Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 32

32. Cosmogonic.

[Brahman.—dyāvāpṛthivīyam. ānuṣṭubham: 2. kakummatī.]

Found in Pāipp. i., next after our hymn 31. Used by Kāuç. in a women's rite (34. 1), against barrenness, and again (59.3) in a ceremony for prosperity, to heaven and earth; and the first verse (so the comm.) further (6. 17), as alternate to x. 5. 23, with conducting water into the joined hands of the sacrificer's wife, in the parvan-sacrifices.

Translated: Weber, iv. 426; Ludwig, p. 533; Griffith, i. 36.

1. Now, ye people, take knowledge; he will speak a great mystery (? bráhman); that is not on earth nor in the sky whereby the plants breathe.

With a, b is to be compared the very similar line xx. 127. 1 a, b; idáṁ janā úpa çruta nārāçaṅsá staviṣyate; which makes it probable that the ungrammatical vidátha means vidata or vedatha (accent is unmotived), and suggests also vadiṣyate, passive; the former seems confounded with the noun vidátha, of which vidáthe, or, as Ppp. reads, vidátham, would make fairly good sense: 'will now be spoken at (or to) the council.' Ppp. reads yatas for yena in d. ⌊For prandnti, see Prāt. iv. 57.⌋

2. In the atmosphere is the station of them, as of those sitting wearied; the station of this that exists (bhūtá): that the pious know—or they do not.

'Of them' (āsām, fem.) in a the comm. explains to mean "of the plants," and then, alternatively, "of the waters"; doubtless the latter is correct, the waters being that "whereby the plants live" (1 d). Ppp. reads in a. antarikṣam, which means virtually the same as our text: the reservoir of the waters is the atmosphere or is in it (not in heaven nor earth, 1 c). The analogy of vii. 95. 2 suggests gávām as wanting at the beginning of b: the waters are ordinarily as quiet as cows that lie resting: a comparison from the usual Vedic source. Weber suggested that sthā́ma be read twice; and this R. favors. The Anukr. ignores the deficiency in the pāda. For d, Ppp. has viduṣṣ kṛd bheṣatodanaḥ.

3. What the (two) quaking firmaments (ródasī)—and the earth—fashioned out, that at present is always wet, like the streams of the ocean.

In b the translation implies emendation to átakṣatām, as favored by the Ppp. reading nara-cakṣatām; there remains the anomaly of letting the verb agree with ródasī (Ppp. has rodhasī); perhaps we ought to read bhū́mes 'out of the earth.' The comm., with a disregard of the accent which is habitual with him, takes ródasī and its epithet as vocatives, and then supplies dyāus, vocative ⌊JAOS. xi. 66⌋‎, in b to help make a dual subject for the verb! For d Ppp. has vidurassevavartasī. ⌊For c, of. ÇB. vi. 6. 33.⌋‎

4. The one hath covered all; this rests upon the other; both to the heaven and to the all-possessing earth have I paid homage.

The first pāda is translated according to the Ppp. version: viçvam anyā 'bhi vavāra; which is quite satisfactory; Weber had suggested abhī̀ 'vā́ "ra. The pada-reading is abhi॰vā́ra, and the word is quoted under Prāt. iii. 12 as an example of a compound showing protraction of the final vowel of the first member. TB. (iii. 7. 10³) and Āp. (ix. 14. 2) have the verse, and both have anyā́ 'bhivāvṛdhé. The comm. gives abhīvāras, and explains it in three ways, as abhito varaṇaṁ chādanam, as abhivṛtam, and as abhitaḥ sambhajanayuktam. For b, Ppp. has viçvam anyasyām adhi çratam. For viçvávedase in c (Ppp. viçvavedhase; TB. Āp. viçvákarmaṇe) the comm. also gives two interpretations, from vid 'acquire' and from vid 'know.'