Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 37

37. With an amulet: for various blessings.

[Atharvan.—caturṛcam. āgneyam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. āstārapan̄kti; 3. 3-p. mahābṛhatī; 4. purāuṣṇih.]

Not found in Pāipp. The comm. neither quotes nor devises a viniyoga, but SPP. finds it used in Nakṣ.K. 19, in the mahāçānti ceremony called tvāṣṭrī, with a threefold amulet, on occasion of the loss of a garment.

Translated: Griffith, ii. 295.

1. This splendor hath come, given by Agni, brightness (bhárga), glory, power, force, vigor (vájas), strength; and the heroisms that are thirty-three—those let Agni give forth to me.

Most of the mss. accent balám at end of b. The first half-verse corresponds to a first half-verse in TB. (ii. 5. 7¹), MS. (ii. 3. 4), and AÇS. (vi. 12. 2); all these read at end of a ā́ ’gāt, and AÇS. has rādhas instead of várcas; then, in b, TB. and AÇS. give yáço bhárgaḥ sáha ójo bálaṁ ca, MS. máhi rā́dhaḥ sáha ójo bálaṁ yát, all making a good triṣṭubh pāda; the verse is too irregular to be called simply a triṣṭubh. ⌊With c, cf. 27. 10 a, above.⌋

2. Splendor set thou in my body (tanū́), power, force, vigor, strength; unto Indra-like action, unto heroism, unto [life] of a hundred autumns, do I accept thee.

The majority of mss. again accent balám. In a, SPP. has the better reading tanvā̀m, with the comm. and a single ms. (accidental i"). ⌊The transition-form ought probably to be oxytone, tanvā́m: see my Noun-Inflection, p. 412, near top.⌋ ⌊With our second half-verse cf. the second half of the verse just cited from TB.MS.AÇS.: apart from two or three misprints, it reads dīrghāyutvā́ya çatáçāradāya práti gṛhṇāmi (MS. gṛbhṇāmi: AÇS. gṛbhnāmi, cf. Grammar §195 a) mahaté vīryàya (MS. -tá indriyā́ya)—a confused blending of tags: cf . xi. 1. 3, 7, and so on.⌋ ⌊The comm. takes a, b as addressed to Agni.⌋ Under 2 c, d and vss. 3 and 4, he speaks of the thing addressed simply as a padārtha, 'a substance,' not presuming to define what it is: an unusual restraint on his part.

3. Unto refreshment thee, unto strength thee, unto force, unto power thee, unto superiority thee do I carry about, unto the wearing of royalty for a hundred autumns.

Very likely the last word is best rendered as a noun; the comm. so takes it. The mss. all accent ráṣṭrābhṛt-, which SPP. retains; our text makes the necessary emendation to -ṭrabhṛ́t- ⌊cf. Gram. §1213 c⌋. ⌊Even though 3-p. mahābṛhatī taken (Ind. Stud. viii. 243) as 12:12:12,⌋ the definition of the Anukr. is bad: the verse is just as much an āstārapan̄kti as vs. 2; ⌊both are doubtless to be scanned as 8 + 8: 11 + 11⌋.

4. Thee with the seasons, with them of the seasons; thee unto lifetime, unto splendor; with the brilliancy of the year—with that we make [thee] cheek by jowl.

⌊All the mss. give here ṛtúbhiṣ ṭvé ’ty ékā (= v. 28. 13), except W's O. and SPP's careful Dc., which have, disregarding the accents, ṛtubhyaṣ ṭve ’ty ekā (= iii. 10. 10). The metrical definition of the Anukr. as purauṣṇih, coinciding with its definition of v. 28. 13 (not with that of iii. 10. 10), supports the mss. in the implication that a repetition of v. 28. 13 is here intended; and so does the pratīka given by the Anukr., which is ṛtubhaṣ ṭvā ”rtavāiḥ (not the ”rtavebhyaḥ of iii. 10. 10). The Berlin ed., accordingly, here repeats v. 28. 13: SPP., on the other hand, repeats iii. 10. 10;⌋ in this he follows the comm., who gives at this point, curiously, iii. 10. 10 in full, and makes an entirely new commentary upon it, taking no notice of its having occurred before. The mss. appear to have confounded the two pratīkas in a measure: ⌊and this probably accounts for the false lingualization of -bhyaṣ ṭvā—see note to iii. 10. 10, and observe that both mss. of the Anukr. here have ṛtubhaṣ ṭv-, which is neither one thing nor the other!⌋ ⌊For sáṁhanu, W's 'cheek by jowl' is perhaps a better version than the one which he gave at v. 28. 13, 'of closed jaw, free from involuntary opening of the jaws.' A third version is given by Griffith: 'we fasten thee [the amulet] about the neck.' Dīgha Nikāya, ii. 6l, suggests still a fourth interpretation, 'affected with lock-jaw,' not applicable here: cf. viii. 1. 16.⌋