Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 19

19. For ceremonial purification.

[Çamtāti.—nānādevatyam uta cāndramasam. gāyatram: 1. anuṣṭubh.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. Translated by Ludwig (p. 431). Quite various use is made of this hymn in the sūtras. In Kāuç. it is included (9. 2) in the bṛhachānti gaṇa; it is associated (as are vi. 23, 24, 51, 57, 59, 61, 62) with i. 4-6 etc. in a rite for good fortune (41. 14); it appears in the savayajñās (66. 16), with the pavitra sava; and the comm. declares it and vi. 51, 62 to be intended by pavitrāis at 61. 5, also in the savayajña chapter. In Vāit. it accompanies a purifying rite (11. 10) in the agniṣṭoma, and (with vi. 69 etc.) the pouring out of the surā in the sāutrāmaṇī ceremony ⌊30. 13⌋; and vs. 2 in the agnyādheya (6. 11), with an offering to Agni pavamāna.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 431; Florenz, 272 or 24; Griffith, i. 255.

1. Let the god-folk purify me; let men (mánu) purify me with prayer (dhī́); let all beings purify me; let the purifying one purify me.

Ppp. reads at the end mām. The verse is found in sundry other texts, with considerable varieties of reading: the first pāda is the same in all (only RV. has mā́m); in the second, RV. (ix. 67. 27) has vásavas for mánavas, while VS. (xix. 39) reads mánasā dhíyas, and TB. (i. 4. 8¹) and MS. (iii. 11. 10) agree with AV.; in the third, VS. agrees with AV., and MS. differs only by giving bhūtā́ mā, while TB. has víçva āyávaḥ, and RV. víçve devāḥ punīhí mā; the fourth is omitted in TB., and RV.VS. have jā́tavedaḥ punīhí mā, while MS. differs only by punāhí. The readings of K. (xxxviii. 2) I have not. The comm. explains dhiyā in a by buddhyā karmaṇā vā, and pavamānas in d as either wind or soma.

2. Let the purifying one purify me, in order to activity, dexterity, life, likewise unharmedness.

Ppp. arranges a as punātu mā pavamānaḥ. It gives, for c, jyok ca sūryaṁ dṛçe (cf. our i. 6. 3 and xii. 2. 18), and this is also the reading of MS. (ib.), which alone of all the other texts has a correspondent to this verse.

3. With both, O divine impeller (savitár), with purifier and with impulse, do thou purify us in order to seeing.

This verse is found in all the texts that have vs. i. RV. (ix. 67. 25) VS. (xix. 43) have, for c, mā́m punīhi viçvátaḥ, and MS. (as above) the same save punāhi; TB. (i. 4. 8²) gives instead idám bráhma punīmahe.