Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/286

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xiv. 1-
BOOK XIV. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAṀHITĀ.
742

10. Mind was her cart; heaven also was [its] canopy; the two draft-oxen were white (çukrá), when Sūryā went to her husband.

RV. (x. 85. 10) has at end gṛhám instead of pátim.


11. Haltered with verse (ṛ́c) and chant (sā́man), thy two oxen went peaceful (? sāmaná); ears were thy (two) wheels; in the sky the wandering track.

Abhíhita seems to be the correlative to abhidhānī. Our 'ears' (p. çrótre íti) is a bad variant to RV. (x. 85. 11) çrótram, 'hearing.' RV. also has in b itas for āitām. We have to gain in c a syllable by harsh resolution in order to make a full pāda. Ppp. reads in a upahitāu.


12. Clean were the (two) wheels of thee as thou wentest; out-breathing (vyāná) was the inserted axle; a cart made of mind did Sūryā ascend when going forth to her husband.

Is RV. x. 85. 12, without variant. The pada-reading manasmayam in c is by Prāt. iv. 24. ⌊Here Roth's Collation says "çacī wie Vulgata"!⌋


13. The bridal (vahatú) of Sūryā, which Savitar sent off (ava-sṛj), has gone forth; in the Maghās are slain the kine; in the Phalgunīs is the wedding.

RV. (x. 85. 13) reads in c aghā́su* ⌊Ppp. has the same⌋, and hanyante without the antithetical accent which all our mss. give, and which our text ought to read, and, for d, árjunyoḥ páry uhyate. The Maghā stars are what we call the Sickle, in the neck of Leo; the Phalgunī stars are the rectangle β, θ, δ 93 Leonis; arjunī = phalgunī; the moon is in the latter either one or two days after it is in the former.† From such utterly indefinite data the attempt to extract a date is wasted labor. 'Is the wedding': vy ùhyate is the verb corresponding to vivāha 'wedding,' lit. 'driving away'; Ppp. reads instead vi havyate. The second half-verse is quoted in Kāuç. 75. 5, in the general definition of the time for wedding. ⌊With reference to this much-discussed verse, see: Weber, in Abh. der Berliner Ak. for 1861 (Nakṣatra-essay), p. 364, and in Sb. for 1894, p. 804; Jacobi, Festgruss an Roth, p. 69; Wint., p. 32.⌋

*⌊Weber discusses the readings aghā́su and maghā́su, and deems the RV. reading to be in this case the secondary one: Sb. 1894, p. 807.⌋ †⌊Concerning these asterisms (no's 10, and 11, 12) see Whitney, JAOS. vi. 332-4, or Oriental and Linguistic Studies, ii. 352-3. It is not impertinent to note that the regents of the Phalgunīs are Bhaga and Aryaman, and that those of the Maghās are the Manes. For the latter, cf. TB. iii. 1. 48: só ‘tra juhoti: pitṛ́bhyaḥ svā́hā, maghā́bhyaḥ svā́hā, ’naghā́bhyaḥ svā́hā, gadā́bhyaḥ svā́hā, ’rundhatī́bhyaḥ svā́he, ’ti; but better TS. iv. 4. 10.⌋


14. When, O Açvins, ye went asking, with your three-wheeled [chariot], to Sūryā's bridal, where was one wheel of yours? where stood ye for pointing out?

The verse corresponds, without variant, to RV. x. 85. 14 a, b and 15 c, d. The sense of the questions is wholly obscure.


15. When ye went, O lords of beauty, unto the wooing of Sūryā, all the gods assented to that [deed] of yours; Pūshan as son chose a father.