Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/515

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345
TRANSLATION AND NOTES. BOOK VI.
-vi. 87

86. For supremacy.

[Atharvan (vṛṣakāmaḥ).—ekavṛṣadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. Employed by Kāuç. (59. 12), in a kāmya rite, by one who is vṛṣakāma (çrāiṣṭhyakāma, comm.); and the schol. (note to 140. 6) adds it to v. 3. 11 and vii. 86, 91 as used in the indramahotsava.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 241; Griffith, i. 292.


1. Chief (vṛ́ṣan) of Indra, chief of heaven, chief of earth is this man, chief of all existence; do thou be sole chief.

"Chief," lit'ly 'bull': foremost, as the bull is of the herd. Indrasya in a can hardly stand; rather āindrasya, or, we may conjecture, īdhrasya (cf. īdhriya, vīdhra).


2. The ocean is master of the streams; Agni is controler of the earth; the moon is master of the asterisms; do thou be sole chief.

Ppp. has, in c, sūryas instead of candramās; the latter makes a redundant pāda, unnoticed by the Anukr.


3. Universal ruler art thou of Asuras, summit of human beings; part-sharer of the gods art thou; do thou be sole chief.

The comm. understands 'part-sharer' to mean "having a share equal to that of all the other gods together," and applies it to Indra.


87. To establish some one in sovereignty.

[Atharvan.—dhrāuvyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. ⌊This hymn and verses 1 and 2 of the next, form one continuous passage in the RV. (x. 173. 1-5): see Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des RV., i. 248-9; and cf. introduction to our iii. 12.⌋ It is further found in TB. (ii. 4. 28-9) and K. (xxxv. 7). This hymn and the one next following are used together by Kāuç.: in a kāmya rite (59. 13), by one desiring fixity (dhrāuvya or sthāirya); in a rite of expiation for earthquakes (98. 3), with xii. 1; and the comm. regards them (and not iii. 12. 1, 2) as intended by dhruvau at 136. 7 (and the same should doubtless be said of 43. 11), in the rite against the portent of broken sacred vessels; further, they appear in the indramahotsava (140.8), 87. 1 c being curiously specified in addition. In Vāit. (28. 16), this hymn alone (or vs. 1) appears in the agnicayana, at the raising of the ukhyāgni.

Translated: by the RV. translators, and Zimmer, p. 163; and, as AV. hymn, by Ludwig, p. 373; Griffith, i. 292.


1. I have taken thee; thou hast become within; stand thou fixed, not unsteady; let all the people (víças) want thee; let not the kingdom fall away from thee.

The RV. version has, in a, edhi for abhūs; and RV.TB. (also VS. xii. 11) have -cācalis at end of b; and so has TS. (iv. 2. 14), though it reads ⌊in d asmín for mā́ tvát and çraya for bhraçat⌋; while MS. (ii. 7. 8) agrees with our text in a, b, c, but gives for d asmé rāṣṭrā́ṇi dhāraya. The comm. explains antar abhūs by asmākam madhye ‘dhipatir abhavaḥ, which reminds us of madhyameṣṭhā and madhyamaçī ⌊see note to iv. 9. 4⌋. ⌊Our c is the c of iv. 8. 4 (see the note thereon), of which the TB. version has our d here as its d.⌋