Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 7

7. To Agni: for the discovеrу of sorcerers.

[Cãtana.—saptarcam. ãnuṣṭubham: 5. triṣṭubh.]

This hymn and the follоwing occur in Pāipp. iv., where the length of this one is more in place than here among the hymns of four verses. Both, with eight other hymns (mostly attributed by the Anukr. to Cātana as author), are called by Kāuç. (8. 25) cātanāni 'expellers,' and are used in a few places for exorcism and such purposes.

Translated: Weber, iv. 398; Ludwig, p. 523; Griffith, i. 9; Bloomfield, 64, 237.—Cf. Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 131; also Whitney, Festgruss an Roth, p. 94 f.

1. Bring hither, O Agni, the sorcerer (yātudhā́па), the kimīdín, speaking out (stu); for thou, O god, being revered, hast become slayer of the barbarian (dásyu).

Stu is shown by its use also in 8. 1, 2 to have here the virtual meaning 'confess' ⌊'naming, í.e. confessing himself'; cf. laudare, 'praise,' but also 'name,' 'mention'⌋. The comm. does not see this, but stolidly renders it 'praise,' making the first line mean "bring the god who praises my oblation or else who is praised by us, and make the yātudhā́na etc. go away"! He is never weary, when kimīdin occurs, of repeating Yāska's (6. 11) silly etymology from kim idānīm 'what now?' Ppp. reads for a stuvānaṣṭānaya, and, for c, d, tvaḿ hi devāṁ stuto hantā tasyo 'ta bahūvyathā.

2. O most exalted one (parameṣṭhín), Jātavedas, self-controller, Agni, partake of (prа-аç) the sacrificial butter, of the sesame oil (?); make the sorcerers cry out.

The translation 'sesame oil' follows our text, tāilásya; but the reading of all the mss., which SPP. follows, is tāulásya, and Ppp. has tūlasya. The comm. explains the word as meaning "situated in the sacrificial ladle," from tulā 'balance,' used for 'spoon,' because by the latter the butter is measured out—or, he adds, it signifies simply avadīyamāna 'cut off' (in the technical sense), since the root tul means unmāne ⌊'mete out'⌋. Ppp. further reads in c, d prāçānaṁ yātudhānād vilāpayaḥ. The comm. first takes vi lāpaya from root lī, and makes it equal vināçaya! but he adds further a derivation from vi lap ⌊'make 'em squeal,' as we should say⌋. At end of a, the saṁhitā-mss., as usual, are divided between -ṣṭhin and -ṣṭhiṅ; SPP. chooses the former ⌊cf. Prāt. íí. 11⌋. Ppp. has vaçim in b.

3. Let the sorcerers cry out (ví-lap), let the devouring kimīdíns; then do you, O Agni together with Indra, welcome this our oblation.

Ppp. combines, as often, -dhānā 'tri-, in a-b; and it reads yathā for atha in c, and at the end haryatām. SPP. reads everywhere attrín, the theoretically correct form, but never found in the mss.

4. Let Agni first take hold; let Indra, having arms, push forth; let everyone that has a demon, coming, say "here am I."

Yātumant 'having a familiar demon (yātu) is the equivalent of yātudhāna 'sorcerer,' lit'ly 'holding a demon.' Ppp. has for a, b agniṣ purastād ā yachatu pratha indro nudadas vāhumā; and for d, ayam asmāi tedyā.

5. We would fain see thy heroism (vīryà), O Jātavedas; proclaim to us the sorcerers, O men-watcher; let them all, burnt about by thee in front, come to this place, proclaiming themselves.

Ppp. reads in a vīryā; in c, -taptaṣ; in d, yāntu. The change of meter makes the verse suspicious as original part of the hymn; but the presence of all the verses in Ppp., in the same order, puts the intrusion, if it be one, far back.

6. Take hold, O Jātavedas; thou wast born for our purpose; becoming our messenger, O Agni, make the sorcerers cry out.

The comm. this time, utterly regardless of the obvious connection with vi lapantu in 2 d, and of the general sense of the hymn, glosses vi lāpaya only with vināçaya. Ppp. has a totally different text: ā rabhasva brāhmaṇā jātavedo hṛdi kāmāya randhaya: dūto na agnir ut tiṣṭha yātudhānān ihā "naya.

7. Do thou, O Agni, bring hither the sorcerers bound; then let Indra with his thunderbolt crush in (api-vraçc) their heads.

Api vraçc (used almost always of the head) is perhaps more nearly 'cut open'; Ppp. reads apa çīrṣā vṛçcatu. In b, úpa baddhā́ṅ would be a more acceptable reading. The Prāt. (ii. 27) quotes upabaddhāṅ as the first instance in the text of such treatment of final -ān. Our text, by an error of the printer, reads bájreṇa for váj- in c.