Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VIII/Hymn 7
7. To the plants: for some one's restoration to health.
Found also in Pāipp. xvi. ⌊with verses 16-19 in the order 16, 18, 19, 17⌋. *⌊The mss. have sāṣṭāviṅçakam.⌋ †⌊The Anukr. omits the definition of vss. 15 (triṣṭubh) and 24 (6-p. jagatī).⌋
⌊Used by Kāuç. in a remedial rite (26. 33, 40, note), "with a gilt and lacquered amulet made [cf. introd. to AV. ii. 9] of splinters of ten kinds of trees " (Keç., p. 32722), against all diseases. In the puṁsavana, vs. 27 accompanies (note to 35.6) the giving of food to the pregnant woman. Vait. prescribes the hymn for use in the sāutrāmaṇī rite (30. 6) when the priest mixes herbs with the surd.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 504; Henry, 20, 58; Griffith, i. 408; Bloomfield, 41, 578.
1. Those that are brown, and that are bright (çukrá), the red and the spotted, the swarthy, the black herbs—all [of them] do we address (acka-ā-vad).
2. Let them save (trā) this man from the yákṣma sent by the gods—the plants of which heaven has been the father, earth the mother, ocean the root.
The second half-verse was found above, as iii. 23. 6 a, b. This time it is also in Ppp. In c, dyāúṣ is read by W.I.R.T. We should expect pū́ruṣam in a.
3. Waters [were] the beginning, heavenly herbs; they have made disappear from every limb thy sinful (enasyà) yákṣma.
The first pāda is a fragment, in meter and in construction; the omission of ágram would fairly rectify both. As in sundry other like cases, most of the mss. read at the end anīnaçam (or -çaṁ); only P.M.W. have -çan.
4. The spreading, the bushy, the one-spathed, the extending herbs do I address; those rich in shoots, jointed (kāṇḍín), that have spreading branches (víçākha); I call for thee the plants that belong to all the gods, formidable, giving life to men.
Viçākha might also signify 'branchless.' Ppp. reads in a-b ekaçṛn̄gāṣ pradhanvatīr.
5. What power [is] yours, ye powerful ones, [what] heroism and what strength [is] yours, therewith, O herbs, free ye this man from this yákṣma; now (átho) do I make a remedy.
The last pāda is wanting in Ppp.
6. The lively, by-no-means-harming, living herb, the non-obstructing, up-guiding, flourishing (? puṣyá) one, rich in sweets, do I call hither, for this man's freedom from harm.
Compare 2. 6, with which this agrees in the first two pādas and in most of the last two. The mss. again are much at variance as to the reading of naghāriṣā́m; Bp.P.M.p.m.E.p.m.O. read ⌊Bp. with -ghā-⌋ naghāṛṣā́m. ⌊Ppp. reads naghāriṣām (as does Berlin ed.) and omits iha and pāda e.⌋ The omission of the obscure puṣyā́m would rectify the meter; the Pet. Lexx. regard the word as proper name of a plant.
7. Let the forethoughtful ones come hither, allies (medín) of my spell (vácas), that we may make this man pass forth out of difficulty.
Read medínīr in b (two accent-signs slipped out of place leftward).
8. Food of fire, embryo of the waters, they that grow up renewed, fixed, thousand-named—be they remedial [when] brought.
9. Wrapped in ávakā, water-natured, let the herbs, sharp-horned, thrust away difficulty.
Literally, 'having the avakā as fœtal envelop.'
10. Releasing, free from Varuṇa, formidable, that are poison-spoiling, also balā́sa-dispelling, and that are witchcraft-spoiling—let those herbs come hither.
'Free from Varuṇa': i.e., doubtless, 'freeing from the bonds of Varuṇa,' with which he visits guilt on the guilty. Ppp. reads in c-d balāsanāçinī rakṣonāçanīṣ kṛtyād-. Read in our text kṛtyāduṣaṇīç (for -yad-) in d.
11. Let the purchased, very powerful plants that are praised save in this village cow, horse, man, beast.
Ppp. prefixes an additional pāda to each half-verse: çivās te santv oṣadhir apak-; and apā sarasvatī jyeṣṭhaṁ trāy-.
12. Rich in sweets the root, rich in sweets the tip of them, rich in sweets was the middle of the plants; rich in sweets the leaf, rich in sweets the flower of them; partaking of sweet, a drink of nectar (amṛ́ta), let them milk out ghee, food, with milk (gó-) as chief (-purogavá).
The mss. (except D. and R.s.m.?) agree in the unmotived accent babhū́va at end of b. Ppp. has instead balena; also, for sambhaktās, sambhūtās 'originated,' which is easier.
13. However many [may be] these herbs upon the earth, let them, thousand-leafed, free me from death, from distress.
All the mss. leave oṣadhīs unaccented at end of b; and most (all save P.M.D.R.T.) accent -parṇyás at end of c. ⌊Cf. Caland, KZ. xxxi. 265.⌋
14. Let the tigerish amulet of plants, saving, protecting from imprecation, smite far away from us diseases [and] all demons.
The pada-text reads sárvā (not sárvāḥ) in c, and the translation follows it. Ppp. has vyāghro in a, and asmāt at the end. Adhi in d is redundant in respect both to sense and to meter.
15. As at the roaring of a lion do they quake; as at fire do they tremble at [the herbs when] brought; let the yákṣma of kine, of men, go driven by the plants beyond navigable streams.
The usual expression is 'beyond ninety-nine' such streams. Ppp. reads oṣadhīnām for saṁ vijante in a. ⌊Over "quake" W. interlines "shrink with fear." He would probably have changed it to "they are all in a tremble," as in v. 21. 4, 6.⌋
16. The herbs, becoming freed from Agni Vāiçvānara—go ye stretching over the earth, [ye] whose king is the forest-tree.
We should expect vocatives instead of nominatives in the first line.
17. They who, belonging to the An̄girases, grow on mountains and on plains—let those herbs, rich in milk, propitious, be weal to our heart.
In Ppp. this verse follows our vs. 19. ⌊Ppp. inserts after b vírudho viçvabheṣajīs, and continues tā no mayasvatīç çivāḥ: o. s. ç. h.⌋
18. Both what plants I know, and what I see with the eye, the unknown and what we are acquainted with, and those in which we know what is brought together—
That is, probably, their collected or concentrated virtue. Ppp. reads in c janīmasi for jānīmaç ca. ⌊We might render ájñātās by 'what we are not acquainted with,' to correspond with W's version of jānīmás.⌋
19. Let all the entire herbs note (budh) my spell (vácas), that we may make this man pass forth out of difficulty.
Ppp. omits the second half-verse; it is identical with 7 c, d, above.
20. The açvatthá, the darbhá, sóma king of plants, immortal oblation—rice and barley [are] remedial, immortal sons of heaven.
Ppp. reads yavasya bheṣajo in c.
21. Ye rise up (ud-hā); it thunders, it roars at [you], O herbs! when, O ye children of the spotted one, Parjanya favors you with seed.
With the second half-verse is to be compared RV. v. 83. 4 c, d. Pṛçnimātṛ is elsewhere epithet only of the Maruts. The accent abhikrándati is unmotived ⌊unless, indeed, with Henry, we bring it, with stanáyati, under the domain of yadā́⌋.
22. Of this amṛ́ta we make this man to drink the strength; now do I make a remedy, that he may be one of a hundred years (-hāyaná).
W. and O.s.m. xkaA. pārayāmasi at end of b; Ppp. has phalayāmasi.
23. The boar knows the plant; the mongoos knows the remedial [herb]; what ones the serpents, the Gandharvas know, those I call to aid for him.
One or two of our mss. (Bp.M. ⌊only one, Bp., if I understand W's Collation-book⌋) read vīrúdhām at end of a. Ppp. puts sarpās after gandharvās in c, and has for d tā ihā ”yantv oṣadhīḥ.
24. What [herbs] of the An̄girases the eagles [know], what heavenly ones the ragháṭs know, what ones the birds, the swans know, and what all the winged ones, what herbs the wild beasts know—those I call to aid for him.
Ragháṭ (which divyā́s 'heavenly' might also qualify) is elsewhere unknown; Ppp. reads instead vagh-; the major Pet. Lex. suggests emendation ⌊apparently withdrawn in the minor: see ragháṭ⌋ to raghávas 'swift'; Ludwig conjectures 'bees.' Ppp. also combines suparṛā ”n̄g- in a. ⌊Render haṅsā́s by the prosaic 'geese,' since the poetic tone of the AV. is not so elevated as to make that version intolerable. Cf. JAOS. xix., 2d half, p. 154.⌋
25. Of how many herbs the inviolable kine partake (pra-āç), of how many the goats and sheep, let so many herbs, being brought, extend protection to thee.
Ppp. exchanges the second halves of vss. 25 and 26, and makes ābhṛtās and oṣadhīs change places.
26. In how many ⌊herbs⌋ human physicians (bhiṣáj) know a remedy, so many, all-remedial, do I bring unto thee.
Ppp. ⌊see under vs. 25⌋ reads at the end iti for abhi.
27. Rich in flowers, rich in shoots (prasū́-), rich in fruits, also those lacking fruits—like joint mothers, let them milk unto this man in order to his freedom from harm.
Ppp. combines saṁmātarāi ’va in c. The first pāda is nearly identical with RV. x. 97. 3 b.
28. I have taken thee up out of what has five çalas, and also out of what has ten çalas, also out of Yama's fetter, out of all offense against the gods.
The Pet. Lexx. explain -çala 'a certain measure of distance,' but that sense does not in the least suit the connection, either here or in TB. i. 5. 101. Ppp. reads ahāriṣam in a, ⌊ut tvā for atho in c,⌋ and, for d, oṣadhībhir apīparam. The second half-verse is identical with vi. 96. 2 c, d, above ⌊and nearly identical with RV. x. 97. 16 c, d⌋.
⌊Here ends the seventh artha-sūkta, with 28 verses. The quoted Anukr. says sa saptamaṁ vṛddhiviṅçatim ṛco ’ṣṭa cā ’parāḥ (unclear).⌋