Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 2

2. To the unknown god.

[Vena.—aṣṭarcam. ātmadāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 6. puro ’nuṣṭubh; 8. upariṣṭājjyotis.]

Found in Pāipp. iv. (in the verse-order 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6, 8, 7). The hymn is mostly a version, with considerable variants, of the noted RV. x. 121, found also in other texts, as TS. (iv. 1. 8), MS. (ii. 13. 23), and VS. (in sundry places), and K. xl. 1. It is used by Kāuç. in the vaçāçamana ceremony (44. 1 ff.), at the beginning, with the preparation of consecrated water for it, and (45. 1) with the sacrifice of the fœtus of the vaçā-cow, if she be found to be pregnant. In Vāit. (8. 22), vs. 1 (or the hymn?) accompanies an offering to Prajāpati in the cāturmāsya sacrifice; vs. 7 (28. 34), the setting of a gold man on the plate of gold deposited with accompaniment of vs. 1 of the preceding hymn (in the agnicayana); and the whole hymn goes with the avadāna offerings in the same ceremony (28. 5).

Translated: as a RV. hymn, by Max Müller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature (1859), p. 569 (cf. p. 433); Muir, OST. iv.² 16; Ludwig, no. 948; Grassmann, ii. 398; Max Müller, Hibbert Lectures (1882), p. 301; Henry W. Wallis, Cosmology of the RV., p. 50; Peter Peterson, Hymns from the RV., no. 32, p. 291, notes, p. 244; Max Müller, Vedic Hymns, SBE. xxxii. 1, with elaborate notes; Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 132; as an AV. hymn, by Griffith, i. 131; Weber, xviii. 8.—See Deussen's elaborate discussion. l.c., p. 128 ff.; von Schroeder, Der Rigveda bei den Katṭhas, WZKM. xii. 285; Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des RV., i. 314 f.; Lanman, Sanskrit Reader, p. 391-3; and Bloomfield, JAOS. xv. 184.

1. He who is soul-giving, strength-giving; of whom all, of whom [even] the gods, wait upon the instruction; who is lord (īç) of these bipeds, who of quadrupeds—to what god may we pay worship (vidh) with oblation?

In the parallel texts, our vs. 7 stands at the beginning of the hymn. They also combine differently the material of our vss. 1 and 2, making one verse of our 1 a, b and 2 c, d, and another of our 2 a, b and 1 c, d; and in this Ppp. agrees with them. RV. and VS. (xxiii. 3) read in c ī́çe asyá. The comm. renders ātmadās "who gives their soul (or self) to all animals"; of course, with the native authorities everywhere, he explains kásmāi in d as "to Prajāpati." The Anukr. ignores the jagatī-character of c. ⌊RV.TS.MS.VS. omit the second yás of our c. MS. has ī́çe yó asyá; TS. has yá ī́çe asya at iv. 1. 8, but asyá at vii. 5. 16. Pādas a-c recur at xiii. 3. 24.—In view of the history of this hymn in Hindu ritual and speculation (cf. SBE. xxxii. 12; AB. iii. 21), it might be better to phrase the refrain thus: 'Who is the god that we are to worship with oblation?'⌋

2. He who by his greatness became sole king of the breathing, winking animal creation (jágat); of whom immortality (amṛ́tam), of whom death [is] the shadow—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

RV.VS. (xxiii. 3) TS. rectify the meter of b by adding íd after ékas; VS. has the bad reading nimeṣatás. MS. gives a different version: nimiṣatáç ca rā́jā pátir víçvasya jágato b-; and Ppp. agrees with it, except as substituting vidhartā for ca rājā. "His shadow" (in c), the comm. says, as being dependent upon him, or under his control. The Anukr. passes without notice the deficiency in b.

3. He whom the (two) spheres (krándasī) favor when fixed; whom the terrified firmaments (rodasī) called upon; whose is yon road, traverser of the welkin (rájas)—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

The translation implies in b áhvayetām, as read by the comm., and by one of SPP's mss. that follows him; all the other mss., and both editions, have -ethām. The first half-verse is a damaged reflex of RV. 6 a, b, with which VS. (xxxii. 7 a, b) and TS. agree: yáṁ krándasī ávasā tastabhāné abhyāíkṣetām mánasā réjamāne; MS. and Ppp. have yet another version: yá imé dyā́vāpṛthivī́ tastabhāné (Ppp. -nā) ádhārayad (Ppp. dhāred) ródasī (Ppp. avasā) réjamāne. For c, Ppp. gives yasminn adhi vitata eti sūraḥ, and MS. the same (save sū́ra éti); our c agrees most nearly with RV. 5 c (TS. and VS. xxxii. 6 the same): yó antárikṣe rájaso vimā́naḥ. The comm. apparently takes ávatas as ava-tás = avanāt "by his assistance fixed"; he offers no conjecture as to what "road" may be meant in c, but calls it simply dyulokasthaḥ.

4. [By the greatness] of whom the wide heaven and the great earth, [by the greatness] of whom yon wide atmosphere, by the greatness of whom yon sun [is] extended—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

The translation follows the construction as understood by the comm.; it might be also "whose [is] the wide heaven etc. etc., extended by his greatness." "Extended" applies better to earth etc. (a and b) than to sun; comm. says vistīrṇā jātā etc. The verse resembles only distantly RV. 5, with which, on the other hand, Ppp. nearly agrees, reading yena dyāur ugrā pṛthivī ca dṛça (RV.VS.MS. dṛḍhā́, TS. dṛḍhé) yena sva stabhitaṁ yena nākaṁ (the rest -kaḥ): yo antarikṣaṁ vimame varīyaḥ (so MS.; the others as reported above, under vs. 3). Our third pāda most resembles RV. 6 c: yátrā́ ’dhi sū́ra údito vibhā́ti (so also VS. xxxii. 7; TS. úditāu vyéti). ⌊Cf. MGS. i. 11. 14 and p. 154, yena dyāur ugrā.⌋ The Anukr. ignores the marked irregularity of b.

5. Whose [are] all the snowy mountains by [his] greatness; whose, verily, they call Rasā in the ocean; and of whom these directions are the (two) arms—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

The comm. extends his construction of vs. 4 through a, b here, and is perhaps right in so doing; the translation assimilates them to c. The verse corresponds to RV. 4 (with which VS. xxv. 12 precisely agrees); in a, RV.VS.TS. have imé for víçve, and MS. imé víçve giráyo m-; for b, all of them read yásya samudráṁ rasáyā sahā́ ”hús (save that MS. puts yásya after samudráṁ; and Ppp. has the same b as MS.); in c, RV.VS.TS. begin yásye ’mā́ḥ pr-, while MS., with Ppp., reads díço yásya pradíçaḥ (Ppp. -çaṣ) páñca devī́ḥ. The "ocean" is of course the atmospheric one; and Rasā, the heavenly river, can hardly help having been originally the Milky Way; but the comm. takes it here as simply a river, representative of rivers in general. Pādas b and c are irregular, being defective unless we make harsh and difficult resolutions.

6. The waters in the beginning favored (av) the all, assuming an embryo, they the immortal, order-knowing ones, over whom, divine ones, the god was—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

Here a, b correspond to RV. 7 a, b, and c to RV. 8 c, all with important variants, which are in part unintelligent corruptions: RV. reads ā́po ha yád bṛhatī́r viçvam ā́yan g- d- janáyantīr agním; and yó devéṣv ádhi devá éka ā́sīt; VS. (xxvii. 25 a, b, 26 c) agrees throughout; TS. has mahatī́r in a, and dákṣam (for gárbham) in b; MS. also has mahatī́r, and it lacks c. Ppp. has a text all its own: āpo ha yasya viçvam āyur dadhānā garbhaṁ jaitayanta mātarā: tatra devānām adhi deva āstha ekasthūne vimate dṛḍhe ugre. And TA. (i. 23. 8), with an entirely different second half, nearly agrees in a, b with RV., but has gárbham for víçvam,* and svayambhúm for agním. All the mss. (except, doubtless by accident, our I.) give in c āsīt, which SPP. accordingly adopts in his text; ours makes the necessary emendation to ā́sīt. The comm. reads in c deveṣu, as a Vedic irregularity for -vīṣu; he renders āvan in a by arakṣan or upacītam akurvan; perhaps we should emend to ā́ vran 'covered.' *⌊Further, TA. has dákṣam for gárbham of RV.⌋

7. The golden embryo was evolved (sam-vṛt) in the beginning; it was, when born, the sole lord of existence (bhūtá); it maintained earth and heaven—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

As noted above, this is the first verse in the other continuous versions of the hymn (it is VS. xiii. 4). The others agree in reading at the end of c pṛthivī́m dyā́m ute ’mam; and, in addition, PB. (ix. 9. 12) gives bhūtā́nām in b; some of the texts contain the verse more than once. But Ppp. is more original, reading hiraṇya ulvā ”sīd yo ‘gre vatso ajāyata: tvaṁ yo dyorvṛbhra (?) vaṁtyoṣpa vy apaçyad ūḍur mahīḥ. The comm. understands hiraṇyagarbha as "the embryo of the golden egg." ⌊MGS., i. 10. 10, cites the hymn as one of 8 vss. and as beginning with hiraṇyagarbha; see p. 158, s.v.—Kirste, WZKM. ix. 164, reviewing Deussen, suggests that the golden embryo is the yolk of the mundane egg.⌋ The Anukr. makes no account of the deficiency of a syllable in c.

8. The waters, generating a young (vatsá), set in motion (sam-īray) in the beginning an embryo; and of that, when born, the fœtal envelop (úlba) was of gold—to what god may we pay worship with oblation?

Ppp. makes vatsam and garbham change places, and reads īrayan; it also omits the refrain, as it has done in vss. 6 and 7. GB. (i. 1. 39) appears to quote the pratīka with garbham, or in its Ppp. form ⌊as conjectured by Bloomfield, JAOS. xix.² 11⌋. The comm. paraphrases garbhaṁ sam āirayan by īçvareṇa visṛṣṭaṁ vīryaṁ garbhāçayam prāpayan. The verse (8 + 8: 8 + 8 + 11 = 43) is ill defined by the Anukr.