically sugges-
tive. Sdyaza reads apakvasa/ (a-pakvas), glossing, adag-
dhav santah.
* For Kausika’s ayasd sisam karshan Sdyana reads ayahstsam gharshan, paraphrasing it by lohamayam stsam gharshan. Possibly sisam is to be. changed to sitim: the performance would then con- sist in ploughing a furrow with an iron (plough) about the field. is ied 5k Ss Kaen
* Cf. Kaus. 51, 2 (in the introduction to IV, 3): ‘While walk- ing he offers thrice to the Asvins (so Sayava; cf. st. 1 of our hymn) milk of a cow with a calf of the same colour as herself.” Sdyana reads for Aare, the word which we have rendered ‘ while walking,’ darau. By transcribing Aare in Devanagari, and adding a vertical line after the r, the partial ambiguity will appear. Sayaza’s statement is, AaruM asvibhyam guhuyat. Weare not convinced. Why should the MSS. of the Kausika write the diphthong au in this fashion in this instance, and never elsewhere ?
Vi, 56. Commentary. 8
The two compounds with pati areambiguous. The final long a of the stems preceding may be due to Vedic (metrical) lengthening: in that case, ‘lord of the tarda, &c., is the proper rendering. So Sayava. For vyadhvaraé# Shankar Pandit’s edition, with most MSS. and Sayavwa, read vyad- vara“; cf. our notes on II, 31, 4c; III, 28, 2.
VI, 56. COMMENTARY TO PAGE I5I.
The terms of the hymn indicate a charm against serpents, of the general sort', but Kaus. 50, 17-22 gives it a prag- matic turn; the practice is designed to keep serpents away from the premises: 17. ‘While reciting this hymn along with sundry other mantras, lines are scratched around the bed, the house, and the grain-field. 18. Grass that has been anointed with the dregs of ghee is fastened upon the door through a yoke-hole*. 1g. Dung from the entrails (of a cow) is crumbled (at the door). 20. It is dug into (the ground). 21. And laid on (the fire). 22. (The same performances as with the dung are undertaken with) the blossoms of the apamarga-plant (achyranthes aspera; cf. the introduction to IV, 17), the hoofs(!) of the kudrifi-tree *, the roots of them being turned away‘ (from the ground, fire, &c.)°.’
The hymn is also rubricated (with others) at Kaus. 139, 8, in the course of practices preparatory to the study of
1 Cf. Kesava, sarpadisvastyayanam.
2 Cf_ AV. XIV, 1, 40; Kaus. 76, 12, and Indische Studien, V. 199, 387.
* Very doubtful: the word is kudrif#isaphan. Kesava, gudti- padan, ‘the feet of the gudff? (cocculus cordifolius ’). Sdayana simply, gudixim.
ris» ATA A |, ero, . Beer ‘
The text, paradinamailan. Neither Kesava, nor Sayava com- ments upon the word.
* The aim of these performances is clear: the serpents are to be
excluded by magic lines, and purifying substances and plants.
488 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
the Vedas. “Cf. also Vait, St: 29, 10; Ath: ParisPages,
It has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, nies
Grill’, pp. 5, 162 ff.
The second hemistich recurs at X, 4, 8 (cf. also IV, 3, 7) without the formula namo devaganébhyad. This may therefore have been borrowed from the end of st. 2. The divine folks are the serpents themselves, cf. XI, 9, 2. 5. 26; 10, 5, and the sarpadevaganah, Vag. S. XXX, 8. See also atl My hari oe.
For different designations of serpents, see Zimmer, Altin- disches Leben, pp. 94 ff. For asita (Sayava, krzshvavarma) and tiraskiragi (Sayama, tiryag avasthita ...valayo yasya), see TIT 275025 “VILA S6, 155 hy 4,5 es XIE 9) See the note to the last-mentioned passage. See also the note on’ V; ‘13, 5, and’°1S.°V "5; Tost. 2. ~ The Hinda commen tators explain svaga als ‘self-born.’ Sayawza, svayam eva gayate karavantaranairapekshyeva utpadyate; cf. the gloss, Tait. S.V, 5, 14,1. The Pet. Lex.; ‘vivipara,’ or ‘the em- bracer. Weber at Tait. S., l.c., also derives it from svag, ‘enfold.’
Cf. A. Kuhn, Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachfor- schung, XIII, 60.
The third Pada may refer to the forked tongue of the
serpent (Sdyawa, sarpasya hi dve gihve). But perhaps
more likely, it is a strong way of saying,‘I shut up thy
tongue, continuing under the impetus of the first hemistich.
Cf. Pada d.
VI, 57. COMMENTARY TO PAGE Ig.
The practices of the Kausika, 31, 11-15, contribute not a little towards the elucidation of this medicinal charm. In the hymn the disease is merely designated as the arrow of Rudra, but in the Satra it is called akshata; the remedy is akshatavrazabhaishagyam (Kesava), and Sayavza explains
Vi, 57. Commentary. 489
it as a ‘wound without opening’ (mukharahitavraza ‘) ; C.sate0 eiperua cat Kous:-92,. 11.13. ;: In.-Contributions; Second Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 321 ff., we have shown that the disease in question is a tumour or a boil. and in Contributions, Fourth Series, ib. XII, 425 ff., we have assumed on the basis of the ritual that the remedy designated in the hymn (st. 2) as galasha, the particular remedy of Rudra, is identical with mitra, ‘urine, of the Sitra?. The practice consists in moistening the tumour with the foam of (cow’s) urine, throwing the urine itself upon it; next, washing it off, then, smearing it with scour- ings from the teeth, and with the pollen from bunches of grass. The disease is probably much the same as the gandamala,‘scrofula;’ cf. AV. VI, 83; VII,74; VII, 76, 4, and the introductions to these hymns.
The third stanza is rubricated in the list of purificatory mantras, Kaus. 9, 2 (cf. the brzhakkhantigava of the Gazamala, Ath. Paris. 32, 26), and in a similar list, Kaus. 41, 14.
e, d. The arrow here described is Rudra’s arrow that in-
flicts disease Fittingly, Rudra’s own remedy the galasha
is employed as acure. The very rare word galashabhe-
shaga occurs also in the Nilarudra-Upanishad 3, esha ety
aviraha rudro galashabheshagaz (see Jacob’s Concordance).
For galasha Sdyava reads four times galasha; cf. our
discussion of the forms of the word in Contributions,
Fourth Series, l. c., 425.
e,d. Cf. RV. VIII, 20,26; X, 59, 8-10. The last Pada
' Kesava, yasya gamdadush/asya rudhiram na vahati.
? Professor Windisch, in a review of the above-mentioned essay (Literarisches Centralblatt, 1892, No. s1, col. 1836), refers to a treatise of E. Wilhelm, ‘On the use of beef’s urine’ (Bombay, 1889). This is not at hand, but see Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 117.
490 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
is formulaic; see AV. XVIII, 5, 23, and note the variant, RV. X, 59, 8-10.
VI, 59. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 144.
This hymn, obviously a cattle-charm, is employed, along with a great variety of, other mantras, rather indifferently, at Kaus. 50, 13. The practice is that of a merchant who starts out upon his business: in Kaus. 50, 13 he offers? a variety of substances with the list of hymns in question. Cf. the introductions to III, 15; VI, 128, and XI, 2. It is rubricated further in the list of purificatory mantras, Kaus. 9, 2 (cf. the brzhakkhantigana of the Gavzamala, Ath Paris. 32, 26), and in a similar list, Kaus. 41, 14; it has been ren- dered by Grill?, pp. 65,163. For the character of the plant arundhati, see the introduction to IV, 12.
Sayava defines arundhati as sahadevi, a common name for plants, but the interpretation is not to be trusted because he reads sahadevi for saha devir in st.2b. Cf. the introduction toIV,12. In Padac, Grill emends vayase unnecessarily to avayase, ‘was nicht erstarkt ist. Sayaza, quite correctly, ‘at the age beyond five years when weaned from the mother.’ Cf. the quotations in the Pet. Lex. under 3. vayas 2); the passage, ekahayanaprabhvzty 4- pa#kahayanebhyo vaydmsi, quoted from Apastamba at Tait. Br. III, 12, 5, 9, is referred to by Sayaza also.
b. For saha devir we read saha devair; cf. the reading kalasir for kalasair in the note on III, 12, 7, and, more generally, the note on XII, 3, 32c. Grill, similarly, the
* The word upadadhita there and elsewhere is a technical term, ‘lay upon.’ Kesava, at the end of Kaus. 6 (see p. 309, middle, of the edition), defines it as the act of offering one of thirteen offerings (havimshi), very varied in character ; cf. the word upadhana in the Paribhasha-sutra 8, 17.
Vi, 60. Commentary. 491
compound sahadevi (cf. XII, 4, 23); Sayava, sahadevyakhya arundhati abhilashitaphalasya avarayitri oshadhiz (avara- yitri=arundhati). b. givala as epithet of arundhati occurs also, VIII, 7, 6. See the note there, and at XIX, 39, 3.
VI, 60. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 95.
The prescription for the use of this hymn at Kaus. 34, 22-24 is to pour an oblation (of ghee) for Aryaman (in the morning) before the crows rise, and to place bali-offerings within the corners of the house. (The wooer is, then, sure to come) from the direction from which (the crows) come flying. The charm is, therefore, an oracle (pativedanam ‘) ; it is not employed in the marriage-ritual, Kaus. 75, where the actual arrival of the bridegroom is described, unless, indeed, it is implied in the word pativedanam (75, 6). But the Paddhatis refer to Kaus. 34, 13, a rite performed in con- nection with AV. II, 36, rather than to our performance.
The hymn has been translated by Weber, Indische Stu-
dien, V, 236 ff.; Grill?, pp. 56, 164; Zimmer, Altindisches
Leben, p. 306.
a, b. Aryaman is the typical wooer or bridegroom; cf. AV. XIV, 1, 34 (=RV. X, 85, 23). 39; 2, 5 (=RV. X, 40, 12). Weber and Grill join purastad to vishitastupad, ‘ with crest loosened in front ;’ Sayavza, ‘from the east.’ We are having in mind a bridal procession consisting of many wooers (cf. AV. XI, 8,1. 2, and Kaus. 75,13). See also Indische Studien, V, 380, bottom.
a a —
' Cf. Kaus. 34, 12; 75, 6.
492 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
ee ae en EE
The latter change results in the best metre. Sayana, coolly,
Ayati prapnuvanti.
VI, 64. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 136.
This hymn is rubricated in the gava, or series, entitled sAmmanasyani in Kaus. 12, 5, and the practices are the same as those employed in connection with III, 30, above. The entire hymn is repeated with many variants in RV. X, 191, 2-4, in Maitr. S. II, 2, 6, and in Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, 4 ff. It has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 372; Grill’, pp. 31, 164; cf. also Zimmer, p. 175, and the well- known translations of RV. X, 191.
a. The RV. and Tait. Br. read, sdm gakkhadhvam sam
vadadhvam; the Maitr. S., sam gakkhadhvam sam gani-
dhvam.
d. Cf. Pazk. Br. II, 2, 4; Asv. Sr. II, 11, 10.
Of the four texts, cited above, no one has precisely the same readings, though the sense is essentially the same in all. For the samanam havih, cf.the introduction to VI, 39, and the foot-note on VI, 39, I.
d. All the texts read yatha va’ susahdssati; the Pada- pathas of the RV. and AV. resolve susaha dsati. This leaves upon our hands a compound adverb susaha, which I have translated ‘ perfectly in common.’ Ludwig resolves susaha asati, translating ‘that you may have easy victory. It is possible, too, to ignore the Padakara, and read st saha asati, and translate again as we have done. I had thought also of emending yatha vasu sahdassati, ‘that you may have possessions in common,’ and found later that the Padapatha of the Maitr. S. had something similar in mind, reading, vasu saha Asati. Cf. also the simple sah@ssati at AN..Vit 20.
Vi, 70. Commentary. 493
VI, 70. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 144.
Dérila, Kesava, and Sayaza explicitly define the per-
formance in connection with this hymn at Kaus. 41, 18-20
as designed to effect harmony between cow and calf.
Sayaza, govatsayor anyonyavirodhasantiriipe sasmanasya-
karmazi. Kausika himself designates the rite as vananam;
cf. the note on the word apavata in the introduction to VI,
44 (p. 482, note).