Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 23

23. Praise and prayer to Agni.

[Mṛgāra.—sapta mṛgārasaṁjñakāni sūktāni nānādevatyāni. trāiṣṭubhāni: 3. purastājjyotiṣmatī; 4. anuṣṭubh; 6. prastārapan̄kti.]

Found,* with the six hymns that follow, all together (but in the order 23, 25, 27, 26, 28, 29, 24), in Pāipp. iv. The seven are known by Kāuç. (9. 1) as the mṛgāra hymns (also by the schol., as by the Anukr.; that the comm. to h. 21 gives the name to 21-30 was there remarked; here he speaks of "a heptad of hymns" as intended in 9. 1); they are reckoned (9. 1) to the bṛhachāntigaṇa, and also (32. 27, note) to the aṅholin̄ga gaṇa; and they are employed in a healing rite (27. 34). In Vāit. the hymn accompanies the kindling of the fire in the parvan sacrifices (2. 11), and vs. 4 is similarly used (5. 15) in the agnyādheya. It was noted under the preceding hymn that the editor of Kāuç. mistakenly regards this one as included in Kāuç. 14. 24. The first and last verses ⌊of each⌋ of the mṛgāra hymns are given also by TS. (iv. 7. 15), MS. (iii. 16. 5), and K. (xxii. 15); only the hymn to Bhava and Çarva (our 28) is omitted, and, on the other hand, those texts have similar invocations to the Açvins and to all the gods. And the comm. to our h. 24 quotes also TS. vii. 5. 22, where a mṛgāreṣṭi with ten oblations, to the divinities worshiped with the verses in question, is prescribed. ⌊See further, as to this litany, Weber's note, p. 95 f.—The mṛgāra-verses occur in TS. and MS. at the very end of the kāṇḍas (iv. and iii.) concerned.⌋ *⌊In the verse-order 1, 4, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.⌋

Translated: Griffith, i. 163; Weber, xviii. 94.

1. I reverence (man-u) first the forethoughtful (prácetas) Agni, him of the five peoples, whom men kindle in many places; we pray to him who hath entered (pra-viç) into clans after clans (víç): let him free us from distress.

Ppp. has in b pañcaj-; the comm., pāñcayajñasya, for which he gives three different interpretations, the last one making -yajñasya equivalent to -janasya. Manve he paraphrases by jānāmi. In a, MS. has amṛ́tānām for prácetasas; for b, TS.MS. give yám pā́ñcajanyam bahávaḥ samindháte; and, for c, víçvasyāṁ viçí praviviçivā́ṅsam īmahe. ⌊The "absence of reduplication" (Skt. Gram. §803 a) is doubtless due to the oft-repeated syllable vi or viç. The pratīka is cited, MGS. 1. 5. 5—cf. p. 145.⌋ The Anukr., at the end of the descriptions of the seven hymns, says that all the verses contain—i.e. end with—an anuṣṭubh pāda. Its definitions of the meters in detail are too inaccurate to be worthy of attention throughout.

2. As thou carriest the oblation, O Jātavedas; as, foreknowing, thou adaptest the sacrifice—so do thou convey to us favor from the gods: let him free us from distress.

Ppp. offers no variants in vss. 2-4, but puts 4 next after 1. The comm. takes devebhyas in c first as dative and then as ablative.

3. Put to service at every course (yā́man), best carrier, sharer (ā́bhaga) at every rite, Agni I praise, demon-slayer, sacrifice-increaser, offered to with ghee: let him free us from distress.

All the mss. (and SPP. with them) make the division of the verse, with obvious impropriety, before instead of after agním īḍe, being apparently led into the blunder by remembering the two words as beginning the Rig-Veda. The comm. gives the right division, as does also our edition by emendation. Nearly all the mss. (not our I.K.) read báhiṣṭham at end of a; both editions give váh-, with the comm. The comm. paraphrases ā́bhagam by ābhaktavyam āsevyam evaṁguṇaviçiṣṭam. ⌊The vs. scans as 11 + 11: 12 + 8 = 42. Even with the misdivision (11 + 7: 8 + 8 + 8), it is no purastajjyotiṣmatī (44).⌋

4. The well-born Jātavedas, the mighty (vibhú) Agni belonging to all men (vāiçvānará), the carrier of oblations, we call on: let him free us from distress.

The verse, as already noticed, comes second in the Ppp. version of the hymn. The comm. explains vibhu as "pervading" (vyāpaka).

5. With whom as ally the seers made [their] strength shine out; with whom they repelled the wiles of the Asuras; with whom, Agni, Indra conquered the Paṇis—let him free us from distress.

Ppp. makes in a the combination yena rṣ-, and reads in b idyotayan; for the latter, the comm. (with two or three of SPP's mss.) gives uddyotayan; a few of the mss. (including our Bp.K.) have -tayam.

6. By whom the gods discovered the immortal; by whom they made the herbs rich in honey; by whom the gods brought the heaven (svàr)—let him free us from distress.

The comm. takes amṛta in a as meaning the drink of immortality; more probably it signifies immortality itself.

7. In whose direction [is] whatever shines forth (vi-ruc) here, what is born and to be born, all of it—I praise Agni, [as a] suppliant I call loudly on [him]—let him free us from distress.

TS. and MS. have a quite different first half-verse: yásye ’dám prāṇán nimiṣád yád éjati yásya jātáṁ jánamānaṁ ca kévalam. The comm. renders nāthitas first by nāthamānaḥ, phalaṁ kāmayamānaḥ, and then by nāthaḥ svāmī saṁjāto ‘sya.