Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book V/Hymn 21
21. To the war-drum.
[Brahman.—dvādaçakam. vānaspatyaṁ dundubhidevatyam (10-12. ādityādin devān aprārthayat).* ānuṣṭubham: 1, 4, 5. pathyāpan̄kti; 6. jagatī; 11. bṛhatīgarbhā triṣṭubh; 12. 3-p, yavamadhyā gāyatrī.]
⌊Pādas 11 c, d and 12 a, b appear to be prose.⌋ Not found in Pāipp. Not noticed in Vāit.; quoted by Kāuç. (16. 2), in a battle-rite (next after the preceding hymn). *⌊Cf. extracts from Anukr. under h. 20.⌋
Translated: Ludwig, p. 374; Griffith, i. 222; Bloomfield, 131, 439; Weber, xviii. 249.
1. Division of hearts, division of minds speak thou among our enemies, O drum; mutual hate, confusion, fear, we put into our enemies: smite them down, O drum.
Pāda a might also be understood as 'heartlessness, mindlessness.' Káçmaça (in c) occurs here only, and is very possibly only a misreading for kaçmala, as equivalent to which it is here translated.
2. Quaking with mind, with sight, and with heart, let our enemies run fearing with alarm (pratrāsá) when the sacrificial butter is offered.
The pada-mss. unaccountably read ut॰vépamānā (instead of -nāḥ) in a.
3. Made of forest-tree, brought together with the ruddy [kine], belonging to all the families (-gotrá-), speak thou alarm for our enemies, being smeared with sacrificial butter.
The metrical structure is very irregular, though the right number of syllables can be forced out, if the divisions of pādas be overridden; the Anukr. takes no heed. The first three words constituted 20. 1 b. ⌊The usual sign of pāda-division to be expected after sáṁbhṛta is lacking in Bp. In c, we may pronounce pratrāsā́mít-.⌋
4. As the wild beasts of the forest are all in a tremble at man, so do thou, O drum, roar at [and] alarm our enemies, then confound their intents.
Read in c ‘mítrān in our text (an accent-sign lost over trā).
5. As the goats-and-sheep run greatly fearing the wolf, so do thou, O drum etc. etc.
Or 'run from the wolf, greatly fearing.' A sign of punctuation is omitted in our text after bíbhyatīḥ.
6. As the birds (patatrín) are all in a tremble at the falcon, day by day; as at the thundering of the lion, so do thou, O drum etc. etc.
Pāda c ⌊as the sense shows⌋ seems to have dropped in here by accident out of vs. 5 (or possibly 4), where alone it fits the connection. Ahardivi occurs again in Pāipp. v. 3. 1, 3: indrāgnī tasmāt tvāi ’nasaḥ pari pātām ahardivi. The Anukr. calls the verse simply jagatī (on account of its 48 syllables), but probably by an accidental omission of the epithet ṣaṭpadī, 'of six pādas,' which it usually adds in such a case.
7. Away have all the gods alarmed our enemies by the drum and the skin of the gazelle—[the gods] who are masters of the host.
8. With what foot-noises Indra plays together with shadow, by those let our enemies be alarmed who go yonder in troops (anīkaçás).
The playful tactics of Indra here are not very clear.
9. Let the drums, with bow-string noises, yell toward all (yā́s) the quarters—the armies of our enemies going conquered in troops.
Or jyāghoṣā́s (as indicated by its accent) is independent noun, 'the noises of the bow-strings.' The verse seems rather out of order.
10. O Āditya, take [away their] sight; ye beams, run after; let them that have foot-fastenings fasten on, the arm-power (-vīryà) being gone away.
We should expect a passive verb in c, if patsan̄gínīs, as seems necessary, refers back to sénās in 9 c. It is apparently the enemy who are to be hampered in going, after losing their power of arm.
11. Do ye [who are] formidable, O Maruts, sons of the spotted mother, with Indra as ally, slaughter our foes.
King Soma, king Varuṇa, the great god, also Death, Indra—
The first half-verse is repeated below as xiii. 1. 3 a, b. The verse is translated by Muir (iv2. 333). The Anukr. correctly reckons c as a bṛhatī-pāda, but takes no notice of the redundant syllable in a, or of the deficient one in d, perhaps reckoning them as balancing one another. The second half-verse would be better treated as constituting one paragraph (unmetrical) with our vs. 12.
12. Let these armies of the gods, sun-bannered, accordant, conquer our enemies: hail!
This bit of prose, since it counts 24 syllables (6 + 9: 9), is called by the Anukr. a gāyatrī, and ill described as yavamadhyā, although its pādas b and c are equal. It is enumerated in the gaṇamālā (see Bloomfield's note to Kāuç. 14. 7) as belonging to the aparājita gaṇa.
This fourth anuvāka has 6 hymns, with 83 verses, and the quotation (found only in Bp. and D.) is ekatriṣaṣṭis tryaçītiḥ, of which the first part is obscure.