Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 32

32. Against worms.

[Kāṇva.—ṣaḍṛcam. ādityadevatyatn. ānuṣṭubham: 1. 3-p. bhurig gāyatrī; 6. 4-p. nicṛd uṣṇih.]

This hymn occurs in Pāipp. ii. (with vs. 3 put last), next before the one that here precedes it. Kāuç. applies it (27. 21 ff.) in a healing ceremony against worms in cattle.

⌊The material appears in Ppp. in the order 1, 2 ab, 4 cdab, 5 ab, 6, 3 abc 5 d. The expression of Kāuç. 27. 22, "with the words te hatāḥ (vs. 5 d) at the end of the hymn," suggests the reduction of the hymn to the norm of the book, 5 vss. (see p. 37). This is borne out by Ppp., where the material amounts to 5 vss. and ends with our 5 d. But what the intruded portions are it is not easy to say. The parts missing in Ppp. are our 2 cd, 3 d, 5 c.⌋

Translated: Kuhn, KZ. xiii. 138; Weber, xiii. 201; Ludwig, p. 500; Grill, 7, 100; Griffith, i. 72; Bloomfield, 23, 317.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 47.

1. Let the sun (ādityá), rising, smite the worms; setting, let him smite [them] with his rays—the worms that are within the cow.

The change of ādityás to sū́ryas in a would rectify the meter. But Ppp. has adityaṣ; its b reads sūryo nimrocan raçmibhir hantu; and for c it has ye ‘ntaṣ krimayo gavī naḥ.

2. The worm of all forms, the four-eyed, the variegated, the whitish—I crush (çṛ) the ribs of it; I hew at (api-vraçc) what is its head.

The mss., as usual, vary between pṛṣṭī́s and pṛṣṭhī́s in c. Ppp. has a different version of the first half-verse: yo dviçīrṣā caturakṣaṣ krimiç çārgo arjunaḥ, with our 4 c, d as second half. The Anukr. expects us to make the unusual resolution a-si-a in c.

3. Like Atri I slay you, O worms, like Kaṇva, like Jamadagni; with the incantation of Agastya I mash together the worms.

Ppp. rectifies the meter of a by reading tvā kṛme; it has agastyaṁ in c, and, for d, our 5 d. The Anukr. ignores the redundant syllable in our a. Compare TA. iv. 36 (which the comm. quotes, though the editor does not tell from whence): átriṇā tvā krime hanmi káṇvena jamádagninā: viçvā́vasor bráhmaṇā; also MB. ii. 7. i a, b: hatas te atriṇā krimir hatas te jainadagninā. SPP. writes in a attrivád. Vss. 3-5 are repeated below as v. 23. 10-12.

4. Slain is the king of the worms, also the chief (sthapáti) of them is slain; slain is the worm, having its mother slain, its brother slain, its sister slain.

Ppp. has in b sthapacis, and in c, d (its 2 c, d) -trātā for -mātā, and -mahatā for bhrātā. TA. (iv. 36) has again a parallel verse: hatáḥ krímīṇāṁ rā́jā ápy eṣāṁ sthapátir hatáḥ: átho mātā́ ’tho pitā́; cf. also MB. ii. 7. 3 a, b: hataḥ krimīṇāṁ kṣudrako hatā mātā hataḥ pitā. The comm. explains sthapati by saciva.

5. Slain are its neighbors (? veçás), slain its further neighbors (? páriveças), also those that are petty (kṣullaká), as it were—all those worms are slain.

The translation of d implies the emendation of te to té; all the mss. have the former, but SPP. receives the latter into his text on the authority of the comm., who so understands the word. Ppp. reads in a, b ‘sya veṣaso hatāsaṣ p-; our c is wanting in its text; our d it puts in place of our 3 d. Our kṣullaka is a kind of Prākritization of kṣudraka, quoted from MB. under vs. 4; TA. (ib.) also has átho sthūrā́ átho kṣudrā́ḥ. The comm. explains veçásas as "principal houses," and páriveçasas as "neighboring houses." We might suspect -veṣ-, from root viṣ, and so 'attendants, servants.'

6. I crush up (pra-çṛ) thy (two) horns, with which thou thrustest; I split thy receptacle (?), which is thy poison-holder.

The decided majority, both of our mss. and of SPP's, give in c kuṣúmbham, which is accordingly accepted in both editions; other sporadic readings are kuṁṣúṁbham, kuṣábham, kaçábham, kuṣúbham, kuṣámbham; and two of SPP's mss. give ṣukumbham, nearly agreeing with the ṣukambham of the comm. Our P.M.E. have vinud- in b. Ppp's version is as follows: pa te ççṛṇāmi çṛn̄ge yābhyāyattaṁ vitadāyasi: atho bhinadmi taṁ kumbhaṁ yasmin te nihataṁ viṣaṁ, which in c is better than our text, and is supported by the MB. (ii. 7. 3) form of c, d: athāi ’ṣām bhinnakaḥ kumbho ya eṣāṁ viṣadhānakaḥ. The metrical definition of the verse (7 + 7: 7 + 6 = 27) given by the Anukr. is only mechanically correct.