Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/518

(p. sahásram: prāṇáḥ);* but the comm. implies (perhaps only by his usual neglect of accent) sahásraprāṇas, and SPP. reports one of his mss. as giving the same; and he accordingly follows us in adopting it; Ppp. reads with the mss. ⌊sahasraṁ prāṇáḥ⌋. The comm. gives an extraordinary explanation of -yoni in b: yoniçabdena çatrusaṁgamananimittaṁ çatruviyojanasādhanaṁ vā balaṁ vivakṣyate: that is, without any regard to the established meanings of yoni, he takes it here as a mere representative of the radical sense of the root yu 'unite' or of the root yu 'separate'—he does not venture to decide which! The metrical description of the Anukr. is fairly correct (11 + 12: 7 + 8 + 8 = 46). *⌊These corruptions of the true sahásraprāṇas are noteworthy as examples of faulty half-way assimilation of a reading to something similar in the immediate context: here the cause of the confusion is plainly the sahásram prāṇā́ḥ of vs. 5 b.⌋

7. That thou mayest be superior, free from rivals, rival-slaying—mayest be controler of thy fellows—so may Savitar make thee: let the unsubdued one defend thee.

The mss., and SPP., read in a uttarás (p. ut॰taráḥ); our text makes the necessary emendation to úttaras. In c, the same read asat; we emended to asas, and ought to have gone a step further and accented ásas, since the following táthā shows that the three preceding pādas are all alike under the government of yáthā; Ppp. has in c, with us, asas. Ppp. further combines ‘so ‘sapatnaḥ in a-b, and reads tvā abhi in e.

47. To night: for protection.

[Gopatha.—navakam. mantroktarātridevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. pathyābṛhatī; 2. 5-p. anuṣṭubgarbhā parātijagatī; 6. purastādbṛhatī; 7. 3-av. 6-p. jagatī.]]

Found also in Pāipp. vi. According to the comm., hymns 47 and 48 form a single "sense-hymn" (arthasūkta), and 49 and 50 another; and their use is prescribed in Pariç. 4. 3-5, as of two hymns, in a ceremony of worship of night.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 467; Zimmer, p. 179; Griffith, ii. 303.

1. O night, the earthly space (rájas) hath been filled with the father's orderings (dhā́man); great, thou spreadest thyself (vi-sthā) to the seats of the sky; bright darkness comes on (ā-vṛt).

The verse is VS. xxxiv. 32, and is also found as first verse of a khila (Aufr., p. 682) to RV. x. 127, in both places without variant. ⌊It is quoted in Nirukta, Dāivatakāṇḍa iii. 29.⌋ Ppp. reads in b pitaraṣ prāyu dh-, and in c sudhāṅsi. The comm. holds 'the father' in b to designate the "skyey world" (dyuloka), quoting the commonplace dyāuḥ pitā pṛthivī mātā in support of it; dhāmabhis he glosses with sthānāiḥ saha, and tveṣam with dīpyamānam. ⌊For dhā́mabhis we might perhaps better say 'by or in accordance with the orderings'; but Griffith understands it as 'wondrous works.'⌋

2. She of whom the further limit is not seen, nor what separates; in her everything that stirs goes to rest (ni-viç); uninjured may we, O wide darksome night, attain thy further limit—may we, O excellent one, attain thy further limit.

In a, SPP. accents dádṛçe, without adding any note as to ms.-readings; it is perhaps merely an oversight, as all our mss. save one have plainly dadṛçé, and this is the Atharvan accent (cf. x. 8. 8), against RV. dádṛçe, which is wholly anomalous. Ppp. reads