Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/371

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TRANSLATION AND NOTES. BOOK XVIII.
-xviii. 1

end of a, seems a worthless corruption (SPP. thinks it certainly "a mistake for áti"; but that is not very plausible, though our I., doubtless by an accidental slip, has áti, and P.M. have ata); the comm. reads anu, with the other texts. ⌊With this vs. and the next, cf. 3. 13 below: the second half of 3. 13 is identical with the second half of this vs.⌋ In Kāúç. (81. 34), recital of the verse accompanies offerings to Yama at the lighting of the funeral pile. Metrically, it is svarāj (12 + 11: 11 + 12 = 46) rather than bhurij.

⌊Caland, Todtengebräuche, p. 65, observes that "Kāuç. 81. 34-36 [meaning 34-37] form one single whole." They indicate the eleven verses (translated by C, p. 64) that are to be used to accompany the eleven oblations to Yama (yāmān homān), offered in the pitṛmedha, after the lighting of the fire. The vss. are: xviii. 1. 49, 50, for the first two oblations; xviii. 1. 58, 59, 60, 61 (the last vs. of the hymn) and xviii. 2. 1, 2, 3, for the next seven; and xviii. 3. 13 and 2. 49, for the last two: in all, eleven, ity ekādaça. Whereupon follow the oblations to Sarasvatī.—It should be noted that the group 1. 58 to 2. 3 (Kāuç.: iti saṁhitāḥ sapta) disregards the existing division of the book into anuvāka-hymns.⌋


50. Yama first found for us a track (gātú); that is not a pasture to be borne away; where our former Fathers went forth, there (enā́) [go] those born [of them], along their own roads.

The corresponding RV. verse (x. 14. 2) reads pareyús at end of c, and MS. (in iv. 14. 16) agrees with it. The comm. has yena instead of enā in d. The verse (with vs. 51?) is used by Kāuç. (81. 35) next after the preceding one, in the same ceremony.


51. Ye barhís-seated Fathers, hitherward with aid! these offerings have we made for you; enjoy [them]! do ye come with most wealful aid; then assign to us weal [and] profit, free from evil.

The corresponding RV. verse (x. 15. 4) has áthā at beginning of d. VS. (xix. 55) agrees throughout with RV.; TS. (in ii. 6. 122) spoils the meter of d by changing nas to asmábhyam; MS. (in iv. 10. 6) has at the end dadhātana; ⌊so has W's Op.⌋. The comm. also reads atha. The verse is used by Kāuç. (87. 27), along with 3. 44-46 and 4. 68, to accompany the untying and strewing of the barhis in the piṇḍapitṛyajña. In Vāit. 30. 14, it appears with 1. 44, 45 etc. (see under 1. 44); and again (9. 8), in the cāturmāsya sacrifice, accompanying (with 3. 44, 45 and 4. 71) a libation to Soma and the Fathers.


52. Bending the knee, sitting down on the right, let all assent to (abhi-gṛ) this libation of ours; injure us not, O Fathers, by reason of any offense (ā́gas) which we may do to you through humanity.

That is, through human frailty. The corresponding RV. verse (x. 15. 6) reads for b imáṁ yajñám abhí gṛṇīta víçve; and VS. (xix. 62) agrees with RV.; the comm., too, so far as to have gṛṇīta. In Kāuç. (83. 28), the verse accompanies the arranging of the bone relics of the deceased at their place of burial (repeated, with two other verses, in the piṇḍapitṛyajña, 87. 28). The Anukr. takes no notice of the redundant syllable in b.


53. Tvashṭar makes a wedding-car for his daughter; by reason of this, all this creation comes together; the mother of Yama, wife of great Vivasvant, being drawn about, disappeared.