Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 9

9. Against possession by demons: with an amulet.

[Bhṛgvan̄giras.—vānaspatyam; yahṣmanāçanadāivatam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. virāṭprastārapan̄kti.]

Found in Pāipp. ii. (in the verse-order 1, 5, 4, 2, 3). Reckoned, like the next preceding and the next following hymn, to the takmanāçana gaṇa (Kāuç. 26. 1, note), and made (27. 5, 6) to accompany the binding on of an amulet composed of splinters (from ten different trees: the comm.), being muttered by ten friends who lay hands on the patient.

Translated: Weber, xiii. 153; Ludwig, p. 506; Grill, 8, 82; Griffith, i. 51; Bloomfield, 34, 290.—Cf. Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 137.

1. O thou of ten trees, release this man from the demon, from the seizure (grā́hi) that hath seized him in the joints; then, O forest tree, conduct him up to the world of the living.

The first half-verse is quite different in Ppp.: daçavṛkṣo saṁ ce ’mam ahiṅsro grāhyāç ca. The comm. takes parvan in b as either the joints of the body or those of the month, new and full moon. The Anukr. scans the verse as 10 + 12: 8 + 8 = 38, making the first pāda-division after rakṣasas (and the pada-mss. so mark it); but it is rather a regular pan̄kti, with the easy resolution muñca imam in a.

2. This man hath come, hath arisen, hath gone unto the troop (vrā́ta) of the living; he hath become of sons the father and of men (nṛ́) the most fortunate.

Ppp. has in c abhūta (for abhūd u), and in d nṛṇām. ⌊Pronounce ā́ agād.⌋

3. He hath attained (adhi-gā) attainments; he hath attained (adhi-gam) the strongholds (-purā) of the living; for a hundred healers are his, also a thousand plants.

The 'attainments' (adhīti), according to the comm., are the Vedas and objects formerly learned (adhīta), and now, by restored health, recovered to memory. Ppp. reads instead adhītam in a, and purā ’gāt in b; and its c, d are çataṁ te ‘sya vīrudha sahasram uta bheṣajaḥ. Emendation to bheṣajā́ in our c would improve both sense and meter. The comm. here, as in sundry other places, derives vīrudh from vi + rudh, on the ground that they virundhanti vināçayanti rogān.

4. The gods have found thy gathering (? cītí), the priests (brahmán) and the plants; all the gods have found thy gathering upon the earth.

In a, our Bp. has cītím, and Op. cītám (both cītím in c); Ppp. reads cātam in both a and c; either word is elsewhere unknown. The comm. derives cītí either from the false root cīv 'take, cover,' or from cit 'observe,' and fabricates his alternative explanations accordingly. If it comes from ci, there is hardly another example of a like formation. Ppp. has for a cātaṁ te devā ’vidaṁ; and, in c, d, cātaṁ tebhyo tu mām avidaṁ bhū-.

5. Whoso made, he shall unmake; he verily is best of healers; he himself, clean, shall make for thee remedies, with the healer.

The application of the pronouns here is more or less questionable. Ppp. reads su for sa in a, and has a more intelligible second half-verse: sa eva tubhyaṁ bheṣajaṁ cakāra bhiṣajāti ca; our bhiṣájā in d is probably to be emended to -jām ⌊'the clean one of the healers'?⌋. The comm. understands sa at the beginning either as "the great sage Atharvan" or as the creator of the universe; and niṣkarat as grahavikārasya çamanaṁ or niṣkṛtiṁ karotu. Weber renders the latter "shall put it to rights."