Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 4

4. Against various evils: with a jan̄giḍá amulet.

[Atharvan.—ṣaḑṛcam. cāndramasam uta jan̄giḍadevatākam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. virāṭ prastārapan̄kti.]

Found also (except vs. 6 and parts of 1 and 2) in Pāipp. ii. Accompanies in Kāug. (42. 23) the binding on of an amulet "as described in the text" (iti mantroktam), against various evils (the comm. says, "for thwarting witchcraft, for protecting one's self, for putting down hindrances").

Translated: Weber, xiii. 140; Griffith, i. 45; Bloomfield, 37, 280; in part also by Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 417-418.—As to the jan̄giḍá see Zimmer, p. 65; also Weber and Grohmann, ll. cc.

1. In order to length of life, to great joy, we, taking no harm, all the time capable (dakṣ), bear the jan̄giḍá, the víṣkandha-spoiling amulet.

Ppp. has 1 a, b with 2 c, d as its first verse; very possibly the two half-verses between have fallen out in the ms.; it has in b ṛṣyambho ṛkṣamāṇā (for rakṣ-) s-. The comm. has rakṣamāṇās also; it is the better reading. The comm. gives no further identification of jan̄giḍa than that it is "a kind of tree" (adding vārāṇasyām prasiddhaḥ, 'familiarly known at Benares'!); he defines viṣkandha in the same manner as above, to i. 16. 3.

2. From jambá, from viçará, from víṣkandha, from scorching (abhiçócana), let the jan̄giḍá, the amulet of thousand-fold valiance (-vīryà), protect us about on every side.

Jambhá is perhaps 'convulsion,' or lockjaw; at Ppp. xi. 2. 10 it is mentioned with hanugraha; below, at viii. 1. 16, it is called saṁhanu 'jaw-closing'; the comm. gives two discordant and worthlessly indefinite explanations. Viçará should signify something crushing or tearing to pieces; Ppp. xi. 2. 3 names it with vijṛmbha; the comm. says çarīraviçaraṇāt. Ppp. has of this verse (see under vs. 1) only the second half, and combines maṇis sahasravīryaṣ pari naṣ p-.

3. This one overpowers the víṣkandha; this drives off the devourers; let this jan̄giḍá, possessing all remedies, protect us from distress.

The first half-verse we had above as i. 16. 3 a, b, with idám for ayám. Ppp. begins this time also with idam, has sāte (māte?) for sahate, and for b reads ayaṁ rakṣo ’pa bādhate; it gives viṣkandham with our text.

4. With the amulet given by the gods, the kindly jan̄giḍá, we overpower in the struggle (vyāyāmá) the víṣkandha [and] all demons.

Ppp. reads for d dhyāyase sāmahe. The comm. explains vyāyāme first by saṁcaraṇe, and then by saṁcaraṇapradeçe.

5. Let both the hemp and the jan̄giḍá defend me from the víṣkandha: the one brought from the forest, the other from the juices (rása) of ploughing.

That is, from cultivated ground. The "hemp" is doubtless, as the comm. defines it, that of the string by which the amulet is bound on. Ppp. has at the beginning khanaç ca tvā ja-; and its second half-verse is corrupted into araṇyād abhy ābhṛtaṣ kṛṣyā ’nyo rasebhyaḥ.

6. Witchcraft-spoiling is this amulet, likewise niggard-spoiling; likewise shall the pov/eriul jan̄giḍá prolong our life-times.

The absence of this verse in Ppp. indicates that the hymn originally consisted of five verses, in accordance with the norm of the book. The verse is very nearly xix. 34. 4. Emendation to arātidū́ṣaṇas (as in xix.) in b would rectify the meter; the Anukr. takes no notice of its irregularity. At the end, two of our mss. (E.I.) and three of SPP's read tārṣat. ⌊For his sáhasvān, see note to i. 19. 4.⌋