Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 2

2. To Gandharvas and Apsarases.

[Mātṛnāman.—gandharvāpsarodevatyam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. virāḍjagatī; 4. 3-p. virāṇnāmagāyatrī; 5. bhuriganuṣṭub.]

Found in Pāipp. i. (only in the nāgarī copy). Called by Kāuç. (8. 24), with vi. 111 and viii. 6 (and the schol. add iv. 20: see ib., note), mātṛnāmāni 'mother-names' (perhaps from the alleged author); they are employed in a remedial rite (26. 29: "against seizure by Gandharvas, Apsarases, demons etc." comm.), and several times (94. 15; 95. 4; 96. 4; 101. 3; 114. 3; 136. 9) in charms against various portents (adbhutāni). And verse 1 is allowed by Vāit. (36. 28) to be used in the açvamedha sacrifice as alternative for one given in its text (27). Further, the comm. quotes the mātṛnāman hymns from the Çānti Kalpa (16) as accompanying an offering in the sacrifice to the planets (grahayajña); and from the Nakṣ. Kalpa (23) in the tantrabhūtā mahāçānti.

Translated: Weber, xiii. 133; Griffith, i. 42; verses 3-5 also by Weber, Abh. Berliner Akad. 1858, p. 350 (= Omina und Portenta).—Cf. Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 433.

1. The heavenly Gandharva, who is lord of being (bhúvana), the only one to receive homage, to be praised (īḍ) among the clans (víç)—thee being such I ban (yu) with incantation, O heavenly god; homage be to thee; in the heaven is thy station.

Ppp. reads in c deva divya. The comm. understands yāumi in c as "join" (saṁyojayāmi) ⌊BR. vi. 138, 'festhalten'⌋: RV. i. 24. 11 a, tát tvā yāmi bráhmaņā, suggests emendation. The combination yás p- in a is by Prāt. ii. 70.

2. Touching the sky, worshipful, sun-skinned, deprecator of the seizure (háras) of the gods—gracious shall be the Gandharva, who is lord of being, the only one to receive homage, very propitious.

Ppp. begins with diva spṛṣṭo, and inverts the order of c and d. The comm. explains sū́ryatvac by sūryasamānavarņa, and haras by krodha. The Anukr. does not heed that c is a jagatī pāda.

3. He hath united himself (sam-gam) with those irreproachable ones (f.); in (ápi) among the Apsarases was the Gandharva; in the ocean is, they tell me, their seat, whence at once they both come and go.

Ppp. combines jagmā ”bhiḥ in a, and has in b apsarābhis for -rāsu; its second half-verse reads thus: samudrā saṁ sadanam āhus tatas sadyā upācaryantī. Weber takes saṁ jagme in a as 1st sing. The comm. gives two diverse explanations of the verse, the first taking the Gandharva as the sun and the Apsarases as his rays.

4. O cloudy one, gleamer (didyút), starry one—ye that accompany (sac) the Gandharva Viçvāvasu, to you there, O divine ones, homage do I pay.

All those addressed are in the feminine gender, i.e. Apsarases. Ppp. has namāitu for nama it in c. The Anukr. ⌊if we assume that its name for the meter (as at i. 2. 3; iv. 16. 9) means 11 + 11 + 11⌋ passes without notice the deficiency of two syllables in a.

5. They that are noisy, dusky, dice-loving, mind-confusing—to those Apsarases, that have the Gandharvas for spouses, have I paid homage.

Ppp. reads in a tāmiṣ-, and two of our mss. (P.M.) give the same. Ppp. has also akṣikāmās in b. Our W.I. combine -bhyo akaram in d. The verse is not bhurij (as the Anukr. calls it), but a regular anuṣṭubh. On account of the epithet "dice-loving" in b, Weber calls the whole hymn "Würfelsegen" ('a blessing for dice').