Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 68

68. With ceremonial performance.

[Brahman.—ekarcam. mantroktakarmamātradevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found in Pāipp. xix. Quoted once in the text of Kāuç. (139. 10), in the ceremony of introduction to Vedic study, as to be murmured prior to pronouncing, by pādas, the Gāyatrī (RV. iii. 62. 10), and the Atharvan verses iv. 1. 1 and i. 1. 1 (or 1-4). But the various schol. (the Paddhati, Daç. Kar., Keçavī) make frequent mention and use of it: thus (see note to Kāuç. 25. 36), it is reckoned to a svastivācana; it is used in the sīmantonnayana (to 35. 20) and godāna (to 53. 2) ceremonies; it is added (note to 57. 22) to vii. 33. 1 in the ceremony of restoring lost fire, in the initiation of a Vedic student; it is used in the vedavratāni (to 57. 32), in the annaprāçana (to 58. 19), and the preparation for the marriage ceremonies (to 75. 1), and for the ājyatantra (to 137. 4), and in the introduction to the rājakarmāṇi of §14 (p. 315, l. 2). In all this is very probably to be seen only the influence of the occurrence of védam and of kármāṇi kṛṇmahe in the second half-verse; it need not imply any real comprehension of the obscure verse, with recognition of its appropriateness to all these various situations. ⌊As to the critical bearing of the uses of the vs. in the ritual, cf. the table on p. 896, and see p. 897, line 12.⌋

Translated: Griffith, ii. 319.

1. Of non-expansion and of expansion do I untie the aperture with magic; by those two having taken up the Veda, we then perform acts.

That is, doubtless, 'conduct sacred ceremonies.' All the mss.* have at the beginning ávyasas (p. ávi॰asaḥ), and so have Ppp., the Anukr., Kāuç. and all its scholiasts, and the comm.; whence of course also SPP.; it is unquestionably the Atharvan reading. Yet even the comm. can only say for it that it is the same as avyacasas, a syllable being omitted by Vedic license; and the analysis of the pada-text appears to be one of those wild and senseless guesses of which in this book it presents not a few examples. ⌊The important thing to observe in the pāda avya[ca]saç ca vyacasaç ca is the recurrence of so many confusingly similar syllables: the corruption is a case of haplography (cf. note to iv. 5. 5, and Bloomfield in AJP. xvii. 418); but one would expect avyacaso vyacasaç ca. The pada-mss. ⌊save SPP's J.⌋ have víṣyāmi in b as an integral word; but the comm. understands ví: syāmi, and SPP., as well as our text, so reads; many of the mss. have bí instead of ví. One accents in c vedám, ⌊and one has vedam, without accent; Griffith's 'bunch of grass' implies the reading vedám here and at 72. 1⌋; we might conjecture védim as a better reading; véda is not to be expected in the Atharvan. ⌊The Index gives for books i.-xviii. three occurrences of véda, namely at iv. 35. 6; x. 8. 17; xv. 3. 7: at x. 8. 17 W. suggests that it is perhaps to be rendered simply by 'knowledge'; but in iv. and xv. it can hardly be aught else than 'Veda.'⌋ Some of the mss. accent kṛṇmáhe. There was no sufficient reason for altering the accent of vyácasas in our text to vyacásas; SPP. reads vyác- with the majority of his authorities. The comm. has no notion of what the verse really means: he gives two different expositions—one explaining ávyacas and vyácas to mean the two varieties of breathing, prāṇa and vyāna, the bila to be the mūlādhāra, and veda 'the Veda' (akṣarātmakamantrasaṁgha); the other taking the first two to be the paramātman and jīvātman, the bila the heart, and veda 'knowledge' (cikīrṣitakarmaviṣayaṁ jñānam). *⌊If I understand the Collation Book, W's P. actually begins with avyacásaç cá vyácasáç ca, which, apart from the wild accents, is worth noting.⌋

In Ppp., this hymn is immediately followed by our hymn 72.