Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 13
13. Deterrent homage to lightning.
[Bhṛgvan̄giras.—vāidyutam. ānuṣṭubham: 3. 4-p. virāḍ jagatī; 4. triṣṭupparā bṛhatīgarbhā pan̄kti.]
The hymn occurs in Pāipp. xix., and vs. 1 also in xv. It is used by Kāuç. (38. 8, 9) in a charm against lightning, with vii. 11; and it also appears (139. 8), with i. 26 and vii. 11 and several other hymns, in the ceremony of introduction to Vedic study.
Translated: Weber, iv. 406; Griffith, i. 16.
1. Homage be to thy lightning, homage to thy thunder; homage be to thy bolt (áçman), with which thou hurlest at the impious one (dūḍáç).
The version of this verse in Ppp. xix. is like ours; in xv., d reads yenā dūrāt pradijassasi (pratyasyasi?). The first half-verse is found also in VS. (xxxvi. 21 a, b). The irregular combination dūḍā́çe (p. duḥ॰dā́çe) is noted by Prāt. ii. 60. The comm. regards Parjanya as addressed, but then proceeds to give another interpretation of the verse, based on the absurd assumption that namas = annam, which appears also in numerous other places. To him, also, áçman is a meghanāman. In our edition, an accent-mark is omitted over the -çma- of áçmane.
2. Homage to thee, child of the height (pravát), whence thou gatherest (sam-ūh) heat (tápas); be merciful to ourselves; do kindness (máyas) to our offspring (toká).
Ppp. has çaṁ nas for máyas in d. The first half-verse forms in VS. (xxxvi. 21 c, d) one verse with our 1 a, b; but VS. has ⌊for a námas te bhagavann astu; and⌋ for b yátaḣ svàḥ samī́hase 'from whence thou strivest after the sky,' which indicates that our reading is corrupt. ⌊Pischel discusses pravát (= 'stream') at length, Ved. Stud. ii. 63-76, see 68.⌋
3. Child of the height, be homage to thee; homage we pay to thy missile (hetí) and heat (tápus); we know thy highest abode (dhā́man) that is in secret; thou art set as navel within the [cloud-]ocean.
⌊The te in b is superfluous.⌋ Ppp. rectifies the meter of a by omitting eva; its other pādas are more or less corrupt: namas te hete tipuṣyāi in b (which ends there); gandharvo nāma par- in c; nihitāsa nābhiḥ at the end. The comm. takes tápus as adjective. The verse is scanned by the Anukr. as 12 + 12: 11 + 11 = 46 syllables.
4. Thou whom all the gods did create, the bold one, ⌊[the gods]⌋ making an arrow for hurling—do thou, besung in the council (vidátha), be merciful to us; to thee as such be homage, O goddess.
Dhṛṣṇum in b might qualify íṣum directly. The comm. supplies he açane 'O thunderbolt' as addressed. He reads mṛla in c. Ppp. reads for a, b yaṁ tvā devā ajanayanta viçveṣāṁ kṛnvānā açanāya triṣvāi; and for d mitrasya varuṇasya prasṛṣṭāu. The Anukr. seems to scan as 10 + 11: 10 + 9 = 40 syllables. ⌊Read in c mṛḍaya and in d utá tásyāi?—For vidátha, see discussions of Bloomfield, JAOS. xix.2 17, and Geldner, ZDMG. lii. 757; and the literature cited by Foy, KZ. xxxiv. 226.⌋