Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 33
33. For expulsion of yákṣma from all parts of the body.
[Brahman.—saptarcam. yakṣmavibarhaṇam; cāndramasam; āyuṣyam. ānuṣṭubham. 3. kakummatī; 4. 4-p. bhurig uṣṇih; 5. upariṣṭādvirāḍbṛhatī; 6. uṣṇiggarbhā nicṛdanuṣṭubh; 7. pathyāpan̄kti.]
Found in Pāipp. iv. Corresponds, with important variations, to most of RV. x. 163 (found also in MP., the mantra-text to ĀpGS.: see Winternitz, l.c., p. 99). ⌊Namely, our vss. 1, 2, 4 ab with 3 cd, and 5 correspond to MP. i. 17. 1, 2, 3, and 4: the MP. version follows most nearly that of RV.⌋ The hymn is called by Kāuç. (27. 27) vībarha (from vs. 7 d), and is prescribed in a healing ceremony; it is also reckoned (54. 11, note) to the āyuṣya gaṇa; but the comm. makes up an aṅholin̄ga gaṇa of it and iii. 11; iv. 13; v. 30; ix. 8, which is quite different from the one reported by Bloomfield from the gaṇamālā in note to Kāuç. 32. 27 ⌊on page 89, but agrees with the one reported in B's supplement, page 334, except that for i. 10. 4 should be put iii. 11. i⌋. It (or vs. i) is also employed by Vāit. (38. 1) in the puruṣamedha.
Translated: by the RV. translators; and Kuhn, KZ. xiii. 66 ff.; Weber, xiii. 205; Griffith, i. 74; Bloomfield, 44, 321.—Oldenberg compares critically the RV. and AV. versions, die Hymnen des RV., i. p. 243.
1. Forth from thy (two) eyes, (two) nostrils, (two) ears, chin, brain, tongue, I eject (vi-vṛh) for thee the yákṣma of the head.
The verse is RV. x. 163. i, without variant. Two or three of SPP's mss., with the comm., read in b cúbukāt; MP. has cibukāt ⌊in the Whish ms.⌋; Ppp. substitutes for it nāsyāt (i.e. āsyāt), has uta for ádhi, and has for d lalāṭād vi vayemasi.
2. From thy neck (grīvás), nape (uṣṇíhās), vertebræ (kī́kasā), backbone, (two) shoulders, (two) fore-arms, I eject for thee the yákṣma of the arms.
This, again, is precisely RV. x. 163. 2. Ppp. reads in b anūkyās, and in d urastas (for bāhubhyām) and vṛhāmasi. The pl. grīvā́s for 'neck' designates, according to the comm., the 14 small bones found there; and he quotes ÇB. xii. 2. 4. 10 for authority. The uṣṇíhās he declares to be certain vessels (nāḍī); the kī́kasās, to be jatruvakṣogatāsthīni, which is quite indefinite.
3. Forth from thy heart, lung (klomán), hálīkṣṇa, (two) sides, (two) mátasnas, spleen, liver, we eject for thee the yákṣma.
Weber conjectures "gall" for hálīkṣṇa (Ppp. hálīkṣma), and "kidney" for matasna. The comm. defines klomán as "a kind of flesh-mass in the neighborhood of the heart," halīkṣṇa as etatsaṁjñakāt tatsambandhān māṅsapiṇḑaviçeṣāt, and matasnābhyām as ubhayapārçvasambandhābhyāṁ vŗkyābhyāṁ tatsamīpasthapittādhārapātrābhyāṁ vā. For a, Ppp. has klomnas te hṛdayābhyo. Of this verse, only the latter half has a parallel in RV., namely x. 163. 3 c, d, where d is varied to yaknáḥ plāçíbhyo ví vṛhāmi te. The Anukr. foolishly rejects all resolution in b.
4. Forth from thine entrails, guts, rectum, belly, (two) paunches, plāçí, navel, I eject for thee the yákṣma.
5. From thy (two) thighs, knees, heels, front feet, hips, fundament (? bháṅsas), I eject for thee the yákṣma of the rump.
In the translation here is omitted bhā́sadam, the pure equivalent of bhasadyàm, and hence as superfluous in sense as redundant in meter. ⌊Is not prápada 'toe'?⌋ The verse is nearly RV. x. 163. 4, which, however, omits bhasadyàm, and reads, after çróṇibhyām, bhā́sadāt, indicating the whole region of anus and pudenda. Ppp. ends the verse (like 2 and 4) with vṛhāmasi. Several of our mss., with two or three of SPP's, carelessly begin with urú-. MP. has in b jan̄ghābhyām for pārṣṇibhyām, and in d dhvaṅsasas. The verse seems to be scanned by the Anukr. as 8 + 7: 8 + 11 = 34.
6. From thy bones, marrows, sinews, vessels, (two) hands, fingers, nails, I eject for thee the yákṣma.
Pāṇí is distinctively 'palm,' and might properly be so rendered here. Nearly all our saṁhitā-mss., with most of SPP's, omit the visarga before snā́vabhyo. Ppp. has a different a, c, d: hastebhyas te māṅsebhyas...: yakṣmam pṛṣṭibhyo majjabhyo nādyāṁ virvahāmasi. The Anukr. scans as 7 + 7: 9 + 8 = 31.
7. What [yákṣma is] in thine every limb, every hair, every joint—the yákṣma of thy skin do we, with Kaçyapa's ejector (vībarhá) eject away (víṣvañc).
The first half-verse corresponds to RV. x. 163. 6. a, b, which (as also MP.) reads thus: án̄gād-an̄gāl lómno-lomno jātám párvaṇi-parvaṇi; and Ppp. agrees with it, except in having baddham for jātam; Ppp. also omits d. In d our P. M., with some of SPP's mss., read vibar-, as does also the comm. ⌊vivarham⌋. In our edition, an accent-mark has fallen out under -ñcam in e.