Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book V/Hymn 4

4. To the plant kúṣṭha: against takmán ⌊fever⌋.

[Bhṛgvan̄giras.—daçakam. yakṣmanāçanakuṣṭhadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 5. bhurij; 6. gāyatrī; 10. uṣṇiggarbhā nicṛt.]

All the verses except 4 are found also in Pāipp., but in two books: vss. 1-3, 5-7 in xix. (and not all together); vss. 8-10 in ii. It is not expressly quoted by Kāuç., but the schol. (26. 1, note) regard it as included in the takmanāçana gaṇa, and (28. 13, note) also in the kuṣṭhalin̄gās, and so employed in a healing rite against rājayakṣma; vs. 10 is separately added (26. 1, note) at the end of the gaṇa.

Translated: Grohmann, Indische Studien, ix. 421 (vss. 1, 3-6); Zimmer, p. 64 (parts); Grill, 9, 141; Griffith, i. 193; Bloomfield, 4, 414; Weber, xviii. 178.

1. Thou that wast born on the mountains, strongest of plants, come, O kúṣṭha, effacer (-nā́çana) of takmán, effacing the fever (takmán) from here.

The kuṣṭha is identified as Costus speciosus or arabicus. The pada-text reads in c kúṣṭha: ā́: ihi; and the passage is quoted as an example under Prāt. iii. 38, which teaches the combination.

2. On an eagle-bearing (-súvana) mountain, born from the snowy one (himávant); they go to [it] with riches, having heard [of it], for they know the effacer of fever.

'From the snowy one,' i.e. 'from the Himalaya'; we had the pāda above as iv. 9. 9 b. Ppp. begins with suvarṇasavane, and has for c, d dhanāir abhiçrutaṁ hakti kuṣṭhed u takmanāçanaḥ.

3. The açvatthá, seat of the gods, in the third heaven from here; there the gods won the kúṣṭha, the sight (cákṣaṇa) of immortality (amṛ́ta).

Or, perhaps, an image or likeness of the amṛ́ta (drink). This verse and the next are repeated below as vi. 95. 1, 2, and again, with slight variations, as xix. 39. 6, 7. The second pāda occurs elsewhere in sundry places, as ChU. viii. 5. 3, HGS. ii. 7. 2. With c compare RV. i. 13. 5; 170. 4.

4. A golden ship, of golden tackle (-bándhana), moved about in the sky; there the gods won the kúṣṭha, the flower of immortality.

Most of the mss. appear to read avarat in a, but doubtless only owing to the imperfect distinction of ca and va in most Sanskrit writing. So also, for the same reason, in c, they could be read for the most part as either púṣyam or púṣpam (M. has puṣyàm); the former was adopted in our edition as being favored by the meter.

5. Golden were the roads, the oars golden, the ships were golden by which they brought out the kúṣṭha.

Ppp. reads hiraṇmay-, and omits c (doubtless by an oversight). All the mss. agree in accenting áritrāṇi; but this should doubtless be emended to arít-. In a we may emend to pánthās or combine pánthānā ”san.

6. This man of mine, O kúṣṭha—him bring, him relieve (nis-kṛ), him also make free from disease for me.

With c compare the nearly identical vi. 95. 3 d. E.H. read níḥ kuru.

7. From the gods art thou born; of Soma art thou set as companion; do thou be gracious to my breath, out-breathing, sight here.

E.H. accent jātó ‘si in a (p. jātáḥ: asi). Ppp. reads apānāya for vyān- in c, and at the end ‘sya mṛḍa, which is easier. ⌊Cf. Hillebrandt, Mythologie, i. 65.⌋

8. Born in the north from the snowy [mountain], thou art conducted to people (jána) in the eastern [quarter]; there have they shared out the highest names of the kúṣṭha.

"The highest names": i.e. the chief sorts or kinds ⌊brands, as we moderns say⌋. The reading údān in a is assured by quotation under Prāt. iii. 27. Ppp. reads prācyaṁ in b.

9. Highest by name, O kúṣṭha, art thou; highest by name thy father; both do thou efface all yákṣma, and do thou make the fever sapless.

Ppp. has a wholly different second half: yataṣ kuṣṭha prajāyase tad ehy ariṣṭatātaye.

10. Head-disease, attack (? upahatyā́), evil of the eyes, of the body—all that may kúṣṭha relieve, verily a divine virility (vṛ́ṣṇya).

The reading níṣ karat in c falls under Prāt. ii. 63. All the mss. give akṣós, but the proper reading is plainly akṣyós, as the meter shows; the same error is found also in other passages. The Anukr. implies akṣós, as akṣyós (-ṣi-ós) would make the verse a regular anuṣṭubh. The Pet. Lexx. take upahatyā́m as governing akṣyós, and so render it 'blinding.' ⌊Ppp. has for a çīrṣahatyām upahatya, and for c kuṣṭho no viçvatas pād.⌋