Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 34
34. A love-spell: with a sweet herb.
[Atharvan,—pañcarcam. madughamaṇisūktam. vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]
Verses 1, 2, 5 are found in Pāipp. ii., vs. 3 in vi., and vs. 4 in part in viii. It is used by Kāuç. in a ceremony for superiority in disputation (38. 17): the ambitious disputant is to come into the assembly from the north-east, chewing the sweet plant; again, twice in the nuptial ceremonies, once with tying a madugha amulet on the finger (76. 8), and once (79. 10) on crushing the amulet at the consummation of the marriage. The comm. further declares it used at the disputation in the açvamedha sacrifice; but he quotes no authority for it. All these applications are evidently imposed upon the hymn, not contained in it.
Translated: Weber, iv. 429; Grill, 52, 78; Griffith, i. 38; Bloomfield, 99, 274.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 46.
1. This plant is honey-(mádhu-)born; with honey we dig thee; forth from honey art thou engendered; ⌊so⌋ do thou make us possessed of honey.
The comm. calls the plant madhuka, and uses that form of the name also in the quotations from Kāuç. (instead of madugha, madhugha, etc.; the mss. vary greatly in their readings).
2. At the tip of my tongue honey, at the root of my tongue honeyedness; mayest thou be altogether in my power (krátu), mayest thou come unto my intent (cittá).
The second half-verse agrees nearly with that of iii. 25. 5 and vi. 9. 2, in both of which the yáthā, here unexpressed, helps the construction (though the accent of ásas does not absolutely need it, being capable of being viewed as antithetical). Ppp. has for a jihvāyā 'gre me madhu, and for c, d yathā māṁ kāminy aso (our 5 c) yaṁ vācā mām anvāyasī. The comm. explains madhūlakam by madhurarasabahulaṁ jalamadhūlakavṛkṣapuṣpaṁ yathā; he understands the plant to be addressed in c, d—which is plainly wrong.
3. Honeyed (mádhumant) [is] my in-stepping, honeyed my forth-going; with my voice I speak what is honeyed; may I be of honey-aspect.
Vadāni might be a better reading in c. The first half-verse resembles RV. x. 24. 6 a, b (m. m. parā́yaṇam mádhumat púnar ā́yanam). Ppp. has for second half-verse vācā madhumad ubhyāma akṣo me madhusaṁdṛçī. The comm. takes madhu and saṁdṛças in d as two independent words.
4. Than honey am I sweeter (mádhu), than the honey-plant more honeyed; of me verily shalt thou be fond (? van), as of a honeyed branch.
The majority of our mss. (not Bp. I. E. D.) read here madhúghāt in b, as do also the Prāt. mss. in both places (ii. 5 c; iv. 16 c) where the verse is quoted; but at vi. 102. 3 all read -du-; SPP. reads -du- (as does our text), and makes no report of discordance among his authorities; the comm. has -du-, and derives the word from madhudugha. All the mss., and both texts, give the unmotived accent vánās in c; the comm. explains the word by sambhajes. He again regards the plant as addressed in the second half-verse. Ppp. (in viii.) has a and b, with ⌊aham for asmi and⌋ madhumāṅ for madughāt.
5. About thee with an encompassing (paritatnú) sugar-cane have I gone, in order to absence of mutual hatred; that thou mayest be one loving me, that thou mayest be one not going away from me.
The second half-verse is found repeatedly later, as ii. 30. 1 d, e and vi. 8. 1-3 d, e. The pada-reading in d is ápa॰gā, and the word is quoted under Prāt. iii. 34 as one of the cases of irregular hiatus to which the rule refers. Disregarding this, SPP. alters the pada-text to ápa॰gāḥ, against all our pada-mss. and most of his, for no better reason than that the comm. seems to read so. Our Bp. (both copies) accents here apa॰gā́, as also at vi. 8. 1, 3, but not at ii. 30. 1. The comm. allows this time that the address is to a woman. ⌊Ppp. has for b-d yakṣaṇākām avidviṣe yathā na vidvāvadvi na vibhāva kadā cana. As for the rite, cf. Pāraskara's Gṛhya-sūtra, iii. 71, and Stenzler's note.⌋