Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 10
10. To the ekāṣṭakā́ (day of moon's last quarter).
[Atharvan.—trayodaçarcam. āṣṭakyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4, 5, 6, 12. triṣṭubh; 7. 3-av. 6-p. virāḍgarbhātijagatī.]
Found, except vss. 9 and 13, in Pāipp. i., but with a very different order of verses (1-4, 6, 11, 10, 8, 5, 12, 7). Used by Kāuç. in connection with the aṣṭakā ceremony, or celebration of the festival of the moon's last quarter (19. 28, and again, with more fulness, 138. 1-16), or of a particular last quarter, regarded as of special importance. The details of the Kāuç. are expanded and explained by the comm.; they are not of a nature to cast light upon the interpretation of the verses. Weber (pp. 219 ff.) discusses at considerable length the questions connected with the festival. Vāit., which does not concern itself with the aṣṭakā, yet employs vs. 6 (13. 6) at the agniṣṭoma sacrifice, in connection with the somakrayaṇī cow; and also vs. 7 c-f (9. 4) in the sākamedha rite of the cāturmāsya sacrifice. The comm. quotes vss. 2, 3, 7 as employed by Pariçiṣṭa 6. 1.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 189; Weber, xvii. 218; Griffith, i. 93.
1. She first shone out; she became a milch-cow at Yama's; let her, rich in milk, yield (duh) to us each further summer (? sámā).
2. The night which the gods rejoice to meet, [as] a milch-cow coming unto [them], which is the spouse (pátnī) of the year—let her be very auspicious to us.
The verse is found also in PGS. (iii. 2. 2), HGS. (ii. 17. 2) ⌊MP. (ii. 20. 27) and MGS. (ii. 8.4c)⌋, and its second half in MB. (ii. 2. 16 c, d); the first four have the better readings janās in a and ivā ”yatīm in b ⌊and MGS. has rātrīm.⌋ Ppp. has in b dhenu rātrim up-, and at the end -galā. For saṁvatsarásya pátnī (cf. vs. 8 a, b) the comm. quotes TS. vii. 4. 81.
3. Thou, O night, whom we worship (upa-ās) as model (pratimā́) of the year-—do thou unite our long-lived progeny with abundance of wealth.
Or, perhaps better (so the comm. and Weber), 'do thou [give] us long-lived progeny; unite [us] with abundance of wealth.' Ppp. has for b ye tvā rātrim upāsate, and in c teṣām for sā nas. ⌊MGS. has the vs. at ii. 8.4d (cf. p. 156), agreeing nearly with Ppp.⌋ The first half-verse is read also in TS. (v. 7. 21), K. (xl. 2), PGS. (iii. 2. 2), and MB. (ii. 2. 18): TS. gives at end of b upā́sate, MB. yajāmahe; PGS. has pratimā yā tāṁ rātrīm upāsmahe. In our edition, restore a lost accent-mark over the sṛ of sṛja in d.
4. This same is she that first shone out; among these other ones (f.) she goes about (car), having entered; great greatnesses [are] within her; the bride (vadhū́), the new-going generatrix, hath conquered.
This verse is repeated below as viii. 9. 11. It occurs, with considerable variants, in a whole series of other texts: TS. (iv. 3. 111), MS. (ii. 13. 10), K. (xxxix. 10), ÇGS. (iii. 12. 3), and MB. (ii. 2. 15). For āsv ítarāsu, TS. and ÇGS. have antár asyā́m; MS., also Ppp., sā́ ’psv àntás; MB., se ’yam apsv antas. All of them, with Ppp., invert the order of c and d; and they have a different version of our c: tráya (but Ppp. trita) enām mahimā́naḥ sacante (ÇGS. -ntām), but MB. viçve hy asyām mahimāno antaḥ; while, for jigāya in d, TS. and ÇGS. give jajāna, and MS. and Ppp. mimāya, ÇGS. following it with navakṛj; and MB. reads prathamā for our navagát. ÇGS., moreover, has in a vyuchat. These variants speak ill for the tradition. The comm. gives four diverse explanations of navagát: going in company with each new or daily rising sun; pervading the new originating kind of living creatures; going to a daily originating new form; or, finally, going to the nine-fold divisions of the day; and the comment to TS. ⌊reported by Weber⌋ adds a fifth, "newly married"; if the last is the meaning, jajāna is better with it than jigāya: "as soon as wedded to the new year, she bears the days that follow." The meter is really redundant by a syllable in a ⌊iyāívá?⌋. ⌊Further, MB. has in a eṣāi ’va sā yā pūrvā vy-; and Ppp. ends d with janitrīm.—BR., v. 1538, give 'erst-gebärend' for navagát.
5. The forest-tree pressing-stones have made their sound, making the oblation of the complete year (parivatsarī́ṇa); O sole áṣṭakā, may we, having good progeny and good heroes, be lords of wealths.
"Stones": i.e. probably, blocks of wood used instead of stones ⌊see Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 162, 161⌋; or the wooden mortar and pestle (so the comm.). Ppp. reads for c ekāṣṭakayī (= -kāyāi) haviṣā vidhema. Some of the mss. combine havíḥ kṛ- in b; the comment to Prāt. ii. 63 requires havíṣ k-, which both editions accept. Some of our mss. (P.M.W.Op.) give in c suprajāsas. HGS. (ii. 14. 4) and MB. (ii. 2. 13) have a corresponding verse: HGS. begins with ulūkhalās, combines haviḥ k- and reads -rīṇām in b, and has suprajā vīravantas in c; MB. gives for a āulūkhalāḥ sampravadanti grāvāṇas, ends b with -rīṇām, and has for d jyog jīvema balihṛto vayaṁ te. ⌊It recurs also at MP. ii. 20. 34 and MGS. ii. 8. 4b.⌋ The first pāda is jagatī, unnoted in the Anukr. ⌊As to aṣṭakā, cf. Zimmer, p. 365.⌋
6. The track (padá) of Idā [is] full of ghee, greatly trickling; O Jātavedas, accept thou the oblations. The cattle of the village that are of all forms—of those seven let the willing stay (ráṁti) be with me.
Versions are found in AÇS. (ii. 2. 17), ĀpÇS. (vi. 5. 7), HGS. (ii. 17. 2), and MB. (ii. 2. 14), and of the latter half in TA. (iii. 11. 12, vs. 31 a, c). MB. agrees with our text throughout; the three others have carācaram at end of a, and all three havir idaṁ juṣasva (for prati etc.) in b; HGS. begins with iḍāyāi sṛptam, and ĀpÇS. combines iḍāyāḥ p-; then, in d, ĀpÇS., HGS., and TA. read ihá instead of máyi; and AÇS. puṣṭis for raṁtis; HGS. ends with raṁtir asiu puṣṭiḥ. The comm. reads ilāyās in a; he renders sarīsṛpam by atyarthaṁ sarpat, raṁtis by prītis, and specifies the seven village (i.e. domestic) animals as cow, horse, goat, sheep, man, ass, camel; but the number seven is doubtless used only as an indefinite sacred one. Pada a is again jagatī, as in vs. 5. ⌊Pāda c is our ii. 34. 4 a; between viçvarūpās and teṣām ĀpÇS. inserts virūpās (a fragment of our ii. 34. 4 b!).—Prāt. ii. 72 requires iḍāyās p-.⌋
7. [Set] thou me in both prosperity and abundance; O night, may we be in the favor of the gods.
O spoon, fly away full; fly back hither well-filled; jointly enjoying all sacrifices, bring to us food (íṣ), refreshment (ū́rj).
The first two pādas, which seem to have nothing to do with the rest of the verse, are wanting in Ppp. What follows them is a complete anuṣṭubh, and quoted by its pratīka in Vāit. (see above); its first half is found in several other texts: VS. (iii. 49), TS. (i. 8. 41), MS. (i. 10. 2), K. (ix. 5), AÇS. (ii. 18. 13); of these, VS. TS. AÇS. read darvi for darve, as does also the comm., with a few of SPP's mss. Ppp. has saṁpṛñcatī iṣam in the last half-verse. The comm. understands ā sthāpaya in a, as in the translation; bhaja would answer an equally good purpose. He explains that the spoon is to go forth with oblation and to return with the answering blessings. Sambhuñjatī he renders by haviṣā samyak pālayantī prīņayantī. Finally, he points out that, as c is quoted as a pratīka, a and b have a right to the character of a separate verse; but that in the pañcapaṭalikā the whole is made a verse, with three avasānas; the statement, but not the title, appears to fit our Anukr.; this scans as 8 + 10; 8 + 8: 8 + 8 = 50, needlessly counting only 10 syllables in b. In our ed., read mā for me. ⌊Cf. iv. 15. 12 n.⌋
8. Hither hath come the year, thy spouse, O sole áṣṭakā; do thou unite our long-lived progeny with abundance of wealth.
Instead of repeating the second half-verse of vs. 3, Ppp. gives for c, d tasmāi juhomi: haviṣā ghṛtena çāu naç çarma yacchatu. Against his usual habit, the comm. explains c, d anew, but quite in accordance with his former explanation.
9. I sacrifice to the seasons, the lords of the seasons, them of the seasons (ārtavá), and the winters (hāyaná), to the summers (sámā), the years, the months; for the lord of existence I sacrifice.
The change of case, from accusative to dative, in d, doubtless intends no change of construction. The verse, as noted above, is wanting in Ppp.; it is in part repeated below, as xi. 6. 17. According to the comm., the "lords of the seasons" are the gods, Agni etc.; the ārtavas ⌊cf. iii. 6. 6 note⌋ are "parts of seasons; other unspecified divisions of time, sixteenths, kāṣṭhās, etc."; and although samā, saṁvatsara, and hāyana are synonymous, yet hāyana here signifies "days and nights," and samā "half-months."
10. To thee for the seasons, them of the seasons, the months, the years, the Creator (dhātár), the Disposer (vidhātár), the Prosperer (? samṛ́dh), the lord of existence, do I sacrifice.
All the saṁhitā-mss. combine in a -bhyaṣ ṭvā, and SPP. accepts the reading in his text; ours emends to -bhyas tvā; such treatment of final as is common in Ppp., and sporadic examples of it are found among the AV. mss., but it is hardly to be tolerated in a text like ours; and the comment to Prāt. iv. 107 quotes the passage as -bhyas tvā. The comm. ⌊at xix. 37. 4⌋ deems this verse ⌊and not v. 28. 13⌋ to be the one repeated as xix. 37. 4; see under that verse. Ppp. has, for a, b, yajur ṛtvigbhya ārtavebhyo mābhyas saṁvatsarāya ca, which at any rate rids the text of the embarrassing tvā. Here the comm. declares the ārtavas to be "days and nights, etc."; samṛ́dh he explains as samardhayitre etannāmne devāya.
11. We, making oblation with ídā—I sacrifice to the gods with what is rich in ghee; unto houses not disorderly (? álubhyant), rich in kine, may we enter together.
Or, it might be, 'may we lie down, go to rest'; the translation would imply more naturally sam úpa viçema ⌊the Index Verborum takes úpa as an independent "case-governing" preposition⌋; the comm. says upe ’tya saṁ viçema sukhena ni vasema; he comfortably removes the anacoluthon in a, b by declaring yaje = yajāmahe, and takes alubhyatas as either nom. (gārdhyam akurvāṇās) or accus. (gārdhyarahitān). Ppp. reads for d dṛṣadesvpagomata.
12. The sole áṣṭakā, paining herself (tapyá-) with penance, generated an embryo, a greatness, Indra; by him the gods overcame their foes; slayer of the barbarians became the lord of might (çácī-).
The verse is found also in TS. (iv. 3. 113), K. (xxxix. 10), PGS. (iii. 3. 5), and MB. (ii. 3. 21); and a is identical with HGS. ii. 15.9 a ⌊and MP. ii. 20. 35 a⌋: TS. accents tápya- in a (the comm. does the same), and its c, d read: téna dásyūn vy àsahanta devā́ hantā́ ’surāṇām abhavac chácībhiḥ, and K. PGS. have the same version; Ppp. agrees with them in reading asurāṇām for dásyūnām, and MB. has their d, but our c, except asahanta for vy aṣah-. The ṣ of vy àṣ- is distinctly required by Prāt. ii. 92; but SPP. gives in his text vy às-, against a majority of the mss. reported by him. Our P.M.W. are corrupt at the end, but P.M. show distinctly -ībhiḥ, indicating the reading of TS. etc. The comm. gives three different explanations of gárbham in b, adding garaṇīyam or stutyam (from gṛ 'sing'), and then garbhasthavad adṛçyam (from gṛ 'swallow'), to the true meaning. The ekāṣṭakā he defines to be "eighth day of the dark half of Māgha." The concluding pāda is jagatī.
13. Thou whose son is Indra, whose son is Soma, daughter art thou of Prajāpati; fulfil thou our desires; accept our oblation.
Wanting in Ppp., as above noted.
The second anuvāka contains 5 hymns, 40 verses; and the quotation from the old Anukr. is simply daça.