Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 25

25. To command a woman's love.

[Bhṛgu (jāyākāmaḥ).—māitrāvaruṇaṁ kāmeṣudevatākaṁ ca. ānuṣṭubham.]

Not found in Pāipp. Used by Kāuç. (35. 22) in the chapters of women's rites, in a charm for bringing a woman under one's control, by pushing her with a finger, piercing the heart of an image of her, etc.

Translated: Weber, v. 224; Muir, OST. v. 407; Ludwig, p. 516; Zimmer, p. 307; Weber, xvii. 290; Grill, 53, 115; Griffith, i. 119; Bloomfield, 102, 358.—Cf. Zimmer, p. 300; Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 144. Muir gives only a part.

1. Let the up-thruster thrust (tud) thee up; do not abide (dhṛ) in thine own lair; the arrow of love (kā́ma) that is terrible, therewith I pierce thee in the heart.

Pāda a evidently suggests the finger-thrust of Kāuç.; what uttudá really designates is matter for guessing, and the translators guess differently; the comm. says "a god so named." The comm. has the bad reading dṛthās in b.

2. The arrow feathered with longing (ādhī́), tipped with love, necked with resolve (? saṁkalpá-)—having made that well-straightened, let love pierce thee in the heart.

According to the comm., ādhī́ means mānasī pīḍā; çalyam is bāṇāgre protam āyasam; kulmalam is dāruçalyayoḥ saṁçleṣadravyam ⌊thing (like a ferrule?) to fasten the tip to the shaft⌋. Our P.M.W. read tā́ for tā́m at beginning of c. Pāda c requires the harsh resolution ta-ā́m.

3. The well-straightened arrow of love which dries the spleen, forward-winged, consuming (vyòṣa)—therewith I pierce thee in the heart.

The accent of vyòṣa is anomalous ⌊Skt. Gram. §1148 n⌋, being rather that of a possessive compound ⌊§1305 a⌋; ⌊cf. vs. 4⌋. The comm. appears to take plīhan as signifying 'lung'; the obscure prācīnapakṣa he makes equivalent to ṛjavaḥ pakṣā yasyāḥ.

4. Pierced with consuming pain (çúc), dry-mouthed, do thou come creeping to me, gentle, with fury allayed, entirely [mine], pleasant-spoken, submissive.

The great majority of mss. (including our Bp.P.M. W.E.I.) accent vyóṣa in this verse, which is preferable; but both editions give vyòṣa, because the mss. are unanimously for it in vs. 3 c. The comm. renders it by vidāhayukta. ⌊I cannot make out from W's collations that M.W. read vyóṣa⌋.

5. I goad thee hither with a goad (ā́janī), away from mother, likewise from father, that thou mayest be in my power (krátu), mayest come unto my intent.

The second half-verse is identical with vi. 9. 2 c, d, and nearly so with i. 34. 2 c, d.

6. Do ye, O Mitra-and-Varuṇa, cast out the intents from her heart; then, making her powerless, make her [to be] in my own control.

P.M.W. begin c with yáthā. Asyāi in a is doubtless to be understood as a genitive (cf. iv. 5. 6), though the comm. says "a dative in genitive sense." ⌊Cf. Lanman, JAOS. X. 359, end.⌋

The fifth anuvāka has 5 hymns and 35 verses. The quoted Anukr. says pañca ca rcaḥ.