Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 4
4. For recovery of virility: with a plant.
[Atharvan.—aṣṭarcam. vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4. purauṣṇih; 6, 7. bhurij.]
Found in Pāipp. iv. (except vs. 7, and in the verse-order 1-3, 5, 8, 4, 6). Used by Kāuç. (40. 14) in a rite for sexual vigor.
Translated: Griffith, i. 134 and 473; Bloomfield, 31, 369; Weber, xviii. 16.
1. Thee that the Gandharva dug for Varuṇa whose virility (? -bhráj) was dead, thee here do we dig, a penis-erecting herb.
The meaning of bhráj ⌊cf. vii. 90. 2⌋ has to be inferred from the connection; the comm. paraphrases by naṣṭávīrya. The plant intended he declares to be "that called kapitthaka" (Feronia elephantum). The pada-reading of the last word is çepaḥ॰hárṣaṇīm, and Prāt. ii. 56 prescribes the loss of the visarga of çepaḥ in saṁhitā; the comment to Prāt. iv. 75 gives the reading thus: çepoharṣaṇīm iti çepaḥ॰harṣaṇīm; and one of our pada-mss. presents it in the same form, adding kramakāle 'this is the krama-reading'; and the comm. has çepoha-; but Ppp., çepaharṣiṇī. As çépa is as genuine and old a form as çépas, there seems to be no good reason for the peculiar treatment of the compound.
2. Up, the dawn; up, too, the sun; up, these words (vácas) of mine; up be Prajāpati stirring, the bull, with vigorous (vājín) energy (çúṣma).
Ppp. has a different b, uc chuṣmā oṣadhīnām (compare our vs. 4 a); and it has at the end of d vājinām; it also inserts between our 1 and 2 this verse: vṛṇas te khanatāro vṛṣā tvā paçy oṣadhe vṛṣā ’si vṛṣṇyāvatī vṛṣaṇe tvā khanāmasi; and this is a verse given in full by Kāuç. (40. 14) after the pratīka of vs. 1 of our hymn (with the corrections vṛṣaṇas and khani- in a and -vṛṣā tvam asy in b, and the vocative -vati in c). The editor of Kāuç. fails to understand and divide rightly the material, and so does not recognize the quotation of this hymn. The first two pādas of the added verse are as it were the reverse of our iv. 6. 8 a, b, which see.
3. As forsooth of thee growing up (? vi-ruh) it breathes as if heated (? abhi-tap)—more full of energy than that let this herb make for thee.
Altogether obscure, and probably corrupt. No variant is reported from Ppp., which, however, inserts ūrdhvasrāṇim idaṁ kṛdhi at the beginning, before yathā. The comm. is unusually curt, attempting no real explanation of the verse: he reads virohitas instead of -hat-, and paraphrases by putrapāutrādirūpeṇa virohaṇasya nimittam puṁvyañjanam; abhitaptam he glosses by phaṇyan̄gam, and anati by ceṣṭate; he makes tatas mean "so," as correlative to yathā, supplies puṁvyañjana as object of kṛṇotu, and regards the vīryakāma person as addressed throughout. ⌊Bloomfield discusses çuṣma, ZDMG. xlviii. 573, and cites it from TB. i. 6. 24 as referring to Prajāpati's sexual force.—For viróhatas, see BR. vi. 418, and Bloomfield's note.—With ánati, cf. çvasihí, vi. l01. 1.⌋
4. Up, the energies (çúṣma) of herbs, the essences (sā́ra) of bulls; the virility (vṛ́ṣṇya) of men (púṁs) do thou put together in him, O Indra, self-controller.
The corruption of a, b is evidenced by both meter and sense; probably we should read úc chúṣmā (i.e. -mās; Ppp. has this reading in 2 b) óṣadhīnām út sā́rā ṛṣabhā́nām (read -ṇa-ām); both editions follow the mss. (p. çúṣma and sā́rā). The Prāt. takes no notice of the passage. The comm. has at beginning of c the unmanageable reading sampūṣām (deriving it from root puṣ "puṣṭāu"), and at the end tanūvaçam; and in each case he is supported by one or more of SPP's mss. He takes çúṣmā and sā́rā as adjectives fem., qualifying iyám óṣadhis of 3 d. In our text, the accent-mark under the -ṣa- in b has slipped out of place to the left. The Anukr. scans 12: 8 + 8 = 28 syllables.
5. Of the waters the first-born sap, likewise of the forest-trees; also Soma's brother art thou; also virility art thou of the stag.
Ppp. has in a rasāu ’ṣadhīnām, and in d āriṣyam for ārçám: which should have been emended in both editions to the evidently true reading ārçyám; it is another case (as in 7 c) of the loss of y after ç. The comm. evidently reads ārṣam (the word itself is lost out of the text of his exposition), and he explains it as "belonging to the seers, Angiras etc."!
6. Now, Agni! now, Savitar! now, goddess Sarasvatī! now, Brahmaṇaspati, make his member taut like a bow.
Ppp. reads me instead of asya in c. The verse is bhurij only if we do not abbreviate iva to ’va in d. ⌊Our c, d is nearly vi. 101. 2 c, d.⌋
The verse is repeated below as vi. 101. 3. It is wanting (as noted above) in Ppp. All our pada-mss. make in c the absurd division kráma: svárçaḥ॰iva, instead of krámasva: ṛ́çyaḥ॰iva; but SPP. strangely reports no such blunder from his mss. All the mss. agree in rça instead of rçya ⌊both editions should read rçya⌋; the comm. has again ṛṣa (cf. 5 d), and declares it equivalent to vṛṣabha! The Pet. Lex. takes sádā at the end as instr. of sád "position in coitus" and the connection strongly favors this; but the accent and the gender oppose it so decidedly that the translation does not venture to adopt it. The comm. takes sádā as "always," and reads before it anu valgūyatā (for ánavaglāyatā), supplying manasā for it to agree with. The verse is bhurij only if we refuse to make the common contraction -rçye ’va in c.
8. Of the horse, of the mule, of the he-goat and of the ram, also of the bull what vigors there are—them do thou put in him, O self-controller.
The omission of tā́n would rectify the meter of d, and also make more suitable the accentuation asmín. The great majority of mss. favor in c the reading átha ṛṣ-, which SPP. has accordingly adopted (our edition has átha ṛṣ-). The comm. again (as in 4 d) has at the end tanūvaçam, understanding it adverbially (çarīrasya vaço yathā bhavati tathā).