The subject matter of this hymn is identical with a Brahmaza legend, told at Maitr. S. I, 6,9; Kaz. SV iF, 1; Tait. Br. I, 1, 2, 4-6 (cf. also Sat. Br. II, 1, 2, 13-16). The substance of the story is that certain demons (asura) called kalakA%ga piled up a fire-altar in order to ascend by it to heaven. Indra joined them, adding a brick of his own. When they had climbed to heaven, Indra pulled out his brick and they tumbled down. They became spiders, all but two who flew up and became the two heavenly dogs. In our essay, ‘The two dogs of Yama in a new role, printed in the third series of Contributions, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 163 ff.1, it has been shown that the two heavenly dogs, otherwise the two dogs of Yama, are the sun and the moon. The mythic character of the kalakazga is altogether uncertain. We have surmised (l.c., p. 169) that they are either the galaxy, or the stars in general, conceived as spiders. Possibly some especial group of stars, three in number (cf. st. 2 of our hymn), is intended.
All this is embalmed in the present hymn in a technical oblation (havis; cf. the note on VI, 39, 1) which is designated ‘the majesty of the heavenly dog,’ i. e. presum- ably, ‘the majesty of the sun.’ This and an appeal to the three kalaka#ga are the central points of the hymn, and the ritual, in a fashion altogether obscure, manipulates the prayer as a cure for paralysis (pakshahatabhaishagyam, Darila and Kesava)*. But the sense of the Sitras, Kaus.
1 Cf. also the note on IV, 20, 7 b.
> Cf. Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, pp. 253, 256. Accord- ing to Sayaza, kakakapotasyenadipakshihatam, it would seem as though paralysis was supposed to be inflicted by strokes of the wings of crows, pigeons, eagles, and other birds (cf. also Kesava), Apparently purely symbolic: pakshin, ‘ winged, bird,’ and paksha, ‘side, half’ (hemiplegia).
Vi, 81. Commentary. 501
31, 18. 19 is also not at all clear. With the help of the commentators some such practice as the following seems to be restorable. The paralysed part of the body is rubbed with earth taken from the footprint of a dog, while keeping in quick motion. Then the part is fumigated by burning an insect (taken from a dog). The dog—the word occurs only in the commentaries, not in the Sitra itself—refers, of course, to the ‘heavenly dog’ in the mantra; the quick motion is opposed to the palsy of the patient; the use of the insect seems to symbolise the fate of the kalakazéza, who in the legend become spiders. Cf. the article cited above, p. 166.
The third stanza is employed also in a nondescript
fashion at Vait. Sa. 23,20; Ath. Paris. 39, 1 (tadagadividhi)
and 42, 3 (snanavidhi). The hymn has been translated by
Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 373.
The stanza cannot be addressed to anything else but the sun, judging from the identity of its first hemistich with RV. X, 136, 4 a, b, which clearly refers to the sun (cf. Con- tributions, ].c., pp. 167-8, and Tait. S. IV, 6, 3, 4, uksha samudro, &c.). Sayama, along totally different lines: ‘The bird, crow, pigeon, &c., looking down upon all beings with a desire to injure, flies down upon the limbs of men. In order to remove its injury we honour thee, O Agni, with the oblation, that is the majesty of the heavenly dog.’ Cf. the note on st. 3. Ludwig's rendering ignores te in Pada d, ‘des himlischen hundes grésse der modchten wir dienen mit disem havis.’
Here even Sayawa feels compelled to recognise the
presence of the sun, heagne. . . dyuloke tava AdityatmanaZ
sahasthanam.
VI, 81. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 96.
The practice connected with this hymn at Kaus. 35,11 is restricted to the tying on of the (bracelet) mentioned in the
502 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
mantra. No ceremony of this sort is found in the Grzhya- stitras (cf. Paraskara, I, 13), and the word parihasta seems to occur here alone (cf. pariha¢aka in the Pet. Lex.). The hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 477; Weber, Indische Studien, V, 239. Cf. also Bergaigne et Henry, Manuel Védique, p. 153.
The second hemistich is exceedingly obscure: maryade seems to be the vocative of marydda, and our rendering is a pis-aller. The idea of ‘limit’ may refer to the confine- ment within the womb; cf. Sayaza in the foot-note. The Pet. Lex., simply, ‘ designation of an amulet.’ If it could be construed as a locative singular masculine? (maryd&de for marydde; cf. V, 1, 8) it might be translated ‘ within proper limits of time;’ cf. shazmasamarydadaya, ‘ within six months, Brzhat-saszhita 4,24. The sense would then be that the child shall be born within ten months; see Par. Grith. I, 165.15: Saakh., Grab, 1926 p-blir.-Gerhe eae II, 2,5. Again, 4game is not at all clear; it may possibly refer to the circular shape of the bracelet, ‘that comes back upon itself
Aditi is the typical mother that desires a son; cf. RV.
X; 738s AV Vill vo, ex;:, Maités Sil Gray a2 eeSaeee
III, 1,3, 2. Nowhere else have we met with the statement
that her desire was promoted by a bracelet furnished by
Tvashéar. The latter, however, fashions the embryo in the
womb; cf. Ludwig, l. c., p. 334.
VI, 82. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 95.
In the Kausika the hymn is employed in a twofold man- ner. At 59, 11 a person who desires a wife sacrifices and
1 Cf. Sayawa, maryade maryaéA marazadharmano manushya’ tair adiyamane svotpattyartham svikriyamaze sthane garbhasaye he gaye tvam putram a dhehi, i. e. ‘OQ woman, place a son into thy womb, the place appropriated by men for reproducing themselves!’
vt, 83. COMMENTARY. 503
prays with it to Indra. At 78, 10 the hymn is recited with sundry other mantras (cf. VI, 78) while dregs of ghee are being poured upon the heads of the bridal couple, after they have come home. The hymn has been translated by Weber, Indische Studien, V, 239 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 470; Grill?, pp. 57,167. The Anukramazi, aindram, composed by gayakamo bhagad.
The marriage of Sdryda, the daughter of Savitar, to Soma, the moon, is the typical heavenly marriage. The Asvins acted as wooers. Cf. RV. X, 85, 6 fL=AV. XIV, 1, 7 ff. ; Ait. Br. IV, 7,1. For a large number of correlated pas- sages, see Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 186. To these may be added Maitr. S. II, 2,7; IV, 2, 12; Kazh. S. XI, 3 (Indische Studien, III, 467); Tait. Br. II, 3, 10, 1 ff. Surya is probably identical with Ushas; the Asvins are frequently conceived as her hus- bands, rather than wooers in behalf of Soma.
According to RV. VIII, 17, 10, Indra is conceived as having a long hook or rake with which he heaps together goods: here he is implored to furnish with its aid a wife (and, implicitly, property also). At II, 36,6 he is addressed as ‘lord of wealth. The word sakipate is to be taken here in its secondary, legendary sense, not in its primary sense, ‘lord of might ;’ cf. Contributions, Sixth Series, Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. XLVIII, 548.
VI, 83. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 17.
The two Petersburg Lexicons; Adalbert Kuhn in Zeit- schrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung, XIII, 155 ; Lud- wig, Der Rigveda, III, 342, 500; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 54, 97; and Florenz, Bezzenberger’s Beitrage, XII, 280 regarded the apait as a certain noxious insect. In Contributions, Second Series, Amer. Journ, Phil. XI,
504 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
pe On iron a ae ren s a 320 ff., we assumed for it the meaning * sore, pustule, boil, or the like, and this is now fully borne out*by Kesava and Sayaza who render the word by gazdamala, ‘ scrofula.’ The apafit is a scrofulous sore, from root #i and apa, * pick off;’ cf. Lat. scabies, scabere, Germ. die schabe, schaben, Engl. scab. The word is identical with apa4i in the medical SAstras. The hymn is rubricated along with the first part of VII, 76 at Kaus. 31, 16.173; the practices prescribed are in part those undertaken in connection with VI, 25 (Kaus. 30, 16), for which see above: the sores are smeared with a (pulverised) shell, and with the saliva of a dog, and sub- jected to the bites of leeches, gnats, &c."_ The practice is then continued: rock-salt is ground up, placed upon the sore, and spat upon. Cf. the strikingly similar perform- ances, reported by Wise, Hindu System of Medicine, p. 315, in connection with the cure of ‘ scrofulous swellings’ (gazdamAla, apaki).
The second hemistich of st. 3 is accompanied by an independent practice at Kaus. 31, 20: it is identical with the one described in the introduction to VI, 57 for the cure of the akshata. And the fourth stanza, again, is prescribed against wounds (sores, arus) of unknown origin, at Kaus. 31, 21: the wound is sprinkled with ‘holy water’ (santyu- daka), and, while the nature of the disease is revolved in the mind, with the dregs of ghee *.
The hymn has been translated by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 500.
* Sayaza, rudhiramokshartham, ‘to relieve the congestion by letting blood.’
* Kausika seems to express this in the curiously condensed statement, manasa sampatavata (cf. the stanza). Sayava (after Kesava) fgyam hutva manas4 samkalpya vrave sampatan anayet. Sayava, by the way, connects st. 4 with the following hymn (VI, 84), which he supposes to be included in these perform- ances. But VI, 84 appears in a totally different function at Kaus. 52, 3, of which Sayaza makes no mention. Cf. also Vait. Sf. 38, 1.
Vi, 85. Commentary. 505
The conception that a disease flies forth from the patient occurs also at RV. X, 97, 13, ‘O yakshma, fly forth, fly with the blue jay, fly with the current of the wind.’ See also AV. V, 30, 9; VI, 40, 3. The converse notion that sores fly on to the body occurs at AV. VII, 76, 4.
Sayaza, glaud varvaganito (Shankar Pandit, vraza-) har- shakshayak ... galunta“ gazdamalodbhavavikarema tatra- tatra hastapddddisasmmdhishu udbhitan gadin tasyati (!) upakshapayatisti gaduntak. Wise, l. c, p. 311, has, ‘Gilin. The swelling in this disease is like the swelling of a plum, not painful, but hard; and is produced by diseased — phlegm, and blood.’ Cf. gilayu, ‘a hard boil in the throat,’ .Pet. Lex. The correspondence with either is uncertain,
The formula seems to correspond perfectly with its use
in the practice (Kaus. 31, 21) above: whatever oblation
suits thee, that do thou comfortably enjoy, while I am
mentally making an offering with the auspicious svaha.
The disease is uncertain, hence the exact character of the
offering is left undefined.
VI, 85. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 309.
The varava-tree (crataeva roxburghii) is extolled very highly for its medicinal and magic qualities. See the longer hymn, X, 3, and cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 60 ff. Apparently the sole basis for this belief is the supposed derivation of the word from the root var, ‘shut off ;’ cf. the similar puns upon asvattha, khadira, tagad- bhafiga, vadhaka at VIII, 8, 3; sara (srinati), vibhidaka (bhinatti) at Tait. S. II, 1, 5,7, and many more. At Kaus. 26, 33. 37 the practice prescribed consists simply in tying on an amulet derived from the varava-tree. The hymn is also rubricated in the takmanasanagawa of the Gazamala,
506 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Ath. Paris. 32, 7 (Kaus. 26, 1, note). The first hemistich of st. 2 recurs in a different connection, Kaus. 6,17. In st. 3 b Sayava reads visvadhayanih for visvadha yatiz.
VI, 90. COMMENTARY TO PAGE II.