Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 16

16. The power of the gods.

[Brahman.—navarcam. satyānṛtānvīkṣaṇasūktam. vāruṇam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. anuṣṭubh; 5. bhurij; 7. jagatī; 8. 3-p. mahābṛhatī; 9. virāṇnāmatripādgāyatr.]

Five verses of this hymn (in the verse-order 3, 2, 5, 8, 7) are found together in Pāipp. v., and parts of vss. 4 and 6 elsewhere in the same book. It is used by Kāuç. (48. 7) in a rite of sorcery against an enemy who "comes cursing"; and vs. 3 also in the portent-ceremony of the seven seers (127. 3), with praise to Varuṇa.

By reason of the exceptional character of this hymn as expression of the unrestricted presence and influence of superhuman powers, it has been a favorite subject of translation and discussion. Translated: Roth, Ueber den AV., p. 29; Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, i. 41 (1867); Muir, OST. v. 63; Ludwig, p. 388; Muir, Metrical Translations, p. 163; Kaegi, Der Rigveda², p 89 f. (or p. 65 f. of R. Arrowsmith's translation of Kaegi), with abundant parallels from the Old Testament; Grill, 32, 126; Griffith, i. 153; Bloomfield, 88, 389; Weber, xviii. 66. Some of the above do not cover the entire hymn.—See also Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 38; Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 146; further, Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 406; Hermann Brunnhofer, Iran und Turan (1889), p. 188-196; Weber, Berliner Sb., 1894, p. 782 f.

⌊Weber entitles the hymn "Betheuerung der Unschuld, Eidesleistung"; see his instructive note, Ind. Stud. xviii. 66, note 2. "Comes cursing" hardly takes account of the voice of çapyamānam as used by Kāuç. 48. 7.⌋

1. The great superintendent of them sees, as it were, from close by; whoever thinks to be going on in secret, all this the gods know.

The verse is altogether wanting in Ppp. All the mss. read in a-b -tā́ ant- (p. -tā́: ant-), with irregular absence of combination across the cesura; the case might be one of those contemplated by Prāt. iii. 34, although not quoted in the comment on that rule; SPP. reads with the mss., and our edition might perhaps better have done the same (it is emended to -tā́ ’nt-). But SPP. also reads in c yás tāyát, instead of yá (i.e. yáḥ) stāyát*, while nearly all his pada-mss. (with all of ours) require the latter; his wholly insufficient reason seems to be that the comm. adopts tāyat; the comm. also has, as part of the same version, carat, and views the two words as contrasted, "stable" (sāṁtatyena vartamānaṁ sthiravastu) and "transient" (caraṇaçīlaṁ naçvaraṁ ca vastu), which is absurd: "he is great, because he knows (manyate=jānāti!) all varieties of being." The comm. understands eṣām as meaning "of our evil-minded enemies," and keeps up the implication throughout, showing no manner of comprehension of the meaning of the hymn. *⌊See Prāt. ii. 40, note, p. 426 near end.⌋

2. Whoso stands, goes about, and whoso goes crookedly (vañc), whoso goes about hiddenly, who defiantly (? pratán̄kam)—what two, sitting down together, talk, king Varuṇa, as third, knows that.

Ppp. reads in a manasā instead of carati, and in b pralāyam instead of pratan̄kam; and for c it has dvāu yad avadatas saṁniṣadya. The pada-mss. give in b ni॰lā́yan, as if the assimilated final nasal before c were n instead of m; and SPP. unwisely leaves this uncorrected in his pada-text, although the comm. correctly understands -yam. The comm. regards a and b as specifying the "enemies" of vs. 1 a; vañcati he paraphrases by kāuṭilyena pratārayati, and pratan̄kam by prakarṣeṇa kṛcchrajīvanam prāpya; nilāyam* he derives either from nis + i or from ni + lī. The true sense of pratan̄kam is very obscure; the translation seeks in it a contrast to nilā́yam; the translators mostly prefer a parallel "gliding, creeping," or the like. The Anukr. apparently balances the redundant a with the deficient c. *⌊Note that W's version connects it with ní-līna of vs. 3; cf. Gram. §995 a, and my Reader, p. 394.⌋

3. Both this earth is king Varuṇa's, and yonder great sky with distant margins (-ánta); also the two oceans are Varuṇa's paunches; also in this petty water is he hidden.

Ppp. has, for a, b, ute ’yam asya pṛthivī samīcī dyāur bṛhatīr antarikṣam; and, at end of d, udakena maktāḥ. The comm. declares that the epithets in b belong to "earth" as well as to "sky"; kukṣī he paraphrases by dakṣiṇottarapārçvabhedenā ’vasthite dve udare.

4. Also whoso should creep far off beyond the sky, he should not be released from king Varuṇa; from the sky his spies go forth hither; thousand-eyed, they look over the earth.

Only the second and third pādas are found in Ppp. (and, as noted above, not in company with the main part of the hymn), which gives iha for divas and ime ‘sya for idam asya (both in c). The saṁhitā-mss., as usual, vary between diváḥ and divá before sp-. The comm. has purastāt in a.

5. All this king Varuna beholds (vi-cakṣ)—what is between the two firmaments (ródasī), what beyond; numbered of him are the winkings of people; as a gambler the dice, [so] does he fix (? ni-mi) these things.

Ppp. reads for d akṣān na çvaghnī bhuvanā mamīte, which gives a rather more manageable sense; our text is probably corrupt (ví cinoti?); the comm. explains ni minoti by ni kṣipati; and to the obscure tāni (not relating to anything specified in the verse) he supplies pāpināṁ çikṣākarmāṇi. He has again (as in 4 a) purastāt in b; and in c he understands saṁkhyātā (not -tāḥ), as "enumerator," and nimiṣas as gen. with asya. He also reads in d svaghnī, and quotes and expands Yāska's derivation of the word from sva + han. The verse is bhurij if we insist on reading iva instead of ’va in d. ⌊Read ’va, or akṣā́ñ çvaghnī́va, or with Ppp.?⌋

6. What fetters (pā́ça) of thine, O Varuṇa, seven by seven, stand triply relaxed (vi-si), shining—let them all bind him that speaks untruth; whoso is truth-speaking, let them let him go.

Our sinántu, at beginning of c, is our emendation, obviously necessary; a few mss. (including our Bp.E.H.) have çinántu, and the rest chin- (our P.M. dhin-, doubtless meant for chin-), which SPP. accordingly retains; the comm. has chinattu, explaining it as for chindantu. Ppp's version of the verse is found with that of the half of vs. 4; it reads chinadya; it also has saptasaptatīs in a, and ruṣatā ruṣantaḥ at end of b; and its d is yas sabhyavāg ati taṁ sṛjāmi. The comm. also reads in b ruṣantas, which is, as at iii. 28. 1, an acceptable substitute for the inept ruç-; in b he apparently has visitās, and takes it as tatra tatra baddhās, while the true sense obviously is "laid open ready for use"; the "triply" he regards as alluding to the three kinds of fetter specified in vii. 83. 3 a, b.

7. With a hundred fetters, O Varuṇa, do thou bridle (abhi-dhā) him; let not the speaker of untruth escape thee, O men-watcher; let the villain sit letting his belly fall [apart], like a hoopless vessel, being cut round about.

The two editions read in c çraṅçayitvā́, with the majority of the mss.; but nearly half (including our P.M.W.H.Op.) have çraṅsay-, and two of ours (K.Kp.) sraṅçay all of them misreadings for sraṅsay-, which the comm. gives (= jalodararogeṇa srastaṁ kṛtvā). ⌊The disease called "water-belly," to which c and d refer, is dropsy, Varuṇa's punishment for sin.⌋ In d, SPP. reads abandhás with the comm., but against all his mss. and the majority of ours (P.p.m.M.W.O.Op. have -dhas), which have -dhrás; bandhra (i.e. banddhra, from bandh + tra) is so regular a formation that we have no right to reject it, even if it does not occur elsewhere. Ppp. puts varuṇa in a before abhi, omitting enam, thus rectifying the meter (which might also be done by omitting the superfluous varuṇa) and it omits the n̄ of -vān̄ in b. There is not a jagatī pāda in the verse, and d becomes regularly triṣṭubh by combining kóçe ’vā-.

8. The Varuṇa that is lengthwise (samāmyà), that is crosswise (vyāmyà); the Varuṇa that is of the same region (saṁdeçyà), that is of a different region (videçyà); the Varuṇa that is of the gods, and that is of men—

If the word váruṇas, thrice repeated, were left out, there would remain a regular gāyatrī; and the meaning would be greatly improved also; if we retain it, we must either emend to varuṇa, vocative, or to vāruṇás 'of Váruṇa,' i.e. 'his fetter,' or else we must understand váruṇas as here strangely used in the sense of vāruṇás: the comm. makes no difficulty of doing the last. ⌊Ppp. reads in a, yas sāmānyo; in b, yaç çyaṁdeçyo (or cyaṁ-); in c, yo dāivyo varuṇo yaç ca mānuṣassa; and adds tvāṅs tv etāni prati muñcāmy atra.⌋ For the first two epithets compare xviii. 4. 70; the next two are variously understood by the translators; they are rendered here in accordance with the comm. Though so differently defined by the Anukr. ⌊cf. ii. 3. 6 n.⌋, the verse as it stands is the same with vs. 9, namely 11 × 3 = 33 syllables.

9. With all those fetters I fasten (abhi-sā) thee, O so-and-so, of such-and-such a family, son of such-and-such a mother; and all of them I successively appoint for thee.

If the verse is regarded as metrical, with three pādas (and it scans very fairly as such), we ought to accent ásāu ⌊voc. of asāú⌋ at beginning of b. The comm. perhaps understands anu in c as independent, ánu (SPP. so holds). The last two verses are, as it were, the practical application of vss. 6 and 7, and probably added later. ⌊As to the naming of the names, see Weber's note, p. 73.⌋