Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 8
8. For authority.
[Atharvan.—māitram uta vāiçvadevam. trāiṣṭubham: 2, 6. jagatī; 4. 4-p. virāḑbṛhatīgarbhā; 5. anuṣṭubh.]
Verses 1-4 found in Pāipp. i., but defaced. The hymn is used by Kāuç. (55. 17-18; also 55. 1, note), with i. 9, 30, etc., in the ceremony of reception of a Vedic student, and, according to the schol. (10. 19, note), in that for the generation of wisdom (the comm. says, as belonging to the āyuṣya gaṇa). Verses 5 and 6 are the same with vi. 94. 1, 2, and it is vi. 94, rather than these verses here, that is used in Kāuç. 12. 5 (the comm. blunderingly prescribes the use under both passages). Verse 4 has the same pratīka as xiv. 1. 32 and one or the other of the two verses is taught in Vāit. (22. 1) as used "by Kāuçika" in the agniṣṭoma; but our Kāuç. has no such use, and it is doubtless xiv. 1. 32, 33 that he prescribes (79. 17 ff.) in the nuptial ceremonies; but the comm. reports the use here, as if it referred to vss. 4 and 5. The comm. further regards the hymn as employed by the Nakṣ. K. (18), in the āirāvatī rite, and by Pariçiṣṭa 5. 3; in both cases as an āyuṣya hymn.
Translated: Weber, xvii. 212; Griffith, i. 90.
1. Let Mitra come, arranging with the seasons, uniting (? sam-veçaya-) the earth with the ruddy ones (usríyā); then to us let Varuṇa, Vāyu, Agni, assign great royalty of union (? saṁveçyà).
The verse is very obscure, and probably corrupt, though found almost without variant (only tat for atha in c) in Ppp. also. The epithet saṁveçyà (found only here) seems fashioned to correspond to the participle saṁveçáyan in b; but Weber renders the ppl. by "umlagernd" and the epithet by "ruhsam"; the comm., by "pervading" (vyāpnuvan) and "suitable for abiding in" (saṁveçārham avasthānayogyam). The comm. takes usríyās as gāvas, i.e. kiraṇās 'rays.' R. ventures heroic emendations: "Let Mitra come after ordering of the time, enlivening (saṁhāpayan or something equivalent, since 'putting to rest' is no result of the action of Mitra's rays) the earth with his rays; but let Varuṇa make wind and fire (vāyúm agním), make our great realm go to rest." The first pada is redundant, unless we make the double combination mitrá rtúbhiḥ. ⌊BR. take kalp- as 'sich richtend nach.'⌋
2. Let Dhātar, Rāti, Savitar enjoy here (idám); let Indra, Tvashṭar, welcome my words (vácas); I call the divine Aditi, mother of heroes (çū́ra-), that I may be midmost man of my fellows.
The first pada is also vii. 17. 4 a, and VS. viii. 17 a. The plural verb in b seems to imply that all the deities mentioned in the line are to be regarded as its subjects. Madhyameṣṭhā́ (like madhyamaçī́, iv. 9. 4), probably the one whom the others gather about as chief; the comm. has nothing valuable (samṛddhakāmaḥ san svasamānāiḥ sevyaḥ). The comm. takes rāti in a as = Aryaman. Ppp. has gṛhṇantu for haryantu in b. The meter of d would be rectified by reading syā́m (or ásam, as is perhaps assumable in this stage of the language) for ásāni. The verse as it stands (11 + 12: 11 + 12 = 46) is ill described as a jagatī.
3. I call, with acts of homage. Soma, Savitar, all the Ādityas, in the contest for preëminence; may this fire shine for very long, kindled by [my] fellows who gainsay not.
The translation implies in b emendation ⌊cf. iii. 18. 4⌋ to ahamuttaratvé (against all the mss. and both editions), as proposed by BR., i. 891; the comm. also takes it as two words, and renders uttaratvé by yajamānasya çrāiṣṭhye. Ppp. reads devān for ādityān in b. The comm. has dīdayat in saṁhitā; our pada-text has it, and Prāt. iii. 22 and iv. 89 deal with its conversion to dīdāyat in saṁhitā.
4. May ye be just here; may ye not go away (parás); may an active herdsman (gopā́), lord of prosperity, drive you hither; do ye, with [your] desires, [attend] upon (?) his desire; let all the gods conduct you together hither.
The translation implies emendation in d of -yantu to -nayantu, as called for by both meter and sense, and also the addition of a verb, sta or ita, at end of c, for a like reason. If, as seems very probable, the verse is originally addressed to kine, kāmínīs in c is quite natural; if not, we may regard viças as understood: the sense is 'be your desires subject to his.' Ppp. has a different reading: asmāi vaṣ kāmā upa kāminīr viçve devā upasatyām iha. The comm. regards kāminīs as addressed throughout, and explains it finally as meaning striyaḥ gāvaḥ (perhaps the text is defective or incorrect; the general explanation of the verse implies striyaḥ). The comm. reads puras for paras in a, and in b divides īryas, deriving it from root īr, and rendering it mārgaprerakas ⌊pada has íryas⌋. The Anukr. calls for 11 + 11: 9 + 11 = 42 syllables, and strictly requires at the end -i-antu; but no inference as to a difference of reading is to be drawn from this. ⌊Ppp. combines in b vājat.—Weber says: "asmāi diesem, dem Hausherrn, kāmāya zu Liebe; oder gehört asmāi zu kāmāya selbst?"⌋
5. We bend together your minds, together your courses (vratá), together your designs; ye yonder who are of discordant courses, we make you bend [them] together here.
This and the following verse, not found with the others in Ppp., occur again below as vi. 94. 1, 2 ⌊cf. also ii. 30. 2⌋, and vs. 1 occurs in Ppp. xix., with the other material of our sixth book; they are so far discordant in subject with the preceding verses that we may fairly call them out of place here. This one exists in MS. (ii. 2. 6), with anaṁsata for namāmasi, and sthá for sthána. A RV. khila to x. 191 has jānatām in a for saṁ vratā, ākūtis in b, and, for c, d, asāu yo vimanā janas taṁ samāvartayāmasi. The first half-verse, further, nearly accords with VS. xii. 58 a, b, TS. iv. 2. 51 a, b, MS. ii. 7. 11 a, b (they have vām for vas, and, for b, sám u cittā́ny ā́ ’karam). Nearly all our saṁhitā-mss. read -tāḥ before sthána, nor is there anything in the Prāt. to prescribe the omission of the visarga in such a situation, while the comment to ii. 40 expressly quotes the passage as an example of the assimilation of it to a following initial sibilant. The comm. reads stana instead of sthana. Three of our mss. (P.M.E.) read at the end -nayāmasi.
6. I seize [your] minds with [my] mind; come ye after my intent with [your] intents; I put your hearts in my control; come with [your] tracks following my motion (yātá).