Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 15

15. For success in trade.

[Atharvan (paṇyakāmaḥ).—aṣṭarcam. vāiçvadevam utāi ”ndrāgnam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. bhurij; 4. 3-av. 6-p. bṛhatīgarbhā virāḑatyaṣṭi; 5. virāḑjagatī; 7. anuṣṭubh; 8. nicṛt.]

Four of the verses are found in Pāipp. xix. (1, 4, 6, 2, in this order). The hymn is used by Kāuç. in a rite for good-fortune in trading (50. 12), and again (59. 6) for a similar purpose; also (or vs. 1) in the indramahotsava ceremony (140. 16); also vss. 7 and 8 in the appeasing of the flesh-eating fire (70. 13, 14). In Vāit. (6. 9), vs. 7 is employed in the ceremony of establishing the sacrificial fire. The usual statement of these various uses appears to be lacking in the manuscript of the comm., and is supplied, only in part, by its editor.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 215; Zimmer, p. 258 (except vss. 7, 8); Weber, xvii. 247; Grill (vss. 1-6), 69, 113; Griffith, i. 102; Bloomfield, 148, 352.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 38.

1. I stir up (cud) the trader Indra; let him come to us, be our forerunner; thrusting [away] the niggard, the waylaying wild animal, let him, having the power (īç), be giver of riches to me.

Or paripanthínam and mṛgám in c may be independent of one another (so comm., and translators except Weber and Zimmer). Ppp. has, for a, b, indraṁ vayaṁ vaṇijaṁ havāmahe sa nas trātā pura etu prajānan. The Anukr. notices c as jagatī pāda. ⌊"Indra, the trader": cf. Bergaigne, Rel. véd., ii. 480.—Many Jātaka tales (e.g. no's 1, 2) give vivid pictures of the life of the trading caravans.⌋

2. The many roads, travelled by the gods, that go about (sam-car) between heaven-and-earth—let them enjoy me with milk, with ghee, that dealing (krī) I may get (ā-hṛ) riches.

Ppp's version is very different: ihāi ’vaṣ panthā bahavo devayānām anu dyāvāpṛthivī supraṇītiḥ: teṣām ahnāṁ varcasy ā dadhāmi yathā klītvā dhanatn āvahāni. The comm. allows us alternatively to understand deva- in a as "by traders"; he renders juṣantām in c by sevantām, as if it were causative. His text has at the beginning ye te panth-. The emendation, suggested by Weber, of mā in c to me would help the sense. The first half-verse is found again below as vi. 55. 1 a, b. To make a regular triṣṭubh, we must contract to -pṛthvī́ in b, and expand to krī-tu-ā́ in d; the Anukr. perhaps regards the two irregularities as balancing one another.

3. With fuel, O Agni, with ghee, I, desiring, offer the oblation, in order to energy (táras), to strength;—revering with worship (bráhman), so far as I am able—this divine prayer (dhī́), in order to hundred-fold winning.

The verse is RV. iii. 18. 3, without variant—save that RV. accents of course juhómi, as does our edition by necessary emendation, while SPP. follows all the mss. in giving juhomi (the pada-text puts a sign of pāda-division after the word, but also before it). The verse is not at all likely to have been an original part of our hymn; the word çataséyāya in d has caused its addition. The comm. renders tárase by vegāya çīghragamanāya, and applies yā́vad ī́çe in two ways, to the winning or to the worshipping.

4. This offense (? çaráṇi) of ours mayest thou, O Agni, bear with (mṛṣ), what distant road we have gone. Successful (çuná) for us be bargain and sale; let return-dealing make me fruitful; do ye two enjoy this oblation in concord; successful for us be our going about and rising.

The first two pādas are wanting in the Pāipp. version of the hymn (though they occur, in another connection, in Ppp. i.), and they are plainly an intrusion here, due to the mention of distant travel in b; they form the first half of RV. i. 31. 16 (but RV. reads for b imám ádhvānaṁ yám ágāma dūrā́t; LÇS., in its repetition of the RV. verse at iii. 2. 7, agrees with AV. in preferring dūram). The insertion dislocates the comm's division of the hymn; he reckons only the first 4 pādas as vs. 4, then the last two with the first two of our 5 as vs. 5, and the latter half of our 5 with the former half of our 6 as vs. 6, making a vs. 7 of only the two concluding pādas of our 6, and numbering the two remaining verses as 8 and 9. Some of our mss. (P.M.W.E.I.) divide and number in the same way to the middle of our vs. 6, then making vs. 7 consist of 6 pādas and end where our vs. 7 ends. Ppp. has for its verse a different version of our c-f: paṇo for çunam at the beginning (with ‘stu after no), godhani naṣ for phalinam mā, and, for our e, saṁrarāṇā havir idaṁ juṣantām. The Anukr. seems to scan the verse as 11 + 9: 12 + 11: 11 + 12 = 66, though c and f are properly to be made regularly triṣṭubh by elision to ‘stu. The comm. renders çaráṇi in a by "injury" (hiṅsā), and explains it as either that arising (to Agni) from the intermission of sacred rites in consequence of the householder's absence from home, or else that to the absentee from his long journey as expressed in b—mīmṛṣas being in the first case = kṣamasva, and in the second = marṣaya or titikṣaya 'cause us to endure': perhaps the second is, after all, the better. ⌊For d, rather, 'may barter make me abounding in fruit,' i.e. 'may barter bring me its reward.'⌋

5. With what riches I practise (car) bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—let that become more for me, not less; O Agni, put down (ni-sidh) with the oblation the gain-slaying gods.

Or, possibly, 'the gods of the gain-slayer' (sātaghnás as gen. sing.; the comm. takes it as accus. pl., and Zimmer and Ludwig so translate). The omission of devā́n would rectify the meter and better the sense, and Weber and Grill ⌊and Hillebrandt⌋ leave it out. The Anukr. gives a mechanically correct definition of the verse as it stands.

6. With what riches I practise bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—therein let Indra assign me pleasure (? rúci), let Prajāpati, Savitar, Soma, Agni.

Ppp. has a better version of a: yat paṇena pratipaṇaṁ carāmi; and it arranges c differently: indro me tasmin ṛcam ā; and reads bṛhaspatis for prajāp- in d. HGS. (i. 15. 1) has a kindred verse, with second pāda nearly identical with ours, and rucam in c. ⌊See also MP. ii. 22. 4.⌋ Rúci, lit. 'brightness,' is variously understood by the translators: Zimmer, "attractive power"; Ludwig, "pleasure"; Weber, "understanding"; Grill, "consideration"; the comm. explains it by sarvajanaprītiṁ dhanapradānenā ”dānecchām. ⌊Ppp. seems to omit dhanena in b.⌋

7. Unto thee with homage do we, O priest Vāiçvānara ('for all men'), give praise; do thou watch over our progeny, our selves, our kine, our breaths.

Two of our pada-mss. (Bp.Kp.; also D.p.m.?) divide vāiçvānaraḥ: tumaḥ in b; P.M.W. give sám for sá at beginning of c. This verse and the next seem to be additions to the original hymn. ⌊Under stu, BR. and Index Verborum join úpa with stu; correct Index under úpa accordingly.⌋

8. Every day may we bring constantly for thee as for a standing horse, O Jātavedas; rejoicing together with abundance of wealth, with food, may we thy neighbors, O Agni, take no harm.

The verse nearly accords with xix. 55. i, below; the second half is the same as there; the first half here is more unlike the parallel verse in other texts (VS. xi. 75; ÇB. vi. 6. 4. 1; TS. iv. i. 10¹; K. xvi. 7; MS. ii. 7. 7) than is xix. 55. 1 ab—see under xix. 55. 1; in the second half they vary only by putting ágne at the beginning of d; they make a more manageable sentence by furnishing an object, ghāsám 'fodder,' for bharema. The comm. renders tiṣṭhate by svagṛhe vartamānāya.

Here, at the end of the third anuvāka, of 5 hymns and 38 verses, the old Anukr. says simply aṣṭāu (but O.R. give aṣṭatriṅçat).

The fifth prapāṭhaka also ends with this hymn.