Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 57

57. Against evil-dreaming.

[Yama.—pañcatam. dāuṣvapnyam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. anuṣṭubh; 3 ⌊of Anukr.: = 3 and 4 a. (to mukham) of Berlin ed'n⌋. 3-av. 4-p. triṣṭubh; 4. ⌊of Anukr.: = 4 b to 5 b of Berlin ed'n, that is taṁ tvā svapna to gṛhe⌋. 6-p. uṣṇigbṛhatīgarbhā virāṭçakvarī; 5 ⌊of Anukr.: = 5 c to 6 of Berlin ed'n, that is anāsmākas tad to end of hymn⌋. 3-av. 5-p. paraçākvarā ’tijagatī.⌋

⌊Partly prose—verses 2, 3, 4, and 6.⌋ Pāipp. has only the first verse (in ii.). The comm. quotes from a Pariçiṣṭa (SPP. is unable to identify the passage) a direction for using it (with vi. 45, 46) to a king who sees bad dreams. ⌊As to the connection of the material of this hymn with that of h. 56, see introd. to h. 56.⌋ ⌊As to the differences of division, see under vss. 3, 4, and 5, and cf. SPP's Critical Notice, vol. i., p. 24.⌋

Translated: Ludwig, p. 468; Griffith, ii. 314.

1. As a sixteenth, as an eighth, as a [whole] debt they bring together, so do we bring together all evil-dreaming on one who is offensive (ápriya).

The verse is nearly identical with vi. 46. 3, differing only by substituting ápriye in d for dviṣaté. Apriye comes near to the āptyé of RV. viii. 47. 17, with which both verses correspond: see note to vi. 46. 3. The comm., in fact, reads āptye.

2. Kings have gathered (sam-gā), debts have gathered, kuṣṭhás have gathered, sixteenths have gathered; all evil-dreaming that is in us—let us impel away evil-dreaming to him that hates us.

The pada-mss. read sáḥ: mṛṇā́ni for sám: ṛṇā́ni, and sáḥ: kalā́ḥ (the saṁhitā-mss. also sá kalā́ ag-) for sám: kalā́ḥ; SPP. follows us in emending in both places to sám, which the comm. also has. At the beginning of the second division, we have emended sám of the mss. and comm. (which SPP. follows) to sárvam. For yát (after asmā́su) the saṁhitā-mss. read yáta, and the pada-mss. yátaḥ; out yát is supported by the comm., and SPP. adopts it The comm. says that kuṣṭha is a skin-disease, symptomatic of various maladies; and, when one of these remains unhealed, boils and sores etc. (? piṭakavraṇādīni) show themselves. Also, that kalās are anupādeyāvayavopalakṣaṇa, and worthless parts of cattle etc. are collected in old pits. And in like manner collected ill-dreaming is made over to an enemy. That is his idea, and a wholly unacceptable one, of the general meaning of the verse. ⌊The verse is prose, no triṣṭubh; but may be stretched so as to count as 43 syllables.⌋

3. Embryo of the wives of the gods, instrument of Yama, excellent dream; the evil [dream] that is mine, that do we send forth to him that hates us.

The mss. all read devā́nām pátnīnāṁ gárbha (one pada-mss. -bham) yamásya kárayo bhadrásvapnaḥ; the translation implies no further emendation than to gárbho and káraṇo; ⌊the minor Pet. Lex., iv. 249, accepts bhadrásvapna as a descriptive compound, although the accent (Gram. §1280 c) is very exceptional;⌋ SPP., following the comm., changes to dévānām patnīnāṁ garbha yámasya kara yó bhadráḥ svapna. Our devápatnīnām and káraṇas were suggested especially by the devajāmīnā́m and káraṇas of vi. 46. 2 and xvi. 5. 6, of which neither the comm. nor SPP. take any notice. In the second division of the verse the two editions agree, save that ours emends tát of the mss. (which SPP. follows) to tám; and the latter is supported by our P.M., and by the comm. But the mss. have at the beginning samámayaḥ, and the pada-mss. resolve it into samám: ayaḥ. The Anukr. and comm. and SPP. add to this verse what in our text is the first division of vs. 4; our division is that of our first mss., and is preferable on the ground of the sense. ⌊The prose verse, according to the division of the Anukr., may be made to count (8 + 10: 13: 13?) as 44 syllables.⌋

4. Thee that art "harsh" by name, mouth of the black bird (-çakúni)—thee, O sleep, we thus know completely; do thou, O sleep, as a horse a halter, as a horse a girth, scatter him who is not of us, the god-reviler, the mocker.

⌊Prose.⌋ The translation here is of no authority, including various venturesome emendations of the text; it follows our text except at the end, where, instead of badhāna, it implies the (unsatisfactory) vapa of the comm. and SPP.; all the mss. read vápus ⌊or vápu⌋. At the beginning, the pada-mss. give mā́tṛṣṭā: nāma: asi: kṛṣṇa॰çakune: múkham; and the saṁhitā-mss. agree with them, with worthless variations of accent ⌊and some slight differences besides⌋, and with -kuner in one or two. SPP. reads, however, mā́ tṛṣṭā́nām asi kṛṣṇaçakunér múkham, won, as he claims, by adding accents to the comm's text; but this differs from the mss. only by ⌊the word-division and⌋ by -nāmasi and -ner; how the comm. divides and understands mātṛṣṭānāmasi is unknown, as his explanation of the words is wanting (though SPP. notes no lacuna). So much (to múkham) is, as was noted above, added to vs. 3 by Anukr., comm., and SPP. In the next division of the verse, for kakṣyā̀m, the mss., the comm., and SPP., give kāyám, which might mean 'body'; the comm. is apparently imperfect here, reading açvo yathā svakīyaṁ rajodhūsaraṁ [kāyaṁ] dhunoti yathā cā ’çvo nīnāham palyāṇakavacādikam avakirati: with kāyam is perhaps omitted also çarīram, its gloss. Our mss. end vs. 4 with nīnāhám, and it was our emendation to add the next clause; but this the comm. does also, ending with vapa, while SPP. goes on to gṛhe without making a verse-division; the sense (so far as we can be said to understand it) favors our division and the comm's. The latter reads avā ’smākam, finding thus an ava...vapa, which he explains by tiraskuru. All the mss. give pípāruṁ ⌊P.M.: píy-⌋ vápur ⌊or vápu⌋ yád etc., with not even a pāda-division after vápus; such a division was due in our text, however, after nīnāhám. ⌊The Anukr. seems to intend to count the verse (taṁ tvā to gṛhe) as 9 + 9 + 7 + 13 (reading vapa): 8 + 8 = 54.⌋

5. What evil-dreaming is in us, what in our kine, and what in our house, that let him who is not of us, the god-reviler, the mocker, put on like a necklace (niṣká).

⌊Pādas a and b are identical with 45. 2 a, b, above; and the rest of the verse seems to throw much light on 45. 2 c, d: see my note to that verse. In his Collation-Book, Whitney here made a note of this important parallel, but seems to have overlooked his note when working out his commentary.⌋ The mss. again all read pípārus ⌊P.M.: píy-⌋; and the comm. again avā ’smākam, supplying a gamaya to the ava in his explanation. The omission of devapīyús would make a fair anuṣṭubh of this verse ⌊and a faultless one, if we pronounce niṣkéva⌋; it is evidently metrical, and a verse by itself ⌊cf. 45. 2⌋ as it stands in our text; the Anukr. and SPP., with part of the mss., end vs. 4 with gṛhé, and throw all the rest of the hymn together as vs. 5; the comm. agrees with us as to vss. 5 and 6. ⌊The Anukr. seems to intend to count its verse 5 (anāsmākás tád to end of hymn) as 12 + 9: 9 + 7 [:] 14 = 51, and to put its second avasāna, with some of the mss., after pári, as does SPP.⌋

6. Having measured off nine cubits, forth from that do we divide off to him who hates us all our evil-dreaming.

⌊Prose.⌋ Instead of our apamā́ya, the mss., the comm., and SPP. read ápamayā (p. ápa॰mayāḥ) how the comm. (or SPP.) would explain it does not appear, as he gives only the general sense of the expression; asmākaṁ sambandhi duṣvapnyaṁ navāratniparyantam apasāraya. He reads at the end apriye saṁ nayāmasi (= 1 d).