Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book X/Hymn 10
10. Extolling the cow (vaçā́).
Found also in Pāipp. xvi. ⌊with the verse-sequence 15 a, b, 14 c, d, 13, 14 a, b, 15 c, d, 17, 16, 18; vs. 3 is lacking⌋. Not noticed in Vāit., and only once in Kāuç., at 66. 20, where vs. 1 (or the hymn ⌊rather the hymn⌋) is used, with xii. 4, to accompany the sprinkling of an offered cow.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 534; Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 234 (cf. p. 230 f., 233 f.); Henry, 35, 85; Griffith, ii. 45.
1. Homage to thee while being born, homage also to thee when born; to thy tail-tuft, hoofs, form, O inviolable one, be homage.
The Anukr. chooses to reject the common resolution -bhi-as (twice) in c.
2. Whoso may know the seven advances (? pravát), [and] may know the seven distances, whoso may know the head of the sacrifice—he may accept the cow (vaçā́).
Ppp. reads in b veda instead of vidyāt. The verse is quoted by pratīka in GB. i. 2. 16.
3. I know the seven advances, I know the seven distances; I know the head of the sacrifice, and the outlooking soma in her.
This verse, with a part of the preceding one, is wanting in Ppp. ⌊Asyām, sc. vaçā́yām.⌋
4. By whom the sky, by whom the earth, by whom these waters are guarded—the cow, of a thousand streams (-dhā́rā), we address with worship (bráhman).
We need to resolve -dhāra-ām in c in order to make out the full pāda which the Anukr. assumes.
5. A hundred metal dishes (kaṅsá), a hundred milkers, a hundred guardians, upon the back of her; the gods that breathe in her, they know the cow singly.
The verse (9 + 11: 8 + 8 = 36) is a bṛhatī in number of syllables only.
6. Having the sacrifice for feet, cheer (írā-) for milk, svadhā́ for breath, being mahī́lukā, the cow, having Parjanya for spouse, goes unto the gods with worship (bráhman).
Ppp. reads for a, b yajñapatir ākṣīrāt svadhāprāṇā mahilokāḥ, which does not solve the problem of the obscure word mahī́lukā (found nowhere else). There is no need of calling the verse virāj.
7. After thee entered Agni, after thee Soma, O cow; thine udder, O excellent one, is Parjanya; the lightnings are thy teats, O cow.
8. The waters thou yieldest (duh) first, the cultivated fields after, O cow; thou yieldest kingdom third, food, milk, O cow.
The permissible resolution rāṣ-ṭṛ-ám in c would obviate the necessity of reckoning the verse as virāj. Ppp. combines in b urvarā ’parā.
9. When, called by the Ādityas, thou didst approach, O righteous one, Indra made thee drink a thousand vessels (pā́tra) of soma, O cow.
By a notable inconsistency, the Anukr. reckons this verse as a complete anuṣṭubh, although it requires, to make it such, precisely the same resolution (pā́-tṛ-ān) as vs. 8.
10. When thou didst go following (anváñc) Indra, then the bull called thee; therefore the Vṛitra-slayer, angry, took thy milk (páyas), milk (kṣīrá), O cow.
All the saṁhitā-mss. accent in b -bhó ‘hvayat, and one. pada-ms. (D.) has accordingly áhvayat. In like manner, all save R.p.m. have kruddhó ‘har- in d. In both cases our edition emends to ò. In this verse also (as in 6, 8) the designation virāj is uncalled-for. Ppp. reads uvūcī in a, and ād vṛṣabho in b.
11. When the lord of riches, angry, took thy milk, O cow, then this the firmament (nā́ka) now keeps (rakṣ) in three vessels.
Ppp. reads, in a-b, -patiḥ kṣīraṁ dehi bharad vaçe.
12. In three vessels the heavenly cow took that soma, where Atharvan, consecrated, sat on a golden barhís.
Ppp. reads hitaṁ for tam in a, and ādyevy abharad in b.
13. Since she has united (sam-gam) with soma, and with all that has feet, the cow has stood upon the ocean, together with the Gandharvas, the kalís.
Before this verse, Ppp. sets one made up of our 15 a, b and 14 c, d. Pada-text in c ádhi: asthāt. ⌊As to kali, cf. Bergaigne, Rel. Véd. ii. 482.⌋ ⌊For ágata, see Gram. §834 b.⌋
14. Since she has united with the wind, and with all winged ones, the cow danced forth in the ocean, bearing the verses, the chants.
Ppp. combines (as above noted) our 15 a, b and 14 c, d, and then again our 14 a, b and 15 c, d, without other variant.
15. Since she has united with the sun, and with all sight, the cow has overlooked the ocean, bearing excellent lights.
Some of the mss. (P.M.E.) read in c aty akṣad (K. akṣyad).
16. As, O righteous one, thou didst stand decked (abhi-vṛ) with gold, the ocean, having become a horse, mounted (adhi-skand) thee, O cow.
Ppp. puts this verse after our 17.
17. There the excellent ones united, the cow, the directress, also the svadhā́, where Atharvan, consecrated, sat on a golden barhís.
The second half-verse is identical with 12 c, d above. Ppp. reads in a gachanti.
18. The cow is mother of the noble (rājanyà), the cow thy mother, O svadhā́; from the cow was born the weapon; from it was born intent (cittá).
The translation implies the obvious emendation of yajñé in c to jajñé, as at iv. 24. 6 ⌊see note thereto⌋.
19. The globule (bindú) went (car) up aloft, out of the summit (kákuda) of the bráhman; thence wast thou born, O cow; thence was the invoker born.
20. From thy mouth came (bhū) the songs (gā́thā), from thy nape-bones, O cow, [came] force; from thy belly (? pājasyà) was born the sacrifice, from thy teats the rays.
Ppp. reads in a bhavanti for abhavan.
21. From thy (two) fore-legs (īrmá) motion (áyana) was born, and from thy thighs (sákthi), O cow; from thine entrails were born eaters (attrá), out from thy belly (udára) the plants.
Ppp. reads at the beginning ayurmābhyām, and in c yatrā jajñire. ⌊For atrā́s, cf. note to i. 7. 3.⌋
22. When (yát), O cow, thou didst enter along the belly of Varuṇa, thence the priest (brahmán) called thee up; for he knew thy guidance (netrá).
23. All trembled at the embryo, while being born, of her who gives not birth (? asūsū́); for "the cow hath given birth," they say of her; shaped (m.) by charms (bráhman); for it is her connection.
24. One combines (sam-sṛj) the fighters who alone is in control (vaçín) of her; the sacrifices became energies (? táras); the cow became the eye of energies.
The Anukr. should have qualified the name of this bṛhatī by adding virāj. Ppp. combines at the beginning yudhe ’kas s-.
25. The cow accepted the sacrifice; the cow sustained the sun; within the cow entered the rice-dish together with the priest (brahmán).
Ppp. reads yajñam instead of sūryam in b. All the mss. have brahmáṇā.
26. The cow they call immortality (amṛ́ta); the cow they worship (upa-ās) as death; the cow became this all—gods, men, Asuras, Fathers, seers.
Ppp. reads āhur amṛtaṁ in a. The definition of the meter by the Anukr. is bad; it ⌊seems to be 8 + 8: 8 + 14⌋.
27. Whoso knoweth thus, he may accept the cow; for so doth the all-footed sacrifice yield milk (duh) to the giver, unresisting.
28. Three tongues glisten (dīdī) within the mouth of Varuṇa; of these, the one that shines (rāj) in the middle is the cow, hard of acceptance.
The mss., as is usual in such cases, are divided between duḥpr- and duṛpr- in d.
29. The seed of the cow was quartered: the waters a quarter, the amṛ́ta a quarter, the sacrifice a quarter, the domestic animals a quarter.
30. The cow [is] the sky, the cow the earth, the cow Vishṇu, Prajāpati; the yield (dugdhá) of the cow did the Perfectibles (sādhyá) and they who are Vasus drink.
31. Having drunk the yield of the cow, the Perfectibles and they who are Vasus—they verily worship the milk (páyas) of her at the summit of the ruddy one.
Ppp. reads ime instead of te vāi at beginning of c. The definition of the meter by the Anukr. is bad, the verse being, by usual and easy resolutions, a regular anuṣṭubh.
32. Some milk her for soma; some worship ghee; they who gave the cow to the one knowing thus are gone to the triple heaven of the heaven.
The pada-mss., by an absurd blunder, read yā́ before evám into yáḥ instead of yé. It is apparently the intrusion of vaçā́m into c that makes the meter irregular. ⌊Pādas a, b are a reminiscence of RV. x. 154. 1 (= AV. xviii. 2. 14).⌋
33. Having given the cow to the Brahmans, one attains all worlds; for righteousness is set in her, also bráhman, likewise penance.
Ppp. reads in a vaçā dattvā brāh-, and in c āhitam instead of ārpitam.
34. On the cow the gods subsist; on the cow, men also; the cow became this all, so far as the sun looks abroad.
The Anukr. takes no notice of the redundant syllable in a (read, by irregular combination, devó ’pa).
⌊Here ends the fifth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 61 verses. The quoted Anukr. says, referring to this last hymn, catasraḥ (i.e. 4 over 30).⌋
⌊One ms. (P.) sums up the verses aright as 350.⌋
⌊Here ends the twenty-third prapāṭhaka.⌋