Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/133

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589
TRANSLATION AND NOTES. BOOK X.
-x. 7

34. On whom, O sacrifice-increasing amulet, I have fastened thee, propitious, him do thou quicken unto supremacy, O amulet of a hundred sacrificial gifts.

⌊Cf. Bloomfield, AJP. xvii. 409.⌋


35. This fuel, laid on together, do thou, O Agni, enjoying, welcome with oblations; in him may we find favor, welfare, progeny, sight, cattle—in Jātavedas kindled with worship (bráhman).

Some of our mss. (R.T.p.m.D.) read agne without accent, and this is decidedly preferable, since a pāda-division before juṣāṇás gives an anuṣṭubh pāda followed by a triṣṭubh, while one after the same word gives a triṣṭubh followed by an irregular combination of syllables. The pada-text puts its mark of pāda-division after juṣāṇas, to correspond with its accentuation of ágne. ⌊Of SPP's authorities, only four have agne against nine with ágne, and his text adopts the latter reading.⌋ The concluding division is hopelessly unmetrical. The Anukr. intends us to divide 8 + 11 (or 11 + 8): 8 + 8 + 11 = 46, a virāḍ jagatī. The verse is thrice quoted in Kāuç. (2. 41; 19. 24; 137. 30) to accompany the piling of fuel on the fire. It is wanting in Ppp.

⌊The quoted Anukr. says for this sixth hymn pañca (i.e. 5 over 30).—Here ends the third anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 85 verses.⌋


7. Mystic: on the skambhá or frame of creation.

[Atharvan (kṣudra).—catuçcatvāriṅçat. mantroktaskambhādhyātmadevatyam. trāiṣṭubham*: 1. virāḍ jagatī; 2, 8. bhurij; 7, 13. paroṣṇih; 10, 14, 16, 18, ig. upariṣṭād bṛhatī; 11, 12, 15, 20, 22, 39. upariṣṭājjyotirjagatī; 17. 3-av. 6-p. jagatī; 21. bṛhatīgarbhā ’nuṣṭubh; 23-30, 37, 40. anuṣṭubh; 31. madhyejyotirjagatī; 32, 34, 36. upariṣṭādvirāḍ bṛhatī; 33. paravirāḍ anuṣṭubh; 35. 4-p. jagatī; 38, 42, 43. triṣṭubh*; 41. ārsī 3-p. gāyatrī; 44. ārcy anuṣṭubh (?) †.]


Found also (except vss. 13, 42-44) in Pāipp. xvii. (with slight differences of order, noted under the verses). Neither Kāuç. nor Vāit. takes any notice of the hymn.—*⌊If the hymn is trāiṣṭubham, why are these verses specified? see note to 38.⌋ †⌊As to the Anukr's description of this verse, see under the verse.⌋

Translated: Muir, v. 380-384 (vss. 1-41); Ludwig, p. 400; Scherman, p. 50 (vss. 1-41: with comment); Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 310 (sympathetic interpretation and useful introduction); Henry, 22, 68; Griffith, ii. 26.—As to the appearance of Brahm as a new conception, as a Wunderding (yakṣá: vs. 38), cf. the Kena Upanishad, § 3, vss. 14-25, and Deussen's introduction, Sechzig Upanishad's, p. 204.—The hymn is nearly related to the following one (8), and, with many a riddle and paradox, they both lead up to the fundamental conception of the Upanishads (see last verse of hymn 8), the idea of the Ātman.—In the new volume of the Ved. Stud., iii. 126 ff., Geldner discusses yakṣá at length.


1. In what member of him is penance situated? in what member of him is right (ṛtá) deposited? where is situated [his] vow (vratá), where his faith? in what member of him is truth established?

Ppp. combines in a tapo ‘sya. In b, the pada-text reads asya: ádhi: ā́॰hitam. There is no reason for calling the verse virāj.