Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 27

27. Against various evils.

[Atharvan (svastyayanakāmaḥ).—cāndramasam ute 'ndrāṇīdāivatam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. pathyāpan̄kti.]

Found in Pāipp. xix. For the use of the hymn with its predecessor by Kāuç., see under 26; it is also reckoned to the svastyayana gaṇa (25. 36, note); and vs. 4 appears by itself near the beginning of the svastyayana ceremonies, in the same rite as hymns 26 and 27.

Translated: Weber, iv. 421; Ludwig, p. 517; Griffith, i. 32.—Griffith says the sloughs are to make the travellers invisible to highway robbers, and cites an old English analogue.

1. Yonder on the further shore are she-adders, thrice seven, out of their sloughs (-jarā́yu); with the sloughs of them do we wrap up (ápi vyā) the (two) eyes of the malignant waylayer.

Jarā́yu in the sense 'cast-off skin of a snake' appears to be quotable only here; the comm. regards the word as so applied by a figure: jarāyuvat çarīrasya veṣṭakās tvacaḥ. Ppp. reads imāṣ pāre in a, and jarjarāyuvaḥ in b; the comm. has instead nirjarā iva, explaining as jarārahita devā iva.

2. Let the cutting one (kṛt) go asunder, she who bears as it were a club (pínăka); asunder [go] the mind of her that returns to life (punarbhú); unsuccessful [are] the malignant ones.

Ppp. has no variants to cast light on this very obscure verse; it adds at the end ape 'taṣ paripanthino 'po 'ghāyur arṣatu. The comm. reads punarbhavā in c; he supplies "the array (senā) of our enemies" as the missing noun in the verse, and explains the epithet as "reassembling after dispersal." He paraphrases kṛntatī́ with chindatī. ⌊SPP's pada-reading is punaḥ॰bhúvāḥ, against Index Verborum, p. 184 (corrected p. 383), and against Skt. Gr. §352 a, which should be corrected by p. 411 of Lanman's Noun-Inflection.⌋

3. The many have not been able together; the few have not ventured on [it]; like the sprouts (? ádga) of a bamboo (veṇú) round about, unsuccessful [are] the malignant ones.

The first half-verse in Ppp. is defaced, but apparently its text agreed with ours, except that at the end stands abhi dhṛṣṇuvam. As the second half is wanting, these two pādas probably form one verse with the two reported above, under vs. 2. The comm. reads dādṛçus at end of b, and has udgā iva paritas in c, explaining udga etymologically as = çākhā. The comment to Prāt. iii. 13 quotes dādhṛṣus, and that to ii. 38 gives adgās among its examples; neither adga nor udga appears to be quotable from elsewhere.

4. Go forward, ye (two) feet; kick (sphur) forward; carry to the houses of the bestower (pṛ); let Indrāṇī go first, unscathed, unrobbed, in front.

Ppp. has gṛham and vahantu (yet pādāu) in b, and, for d, jihitvā muktvā pathā. The comm. reads ajitā in d; he ingeniously quotes from TS. (ii. 2. 8¹) "Indrāṇī is deity of the army" in explanation of her introduction here. ⌊Cf. Bergaigne, Religion Védique, iii. 155 n.⌋