Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/395

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TRANSLATION AND NOTES. BOOK XVIII.
-xviii. 3
tataḥ praçāntaḥ salilapravāhataḥ; and a note to the P. C. Roy version of this passage, p. 65, says that it persists even to this day in India.⌋


7. Here is one for thee, beyond is one for thee; enter thou into union with the third light; at entrance be thou fair (cā́ru) with [thy] body, loved of the gods in the highest station.

The verse is RV. x. 56. 1, which reads in c tanvàs, and in d janítre (for sadhásthe). It is also found in SV. (i. 65), TB. (in iii. 7. 13), TA. (vi. 3. 1; 4. 2), and Āp. (ix. i. 17); in a, TB.¯Āp. have u (for ū before te); in c, all have saṁvéçanas, while SV. gives tanvè and the others tanúvāi; in d, TB.Āp. read priyé, and SV.TB.Āp. agree with RV. in janítre. According to Kāuç. (80. 36), the verse accompanies the carrying of the fire at the head of the procession to the funeral pile; as the comm. states it, carrying the three fires, in the case of one who has established sacrificial fires. The three "lights" are thus understood to be the three sacrificial fires; but they are probably, in the original meaning of the verse, rather three regions of light, to the highest of which the deceased is to be translated.


8. Rise thou, go forth, run forth; make thee a home (ókas) in the sea [as] station; there do thou, in concord with the Fathers, revel with soma, with the svadhā́s.

The first half-verse is found also in TA. (in vi. 4. 2) which has the easier ending paramé vyòman; the second half of the TA. verse is our vi. 63. 3 c, d. The majority of our saṁhitā-mss. combine dravó ’kaḥ in a-b, but SPP. reports nothing of the kind from his authorities. The verse can be forced down to forty syllables (as a pan̄kti) by violence in c; ⌊its natural scansion is as 8 + 11: 11 + 11⌋. It is one of the utthāpanī or 'uplifting' verses, which, with the hariṇīs or 'taking' verses, are used more than once in Kāuç., and are cited in Vāit. (37. 23-24) and elsewhere, in connection with lifting and moving the corpse etc. This one accompanies (Kāuç. 80. 31) the raising of the corpse to carry it to the funeral pile, and later (80. 35), with 1. 61 and 3. 9 and others, the lifting on to the cart and removing; and yet later (82. 31) the gathering up and carrying away the bone-relics.


9. Start (cyu) forward, collect (sam-bhṛ) thy body; let not thy limbs (gā́tra) nor thy frame (çárīra) be left out; enter together after thy mind that has entered; wherever in the world thou enjoyest, thither go.

The first half-verse and the last pāda are found also, as parts of different verses, in TA. vi. 4. 2; which, however, reads út tiṣṭhā́ ’tas tanúvaṁ sám bharasva mé ’há gā́tram áva hā mā́ çárīram, and yátra bhū́myāi vṛṇáse tátra gaccha. Some of our mss. (P.M.O.R.T.K.) accent ánu in c; and some (all except O.Op.R.K., also two of SPP's) have bhū́me in d; the comm. reads bhū́māu. According to Kāuç. (80. 32), the dead body, after being raised (utthāpay-) with the preceding verse, is made three times to set forth (? saṁhāpay-; sam-hā means usually simply 'get up': it is added, "as many times as it is raised") with this one; and this verse is used again, with the preceding verse (under which see) and others, in 80. 35 and 82. 31.


10. Let the soma-drinking (somyá) Fathers anoint me with splendor, the gods with honey, with ghee; making me pass further on unto sight, let them increase me, attaining old age, unto old age.