17. Against premature birth.
[Atharvan.—caturṛcam. garbhadṛṅhaṇadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]
Found, except vs. 1 (in the order 4, 2, 3), in Pāipp. xix. Used by Kāuç. (35. 12) in the rite for securing the fœtus against abortion.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 477; Florenz, 269 or 21; Griffith, i. 254; Bloomfield, 98, 467.
1. As this great earth receives the embryo of existences, so let thine embryo be maintained, in order to birth after pregnancy.
The comm. reads anusūtram for ánu sū́tum. The first half-verse has already occurred, as v. 25. 2 a, b ⌊where the note gives the parallel passages⌋. The comment to Prāt. ii. 103 notes the non-lingualization of the s of sū́tum after ánu—which is wholly superfluous unless it read ánusūtum.
2. As this great earth maintains these forest-trees, so let thine etc. etc.
Ppp. begins yathe ’yam urvī pṛthivī, and reads, in c, d, garbha anu and suvitave.
3. As this great earth maintains the rugged (párvata) mountains, so let thine etc. etc.
4. As this great earth maintains the various (víṣṭhita) living beings, so let thine etc. etc.
18. Against jealousy.
[Atharvan (?).—īrṣyāvināçanadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]
Found also in Pāipp. xix. Used by Kāuç. (36. 25), with vii. 45 and 74. 3, in a rite against jealousy.
Translated: Weber, Ind. Stud. v. 235; Ludwig, p. 514; Florenz, 270 or 22; Grill, 28, 159; Griffith, i. 254; Bloomfield, 106, 467.
1. The first blast of jealousy, and the one after the first, the fire, the heat of the heart—this we extinguish for thee.
Ppp. has readings in part better: for b, madhyamām adhamām uta; for agnim in c, satyaṁ; at end, nir mantrayāmahe. The comm. explains dhrājim by vegayuktāṁ gatim.
2. As the earth [is] dead-minded, more dead-minded than a dead man, and as [is] the mind of one who has died, so of the jealous man the mind [be] dead.
"Feeling" would be in this verse an acceptable equivalent for manas 'mind.'
