38. For luck in gambling: by aid of an Apsaras.
[Bādarāyaṇi.—dvidevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 3. 6-p. 3-av. jagatī; 5. bhurigatyaṣṭi; 6. triṣṭubh; 7. 3-av. 5-p. anuṣṭubgarbhā puraupariṣṭājjyotiṣmatī jagatī.]
This and the two following hymns are not found in Pāipp. Kāuç. uses it (doubtless only the first four verses) in a ceremony (41. 13) for success in gambling. Verses 5-7 are called karkīpravādās and used (21. 11) in a rite for the prosperity of kine, and also (66. 13) in the sava sacrifices, with a karkī as sava; and they are reckoned (19. 1, note) to the puṣṭika mantras. The comm. attempts no explanation of the mutual relation of the two apparently unconnected parts of the hymn; ⌊but Weber, in his note to verse 7, suggests a connection⌋. ⌊As to Bādarāyaṇi, see introd. to h. 40.⌋
Translated: Muir, OST. v. 430 (vss. 1-4); Ludwig, p. 454; Grill, 71 (vss. 1-4), 140; Griffith, i. 183; Bloomfield, 149, 412; Weber, xviii. 147.
1. The up-shooting, all-conquering, successfully-playing Apsaras, that wins (kṛ) the winnings in the pool (? gláha)—that Apsaras I call on here.
The form apsarā́, instead of apsarás, is used throughout this hymn; the comm. regards it as a specialized name for the Apsaras in this character or office: dyūtakriyādhidevatām apsarojātīyam. Udbhindatīm is paraphrased by paṇabandhena dhanasyo ’dbhedanaṁ kurvatīm, as if it were the causative participle. The technical terms of the game are only doubtfully translated, our knowledge of its method being insufficient; gláha is taken as the receptacle, of whatever kind, in which the stakes are deposited; the comm. explains it thus: gṛhyate paṇabandhena kalpyata iti dyūtakriyājeyo (mss. -jayo) ‘rtho glahaḥ.
2. The distributing (vi-ci), on-strewing (ā-kir), successfully-playing Apsaras, that seizes (grah) the winnings in the pool—that Apsaras I call on here.
The comm. explains the first two epithets respectively by "collecting" (taking vi as intensive) and "scattering."
3. She who dances about with the dice (? áya), taking to herself the winning from the pool—let her, trying to gain (?) for us the winnings, obtain the stake (? prahā́) by magic (māyā́); let her come to us rich in milk; let them not conquer from us this riches.
The wholly anomalous sīṣatī́ in c is here translated, in accordance with the current understanding of it, as somehow coming from the root san or sā ⌊i.e., as if it were for the normal sí-ṣā-s-atī: considering that the consonant of the root sd happens to coincide with the sibilant which is characteristic of the desiderative, we might be tempted to put sīṣánt: sā:: sī́kṣant: sah (Skt. Gram. §1030 a), but for the accent⌋; the comm. reads instead çéṣantī (= avaçeṣayantī). The comm. further has in b ādadhānas (explained as = ādadhānā: so SPP's K. reads), and in d prahān (= prahantavyān akṣān: a false etymology and worthless interpretation). He explains ayās as ekādayaḥ pañcasaṁkhyāntā akṣaviçeṣāḥ. He divides our vss. 3-5 into four verses of four pādas each, without any regard to the connection of sense, thus giving the hymn eight verses; among our mss. also (SPP. reports nothing of the kind from his) there is more or less discordance in regard to the verse-division, and some of them agree with the comm. ⌊Our sīṣatī́ appears in W's Index Verborum, p. 382, at the very end of the "unclassified residuum" of AV. material.⌋
