Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 11

11. For successful childbirth.

[Atharvan.—ṣadṛcam. pāuṣṇam. pān̄ktam: 2. anuṣṭubh; 3. 4-p. uṣṇiggarbhā kakummaty anuṣṭubh; 4-6. pathyapan̄kti.]

Verses 2-4 occur together in Pāipp. i., 5 and 6 in xx., but at different points. In Kāuç. (33. 1) it is quoted at the beginning of a long and intricate ceremony (filling the whole section) for safe delivery, the first of the strīkarmāṇi or 'women's rites'; its details have nothing to do with the text of the hymn, and cast no light upon the latter's difficulties. The Anukr. add to the author's name: anena mantroktān aryamādidevān nārīsukhaprasavāyā 'bhiṣṭūye 'ṣṭaṁ ca sarvābhir aprārthayat.

Translated: Weber, iv. 404; Ludwig, p. 478; Griffith, i. 14 and 473; Bloomfield, 99, 242.—Discussed: Roth, Ueber den Atharva-veda, p. 15.

1. At this birth, O Pūshan, let Aryaman [as] efficient (vedhás) invoker utter váṣaṭ for thee; let the woman, rightly engendered, be relaxed; let her joints go apart in order to birth.

The translation of c implies emendation of the text to ví sisṛtām. Roth formerly preferred sísṛtām nāry ṛtáprajātaḥ 'let a timely child come forth, O woman'; Weber leaves sísratām as pl. with indefinite subject, and understands the two following words as a parenthesis: "be the woman properly constructed"; Ludwig renders as if sísṛtām; Roth now (as in BR.) would emend only sísṛtām, and understand it of the 'flow' of water preceding birth; but that would be rather sru, and sṛ without a prefix in such a sense seems very unlikely ⌊cf., however, sárann ā́paḥ, RV. iv. 17. 3⌋. Ṛtáprajātā might also be possessive, 'rightly engendering.' The comm. takes sū́tāu as from sū́ti ⌊not sūtí, fem., nor sū́tu, fem.: note accent and gender!⌋, and meaning the ceremony at birth; vedhā́s as = Dhātar 'the creator'; ṛtaprajātā as = jīvad-apatyā; and sisratām (to the plural form of which he finds no objection) as "may she be relieved (viniḥsṛtā) of the pangs of birth." The metrically irregular verse (9 + 10: 10 + 11 = 40) is a pan̄kti solely in virtue of the ⌊aggregate⌋ number of its syllables.

2. Four [are] the directions of the sky, four also of the earth: the gods sent together the fœtus; let them unclose her in order to birth.

Or 'unclose it,' tám, which SPP. reads in text and comm. (the latter omits the word itself in the paraphrase) with the minority of his mss., but against all of ours; Weber and Roth prefer tám. The word and its predecessor are quoted in the Prāt, (ii. 30), as the earliest example in the text of a combination of n and t without inserted s; but the form of the quotation (samāirayantādinām) prevents our seeing whether its authors read tā́m or tám; the comm. gives tām. In d, the comm. gives the false form ūrṇavantu. The text in Ppp. is confused, but does not appear to intend any variants from our reading.

3. Let Pūshan (?) unclose [her or it]; we make the yóni go apart; do thou, sūṣaṇā, loosen; do thou, biṣkalā, let go.

The translation implies a very venturesome emendation in a, pūṣā́ for sūṣā́ (all the authorities have the latter): Pūshan, referred to in vs. 1 as principal officiating deity, might well be called on to do in particular what all the gods were begged to do in vs. 2 c, d. ⌊But see Bloomfield's comment.⌋ The comm. gives three different etymologies for sūṣā: root sū + suffix -sā; root sū + root san; and su-uṣas. Sūṣaṇā and biṣkalā are possibly names of organs; for the latter, Ppp. has puṣkale, probably an alteration to a more familiar word; the comm. understands sūṣaṇi and biṣkali (of course, equally possible); the former, from roots sū and san, is name of an accouching goddess; the latter (for which are given three diverse but equally absurd etymologies) is another deity. The Anukr. apparently intends the verse to be read as 6 + 8: 7 + 8 = 29, instead of admitting the obvious resolution tu-ám in c. The supplying of gárbham as omitted at the beginning would make a good anuṣṭubh.

4. Not as it were stuck (ā́hata) in the flesh, not in the fat, not as it were in the marrows, let the spotted slimy (?) afterbirth come down, for the dog to eat; let the afterbirth descend.

SPP. reads in a pī́vasi, with the comm. and a small minority of his mss.; three of ours (H. O. Op.) have píbasi. Ppp. has a very different text (preserved in the nāgarī copy, though lost in the original text): nāi 'va snāvasu na parvasu na ketheṣu (keçeṣu) na nakheṣu ca; then our c, d, without variant; then nāi 'va pause (māṅse?) na pīvasi nāi 'va kastyoç vanā yutam; then our e; and with this ends the hymn as given in book i. The comm. reads in a māṅséna for māṅsé ná, and resorts to various devices to get rid of the difficulty thus caused; two of our mss. (O. Op.), and one or two of SPP's, give the same. Some of our mss. are very awkward about combining jarā́yu and áttave, in part omitting the v, or (I.) reading -yū́tt-. PGS. (i. 16. 2) has the verse, but in different order: first our c, d, without variant; then our a, b, in the form nāi 'va māṅsena pīvari na kasmiṅç canā "yatam; then our e. But for its support of çévalam, we might be tempted to emend to kévalam; the comm. has the worthless explanation jalasyo 'paristhitaçāivālavat āntarāvayavāsambaddham. Further may be compared HGS. ii. 3. 1. ⌊MP., at ii. 11. 19, 20, has the verse with variants.⌋

5. I split apart thy urinator, apart the yóni, apart the [two] groins, apart both the mother and the child, apart the boy from the afterbirth; let the afterbirth descend.

Ppp. (xx.) has for a, b vi te cṛtāmi tagariṁ v' yoni vi gavenyāu; for d, vi garbhaṁ ca jarāyujaḥ; and TS. (iii. 3-10¹) presents a version nearly accordant with this, but with takarī́m, gavīnyāù, and (at the end) jarā́yu ca: neither has our refrain.

6. As the wind, as the mind, as fly the birds, so do thou, O ten months' [child], fly along with the afterbirth; let the afterbirth descend.

Ppp. has the version yathā vāto yathā dagha yathā saṣadroyajanta: evā te garbha ejatu nir āitu daçamāsyo bahir jarāyuṇā saha. For 'do thou fly' might be given 'do thou fall,' the verb having both meanings. ⌊Ten (lunar) months: cf. Weber's second nakṣatra-essay, p. 313, Abh. der Berliner Akad., 1861.⌋ ⌊Cf. RV. v. 78.8.⌋

This anuvāka ⌊2.⌋ has 5 hymns, 25 verses; and the old Anukramaṇī, as quoted, says pañca pare tu (apparently the vidyāt quoted at the end of an. 1 belongs rather here than there).