Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 13
13. For welfare and long life of an infant.
[Atharvan.—bahudevatyam utā ”gneyam. trāiṣṭubham: 4. anuṣṭubh; 5. virāḍjagatī.]
Verses 1, 4, 5 are found in Pāipp. xv. Though (as Weber points out) plainly having nothing to do with the godāna or tonsure ceremony, its verses are applied by Kāuç. to parts of that rite. Thus, it accompanies the preparations for it (53. 1) and the wetting of the youth's head (53. 13); vss. 2 and 3, the putting of a new garment on him (54. 7); vs. 4, making him stand on a stone (54. 8); vs. 5, taking away his old garment (54. 9). And the comm. quotes vss. 2 and 3 from Pariçiṣṭa 4. 1 as uttered by a purohita on handing to a king in the morning the garment he is to put on, and vs. 4 from ibid. 4, as the same throws four pebbles toward the four directions, and makes the king step upon a fifth.
Translated: Weber, xiii. 171; Zimmer, p. 322; Griffith, i. 57.
1. Giving life-time, O Agni, choosing old age; ghee-fronted, ghee-backed, O Agni—having drunk the sweet pleasant (cā́ru) ghee of the cow, do thou afterward defend (rakṣ) this [boy] as a father his sons.
The verse occurs also in various Yajur-Veda texts, as VS. (xxxv. 17), TS. (i. 3. 144 et al.), TB. (i. 2. 111), TA. (ii. 5. 1), MS. (iv. 12.4) ⌊MP. ii. 2. 1⌋, and in several Sūtras, as AÇS. (ii. 10. 4), ÇGS. (i. 25), and HGS. (i. 3. 5), with considerable variations. TS. (with which the texts of TB., TA., and AÇS. agree throughout) has in a havíṣo juṣāṇás, which is decidedly preferable to jarásaṁ vṛṇānás ⌊, which is apparently a misplaced reminiscence of RV. x. 18. 6 or AV. xii.2. 24⌋; at end of b, ghṛtáyonir edhi; and, in d, putrám for putrā́n. VS. has for a ā́yuṣmān agne havíṣā vṛdhānás, and agrees with TS. etc. in b, and also in d, save that it further substitutes imā́n for imám. MS. reads deva for agne in a, and píbann amṛ́tam for pītvā́ mádhu of c ⌊thus making a good triṣṭubh pāda⌋, and ends d with putráṁ jaráse ma e ’mám. Ppp. agrees throughout with MS., except as it emends the latter's corrupt reading at the end to jarase naye ’mam; and HGS. corresponds with Ppp. save by having gṛṇānas in a. ⌊MP. follows HGS.⌋ ÇGS. gives in a haviṣā vṛdhānas, in b agrees with TS. etc., and has in d pile ’va putram iha r-. The last pāda is jagatī.
⌊The Anukr. counts 11 + 11: 10 + 12 = 44: as if 10 + 12 were metrically the same as 11 + 11! or as if the "extra" syllable in d could offset the deficiency in c! The impossible cadence of c is curable by no less radical means than the adoption of the Ppp. reading. All this illustrates so well the woodenness of the methods of the Anukr. and its utter lack of sense of rhythm, that attention may well be called to it.⌋
2. Envelop, put ye him for us with splendor; make ye him one to die of old age; [make] long life; Brihaspati furnished (pra-yam) this garment unto king Soma for enveloping [himself].
3. Thou hast put about thee this garment in order to well-being; thou hast become protector of the people (?) against imprecation; both do thou live a hundred numerous autumns, and do thou gather about thee abundance of wealth.
The translation implies emendation of gṛṣṭīnā́m in b to kṛṣṭīnā́m, as given by Ppp. and by PGS. (i. 4. 12) and HGS. (i. 4. 2) in a corresponding expression to xix. 24.5 below. ⌊MP., ii. 2. 8, reads āpīnā́m.⌋ Such blundering exchanges of surd and sonant are found here and there; another is found below, in 14. 6 b ⌊so our ii. 5. 4, Ppp.⌋. All the mss., and both editions, read here gṛṣ-, and the comm. explains it by gavām, and, with absurd ingenuity, makes it apply to the asserted fear of kine, on seeing a naked man, that he is going to take from them the skin which formerly belonged to him, but was given to them instead by the gods; the legend is first given in the words of the comm. himself, and then quoted from ÇB. iii. 1. 2. 13-17. For comparison of the Sūtra-texts in detail, see under xix. 24. 5, 6. In c, our O. Op. read jī́vas. ⌊Cf. MGS. i. 9. 27 a and p. 152, s.v. paridhāsye. With c, d cf. PGS. ii. 6. 20.⌋ The first pāda is properly jagatī (su-astáye). ⌊☞ See p. 1045.⌋
4. Come, stand on the stone; let thy body become a stone; let all the gods make thy life-time a hundred autumns.
The second pāda is nearly identical with RV. vi. 75. 12 b; with a, b compare also AGS. i. 7. 7 and MB. i. 2. 1, similar lines used in the nuptial ceremonies. ⌊With a, c, d compare MGS. i. 22. 12 and p. 149.⌋ Ppp. has for a, b imam açmānam ā tiṣṭhā ’çme ’va tvaḿ sthiro bhava: pra mṛṇīhi durasyataḥ sahasva pṛtanāyataḥ; which differs but little from the AGS. verse. The Anukr. apparently expects us to resolve ví-çu-e in c.
5. Thee here, of whom we take the garment to be first worn, let all the gods favor; thee here, growing with good growth, let many brothers be born after, ⌊[after thee,]⌋ as one well born.
This verse makes it pretty evident that in vs. 3 also the garment is the first that is put on the child after birth. But the comm., ignoring the gerundive -vāsyam, thinks it a "formerly worn" garment that is "taken away"; and Kāuç. misuses it correspondingly. HGS. (i. 7. 17) has a corresponding verse, omitting vāsas in a, combining viçve av- in b, and reading suhṛdas for suvṛdhā in c. ⌊Nearly so, MP. ii. 6. 15.⌋ In Ppp. the text is defective; but savitā is read instead of suvṛdhā. Some of our saṁhitā-mss. (P.M.W.I.H.) lengthen to -vasyàm before hárāmas in a. The verse is very irregular in the first three pādas, though it can by violence be brought into triṣṭubh dimensions; it has no jagatī quality whatever.