Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/17

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473
TRANSLATION AND NOTES. BOOK VIII.
-viii. 1

The comm. cites them from Nakṣ. K. 23 in a mahāçānti. They are reckoned by Kāuç. to the āyuṣya gaṇa (note to 54. 11). For vs. 10, see below.⌋

Translated: Muir, v. 444; Ludwig, p. 495; Henry, 1, 35; Griffith, i. 385; Bloomfield, 53, 569.


1. To the ender Death [be] homage. Let thy breaths, expirations, rest here. Let this man be here with his life (ásu), in the portion of the sun, in the world of the immortal.

Ppp. puts our second pāda last.


2. Up hath Bhaga taken him, up Soma rich in shoots ⌊hath taken⌋ him, up the heavenly Maruts ⌊have taken⌋ him, up have Indra-and-Agni, for his welfare.

Or aṅçumant means 'rich in rays,' Soma having its secondary sense of 'moon': both were probably in the author's mind.


3. Here [be] thy life, here breath, here life-time, here thy mind; we bear thee up from the fetters of perdition with divine speech.

4.. Step up from here, O man, fall not down, loosening down the fetter (páḍbīça) of death; be not severed from this world, from the sight (saṁdṛ́ç) of fire, of the sun.

The mss., as usual, vary between páḍvīçam and páḍb-, and SPP. adopts the former; the comm. has the latter.


5. Let the wind, Mātariçvan, be cleansing for thee; for thee let the waters rain immortal things; may the sun burn weal for thy body; let death compassionate thee; do not thou perish.

Pavatām 'be cleansing' might properly enough be rendered simply 'blow.'


6. Up-going [be] thine, O man, not down-going; length of life (jīvā́tu), ability, I make for thee; for do thou ascend this immortal easy-running chariot, then shalt thou in advanced age (? jírvi) speak to the council (vidátha).

Both here and at xiv. 1. 21, our mss. on the whole read decidedly jírvis (only P.M. have jivrís, Bp. jívis, here), and SPP. reports all his authorities without exception as giving it, so that it is without question the true AV. reading (as against RV. jívri); the comm. reads ajirvis, and glosses it with ajīrṇas, and Ludwig renders 'lebenskräftig.'


7. Let not thy mind go thither; let it not be lost (tiró-bhū); do not neglect (pra-mad) the living, go not after the Fathers; let all the gods defend thee here.

8. Do not regard (ā-dhī) the departed, who lead [one] to the distance; ascend out of darkness, come to light; we take hold on thy hands.

Ppp. begins c with ud ā roha, which makes the pāda a good triṣṭubh; the omission of e ’hi would rectify it to an anuṣṭubh. The comm. omits e ’hi. Ppp. also reads hastam in d. ⌊With b, cf. v. 30. 12 b.⌋