Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 18

18. Against a rival wife: with a plant.

[Atharvan.—vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4. 4-p. anuṣṭubgarbhā uṣṇih; 6. uṣṇiggarbhā pathyāpan̄kti.]

This peculiarly Atharvan hymn has found its way also into the tenth book of the Rig-Veda (as x. 145, with exchange of place between vss. 3 and 4; it is repeated in RV. order at MP. i. 15. 1-6). Only three verses (our 4, 2, 1, in this order) are found in Pāipp. (vii.). Kāuç. uses it, among the women's rites, in a charm (36. 19-21) for getting the better of a rival; vs. 6 a and b accompany the putting of leaves under and upon the (rival's) bed. And the comm. (doubtless wrongly) regards vss. 5 and 6 to be intended by the pratīka quoted in 38. 30, instead of xii. 1.54, which has the same beginning.

Translated: as RV. hymn, Ludwig, ii. 554, no. 932; Grassmann, ii. 415; as AV. hymn, Weber, v. 222; Zimmer, p. 307; Weber, xvii. 264; Griffith, i. 108; Bloomfield, 107, 354; further, by Winternitz, Hochzeitsrituell, p. 98.

1. I dig this herb, of plants the strongest, with which one drives off (bādh) her rival; with which one wins completely (sam-vid) her husband.

RV. reads in b the accus. vīrúdham. For d, Ppp. gives kṛṇute kevalaṁ patim. The comm. (with our Op.) has oṣadhīm in a; he understands throughout the herb in question to be the pāṭhā (cf. ii. 27. 4), though Kāuç. and the Anukr. speak only of bāṇāparṇī 'arrow leaf' (not identified).

2. O thou of outstretched leaves, fortunate, god-quickened, powerful, do thou thrust away my rival, make my husband wholly mine.

'Outstretched,' lit. supine; horizontal, with the face of the leaf upward. RV. has dhama for nuda in c, and the modern kuru for kṛdhi at the end. Ppp. offers only the first half-verse, in this form: uttānaparṇāṁ subhagāṁ sahamānāṁ sahasvatīm; MP. also has sahamāne instead of devajūte.

3. Since he has not named (grah) thy name, thou also stayest (ram) not with him as husband; unto distant distance make we my rival go.

This translation of the first half-verse follows closely our text. RV. has a very different version: nahy àsyā nā́ma gṛbhṇā́mi nó asmín ramate jáne 'since I name not her (its?) name, she (it?) also does not stay with (find pleasure in) this person (people?).' Winternitz applauds and accepts his commentator's explanation of b: "nor finds she pleasure in me" (taking ayaṁ janas in the much later sense of "I"), but it seems wholly unsatisfactory. The meter calls for emendation in a to jagráha 'I have named,' equivalent to the RV. reading; and R. makes the emendation, and retains the jáne of RV., rendering (as addressed by the woman using the charm to the plant) "I have not named [to her] thy name; and thou stayest (stayedst) not with the person (bei der Person)." The comm. regards the rival as addressed, and conveniently makes ramase = ramasva: "stay thou not with this my husband." Weber renders ramase by "kosest," thou dalliest not. No satisfactory solution of the difficulty is yet found.

4. Superior [am] I, O superior one; superior, indeed, to them (f.) that are superior; below [is] she that is my rival; lower [is] she than they (f.) that are lower.

RV. has the better reading áthā for adhás in c, allowing c and d to be combined into one sentence; and the comm. gives correspondingly adha. Ppp. is more discordant and corrupt: uttarā ā́ham uttarabhyo uttaro ed ādharabhyaḥ: adhaḥ sapatnī sāmarthy adhared adhārabhyaḥ. R. conjectures in a uttarāhāhamuttare, for úttarā ’hám ahamuttaré ⌊cf. iii. 8. 3⌋. The verse, even if scanned as 7 + 7: 8 + 7 = 29, ought to be called bhurij.

5. I am overpowering; likewise art thou very powerful; we both, becoming full of power, will overpower my rival.

The verse xix. 32. 5 is a variation on this. RV. reads átha for átho in b, and the older bhūtvī́ for bhūtvā́ in c.

6. I have put on (abhí) for thee the overpowering one (f.); I have put to (úpa) for thee the very powerful one; after me let thy mind run forth as a cow after her calf, run as water on its track.

RV. reads úpa for abhí in a, and has for b abhí tvā ’dhāṁ sáhīyasā. The application of a and b as made by Kāuç. (see above) would suit the prepositions as found in RV. decidedly better than as in our text; but much more appropriate is the use made by MP., elements of the root being secretly bound on the arms of the wife, with which she embraces the husband below and above ⌊so that one arm is under him and the other over him⌋; then in abhy adhām is further implied (as elsewhere ⌊e.g. iii. 11. 8⌋) the value of abhidhānī, the halter or bridle with which a horse is controlled. The Anukr. does not sanction the resolution ma-ā́m in c.