Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 26

26. For safety and increase of kine.

[Savitar.—paçavyam. trāiṣṭuhham. 3. upariṣṭādvirāḍbṛhatī; 4, 5. anuṣṭubh (4. bhurij).]

Found in Pāipp. ii. Used by Kāuç. (19. 14), with iii. 14, iv. 21, and ix. 7 ⌊not vi. 11. 3—see comm. to ix. 7 = 12⌋, in a ceremony for the prosperity of cattle.

Translated: Weber, xiii. 188; Ludwig, p. 371; Griffith, i. 65; Bloomfield, 142, 303; vss. 1 and 2, also by Grill, 64, 92.—Cf. Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 138.

1. Hither let the cattle come that went away, whose companionship (sahacārá) Vāyu (the wind) enjoyed, whose form-givings Tvashṭar knows; in this cow-stall let Savitar make them fast (ni-yam).

Or, 'whose forms,' rūpadheya being virtually equivalent to simple rūpa. Ppp. reads in b sahatāram. The "cow-stall" does not probably imply anything more than an enclosure. The Anukr. passes without notice the jagatī pāda d.

2. To this cow-stall let cattle flow-together ⌊stream together⌋ (sam-sru); let Brihaspati, foreknowing, lead them hither; let Sinīvālī lead hither the van (ágra) of them; make them fast when they have come, O Anumati.

⌊In the prior draft of 3, Mr. Whitney has 'stream.'⌋ Ppp. has at the end yacchāt; one of SPP's mss., yacchat. The comm. gives anugate (= he anugamanakāriṇi) in d. The value of pra in the common epithet prajānánt (rendered 'foreknowing') is obscure and probably minimal. ⌊As to the deities here named, see Zimmer, p. 352, and Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 422.⌋

3. Together, together let cattle flow ⌊stream⌋, together horses, and together men, together the fatness that is of grain; I offer with an oblation of confluence.

For the oblation called 'of confluence,' to effect the streaming together of good things, compare i. 15 and xix. 1. The change of meter in .this hymn need not damage its unity, in view of its occurrence as one hymn in Ppp. Ppp. reads in b pāuruṣās, and in c sphātibhis (for yā sph-). The metrical definition of the Anukr. seems to reject the obvious resolution -vi-e-ṇa in d.

4. I pour together the milk (kṣīrá) of kine, together strength, sap, with sacrificial butter; poured together are our heroes; fixed are the kine in me ⌊rather, with me⌋ [as] kine-lord.

Ppp. reads valam in b, combines -ktā ’smākam in c, and has for d mayi gāvaç ca gopatāu. The redundant syllable in d (noticed by the Anukr.) would be got rid of by changing máyi to the old locative mé⌊; but with better metrical result, by adopting the Ppp. reading⌋. With the second half-verse is to be compared AÇS. iii. 11 . 6: ariṣṭā asmākaṁ vīrā mayi gāvaḥ santu gopatāu. The comm. says that gavām in a means gṛṣṭīnām 'of heifers (having their first calf).'

5. I bring (ā-hṛ) the milk of kine; I have brought the sap of grain; brought are our heroes, our wives, to this home (ástaka).

Ppp. has ahaṣram in b, in c āhariṣam (for āhṛtās) and vīrān, and in d ā patnīm e ’dam. Our Bp. gives ahāriṣam (and H. aharāriṣam) in b, and ā́hūtās in c.

The anuvāka ⌊4.⌋ has this time 9 hymns, with 48 verses; the old Anukr. says dvyūnaṁ [çatārdhaṁ] turīyah.