Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 2

2. Against enemies.

[Atharvan.—senāmohanam. bahudevatyam. trāiṣṭubham: 2-4. anuṣṭubh.]

Found in Pāipp. iii., next before the hymn here preceding. Used in Kāuç. only with the latter, as there explained.

Translated: Weber, xvii. 183; Griffith, i. 82; Bloomfield, 121, 327.—Cf. Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 139.

1. Let Agni our messenger, knowing, go against [them], burning against the imprecator, the niggard; let him confound the intents of our adversaries; and may Jātavedas make them handless.

All the mss. have in a the false accent praty étu (seemingly imitated from 1. 2 d, where hí requires it), and SPP. retains it; our edition makes the necessary emendation to práty etu. Ppp. appears to have çatrūn instead of vidvān at end of a.

2. Agni here hath confounded the intents that are in your heart; let him blow (dham) you away from [our] home; let him blow you forth in every direction.

Ppp. has dhamātu for -matu both times. The comm. renders amūmuhat by mohayatu, in accordance with his doctrine that one verbal form is equivalent to another.

3. O Indra! confounding [their] intents, move hitherward with [their] design (ā́kūti); with the blast of fire, of wind, make them disappear, scattering.

The second half-verse is identical with 1. 5 b, c. Pāda b apparently means 'take away their design, make them purposeless'; the comm., distorting the sense of arvān̄, makes it signify "go against [their army], with the design [of overwhelming it]." Ppp. reads ākūtyā ’dhi (i.e. -tyās adhi?). In our edition, restore the lost accent-mark over the -dra of índra in a.

4. Go asunder, ye designs of them; also, ye intents, be confounded; also what is today in their heart, that smite thou out from them.

All the mss. have in b cittā́ni, as if not vocative, and SPP. retains the accent, while our text emends to cittāni; the comm. understands a vocative. The comm. further takes vyākūtayas as one word, explaining it as either viruddhāḥ saṁkalpāḥ or else (qualifying devās understood) as çatrūṇāṁ vividhākūtyutpādakāḥ. ⌊For d, rather, 'that of them smite thou out from [them].'⌋

5. Confounding the intents of those yonder, seizing their limbs, O Apvā, go away; go forth against [them]; consume [them] in their hearts with pangs (çóka); pierce the enemies with seizure (grā́hi), the foes with darkness.

The verse is RV. x. 103. 12, which reads in a cittám pratilobháyantī, and, for d, andhéna ’mítrās támasā sacantām; and SV. (ii. 1211) and VS. (xvii. 44) agree with RV. Both pada-texts give in b gṛhāṇá, as impv.; but the word is translated above (in accordance with Grassmann's suggestion) as aor. pple. fem. gṛhāṇā́, because this combines so much better with the following páre ’hi. A number of the saṁhitā-mss. (including our P.s.m.E.s.m.I.H.p.m.) make the curious blunder of accenting apvè in b: the comm. explains it as a pāpadevatā, adding the precious etymology apavāyayati apagamayati sukham prāṇāṅç ca. ⌊Weber, ix. 482, thinks apvā has reference to impurity (root pū) and to diarrœha as caused by fear. To Weber's citation (xvii. 184) from the Purāṇa, add the line near the beginning of the Bhīṣma book, MBh. vi. i. 18, çrutvā tu ninadaṁ yodhāḥ çakṛn-mūtram prasusruvuḥ.⌋ The Anukr. ignores the redundancy in a; emendation to cittā́ would remove it.

6. Yonder army of our adversaries, O Maruts, that comes contending against us with force—pierce ye it with baffling darkness, that one of them may not know another.

The verse is an addition (as vs. 14) to RV. x. 103 ⌊Aufrecht, 2d ed'n, vol. ii. p. 682⌋, but forms a proper part of SV. (ii. 1210) and VS. (xvii. 47). RV. VS. read in b abhyāíti nas (for asmā́n āíty abhí); SV. has abhyéti; all have in c gūhata for vidhyata; and with the latter Ppp. intends to agree, but has guhata. For eṣām in d, RV. gives amī́ṣām, SV. etéṣām, and VS. amī́ and accordingly at the end jānán. It takes violence to compress our b into a triṣṭubh pāda.