Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/369

Our comm., by some rare and strange oversight, makes no mention of this viniyoga, and so does not take it into account in the explanation of the verse. Apparently it is only the occurrence of gartasad in the verse that suggests the use; of real applicability to the situation there is none.

41. On Sarasvatī do the pious call; on Sarasvatī , while the sacrifice is being extended; on Sarasvatī do the well-doers call: may Sarasvatī give what is desirable to the worshiper (dāçvā́ṅs).

RV. x. 17. 7 is the same verse, but makes better meter by having ahvayanta for havante in c; and the comm. agrees with it. Verses 41-43, with others to Sarasvatī (vii. 68. 1-2; also xviii. 3. 25), are used by Kāuç. (81. 39) in the pitṛmedha ceremony, accompanying offerings to Sarasvatī. ⌊And they recur below, as noted under vs. 43.⌋ The Anukr. takes no notice of the deficiency of a syllable in 41 c, and 42 a, nor of the excess of two syllables in 43 a.

42. On Sarasvatī do the Fathers call, arriving at the sacrifice on the south; sitting on this barhís do ye revel; assign thou to us food (íṣas) free from disease.

Here again the RV. version (x. 17. 9 a, b, 8 c, d) makes the meter good by inserting ⌊or rather (cf. vs. 59), by not omitting⌋ yā́m in a before pitáras (and hence accenting hávante*); it also accents dakṣiṇā́ in b, as other texts do; two of our mss. (O.s.m.Op.) do the same, with the majority of SPP's, whence the latter adopts dakṣiṇā́ in his edition; it is undoubtedly the correct reading ⌊as is explicitly stated also by the comm. to xix. 13. 9, page 325²¹⌋. RV. also avoids the change of subject in the second line by reading mādayasva in c. *⌊It is interesting to note that SPP's C^P accents hávante, as if the missing yā́m were not missing: cf. my note about "blend-readings" under xiv. 2. 18, and the end of my note under xviii. 1. 39; also note to 4. 57.⌋

43. O Sarasvatī, that wentest in company (sarátham) with the songs (ukthá), with the svadhā́s, O goddess, reveling with the Fathers, assign thou to the sacrificer here a portion of refreshment (íḍ) of thousandfold value, abundance of wealth.

Here, once more, the AV. disturbs the meter by the intrusion into a of ukthāís, which is wanting in the RV. version (x. 17. 8 a, b, 9 c, d). ⌊RV. reads yájamāneṣu in d.⌋ The three Sarasvatī verses are repeated below as xviii. 4. 45-47. The comm. gives annasya as equivalent of iḍás.

44. Let the lower, let the higher, let the midmost Fathers, the soma-drinking (? somyá), go up; they who went to life (ásu), unharmed (avṛká), right-knowing—let those Fathers aid us at our calls.

The verse is found, without variant, as RV. x. 15. 1, VS. xix. 49, and in TS. ii. 6. 12³, MS. iv. 10. 6. It is used twice by Kāuç. in the funeral book: once (80. 43) at the piling of the funeral pile, and once (87. 14), in the piṇḍapitṛyajña, at the digging of a pit for receiving certain offerings. Verses 44-46 appear together (87. 29) in the latter ceremony with the bringing in of certain water-pots ⌊i.e. the pouring in (of their contents)?⌋. In Vāit. (30. 14), vss. 44 and 45, with 51, and 3. 44, 45, are prescribed to be repeated after the pouring of surā into a perforated vessel, in the sāutrāmaṇī ceremony; and again, vss. 44-46 accompany (37. 23) the binding of a victim to the sacrificial post in the puruṣamedha.