Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 18

18. Against unlucky marks.

[Draviṇodas.—vāināyakam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. upariṣṭādvirāḍbrṛatT; 2. nicṛjjagatī; 3. virāḍāstārapan̄ktitriṣṭubh.]

Verses 1-3 are found in Pāipp. xx. (but vs. 2 not with the others). Used by Kāuç. (42. 19) in a charm against unlucky signs in a woman.

Translated: Weber, iv. 411; Ludwig, p. 498; Geldner, Ved. Stud. i. 314; Griffith, i. 22; Bloomfield, 109, 260.—It may be mentioned that Geldner takes the whole hymn as relating to a domestic cat.

1. Out we drive (nir-sū) the pallid sign, out the niggard; then, whatever things are excellent (bhadrá), those we lead together (?) for our progeny.

The translation implies in d the very venturesome emendation of árātim to sám; the former appears wholly impracticable, and has perhaps stumbled into d from b; Geldner conjectures instead tvā. Ppp. is defaced, and gives no help. The comm. reads lakṣmam, and explains lalāmyam as accus. sing. masc.: lalāme bhavaṁ tilakasthānagatam; to yāni in c he supplies cihnāni ⌊making c a separate sentence and supplying bhavantu⌋. It would also be possible to make the cesura after prajāyāi, and read nāçayāmasi (so R.). In our edition, dele the accent-mark under tā- of tā́ni in c.

2. Savitar has driven out the trouble (? draṇi) in her feet; out have Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman [driven] [that] in her hands; out hath Anumati, bestowing (rā) upon us; the gods have driven this woman forward unto good fortune.

All the mss. give in a sāviṣak, which SPP. very properly retains, though the comm. and Ppp. have -ṣat (see my Skt. Gr.², §151 a); '​sāviṣak (p. as-) would be an improvement, and may be understood. For c, d, Ppp. has yad ādityāmavatī rarāṇā pṛṇasuvā savitā sāubhagāya. The comm. gives two etymological guesses at araṇīm (which is his reading, instead of -ṇim), both worthless, and describes rarāṇā as accented on the final. The separation of this verse from the others in Ppp. indicates that it probably has nothing to do with "marks." It is rather unusual for the Anukr. to take notice of the occurrence of a triṣṭubh pāda in a jagatī verse ⌊d, no less than c, is triṣṭubh, pronounce devāsāviṣuḥ.⌋

3. Whatever in thy self, in thy body, is frightful, or what in hair or in mien—all that do we smite away with [our] words; let god Savitar advance (sūd) thee.

'God Savitar' or 'the heavenly impeller,' everywhere equivalent. Ppp. begins yat tā "tman tanvā ghoram, and has for c, d tat te vidvāṅ upabādhayeṣāṁ pra tvā suvā savitā sāubhagāya. The metrical description of the verse (11 + 11: 10 + 10 = 42) by the Anukr. is unusual and questionable.

4. The antelope-footed, the bull-toothed, the kine-repelling, the out-blowing, the licked-out, the pallid—these we make disappear from us.

Designations either of the unlucky signs or of the women marked with them—probably the former. The comm. prefers the latter, except for the two last, which he blunderingly takes from the stems -ḍhya and -mya, and makes them qualify lakṣma understood. He explains goṣedhā (p. go॰sedhā́m) as " going like a cow," and vilīḍha as a lock " on the edge of the forehead, licked as it were the wrong way"—or what is called a "cowlick" ⌊Skt. kākapakṣa.⌋ Both editions give at the beginning ríçyap-, instead of the true reading ṛ́çyap-, which the comm. (with three of SPP's mss.) has; the mss. bungle all the occurrences of this word. In part of our edition the ṁ is broken off from vṛ́ṣadatiṁ.