Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 23
23. For fecundity.
[Brahman.—cāndramasam uta yonidevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 5. upariṣṭābhurigbṛhatī; 6. skandhogrīvībṛhatī.]
Found in Pāipp. iii. Used by Kāuç. in the chapters of women's rites, in a charm (35. 3) to procure the conception of male offspring, with breaking an arrow over the mother's head etc.
Translated: Weber, v. 223; Ludwig, p. 477; Zimmer, p. 319; Weber, xvii. 285; Griffith, i. 116; Bloomfield, 97, 356.
1. By what thou hast become barren (vehát), that we make disappear from thee; that now we set down elsewhere, far away from (ápa) thee.
Vehát is perhaps more strictly 'liable to abort'; the comm. gives the word here either sense. Ppp. is defective, giving only the initial words of vss. 1 and 2.
2. Unto thy womb let a fœtus come, a male one, as an arrow to a quiver; let a hero be born unto thee here, a ten-months' son.
3. Give birth to a male, a son; after him let a male be born; mayest thou be mother of sons, of those born and whom thou shalt bear.
All the mss. save one or two (including our E.) read at the end yā́m; both editions make the necessary emendation to yā́n, which the comm. also gives. At beginning of b, Ppp. reads tvam, as do also the comm. and a couple of SPP's mss.; and Ppp. ends with janayāmi ca. MB. (i. 4. 9 c, d) has the first half-verse, reading vindasva for janaya; and MP. (as above) ⌊i. 13. 2⌋ also, with púmāṅs te putró nāri for a. And ÇGS. (as above) has our a, b, with, for c, d, teṣām mātā, bhaviṣyasi jātānāṁ janayāṅsi ca ⌊the end corrupt, as in Ppp.⌋.
4. And what excellent seeds the bulls generate, with them do thou acquire (vid) a son; become thou a productive milch-cow.
ÇGS. (as above) has for b puruṣā janayanti naḥ; it rectifies the meter of c by reading tebhiṣ ṭ- for tāts t- (and it has janaya for vindasva); in d, it gives suprasūs, which is better than our sā́ pr-. MP. (as above) ⌊i. 13. 3⌋ repeats our verse very closely, only with nas for ca in b, and putrān in c; and it has, just before, the line tāni bhadrṇi bījāny ṛṣabhā janayantu nāu. A verse in HGS. (as above) is quite similar: yāni prabhūṇi vīryāṇy ṛṣabhā janayantu naḥ: tāis tvaṁ garbhiṇī bhava sa jāyatāṁ vīratamaḥ svānām; and it offers a little later sā prasūr dhenugā bhava. Our reading tāis tvám in c is assured by Prāt. ii. 84; the resolution tu-ám makes the meter correct.
5. I perform for thee the [ceremony] of Prajāpati; let a fœtus come to thy womb; acquire thou a son, O woman, who shall be weal for thee; weal also for him do thou become.
The accent of bháva at the end is anomalous. HGS. (as above) has the first half-verse ⌊and MP., at i. 13. i, concordantly⌋; it reads karomi at the beginning, and in b puts yonim after garbhas; this latter Ppp. does also. The comm. understands prājāpatyam as above translated; other renderings are possible ("das Zeugungswerk," Weber; "Zeugungsfähigkeit," Zimmer). The metrical definition of the verse (8 + 8: 8 + 5 + 8 = 37) is not good save mechanically.
6. The plants of which heaven has been the father, earth the mother, ocean the root—let those herbs of the gods (dāíva) favor thee, in order to acquisition of a son.
The first half-verse is found again later, as viii. 7. 2 c, d; in both places, part of the mss. read dyāúṣ p- (here only our O., with half of SPP's); and that appears to be required by Prāt. ii. 74, although the looser relation of the two words favors in a case like this the reading dyāúḥ, which both editions present. Ppp- has an independent version: yāsāṁ pitā parjanyo bhūmir mātā babhūva: with devīs in c (this the comm. also reads) and oṣadhīs in d. The verse is irregular, and capable of being variously read; and what the Anukr. means by its definition is obscure.