Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/530

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vi. 109-
BOOK VI. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAṀHITĀ.
360
Ppp. has, in a, kṣupta- for kṣipta-; and, for b, uta ca viçvabh-; further, for d, alaṁ jīvātavā yati.* In the kampa between a and b, SPP. unaccountably reads ū3ta instead of u1ta; the fact that his mss. happen in this case all to agree in giving ū3ta is of no account whatever, since they are wildly inconsistent in this whole class of cases; among our mss. are found ū3, ū1, and u3. The comm. gives two alternatives both for kṣipta- and for atividdha-: for the former tiraskṛta (of other remedies) and vātarogaviçeṣa, and so on. *⌊Intending -tavāi iti?⌋


2. The berries talked together, coming from their birth: whomever we shall reach living, that man shall not be harmed.

The second half-verse is the same, without variant, as RV. x. 97. 17 c, d (found also as VS. xii. 91 c, d, and in TS. iv. 2. 65 and MS. ii. 7. 13: the latter reading -mahe in c); while the first half is a sort of parody of the corresponding part of the same verse: avapátantīr avadan divá óṣadhayas pári; our -vadantā ”yatī́s is probably a corruption of -vadann āy-. There is again, in a, a disagreement among the mss. as to pippalyàs, our Bp.E.I.O., with a number of SPP's authorities, giving piṣp-. The comm. explains the word by hastipippalyādijātibhedabhinnāḥ sarvāḥ pippalyaḥ; and their "birth" to have been contemporaneous with the churning of the amṛta. ⌊Ppp. ends with pāuruṣaḥ.⌋


3. The Asuras dug thee in; the gods cast thee up again, a remedy for the vātī́kṛta, likewise a remedy for what is bruised.

The comm. understands vātikṛta as vātarogāviṣṭaçarīra. ⌊Cf. vi. 44. 3.⌋ ⌊In Ppp., d is wanting, perhaps by accident.⌋


110. For a child born at an unlucky time.

[Atharvan.—āgneyam. trāiṣtubham: 1. pan̄kti.]

This hymn is not found in Pāipp. Kāuç. (46. 25) applies it for the benefit of a child born under an inauspicious asterism.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 431; Zimmer, p. 321; Griffith, i. 305; Bloomfield, 109, 517.—With reference to the asterisms, see note to ii. 8. i; Zimmer, p. 356; Jacobi in Festgruss an Roth, p. 70.


1. Since, an ancient one, to be praised at the sacrifices, thou sittest as hótar both of old and recent—do thou, O Agni, both gratify thine own self, and bestow (ā-yaj) good fortune on us.

The verse is RV. viii. 11. 10 (also TA. x. 169). Our text has several bad readings, which are corrected in the other version: kám in a should be kam, satsi should be sátsi, and piprā́yasva should be -práy- (TA. has, in a, pratnóṣi, which its comm. explains by vistārayasi!): this last the comm. also reads, but renders it ājyādihaviṣā pūraya. The verse is not at all a pan̄kti, although capable of being read as 40 syllables.


2. Born in jyeṣṭhaghnī́, in Yama's two Unfasteners (vicṛ́t)—do thou protect him from the Uprooter (mūlabárhaṇa); may he conduct him across all difficulties unto long life, of a hundred autumns.

The consecutiveness of the verse is very defective, inasmuch as 'born' (jātás, nom.) in a can hardly be understood otherwise than of the child, while Agni is addressed in b,