Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 7
7. Against poison.
[Garutman.—vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4. svarāj.]
Found in Pāipp., but not all together; vs. 1 occurs in v., vss. 2-6 in ii., and vs. 7 in vi. Not used by Kāuç. unless it is properly regarded by the schol. and the comm. (see under h. 6) as included with h. 6 by the citation (28. 1) of the latter's pratīka (the comm. puts it on the ground of the paribhāṣā rule grahaṇam ā grahaṇāt, Kāuç. 8. 21).
Translated: Ludwig, p. 201; Grill, 28, 121; Griffith, i. 138; Bloomfield, 26, 376; Weber, xviii. 26.
1. This water (vā́r) shall ward off (vāray-) upon the Varaṇāvatī; an on-pouring of ambrosia (amṛ́ta) is there; with it I ward off thy poison.
The significance of the verse lies in its punning upon vār and var; the name varaṇāvatī is not found elsewhere, but has sufficient analogies elsewhere; it is formed, as the comm. points out, from the tree-name varaṇa (Crataeva Roxburghii). Ppp. has in b a different pun: varuṇād ābhṛtam; and for d it reads tac cakārā ’rasaṁ viṣam. The first pāda lacks a syllable, unless we resolve va-ā́r. ⌊Cf. x. 3. 1 n.⌋
2. Sapless is the poison of the east, sapless what is of the north; also this that is of the south is exchangeable with gruel (karambhá).
That is, is no stronger or more harmful than gruel. Except our Bp., which has adharā́cyàm, all the mss. accent -rā́cyam, and SPP. follows them; our edition emends to -rācyàm, to accord with the two adjectives of like formation in a, b. Ppp. puts arasam after viṣam in a.
3. Having made gruel of sesame (?), teeming with fat, steaming (?), thou dost not rack, O ill-bodied one, him that has eaten thee merely from hunger.
The verse is full of difficulties and doubtful points. The translation implies in d emendation of jakṣivā́nt sá to jakṣivā́ṅsam, as suggested by BR., s.v. rup (Grill rejects it, but unwisely); Ppp. reads jakṣivīpyasya. The construction of the augmentless aorist-form rūrupas with ná instead of mā́ is against all rule and usage; the easiest emendation would be to nā́ ’rūrupas; Ppp. gives nu rūrūpaḥ. SPP. unaccountably reads rūrupaḥ in pada-text, both here and in 5 d and 6 d, against all but one of his pada-mss. in this verse, and also against Prāt. iv. 86, which distinctly requires rurupaḥ; and (in all the three cases alike) the pada-mss. add after the word the sign which they are accustomed to use when a pada-reading is to be changed to something else in saṁhitā. In c, the pada-reading is dustano íti duḥ॰tano; the case is noted under Prāt. ii. 85. Tiryàm in a is rendered as if tilyàm, from tila (so the Pet. Lex.); the comm. derives it from tiras, and renders it tirobhavam 'vanishing,' which is as senseless as it is etymologically absurd; Ppp. reads instead turīyam. According to Rājan. xvi. 23, a sort of rice (as ripening in three months) is called tiriya (tirima?), but the word appears to be only a modern one, and is hardly to be looked for here. ⌊I cannot find it in the Poona ed.*⌋ Grill makes the very unsatisfactory conjecture atiriyam "running over." In b, all our mss. (as also the comment on Prāt. ii. 62) read pībasphākám (p. pībaḥ॰phākám, which the comment just quoted ratifies), as our edition reads; SPP., on the other hand, prints pībaspākám (comm. pīvaspākam, explained as "fat-cooking") and declares this to be the unanimous reading of his authorities: this discordance of testimony is quite unexplainable. The translation implies emendation of the pada-reading to pība॰sphākám. Ppp. reads udāhṛtam for the problematic udārathím; but the latter is supported by RV. i. 187. 10 (of whose first two pādas, indeed, our a, b seem to be a reminiscence): karambhá oṣadhe bhava pī́vo vṛkká udārathíḥ. The comm. explains the word as udriktārtijanakam (Sāyaṇa to RV. entirely differently). ⌊in a supplementary note, Roth reports: Ppp. has pivassākam; R. has, p.m., pibaspā-, corrected to pībasphā-; T. has pīvaspā-.⌋ ⌊Correct the verse-number: for 6 read 3.⌋ *⌊Or is nirapa, at p. 22014, a variant of tiriya? The two are easily confused in nāgarī.⌋
4. Away we make thine intoxication fly, like an arrow (çará), O intoxicating one (f.); we make thee with our spell (vácas) to stand forth, like a boiling pot.
5. With a spell we cause to stand about [thee] as it were a collected troop (grā́ma); stand thou, like a tree in [its] station; spade-dug one (f.), thou rackest not.
The comm., here and in 6 d, reads abhriṣāte (-ṣāte = -labdhe), which looks like a result of the common confusion of kh and ṣ. SPP. reads in pada-text rūrupaḥ, and this time without any report as to the readings of his pada-mss.—doubtless by an oversight, as all but one of them give rur- in both 3 d and 6 d. The true scanning of c is probably vṛkṣé ’va sthā́-mn-i.
6. For covers (? pavásta) they bought thee, also for garments (? dūrçá), for goat-skins; purchasable (? prakrī́) art thou, O herb; spade-dug one, thou rackest not.
The comm. knows nothing of what pavasta and dūrça mean, but etymologizes the former out of pavana and asta (pavanāyā ’stāiḥ sammārjanītṛṇāiḥ), and the other out of dus and ṛçya (duṣṭaṛçyasambandhibhiḥ)! Prakrīs he renders by prakarṣeṇa krītā.
7. Who of you did what first unattained deeds—let them not harm our heroes here; for that purpose I put you forward.
This verse occurs again later, as v. 6. 2, and in Ppp. makes a part of that hymn alone. Its sense is very questionable, and its connection casts no light upon it, either here or there; and Grill is justified in omitting it as having apparently nothing to do with the rest of this hymn. All the pada-mss. save one of SPP's read ánaptā (not -tāḥ); and all save our Bp. read prathamā́ḥ (Bp. -mā́); SPP. gives in his pada-text -tāḥ and -mā́h; the translation here given implies -tā and -mā́, without intending to imply that the other readings may not be equally good; the comm. takes ánāptāḥ (= ananukūlāḥ ⌊'unkindly'⌋) as qualifying çatravas understood, and prathamā́ as qualifying kármāṇi.