Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 20
20. Against enemies and their weapons.
[Atharvan.—sāumyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. triṣṭubh.]
The first three verses are found in Pāipp. xix., and vs. 4 in ii.: see below. For the use of the hymn by Kāuç. with 19 and 21, see under 19. And vs. 1 is used alone (so the comm.) in the parvan-sacrifices (Kāuç. 2. 39), on viewing the cooked oblation.
Translated: Weber, iv. 413; Griffith, i. 24.
1. Let there be the ádārasṛt, O god Soma; at this sacrifice, O Maruts, be gracious to us; let not a portent find us, nor an imprecation; let not the wrong that is hateful find us.
The first pāda is rendered on the assumption that the sāman of this name, as described in PB. xv. 3. 7, is intended; it might be used of the person intended to be benefited: 'let him be one not getting into a split (i.e. hole, or difficulty)': this is the sense distinctly taught in PB.; the comm. says na kadācid api svastrīsamīpam prāpnotu (madīyaḥ çatruḥ)! The verse occurs in TB. (iii. 7. 512: and repeated without change in Āp. ii. 20. 6), with bhavata in a, mṛḑatā (without the anomalous accent) in b, and vṛjánā in d. Ppp. begins with adārasur bh-, adds ayam after soma in a, and has in d the easier reading prā "pad duchunā for vidad vṛjinā. The second half-verse occurs again as v. 3. 6 c, d. Though connected with vss. 2, 3 in Pāipp. also, this verse does not appear to have anything originally to do with them.
2. What missile (sénya) weapon of the malignant (aghāyú) shall go up today, do ye, Mitra-and-Varuṇa, keep that off from us.
The first half-verse in Ppp. is yo 'dya sāinyo vadho jighāsaṁ nam upāyatī, which is nearly our vi. 99. 2 a, b. The half-verse occurs also in PB. (i. 3. 3 a, b) and AÇS. (v. 3. 22 a, b), both of which have sāumyas; PB. elides yo 'dya; AÇS. gives at the end -trati. Aghāyūnā́m would be the proper accent (and this the comm. has), unless the word were understood as feminine.
3. Both what [is] from here and what from yonder—keep off, O Varuṇa, the deadly weapon; extend great protection (çárman); keep very far off the deadly weapon.
The pada text marks the pāda-division in the first half-verse before instead of after the second yát. Ppp. reads in b yāvayaḥ. The second half-verse is found again at the end of the next hymn—which is perhaps an additional indication that this hymn properly ends here. The Anukr. ignores the metrical irregularity of the verse (9 + 8: 7 + 8 = 32). ⌊Read in a itó yád, and in c yacha naḥ.⌋
4. Verily a great ruler (çāsá) art thou, overpowerer of enemies, unsubdued, whose companion (sákhi) is not slain, is not scathed (jyā) at any time.
This verse is the first in RV. x. 152, of which the remaining verses constitute the next hymn here; in Ppp. it occurs with them in ii., far separated from the matter which in our text precedes it. RV. and Ppp. both read for b amitrakhādó ádbhutaḥ; and RV. accents in d jī́yate kádā. The comm. paraphrases çāsás by çāsako niyantā; he takes jīyáte as from root ji, which is of course equally possible.