Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/238

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
xii. 4-
BOOK XII. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAṀHITĀ.
694

2. He bargains away his progeny and becomes exhausted of cattle who is not willing to give the cow () of the gods to the sons of seers that ask for her.

⌊Pādas c, d recur as 12 a, b.⌋


3. By a hornless one they are crushed for him; by a lame one he falls (? ard) into a pit; by a crippled one his houses are burned; by a one-eyed one his possessions are taken away (?).

The adjectives are feminine, and the sense doubtless is that as the result of giving such defective cows the thing threatened will happen. In a, probably the subject to be understood is gṛhā́s, as in c; b and c have perhaps become transposed—and, in that case, svám might be the subject also of árdati. ⌊Ppp. has kāṭam, like the Vulgate.⌋ The translation of d implies emendation (which seems advisable ⌊cf. W. in AJP. xiii. 302⌋) of kāṇáyā to kāṇáyā́: i.e. kāṇáyā: ā́: dīyate. Ppp. has jīyate 'is harmed,' which would remove the difficulty. ⌊On kūṭá, see von Bradke, KZ. xxxiv. 157.⌋


4. Anæmia (vilohitá) from the station of the dung visits (vid) the master of kine; so is the agreement (?) of the cow; for door-damaging (?) art thou called.

Nearly everything in the second half-verse is doubtful. The majority of our mss. read sáṁvidyam (p. sám॰vidyam), but sā́ṁ- instead is given by M.s.m.O.s.m. and D.; and in R. sā́ṁ- is emended to sāṁ-. Sā́ṁvidya seems a much more probable form of stem. The Pet. Lexx. render 'possession,' which is very unsatisfactory. Duradabhnā́ (also in vs. 19) seems pretty clearly the reading of nearly all our mss. in c, though it might, as usual in such cases, be -bhrā́ in most; Bp. has (both times) apparently -bhdnā, and O. ⌊in vs. 4⌋ -bdnā or -b-h-nā (the b and h separate letters, as again below in xiii. 1. 25 c). The word is not divided in the pada-text. The translation given is ⌊suggested by⌋ that of the Pet. Lexx.; Ludwig renders here 'unbetrieglich' (undeceivable), but leaves the word untranslated in vs. 19. The second person ucyáse is quite unexpected; ⌊most of our⌋ saṁhitā-mss. read hy ū̀3cyáse; ⌊and SPP's are much at variance⌋. ⌊As alternative rendering in a, b, W. notes 'from standing on her dung.'⌋ Ppp. reads, in c, d, svāṁ vidyuṁ duritagrāhy uccase.


5. From the station of the two feet of her, soaking (? viklíndu) namely visits [him]; unexpectedly (?) are they crushed who snuff at her with the mouth.

Here, too, much is obscure and doubtful. The first part might be: 'From the station of her ⌊or 'from standing on her,' as W. queries⌋, soaking of the feet visits ⌊him⌋,' as it is hard to see what two feet have to do with a cow. And in d yā́s can be either subject or object, and jíghrati either sing, or pl. I take anāmanā́t from root man; Ludwig renders it 'without becoming ill'; the Pet. Lexx. explain the word as meaning a kind of disease. Ppp. reads, in a, b, asyā ’dhiṣṭhānād vikulaṁ dvin nāma.


6. Whoever punches (ā-sku) the two ears of her, he falls under the wrath of the gods; if he thinks "I am making a mark," he makes his possessions less.

Ppp. begins yo ‘syāṣ karṇāv āskanoty, and reads in c lakṣmīṣ kurvīta. ⌊Pāda b recurs as 12 c. For the construction, cf. 26 d, 47 d: and, per contra, 12 d, 34 d, and