Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 28
28. For long life for a certain person (child?).
[Çambhū.—jarimāyurdāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. jagatī; 5. bhurij.]
Found in Pāipp. (vss. 1-4 in i.; vs. 5 in xv.). Used by Kāuç. in the godāna ceremony (54. 13), as the parents pass the boy three times back and forth between them and make him eat balls of ghee; and the same is done in the cūḍā or cāula (hair-cutting) ceremony (54. 16, note); the schol. also reckon it to the āyuṣya gaṇa (54. 11, note).
Translated: Weber, xiii. 192; Grill, 48, 94; Griffith, i. 67; Bloomfield, 50, 306.
1. For just thee, O old age, let this one grow; let not the other deaths, that are a hundred, harm him; as a forethoughtful mother in her lap a son, let Mitra protect him from distress that comes from a friend (mitríya).
Ppp. has in b tvat for çataṁ ye, and combines in d mitre ’nam. The omission of either imám or anyé would rectify the meter of b. The comm. most foolishly takes jariman first from jṛ 'sing,' and explains it as he stūyamāna agne! then adding the true etymology and sense. The "jagatī" is quite irregular: 12 + 13: 11 + 12 = 48. ⌊Bloomfield cites an admirable parallel from RV. iv. 55. 5; but in his version he has quite overlooked the verb-accent.⌋
2. Let Mitra or helpful (? riçā́dās) Varuṇa in concord make him one that dies of old age; so Agni the offerer (hótar), knowing the ways (vayúna), bespeaks all the births of the gods.
All our pada-mss. read in a riçā́dā instead of -dāḥ; SPP. properly emends to -dāḥ. This wholly obscure word is found independently only here in AV.; its rendering above is intended only to avoid leaving a blank; the comm. gives the ordinary etymology, as hiṅsakānām attā; Grill, emending to ariçādas, brings out an ingenious but unconvincing parallelism with Gr. ἐρικυδής and, as noticed by him, Aufrecht also would understand ariçā́das 'very prominent.' Ppp. reads for a mitraç ca tvā varuṇaç ca riṣādāu, and has at the end of d -māni vakti.
3. Thou art master (īç) of earthly cattle, that are born, or also that are to be born; let not breath leave this one, nor expiration; let not friends slay (vadh) this one, nor enemies.
All the mss., and the comm., read at end of b janítrās, which SPP. accordingly retains, while our text makes the necessary emendation to jánitvās, which Ppp. also has. Ppp. ⌊omits vā in b;⌋ elides the initial a of apāno and amitrāḥ after mo; and it puts the verse after our vs. 4. Pāda b lacks a syllable, unnoticed by the Anukr. ⌊read jātā́sas?⌋.
4. Let father heaven, let mother earth, in concord, make thee one that dies of old age; that thou mayest live in the lap of Aditi, guarded by breath and expiration, a hundred winters.
Ppp. reads ṭe for ṭvā in a, and dīrgham āyuḥ for saṁvidāne in b; also ṛtyā for adites in c. The Anukr. takes no notice of the irregularity of the meter (9 + 11: 10 + 12 = 42: a poor triṣṭubh!); the insertion of ca after pṛthivī́ in a, and emendation to jī́vāsi in c, would be easy rectifications. ⌊In order to bring the cesura of a in the right place, read dyāúṣ and ṭvā. each as one syllable and insert a ca also after pitā́. Thus all is orderly, 11 + 11: 11 + 12. The accent-mark over pṛ- is gone.⌋
5. This one, O Agni, do thou lead for life-time, for splendor, to dear seed, O Varuṇa, Mitra, king! like a mother, O Aditi, yield (yam) him refuge; O all ye gods, that he be one reaching old age.
All the pada-mss. read at end of b mitra॰rājan, as a compound; and SPP. so gives it; the comm. understands rājan correctly as an independent word, but perhaps only as he in general is superior to the restraints of the pada-readings. Ppp. (in xv.) has priyo for -yam in b. The verse is found also in TS. (ii. 3. 103), TB. (ii. 7. 75), TA. (ii. 5. 1), and MS. (ii. 3. 4). All these give kṛdhi for naya at end of a; TA. MS. have tigmám ójas instead of priyáṁ rétas in b; TS. TB. MS. read soma rājan at end of b, while TA. offers instead sáṁ çiçādhi; all accent járadaṣṭis in d, and MS. leaves asat at the end unaccented. In ÇGS. (i. 27), again, is a version of the verse, omitting naya in a, reading (with MS.) tigmam ojas and soma in b, and having aditiḥ çarma yaṁsat in c. ⌊Von Schroeder gives the Kaṭha version, Tübinger Kaṭha-hss., p. 72-3.⌋