Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 35

35. For long life etc.: with a gold amulet.

[Atharvan.—hāiraṇyam; āindrāgnam uta vāiçvadevam. jāgatam: 4. anuṣṭubgarbhā 4-p. triṣṭubh.]

Not found in Pāipp. ⌊Of vss. 1 and 2, Schroeder gives the Kaṭha version, with variants, Tübinger Kaṭha-hss., p. 36.⌋ Used by Kāuç., with i. 9 and v. 28, in two ceremonies for fortune and for power (11. 19; 52. 20); and the comm. considers it involved also at 57. 31, in the upanayana. The comm. further quotes it from the ādityā mahāçānti in Nakṣ. Kalpa 19; also from Pariçiṣṭa 4. 1 and 13. 1.

Translated: Weber, iv. 430; Ludwig, p. 457; Griffith, i. 39.

1. What gold the descendants of Dakṣa, well-willing, bound on for Çatānīka, that I bind for thee, in order to life (ā́yus), splendor, strength, to length of life for a hundred autumns.

It would rectify the meter and improve the sense (considering that dīrghāyutvá follows) to omit ā́yuse in c; the Anukr. notes the redundancy of the pāda (14 syllables). VS. (xxxiv. 52) has the first half-verse, with a different second half; and so has a RV. khila to RV. x. 128 (9, Aufrecht, p. 685). The Kāuç. speaks of yugmakṛṣṇala as the amulet: probably a pair of beads of gold like kṛṣṇala berries. The comm. quotes AB. viii. 21. 5 for Çatānīka.

2. Not demons, not piçācás overcome him, for this is the first-born force of the gods; whoso bears the gold of the descendants of Dakṣa, he makes for himself long life among the living.

VS. (xxxiv. 51) has the verse, reading tád for enam and taranti for sahante in a, accenting bibhárti in c, and giving devéṣu for jivéṣu in d; and it repeats d with manuṣyèṣu instead; and the RV. khila (8, as above) follows it very nearly (but caranti in a, and dākṣāyaṇā hir- in c). The Anukr. ignores the metrical irregularities of a and b.

3. The waters' brilliancy, light, force, and strength, also the heroic powers (vīryà) of the forest trees, do we maintain in him, as in Indra Indra's powers (indriyá); this gold shall he, being capable, bear.

The comm. explains dákṣamāṇa in d by vardhamāna. Omission of the superfluous indriyā́ṇi in c would rectify the meter; the pada-text marks the division wrongly before asmín instead of after it; ⌊the Anukr. likewise reckons asmín to d and describes the pāda as one of 14 syllables!⌋.

4. With seasons of summers (? sámā), of months, we [fill] thee, with the milk of the year I fill [thee]; let Indra-and-Agni, let all the gods, approve thee, not bearing enmity.

Emendation to tvā 'ham at the end of a would rectify both meter and construction. Between c and d the pada-text wrongly resolves té 'nu into té: ánu (as again at viii. 2. 21), and the pada-mss. put the sign of pāda division before instead of after te; apparently the Anukr. makes the true division ⌊after te, accentless⌋. The comm., too, understands té. The combination -bhiṣ ṭvā is quoted as an example under Prāt. ii. 84.

The concluding anuvāka ⌊6.⌋ has again 7 hymns, with 31 verses; and the quoted Anukr. of the mss. says ekādaça co 'ttare parā syuḥ.

Some of the mss. sum the whole book up correctly as 35 hymns, 153 verses.

Here ends also the second prapāṭhaka.