Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 1

1. Against enemies.

[Atharvan.—senāmohanam. bahudevatyam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. virāḍgarbhā bhurij; 3, 6. anuṣṭubh; j. virāṭpurauṣṇih.]

Found in Pāipp. iii., next after the one which here follows it. In Kāuç. (14. 17), this hymn and the next are called mohanāni 'confounders,' and are used in a rite (14. 17-21) for confounding an enemy's army; its details have nothing to do with those of the hymns.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 518; Weber, xvii. 180; Griffith, i. 81; Bloomfield, 121, 325.

1. Let Agni, knowing, go against our foes, burning against the imprecator, the niggard; let him confound (mohaya-) the army of our adversaries (pára); and may Jātavedas make them handless.

Ppp. makes çatrūn and vidvān in a change places. SPP. reports that the text used by the comm. reads ṇaḥ after agnir both here and in 2. 1 a. The comm. signalizes the beginning of the book by giving absurd etymologies of agni at the length of nearly a page. Pāda c lacks a syllable, unless we allow ourselves to resolve sé-na-ām.

2. Ye, O Maruts, are formidable for such a plight; go forward upon [them], kill, overcome! The Vasus have killed [them]; suppliant [are] these; for let Agni, their messenger, go against [their foes], knowing.

The second half-verse is rendered literally as it stands, but is certainly badly corrupt. Ppp. has amīmṛcdaṁ vasavo nāthitebhyo agnir hy eṣāṁ vidvān pratyetu çatrūn, which is much more acceptable: nāth- would be 'for [us] who supplicate.' Dūtas seems to have blundered in here out of 2. 1 a. Ludwig emends nāthitā́s to -tā́n, which would improve c, but leave it unconnected with d. In our edition práty etu is an erratum for pratyétu, which all the mss. read. The comm., with his customary neglect of accent, takes ugrā́s in a as vocative. He takes īḑṛ́çe as a locative (= apradhṛsye saṁgrāmalakṣaṇe karmaṇi), against the testimony of the other passages where the word occurs, and supplies matsahāyās. In b, he reads (with a couple of SPP's mss. that follow him) mṛṇátas, and takes it (again against the accent) as accus. pl. Ámīmṛṇan in c he renders as an imperative. The meter of the verse (11 + 11: 12 + 13 = 47) is capable of being fitted to the description of the Anukr. ⌊11 + 10: 12 + I2 = 45⌋ by duly managing the resolutions. ⌊Aufrecht, KZ. xxvii. 219 (1885), reconstructs the vs., putting mṛḍáyata for mṛṇáta in b and reading c, d thus: ámīmṛḍan vásavo nāthitā́so agnír hí çatrū́n pratyéti vídhyan. Cf. Bloomfield, 326.—Roth gives (in his notes) mṛḍata for mṛṇata and (in his collation) yeṣām for hy eṣām, as Ppp. readings.⌋

3. The army of enemies, O bounteous one, playing the foe against us—do ye (two), O Vṛtra-slaying Indra, Agni also, burn against them.

The verse is found also as SV. ii. 1215, which reads chatruyatī́m in b, and begins c with ubhāú tā́m (tā́m is read by the comm., and is called for as an emendation in our verse); it also has the correct accent amitrasenā́m, which is found in only two of our mss. (O. Op.) and three of SPP's; both editions read -sénām. In our text, āgníç in d is a misprint for agníç. ⌊SPP. combines asmā́n ch-, badly: cf. i. 19. 4, note.⌋

4. Impelled, O Indra, forwards (? pravátā) by thy (two) bays—let thy thunderbolt go forth, slaughtering (pra-mṛ) the foes; smite the on-coming, the following, the fleeing (párāñc); scatter their actual intent.

The verse is RV. iii. 30. 6; which, however, reads at the beginning prá sū́ te (as does also the comm.), accents in c pratīcó anūcáḥ (and the comm. claims the same for our text), and has for d víçvaṁ satyáṁ kṛṇuhi viṣṭám astu, which is even more unintelligible than our text. Weber proposes viṣvaksatyám as a compound, "turning itself in every direction"; this, however, makes nothing out of -satyam. Ludwig translates "fulfil their design in all [both] directions," which is not very clear. Ppp. reads viçvaṁ viṣṭaṁ kṛṇuhi satyam eṣām; also quite obscure. The comm. takes satyam as "established, settled," and viṣvak kṛṇuhi as "scatter, unsettle, make uncertain." One would like to take viṣvak- as something like 'contrariwise,' with the general sense "turn their plans against themselves." Ppp. has further nūaḥ for anūcas in c.

5. O Indra, confound the army of our enemies; with the blast of fire, of wind, make them disappear, scattering.

The defective first half-verse is completed by Ppp. in this form: manomohanaṁ kṛṇva (i.e. kṛṇavas?) indrā ’mitrebhyas tvam. The second half-verse is also 2. 3 c, d. The comm. explains dhrājyā by dahanaviṣaye yā vegitā gatis tathāvidhayā vegagatyā tayor eva vā gatyā.

6. Let Indra confound the army; let the Maruts slay with force; let Agni take away its eyes; let it go back conquered.

All the mss. read índra, vocative, at the beginning of the verse; but SPP's text, as well as ours, emends to índraḥ s-; and this the comm. also has. The comm. further in c dhattām instead of dattām.