Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 26

26. Praise and prayer to heaven and earth.

[Mṛgāra.—(see h. 23). 1. puro ’ṣṭir jagatī; 7. çākvaragarbhātimadhyejyotis.]

Found in Pāipp. iv. (in a somewhat different verse-order*), after our hymn 27. The other texts (see under hymn 23) have but one verse that represents the hymn, made up of parts of our vss. 1 and 7. As to the use of the mṛgāra hymns by Kāuç., see under h. 23. In Vait. (15. 13), this hymn (or vs. 1) accompanies the offering to the udumbara twig in the agniṣṭoma. *⌊Order, 1, 2, 4, 6, 3, 5, 7.⌋

Translated: Griffith, i. 167; Weber, xviii. 106.

1. I reverence you, O heaven-and-earth, ye well-nourishing ones (subhójas), who, like-minded (sácetas) did spread out unmeasured intervals (yójana); since ye became foundations (pratiṣṭhā́) of good things, do ye free us from distress.

Ppp. omits the intrusive and meter-disturbing sácetasāu (which, on account of its accent, is reckoned to b in the translation, as it is also by the pada-text); and, against rule, it combines in b ye ‘prath-. The comm., with one of SPP's mss., reads aprathetām; and TS.MS. have the same, followed by ámitebhir ójobhir yé pratiṣṭhé ábhavatāṁ vásūnām: they have of the verse only these two pādas, used as part of a closing verse. The first half-verse is found also in the Nāigeya-kāṇḍa of SV. (i. 623 a, b): this reads mánye for manvé, accents subhójasāu, omits (like Ppp.) sácetasāu, and ends with ámitam abhi yójanam; its second half-verse is our 2 c, d.

2. Since ye became foundations of good things, ye much increased, divine, fortunate, wide-extended ones, O heaven-and-earth, be pleasant to me: do ye free us from distress.

Ppp. has in a babhūvathus (for ábhavatam). The comm., with a couple of SPP's mss., reads praviddhe (= sūtravat sarvajagadanupraviddhe) in b. As noted under vs. 1, SV. has (omitting me in c) the second half-verse, here carried on as refrain through vss. 3-6. ⌊In c, scan -pṛthvī...sioné.⌋

3. I call upon the not-distressing, of excellent penance, wide, profound, to be reverenced by poets: O heaven- etc. etc.

Possibly an antithesis is intended between the first two (doubtfully translated) epithets, both founded on tap 'heat.' Ppp. has the better reading vām for aham at end of a.

4. Ye who bear the immortal (amṛ́ta), who the oblations; who bear the streams (srotyā́), who human beings (manuṣyà): O heaven- etc. etc.

Ppp. puts b before a.

5. Ye who bear the ruddy [kine], who the forest-trees; ye within whom [are] all beings: O heaven- etc. etc.

One or two of our mss. (H.I.), as the majority of SPP's, make at the beginning the false combination yá usr-. The comm. declares usriya a gonāman.

6. Ye who gratify with sweet drink (kīlā́la), who with ghee; without whom [men] can [do] nothing whatever: O heaven- etc. etc.

All the pada-mss. make in b the absurd division çaknu॰vánti, as if the word were a neut. pl. from the stem çaknuvánt. Ppp. has in a kīlālāis. The comm. interprets kīlāla simply as anna.

7. This that scorches (abhi-çuc) me, or by whomsoever done, from what is human, not divine—I praise heaven-and-earth, [as] a suppliant I call loudly on [them]: do ye free us from distress.

The verse looks as if broken off in the middle, to allow addition of the regular close. Ppp. has at end of b the more manageable reading pāuruṣeyaṁ na dāivyam. TS.MS. have the second half-verse added to our 1 b, c; but they have also our 7 a, b (in the form yád idám mā ’bhiçócati pāúruṣeyeṇa dāívyena) as first half of a similar verse to "all the gods." The comm. understands pāpāt as to be supplied in b, and takes na as the particle of comparison.