136. To fasten and increase the hair.
[Atharvan (keçavardhanakāmaḥ ⌊vītahavyaḥ⌋).—vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 2. 1-av. 2-p. sāmni bṛhatī.]
Not found in Pāipp. Used by Kāuç. (31. 28), with the following hymn, in a remedial rite for the growth of the hair.
Translated: Zimmer, p. 68; Grill, 50, 176; Griffith, i. 321; Bloomfield, 31, 536.
1. Thou art born divine on the divine one, [namely] the earth, O herb; thee here, O down-stretcher, we dig in order to fix the hair.
The comm. explains the plant addressed to be the kācamācī etc.; nitatnī apparently not the name, but an epithet, "sending its roots far down" (nyakprasaraṇaçīlā, comm.).
2. Fix thou the old ones, generate those unborn, and make longer those born.
The comm. strangely divides vss. 2 and 3 differently, adding 3 a, b to 2, and leaving 3 c, d to form by themselves a verse. ⌊The Anukr. scans as 9 + 9. The "verse" seems to be prose.⌋
3. What hair of thine falls down, and what one is hewn off with its root, upon it I now pour with the all-healing plant.
The comm., as well as all the mss. (and both editions), has the false form vṛçcáte (for vṛçcyáte).
137. To fasten and increase the hair.
[Atharvan (⌊keçavardhanakāmaḥ⌋ vītahavyaḥ).—vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]
Of this hymn only the second verse is found in Pāipp. (i.). It is used by Kāuç. only with the preceding hymn, as there explained.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 512; Zimmer, p. 68; Grill, 50, 176; Griffith, i. 321; Bloomfield, 31, 537.
1. [The herb] which Jamadagni dug for his daughter, [as] hair-increaser, that one Vītahavya brought from Asita's houses.
Or vītahavya may be understood (with the Anukr.) as an epithet, 'after the gods had enjoyed his oblations.' The comm. takes it as a proper name, as also ásitasya (=kṛṣṇakeçasyāi ’tatsaṁjñasya muneḥ).
2. To be measured with a rein were they, to be after-measured with a fathom: let the black hairs grow out of thy head like reeds.
The Ppp. version, though corrupt, suggests no different reading. The comm., startled at the exaggeration implied in abhīçu, declares it to mean "finger." In d, asitā́s is read by all the mss., and consequently by both editions; it apparently calls for emendation to ásitās, and is so translated kṛṣṇavarṇāḥ, comm.). The Anukr. seems to admit the contraction naḍe ’va in 2 c, 3 c.
3. Fix thou the root, stretch the. end, make the middle stretch out, O herb; let the black hairs grow out of thy head like reeds.
Yāmaya, in b, is yamaya in pada-text, by Prāt. iv. 93.
