Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 17

17. Against various evils: with a plant.

[Çukra.—caturviṅçarcaṁ trayaṁ sūktānām. apāmārgavanaspatidevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Verses 1-6 are found as a hymn in Pāipp. v., and hymns 18 and 19 follow it there, with some mixture of the verses. Vs. 8 is found separately in ii. Hymns 17-19 are called by the comm. āvapanīya 'of strewing.' They are used together by Kāuç. (39. 7), with ii. 11 and iv. 40 and others, in the preparation of consecrated water to counteract hostile sorcery; and vs. 17. 5 is reckoned by the schol. (46. 9, note) to the duḥsvapnanāçana gaṇa.

Translated: Zimmer, p. 66; Grill, 37, 130; Griffith, i. 155; Bloomfield, 69, 393; Weber, xviii. 73.

1. Thee, the mistress of remedies, O conquering one (ujjeṣá), we take hold of; I have made thee a thing of thousand-fold energy (-vīryà) for every one, O herb.

Ppp. reads for b nijeṣā ”gṛṇīmahe. We should expect in c -vīryām, and three of SPP's mss. (none of ours) so read; but he has not ventured to admit it into his text; the comm. gives -yam, but explains as if -yām (aparimitasāmarthyayuktām). The comm. regards the plant sahadevī (name of various plants, including Sida cordifolia and rhombifolia, OB.) as addressed. He takes ujjeṣe in b as dative, = ujjetum.

2. The truly-conquering, the curse-repelling, the overcoming, the reverted one (punaḥsará)—all the herbs have I called together, saying "may they (?) save us from this."

The last pāda is translated in accordance with the better reading of Ppp.: ato mā pārayān iti. In b, Ppp. gives punaçcarā; SPP. presents punaḥs-, in closer accordance with the mss. than our punass-. The comm. does not recognize the meaning 'reverted' (i.e. 'having reverted leaves or fruit') as belonging to punaḥsará, but renders it as "repeatedly applied" (ābhīkṣṇyena bahutaravyādhinivṛttaye sarati). He reads in a çapathayopanīm, and in c abhi (for ahvi): and one or two of SPP's mss. support him each time; our O.Op. give addhi, by a recent copyist's blunder; the comm. supplies gacchanti for his sam-abhi to belong to. The Anukr. takes no notice of the excess of two syllables in a.

3. She that hath cursed with cursing, that hath taken malignity as her root, that hath seized on [our] young to take [its] sap—let her eat [her own] offspring.

The verse is a repetition of i. 28. 3, and the comm. again, as there, reads ādade at end of b. He notes that a full explanation has been already given, but yet allows himself to repeat it in brief; this time he gives only mūrchāpradam as the sense of mūram. Ppp. (which has no version of i. 28) gives here, for c, d, yā vā rathasya prāsāre hy ato ‘gham u tvasaḥ. As i. 28. 3, the verse was properly called virāṭpathyābṛhatī. ⌊Correct the verse-number from 6 to 3 in the edition.⌋

4. What [witchcraft] they have made for thee in the raw vessel (pā́tra), what they have made in the blue-red one, in raw flesh what witchcraft they have made—with that do thou smite the witchcraft-makers.

The verse is nearly accordant with v. 31. 1 below. Ppp. reads in b yā sūtre nīl-. A raw vessel is one of unburnt clay (apakve mṛtpātre, comm.). The comm. defines "the blue-red one" as fire, blue with smoke, red with flame*; and the "raw flesh" as that of a cock or other animal used for the purposes of the charm. The kṛtyā appears to be a concrete object into which an evil influence is conveyed by sorcery, and which then, by depositing or burying, becomes a source of harm to those against whom the sorcery is directed (mantrāuṣadhādibhiḥ çatroḥ pīḍākarīm, comm. to iv. 18. 2). The comm. reads tvayā in d, and first pronounces it used by substitution for tvam, then retains it in its proper sense and makes jahi mean hantavyās: both are examples of his ordinary grammatical principles. The Anukr. ignores the metrical irregularity of c ⌊reject yā́ṁ.⌋ *⌊Bloomfield, on the basis of Kāuç., interprets it as a thread of blue and red; and this is confirmed by the Ppp. sūtre.⌋

5. Evil-dreaming, evil-living, demon, monster (abhvà), hags, all the ill-named (f.), ill-voiced—them we make disappear from us.

Ppp. has in a dussvapnaṁ durjīvataṁ, and, for c, d, durvācas sarvaṁ durbhūtaṁ tam ito nāç-. A couple of our mss. (I.H.p.m.) read abhū́m in b. The comm. gives -jīvatyam in a (with two of SPP's mss.), and (with our P.M.W.E.) asmín instead of asmán in d. He first defines abhvam simply as "great," and then as a special kind of demon or demoniac (quoting RV. i. 185. 2); and the durṇāmnīs as piçācīs having various bad appellations, such as chedikā and bhedikā. The verse is repeated as vii. 23. 1.

6. Death by hunger, death by thirst, kinelessness, childlessness—through thee, O off-wiper (apāmārgá), we wipe off all that.

The translation implies the obvious emendation of anapadyátām (p. anapa॰dyátam) in b to -apatyá-, which is read by the comm. and by three of SPP's mss. which follow him; SPP. very properly admits -apatyá- into his text (but forgets to emend his pada-text thoroughly, and leaves in it the absurd division anapaa॰tyátām.) ⌊Weber, however, discussing avadya, Berliner Sb., 1896, p. 272, defends the reading apadya-.⌋ The comm. says nothing of the sudden change here from sahadevī to apāmārga, which ought to be another plant (Achyranthes aspera: a weed found all over India, having very long spikes of retroflected flowers), but may possibly be used here as a synonym or appellation of the other. In his introduction, he speaks of darbha, apāmārga, and sahadevī as infused in the consecrated water.

7. Death by thirst, death by hunger, likewise defeat at dice—through thee, O off-wiper, we wipe off all that.

Ppp. omits this variation on vs. 6.

8. The off-wiper is indeed of all herbs the sole controller (vaçín); with it we wipe [off] what has befallen (ā́sthita) thee; then do thou go about free from disease.

Ppp. (in book ii.) has for b viçvāsām eka it patiḥ, combines in c mṛjmā ”sthitam, and reads at the end caraḥ. Āsthitam (also vi. 14. 1 and VS. vi. 15) has perhaps a more special sense than we are able to assign to it; the comm. paraphrases by kṛtyādibhir āpatitaṁ rogādikam.