The hymn is an elaborate plea of the Brahmans for one of the numerous sources of income which they managed to devise. Especially all sorts of ominous occurrences are set down as occasions for expiatory performances (prayastitti), at which the performing Brahman comes in for his dakshiza (see the thirteenth book of the Kausika), and every kind of irregularity in the birth of a domestic animal is amended by ceremonies in which the animal finally expiates its own existence by going over into the possession of the Brahman. See, for instance, AV. III, 28, and Kaus. 109-111. A cow which after a certain time (see st. 16) is discovered to be sterile (vasa) is viewed in this light: she belongs to the Brahmans, and the present hymn recounts in picturesque language, accompanied by fierce threats, the urgency of pass- ing her on to the Brahmans whom nothing hurts. Similarly in Tait. S. II, 1, 2, 2, a sterile sheep is said to be ‘cattle for the gods’ (i.e. in effect, for the Brahmazas); cf. also Tait. Br. I, 2, 5, 2, and see in general Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 61 ff. In Kaus. 44 and 45 the ceremonies for slaughtering a vasa are described ; it seems according to 45, 17 that they are wound up by giving the animal away. , The present hymn is rubricated in Kaus. 66, 20 along with X, 10; nothing is stated except that she is bestowed upon the Brahmans, after having been solemnly sprinkled while the hymns are recited. Cf. in general Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 272, and the same scholar’s translation of the hymn, ibid. 448 ff. The metre of this composition is regular anu- shzubh ; this, together with the style and contents, betrays the late character of the hymn.
The parenthetic expression, ‘and they have noted her,’ is admonitory: the Brahmans do not fail to know that a sterile cow exists; they are sure to claim their own! Ludwig suggests abhatsata or abhantsata for abhutsata, ‘and those who have bound her,’ but there is no relative pronoun, and the sense resulting is strained.
Xii, 4. Commentary. 657
a For kidd, cf. Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, 138. asya seems to refer to gava#, understood from the context.
b. kd¢am ardati is difficult: ka¢4m is unquestionably a Prakritic form for kartam, AV. IV, 12, 7 (cf. similarly kéva/e, RV. VI, 54,7). For ardati one would expect some word for ‘fall,’ or ‘ push,’ but the word means ‘burst, go to pieces.’ Perhaps ka¢am is the subject, ‘the deep ground bursts’ (cf. RV. IV, 17, 2; AV. XIX, 9, 8, descriptive of earthquakes), but this does not quite do justice to ka¢im.
d. The Paippalada has for diyate the preferable reading giyate, ‘his property is wrung (from him). For the inter- change of the sound-groups di and gi (dy and gy), see the writer in Amer. Journ. Phil. VII, 482.
a. vilohita, designation of some disease, also FX, 8, 1: perhaps, ‘flow of blood from the nose.’ Henry, Les livres VIII et IX de l’Atharva-véda, pp. 105, 142, ‘décomposition du sang. Both translations are purely etymological, but we may note that the word occurs in connection with other ailments of the head at IX, 8,1. Cf. also léhita VI, 127, 1, note.
e,d. The passage is not quite clear. saszvidyam. dm. Aey., may mean ‘possession.’ Ludwig. ‘name. At any rate there seems to be an attempt to etymologise upon, or explain, vasd as a derivative from the root vas, ‘control :’ the character of the vasa. quasi ‘ controller,’ is such that she cannot be deceived (duradabhna). We should expect ukyate for ufyvase: the Paippalida also reads uf/yase. The Pet. Lexs. translate duradabhna (also st. 19), by ‘getting the better of gates,’ i.e. ‘not to be confined. This is ingeniously improbable, and contrary to the more usual rendering of the perfect passive participle. The prefixes dur- and a- represent a double negative for emphasis; the word is a stronger version of dii-dabha.
Stanza 4 may be suspected of having stood originally
658 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
after 5, because its second hemistich seems to summarise
the statements made in the remaining three hemistichs of
the two stanzas.
b. viklindu, am. Aey., perhaps ‘catarrh;’ cf. vikleda (root klid), ‘ moisture.’
d. Ludwig emends ya to yan, but the feminine is un- objectionable (supply, dhentiZ, or the like).
For the custom of marking cattle, see Zimmer, Altin- disches Leben, p. 234. The sense of A sku is not quite certain. For Sat. Br. I, 2, 1, 5. 8, Bohtlingk’s Lexicon renders it ‘durch stochern zerkleinern;’ Eggeling, Sacred Books, XII, 33, ‘ pull towards oneself ;’ Pet. Lex.. ‘ divide off.’ For & vriskate, see the next note.
ec d. If we compare 4 vrzskanti in st. 28, and Sat. Br. XII, 1, 3, 22, it seems possible that the passive 4 vrishyate must be substituted in one or another case (stanzas 6, 12, 26, 34) for & vriskate ; cf. the parallel roots skyut and sfut, and the note on VI, 136, 3. The Pet. Lex. s.v. suggests the same correction for a number of passages in other texts. The dative manyave, in that case, involves zeugma: here the middle of the same verb, in the sense of ‘ infringe upon,’ is certainly required, as is shown by st. 51.
For Narada in this and several of the following stanzas, see the note on V, 19, 9.
The sense is as follows: Though he did not perceive her udder, because a young and sterile cow is deficient in this
mark of prospective maternity, yet when he gives her away, she becomes a fruitful source of blessings.
Xii, 4. Commentary. 659
d. The cow belongs not even to every ordinary Brahmaza, but only to him that knows all her mystic properties; cf. the numberless occurrences in the Brahmazas of the expres- sions, ya evazz veda, &c., and ya evazz vidvan, &c.
The divinities that belong to the earth are in all pro-
bability the Brahmavas themselves; cf. the note on XII,
3, 38. The stanza betrays sharp competition between the
Brahmazmas.
e.d. Ludwig proposes to read either vidvdn for vidyan, or narada for ndrada#. Neither seems necessary: vidyat is the optative of narration, a moderated form of categorical statement. A better way to ease the construction is to read sa ha for saha in Pada d.
The statement is significant: it seems as though stanzas
of a more antique and floating character respecting the
vasa existed prior to the Atharvan redaction. For vaset
read, of course, vaset with the Index Verborum; cf. the
note on III, 4, 7.
Stanzas 29, 30.
d. Ludwig suggests gighammsasi, and this is correct as far as the change of the third person to the second person is concerned. The attraction of the proper third person in st. 30 has operated. But I have furthermore changed both stems to gigdmsa- from the root gam: the sense is much simplified. In st. 30d read yak#yaya with the Index Ver- borum.
Cf. the interesting parallel stanza Sat. Br. III, 4, 2,7. It
may be questioned whether the real gods are supposed to
mediate between the vasd and the Brahmans, or whether
dev4 and brahmdn are used synonymously. Cf. the notes
on st. 23 and st. 40.
Uua2
660 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
a,b. The call svadhd is the ordinary and typical exclama- tion in connection with formulas addressed to the Fathers, in distinction from svaha, the call to the gods. The con-. struction of the hemistich involves a zeugma. If we compare expressions like 4 stiryaya vriskyate Tait. Br. II, 1, 2, 10; 4 vviskyantam aditaye durévak, RV. X, 87, 18, it would seem as though the datives pitr7bhyo and devatabhyaz are to be construed with na a vriskyate (vriskate), derived from the sense of Pada 4; cf. also st. 28d. See in general the note on st. 12.
Stanza 38.
Brihaspati is the divine representative of the Brahmans:
he undertakes to collect the debt incurred by the un-
righteous owner of the vasa from his descendants by causing
the priests to dun them for the debt.
For viliptyam (MSS. also viliptim) the Paippalada has vilaptim (for vilapatim?). Neither form seems to suggest anything usable. Perhaps vilupti, ‘miscarrying, a deriva- tive of vilupta, ‘ destroyed,’ in the neuter ‘ dead offspring’ is the true reading, of which the extant forms are perplexed popular etymologies (vilipti, ‘soiled ;’ vilapati, ‘ whining’). Only it does not appear clear why vilupti should have been misunderstood ; hence the suggestion is very problematic.
e. The Paippalada reads tan for tam: ‘And Narada replied to them ’—a more facile reading.
Stanzas 43-47.
There seems to be considerable disorder in the arrange-
ment of these stanzas. We should naturally expect 47
immediately after 43. This may have been displaced by
44: the concordance of kdsya(Z) in 43, and viliptya’ in 44
Xiii, I. Commentary. 661
(cf. vilipt? ya in the otherwise identical st. 46) renders stanza 44 suspicious. The original order, throwing out 44, may have been 43, 47, 46, 45.
XIII, 1. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 207.
The thirteenth book of the Atharvan consists of four hymns devoted to the worship of a divinity called Rohita, and his female Rohivi. There can be no doubt that ‘the red’ sun and his accompanying female, who in the course of the literature is designated as Ushas, Strya, Sarya Savitri, or Dyu!, are primarily in the mind of the poet. Rohita accordingly is identified with Agni (stanzas I, 11. 12), Surya (stanzas I, 32. 45; 2,1) and other manifestations of. the sun”. But there is also another equally obvious side to the composition: it represents an allegorical exaltation ofa king (raga) and his queen (mahishi). The heavenly Kohita and his female are called upon to protect and exalt the king and queen; the names of the divinities, rohita and rohivi, are felt by the Atharvan poet to furnish especially good ground for calling upon them to undertake this pro- tection, since they afford an inexhaustible mine for puns with words that mean ‘rise. ascend’ (cf. st. 4a), In the royal ceremonies (ragakarmavzi) the king frequently ascends (a ruh, or 4 kram), a throne, or skin, or horse; the act, of course, symbolises every time the moral ascendency of the potentate. Cf. Vait. Sd. 36,7; Kaus. 17, 3. 9. 13. 22; Ait. Br. VIII, 6, 12; and the ragastya at Vag. S. X, 1 ff,
* Cf. Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 186.
* The word ‘identified’ is perhaps too strong. The composition of this book is by no means a unit; it is indeed at times very difficult to see upon what ground the various stanzas have been compiled evidently wih the main purpose of glorifying Rohita. But at any rate the compiler finds it especially natural to adapt stanzas in praise of other sun-divinities, and to glide over into the diction familiar to them. At Kaus. 24, 42 rohita is explained directly as the sun (Aditya). Another relation of Rohita is Agni with two red steeds (rohitabhyim), La/y. Sr. I, 4, 2 ff.
662 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
where the verb 4 ruh occurs with especial frequency. In general the relationship of many stanzas of the present hymn with those in vogue at the ragasiya, the ceremonies at the consecration of a king, is very close; they have been collected and discussed in our remarks on the Rohita-book ; see the article cited below.
In the Tait. Br. II, 5, 2, 1-3 a considerable number of the stanzas at the beginning of this hymn recur with variants which betray the fact that the Taittiriya-version is older and better than that of the Atharvan'. The com- mentator (p. 600) explains the rohita as the horse employed at the asvamedha, the horse-sacrifice, and we may regard it as possible that certain stanzas in this compilation were originally composed for this purpose (cf. the note on Stes):
The hymns of book XIII are designated at AV. XIX, 23, 237, and Kaus. 99, 4 as rohitani (sc. siktani). Neither the Kausika, nor the Vaitana, each of which rubricates individual stanzas, contributes anything of consequence towards the elucidation of the hymn*. In Ath. Paris. 13, 2 (Hirazyagarbhavidhi) the first two hymns of the book are employed. This is distinctly a royal rite, intended to ward off all evil (sarvapapanodana). Stanzas1,12; 2, 36. 37 are employed in another ragakarma, called the Ghr7ztavekshavam, Ath. Paris. 8,1. Nowhere is there anything calculated to define these hymns more narrowly.
The present hymn has been rendered by Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 536 ff.; cf. also Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 395 ff. The entire Rohita-book has been translated and expounded by Henry, Les Hymnes Rohitas (Paris, 1891); cf. Contributions, Fourth Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XIJ,
' AV. XII, ‘1; rin’ Tait. Broth sya a A
AV. qin Tait. 1; AV. 5 in Tait ty AVJ6 In Tait ys
Tait. 3; AV. 8 in Pat,.2 3A Ve ori) Pare es
* Cf. Indische Studien, IV, 433.