Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 45
45. In atonement of offenses.
[An̄giras (pracetās) Yamaç ca.—duḥsvapnanāçanadevatyam. 1. pathyāpan̄kti; 2. bhurik triṣṭubh; 3. anuṣṭubh.]
Found also in Pāipp. xix. This hymn and the one next following are used together by Kāuç. (46. 9) in a rite against bad dreams; and they are both reckoned (note, ib.) to the duḥsvapnanāçana gaṇa.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 443; Florenz, 305 or 57; Griffith, i. 269; Bloomfield, 163, 483.
1. Go far away, O mind-evil! why utterest (çaṅs) thou things unuttered? Go away; I desire thee not; do thou frequent (sam-cara) trees, woods; in houses, in kine [is] my mind.
The combination manaspāpa is expressly prescribed by Prāt. ii. 79, and the anomalous conversion of the final of vṛkṣā́n to anusvāra by Prāt. ii. 28. Ppp. has, for a, ape ’hi manasas pate (which RV. has at the beginning of x. 164. 1), and omits e. The comm. regards manas and pāpa as two independent words in a, and reads çaṅsati in b, and vṛkṣavanāni in d.
2. If (yát) by down-utterance, out-utterance, forth-utterance we have offended (upa-ṛ), waking or (yát) sleeping, let Agni put far away from us all disagreeable ill-deeds.
The verse corresponds to RV. x. 164. 3, which reads in a yád āçásā niḥçásā ’bhiçásā; of these words the first and third have usage elsewhere, and a determinable meaning, 'wish' or 'expectation' and 'imprecation.' The Atharvan substitutes occur only here, and the root çaṅs is not met with combined with either ava, nis (except in the doubtful ániḥçasta, RV. once), or parā; so that it has been necessary to render the words mechanically above. TB. (iii. 7. 124) has a only, with niçásā (instead of niḥçásā), which is equally unsupported.* The comm. regards all the words as containing the root ças 'cut,' paraphrasing it by hiṅs 'injure'; upārima he renders by upārtāḥ pīḑitā bhavema, turning the active into a passive. ⌊Pāda b recurs at vi. 96. 3.⌋ *⌊TB. has yád āçásā niçásā yát parāçásā, blending RV. and AV. readings.⌋
3. If (yát), O Indra, O Brahmaṇaspati, we also proceed falsely, let the Ān̄girasa, forethoughtful, protect us from difficulty, from distress.
The verse is RV. x. 164. 4, which, however, has the better readings abhidrohám for ápi mṛ́ṣā in b, and dviṣatā́m for duritā́t in d. Ppp. reads, for d, dviṣatas pātu tebhyaḥ.
It is probably only on account of the occurrence in it of the word svapantas (2 b) that this hymn is in our text put in connection with the one that follows.