Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IX/Hymn 9

9. Mystic.

[Brahman.—dvāviṅçakam. vāmīyam ādityadevatyam adhyātmakaram. trāiṣṭubham: 12, 14, 16, 18. jagatī.]

This hymn and the following (except a few verses of the latter) are one Rig-Veda hymn, namely, i. 164, and but a small part of them occur in any other Vedic text. Both are found in Pāipp. xvi., in somewhat changed verse-order, as will be noted under the different verses below. Vāit. takes no notice of this hymn; in Kāuç. it (vs. 1) is quoted in 18. 25, with various others, in a ceremony for prosperity; and the gaṇamālā (see note to Kāuç. 18. 25) reckons it as belonging to the salila gaṇa.

Translated: as RV. hymn, by Ludwig, no. 951; and Grassmann, ii. p. 456-460; also by M. Haug, under the tide, Vedische Räthselfragen und Räthselsprüche, Sb. der philos.-philol. Classe der k. bairischen Ak. der Wiss., Bd. II., Heft 3, für 1875, München, 1876 (the essay, says Whitney, "casts extremely little light upon its labored obscurities"); further, with an elaborate comment touching the significance of its philosophic content, by Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 105-119; parts also by Muir, v. (see Index, p. 484), and Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. (see Index, p. 542); and under the title, Zwei Sprüche über Leib und Seele, ZDMG. xlvi. 759 f., Roth explains two verses answering to our ix. 10. 8 and 16. Under the title. Das Räthsel vom Jahre, ZDMG. xlviii. 353, E. Windisch discusses the RV. verse answering to our vs. 12.

Translated, moreover, as AV. hymn, by Henry, 107, 143; Griffith, i. 458. The critical remarks of Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 180-183, may also be consulted.—Further, von Schroeder, Der Rigveda bei den Kaṭhas, WZKM. xii. 282, reports variants for certain vss. of the RV. hymn which correspond to our vss. ix. 9. 9, 12, 17, 22 and ix. 10. 16.—Finally, A. Wünsche's essay. Das Rätsel vom Jahr und seinen Zeitabschnitten in der Weltlitteratur, may be cited in this connection; it is found in Zeitschrift für vergl. Litteraturgeschichte, N.F., ix. 425-456.

1. Of this pleasant (vāmá) hoary invoker—of him the brother is the midmost stone (? áçna); his third brother [is] ghee-backed; there I saw the lord of the people who hath seven sons.

The three brothers are explained as the three forms of Agni, in heaven, in the atmosphere (lightning), and on earth (sacrificial fire): the 'seven sons' are most probably his many flames. ⌊The collocation of madhyamó with bhrā́tā would seem more natural, considering the phrase tṛtī́yo bhrā́tā.

2. Seven harness (yuj) a one-wheeled chariot; one horse, having seven names, draws (vah) [it]; of three naves [is] the wheel, unwasting, unassailed, whereon stand all these existences.

Doubtless the sun. The verse is repeated as xiii. 3. 18. It occurs also in TA. iii. 11. 8, with anarvāṁ yene ’mā v. bhuvanāni t. in c, d (the accent of the verse is too corrupt to heed).

3. The seven that stand on this chariot—seven horses draw it, seven-wheeled; seven sisters shout at [it] together, where are set down the seven names of the kine.

RV. reads navante in c, and nā́ma in d.

4. Who saw it first in process of birth, as the boneless one bears (bhṛ) him that has bones? where forsooth the earth's life (ásu), blood, soul? who shall go to ask that of him who knows?

'Bears,' not in the sense of 'gives birth to,' but of 'carries' or 'supports' or the like.

5. Let him who truly knows ⌊here⌋ tell (brū) the set-down track of this pleasant bird; the kine extract (duh) milk from his head; clothing themselves in a wrap, they have drunk water with the foot.

Explained as relating to the clouds and the sun. The verse is vs. 7 in RV., and also in Ppp.; the latter reads çīrṣṇā in c.

6. Simple, not discerning (vi-jñā) with the mind, I ask about the thus set-down tracks of the gods; over the yearling (? baṣkáya) calf have the poets stretched out seven lines (tántu) for weaving.

7. I, not understanding (cit), ask here the understanding poets, I unknowing (vid), them that know; he who propped asunder these six spaces (rájas), in the form of the goat (? ajá)—was that also alone?

The sense of the last pāda is utterly obscure, and the version given only tentative; ajá is perhaps here really the 'unborn one,' as the translators render it. RV. reads in a ácikitvāñ cik-, and, in b, vidmáne, for which our vidvánas is apparently a mere corruption.

8. The mother portioned the father in righteousness, for with meditation (dhītí), with mind, came together in the beginning she, repugnant, womb-sapped, pierced; paying homage, verily, they went unto encouragement.

The version is in part only mechanical. Ppp. combines ṛtā ”babh- in a, and reads jajñe at end of b.

9. The mother was yoked to the pole of the sacrificial gift; the embryo stood among the wiles (? vṛjanī́); the calf bleated, looked after the cow of all forms, in the three distances (yójana).

⌊Kaṭha variants, WZKM. xii. 282, vṛjanéṣv antáḥ and yojáneṣu.—Cf. IFA. vi. 180, as noted above.⌋

10. The one, bearing three mothers [and] three fathers, stood upright; verily they do not exhaust him; on the back of yon sky the all-knowing ones talk a speech not found by all.

RV. reads glāpayanti at end of b ⌊and the translation follows that reading⌋, and, for d, viçvavídaṁ vā́cam áviçvaminvām. The pada-text reads glapayanta; Prāt. iv. 93 notes the case. Ppp. agrees with RV. in glāpayanti and viçvavidam.

11. On the five-spoked circumvolving wheel on which stood all existences—its axle, much-burdened, is not heated; even from of old it is not severed with the nave.

RV. and Ppp. count this verse as 13, our version inverting the order of 11-13. In b, RV. reads tásminn ā́ tasthur bh. v., and Ppp. samārohanti bh. v.; and RV. has çīryate for chidyate in d.

12. The five-footed father, of twelve shapes (-ā́kṛti), they call rich in ground (purīṣín) in the far (pára) half of the sky; then these others call [him] set (árpita) in the lower outlook that is seven-wheeled, six-spoked.

RV. and Ppp. have the easier and better reading vicakṣaṇám in c, and Ppp. reads before it upari. ⌊The Kaṭha reading also is úpari, WZKM. xii. 282.⌋ Read in b páre (an accent sign slipped out of place). ⌊See Roth, KZ. xxvi. 66, and Windisch as cited in the introduction; cf. also IFA. vi. 181, as noted above.⌋

13. The twelve-spoked wheel—for that is not to be worn out—revolves greatly about the sky of righteousness; there, O Agni, stood the sons, paired, seven hundred and twenty.

Here the 'twelve' and the 'seven hundred and twenty' are plainly the months, and the days and nights, of the year of 360 days. The verse, as noted above, is vs. 11 in RV. and Ppp. The more proper reading in b would be várvartti.

14. The unwasting wheel, with rim, rolls about; ten harnessed ones draw upon the outstretched one (fem.); the sun's eye goes surrounded with the welkin (rájas), in which stood all existences.

Ppp. has vrajanti for vahanti in b, and, for d yasminn ārpitā bhuvanāny ārpitā; RV. has tásminn ā́rpitā for our yásminn ātasthúḥ. The Anukr. calls the verse simply a jagatī, though only two of its pādas have 12 syllables.

15. Them, being women, they declared (ah) to me to be men; he who hath eyes may see, [but] the blind will not distinguish (vi-cit); the son that is a poet, he verily understood (ā-cit); whoever knows those things apart, he shall be [his] father's father.

RV. and Ppp. put this verse after our vs. 16. It is found also in TA. i. 11. 4, with tā́ u in a, imā́s in c for īm ā́, and savitúḥ p- in d. Some of our mss. (P.s.m.O.K.T.) reads pitúḥ p- in d; we had the phrase once before, at ii. 1. 2, and the combination falls under Prāt. ii. 73. We might expect, in d, tā́ḥ, referring to stríyaḥ, but the pada-texts have tā́, as neuter pl.

16. Of those born together the seventh they call sole-born; six, they say, are twins, god-born seers; the sacrifices (? iṣṭá) of them, distributed according to their abodes, quake in their station, being altered (vi-kṛ) in respect to form.

Iṣṭā́ni in c might equally mean 'things desired.' Sthātré in d is most probably loc. of -trá, since, if from sthātṛ́, we should expect instead the ablative. ⌊The vs. recurs at TA. i. 3. 1 with udyamā́s for íd yamā́s.⌋

17. Below the distant (pára), thus beyond the lower, bearing (bhṛ) her calf with her foot, the cow hath stood up; whitherwards, to what quarter (árdha) hath she forsooth gone away? where giveth she birth? for [it is] not in this herd.

The Anukr. takes no notice of the redundant syllable in a; we may suppose pará enā́- to be combined to parāí ’nā́-. ⌊The verse is repeated below as xiii. 1. 41. RV. ends with antáḥ for asmín. The Kaṭha variant párākāt for párāgāt (WZKM. xii. 282) shows an exchange of surd and sonant, the reverse of that noted at ii. 13. 3.⌋

18. Below the distant whoever knows his father, below the distant, thus beyond the lower—who, playing the poet, shall proclaim [him] here? from whence [is] heavenly mind produced?

RV. and Ppp. read, in a, b, yó asyā ’nuvéda pará enā́-, rectifying the meter and lightening the construction. Only the first two pādas have any "jagatī" character, and they are very irregular. But by giving this name the Anukr. shows that it reads our version; in RV. and Ppp. the verse is a pure triṣṭubh. Read in d kúto (for kṛ́to).

19. Them that are hitherward they call off-ward; them, again, that are off-ward they call hitherward; what things, O Soma, thou and Indra have done, those they draw, harnessed as it were with the pole of the welkin.

The verse is found also in JB. i. 279, with no various readings that are not evident corruptions. The 'them' of a, b is masc., probably the same with the 'they' of d (yuktā́ḥ, p.). Ppp. reads niyuktā instead of na yuktā.

20. Two eagles (suparṇá), joint companions, embrace the same tree; of them the one eats the sweet berry; the other looks on all the time, not partaking.

Ppp. reads in a suyujā. Here and in the next verse, as everywhere else, some of our mss. read píṣpalam. ⌊The vs. plays a rôle in the Upanishads: cf. Çvet. iv. 6; Muṇḍ. iii. 1. 1. Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. 466, 399, treats this and the following vss.⌋

21. On what tree the honey-eating eagles all settle and give birth—what they call the sweet berry in the top of it, that cannot he attain who knoweth not [his] father.

RV. has íd āhuḥ instead of yád āhúḥ in c, and so also Ppp. (but āhuṣ). In RV. this verse follows after our vs. 22. There is a redundant syllable in c of which the Anukr. takes no notice (and the pāda is also capable of being crowded together into eleven syllables).

22. Where the eagles, with counsel (vidátha), sound incessantly (ánimeṣam) unto the draught of amṛ́ta,—thus the shepherd of all existence, he the wise one entered there into me that am simple.

RV. reads bhāgám for bhakṣám in a. For enā́ in c, RV. has inás, and Ppp. yo no; ⌊Ppp's yo no seems to be an attempt to make sense out of the rare and probably unintelligible inó⌋. ⌊The Kaṭha variant (WZKM. xii. 282) is ánimiṣam.]

⌊The quoted Anukr. says navadaçe ca.⌋