Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IV/Hymn 9

9. For protection etc.: with a certain ointment.

[Bhṛgu.—daçarcam. trāikakudāñjanadāivatam. ānuṣṭubham: 2. kakummatī; 3. pathyāpan̄kti.]

Found mostly in Pāipp. viii. (in the verse-order 9, 3, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 4, 7). Used by Kāuç. (58. 8) with the binding on of an ointment-amulet, in a ceremony for long life of the Vedic pupil after his initiation. And the comm. quotes it from the Nakṣ. K. (19) ⌊error for Çānti, says BI.⌋, as employed in the mahāçānti called āirāvatī.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 507; Grill, 35, 123; Griffith, i. 141; Bloomfield, 61, 381; Weber, xviii. 32.—As for ointment and ointment-legends, see Bloomfield, AJP. xvii. 404 ff.

1. Come thou, rescuing the living one; of the mountain art thou for the eyes (?), given by all the gods, an enclosure (paridhí) in order to living.

Jīvám in a might also be coördinate with trā́yamāṇam; the comm. understands it as translated. The meter indicates that the true reading at the end of b is ákṣyam, and this is read by SPP., with the alleged support of all his authorities save one, which follows the comm. in giving ákṣam; our Bp. has ákṣam, and our edition accepted that (our Op. has akṣyàm, our I. ákṣyàm); but akṣya is unknown elsewhere, and its meaning in this connection is quite obscure; perhaps allusion is intended to a legend reported in MS. iii. 6. 3 (p. 62. 8; cf. also TS. vi. 1. 1⁵ and ÇB. iii. 1. 3. 12): "Indra verily slew Vṛtra; his eye-ball flew away; it went to Trikakubh; that ointment of Trikakubh he spreads on." The ointment of this mountain is most efficacious for the eyes, and hence also for the other purposes here had in view. The comm. gives cakṣus as the value of his akṣam. Grill suggests emendation to akṣayyam or akṣaram. We have to make the harsh resolution ví-çu-e- in c or leave the pāda defective.

2. Protection (paripā́ṇa) of men (púruṣa), protection of kine art thou; in order to the protection of coursing (árvant) horses hast thou stood.

The comm. says in c "of horses and of mares (vaḑavānām)." The resolution ár-va-ta-ām fills up c quite unsatisfactorily; the Anukr. refuses all resolution, and counts the pāda as of 6 syllables.

3. Both art thou a protection, grinder-up of familiar demons (yātú), O ointment, and of what is immortal thou knowest; likewise art thou gratification (-bhójana) of the living, likewise remedy of jaundice (hárita-).

Contrary to rule, the a of asi in d has to be elided after átho in d; probably emendation to áthā ’si is called for; one of our mss. (O.) reads átho ‘si. Ppp. rectifies the meter of a by giving ute ’vā ’si; for c, d it has utā ’mṛtatvesye ”çiṣa utā ’saṣ pitṛbhojanam. The comm. takes amṛtasya as the drink of immortality, and -bhojana as either aniṣṭanivartanena pālaka or bhogasādhana. The last pāda hardly belongs with the rest.

4. Of whomsoever, O ointment, thou creepest over limb after limb, joint after joint, from thence thou drivest away the yákṣma, like a formidable mid-lier (madhyamaçī́).

Found also as RV. x. 97. 12 (repeated, without variant, as VS. xii. 86), which version, however, begins with yásyāu ’ṣadhīḥ prasárpatha, and has in c correspondingly bādhadhve. The comm. has in c bādhate, but regards it as for bādhase. Ppp. reads tasmāt for tatas. Madhyamaçī́ is of obscure meaning; "arbiter," as conjectured by BR., seems very implausible ⌊BR. express their conjectural meaning by the Latin word intercessor; by which, I suspect, they intend, not 'mediator,' but rather 'adversary' or 'preventer' of the disease, which would be plausible enough⌋; more probably mid-most man," like madhyameṣṭhā́ or chief (see under iii. 8. 2), and madhyamaçī used especially of the leader about whom his men encamp, for his greater safety, in the night. JB. has madhyamaçīvan at ii. 408, but the passage is too corrupt to cast valuable light upon the word. To the comm., it is either Vāyu, the wind in mid-air, or else the king, viewed as surrounded first by foes, and further by their foes, his friends (on the principle of arir mitram arer; mitram) ⌊mitra-mitram ataḥ param etc. I find the verse at Kāmandakīya Nītisāra, viii. 16. To judge from the Later Syriac Version (Kalīlah and Dimnah, Keith-Falconer, p. 114), one would expect to find it in Pañcatantra ii., colloquy of mouse and crow, in Kosegarten's ed., p. 110 or thereabouts. Cf. Manu vii. 158 and the comm.⌋

5. Curse attains him not, nor witchcraft, nor scorching; víṣkandha reaches him not who beareth thee, O ointment.

Ppp. reads tam for enam in a, and niṣkandham in c. ⌊it inserts just before our vs. 7 the vs. given under vi. 76. 4 and ending with yas tvāṁ bibharty āñjana.⌋

6. From wrong spell, from evil dreaming, from evil deed, from pollution also, from the terrible eye of an enemy—therefrom protect us, ointment.

Ppp. has, for b, kṣetriyāc chapathād uta. The Pet. Lexx. understand asanmantrá as simply "untrue speech" (so Grill, "Lügenrede"); the comm. reads instead -ntryāt, as adjective qualifying duṣvapnyāt, and signifying "produced by base bewitching spells." Durhā́rdas in c might well be adj., 'hostile' (so comm.).

7. Knowing this, O ointment, I shall speak truth, not falsehood; may I win (san) a horse, a cow, thy soul, O man (púruṣa).

The latter half-verse is RV. x. 97. 4 c, d (which is also, without variant, VS. xii. 78 c, d), where we read vā́sas instead of ahám; Ppp., too, gives vāsās. All the mss. and the comm. have at the end the absurd form puruṣas (nom., but without accent); the comm. (whose text, as SPP. points out in more than one place, is unaccentuated) understands "I, thy man (retainer)." Both editions make the necessary emendation to puruṣa ⌊s. pūruṣa⌋. Ppp. gives pāuruṣa. SPP. makes a note that sanéyam is so accented by all his authorities—as if anything else were possible ⌊does he have in mind sáneyam? see Whitney, Roots, p. 183⌋. The first pāda is defective unless we resolve vi-du-ā́n ⌊or ā-añjana⌋.—⌊R's supplementary report of Ppp. readings ends a with āñjanas and has for d āñjana taṁva pāuruṣaḥ. As noted above, this vs. stands at the end in Ppp. and before it is inserted the vs. given under vi. 76. 4.⌋

8. Three are the slaves (dāsá) of the ointment—fever (takmán), balā́sa, then snake: the highest of mountains, three-peaked (trikakúd) by name, [is] thy father.

For the obscure balāsa, the comm. gives the worthless etymology balam asyati, and adds saṁnipātādiḥ 'collision [of humors] or the like'; "snake" he explains as for snake-poisoning; perhaps, if the reading is genuine, it is rather the name of some (constricting ?) disease.

9. The ointment that is of the three-peaked [mountain], born from the snowy one (himávant)—may it grind up all the familiar demons and all the sorceresses.

Pāda b is repeated below as v. 4. 2 b. The first half-verse is, without variant, TA. vi. 10. 2, vs. 9 a, b; and it occurs also in HGS. (i. 11. 5), which reads upari at the end for pari ⌊and so at MP. ii. 8. 11 a, b⌋. The second half is VS. xvi. 5 c, d, and also found in TS. iv. 5. 1² and MS. ii. 9. 2; all these have áhīn instead of yātū́n, and read jambháyan (pres. pple.); and our jambháyat may, of course, be pres. pple. neut.; some of the mss. (including our Bp.M.I.) indeed read -yan here, though no masc. subject is implied; the comm. paraphrases with nāçayad vartate. SPP., with his customary defiance of grammar upon this point, reads sárvān instead of -āṅ or -ān̄ ⌊cf. i. 1 9. 4, note⌋.

10. If thou art of the three-peaked [mountain], or if thou art called of the Yamunā—both thy names are excellent; by them protect us, O ointment.

Te in c might perhaps be emended with advantage to té. The Yamunā is not elsewhere mentioned in AV. Nā́mnī is to be read, of course, as of three syllables, and there is no reason why the text should not give us nā́manī.