Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book V/Hymn 13

13. Against snakes' poison.

[Garutman.—ekādaçarcam. takṣakadevatyam. jāgatam: 2. āstārapan̄kti; 4, 7, 8. anuṣṭubh; 5. triṣṭubh; 6. pathyāpan̄kti; g. bhurij; 10, 11. nicṛd gāyatrī.]

Found (except vs. 1) also in Pāipp. viii. (in the verse-order 3, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7-11). It is not quoted in Vāit.; but in Kāuç. 29. 1-14 all the verses are brought in in their order, in connection with a ceremony for healing poison-wounds; verse 1 (or the hymn) is also used at 48. 9, in a witchcraft rite. ⌊The London Anukr., in 6 places and for 7 poison-hymns, gives Garutmā (not -mān) as ṛṣi.⌋

Translated: Griffith, i. 208; Bloomfield, 27, 425; Weber, xviii. 211.

1. Since Varuṇa, poet of heaven, hath given [them] to me, with formidable spells (vácas) do I dissolve thy poison; what is dug, undug, and attached (saktá) have I seized; like drink (írā) on a waste hath thy poison been wasted (ni-jas).

The epithets in c are of obscure application: probably buried in the flesh by the bite, or unburied but clinging.

2. What waterless poison is thine, that of thine have I seized in these; I seize thy midmost, thine upmost juice (rása); also may thy lowest then disappear for fright.

'These' in b is fem. (etā́su); doubtless 'waters' is to be supplied. Ppp. reads in a padakam (for apod-), and in b tat tābhir. Yát ta in a in our edition is a misprint for yát te. Kāuç. (29. 2) calls the verse grahaṇī. ⌊For neçat, see Skt. Gram. §847 end, and §854 b.⌋

3. A bull [is] my cry, like thunder through the cloud (nábhas); with thy formidable spell do I then drive it off (bādh) for thee; I have seized that juice of his with men ⌊?⌋; like light out of darkness let the sun arise.

One is tempted to emend nábhasā in a to -sas or -sām, 'the thunder of the clouds.' Ppp. reads tam (which is better) vacasā bādhāitu te in b, grabhis for the strange nṛbhis ⌊Weber, 'kräftig'⌋ in c, and jyotiṣe ’va tamaso ’dayatu sāryaḥ in d. The i of iva is uncounted in the meter of d. Kāuç. calls the verse prasarjanī.

4. With sight I smite thy sight; with poison I smite thy poison; die, O snake, do not live; let thy poison go back against thee.

All the mss. ⌊including SPP's⌋ read áhes at beginning of c, but our edition makes the necessary emendation to áhe. Ppp. has for a balena te balaṁ hanmi; its b is wholly corrupt; for c etc. it reads ṛṣaṇa hanmi te vidam ahe mariṣṭā mā jīvī praty anveta vā viṣaṁ. ⌊As for d—the later Hindus thought that snake poison did not hurt a snake; cf. Indische Sprüche, 3001. But see the interesting experiments of Sir Joseph Fayrer, in his Thanatophidia of India,² London, 1874, p. 74-5. My colleague. Dr. Theobald Smith, Professor of Comparative Pathology, has most kindly examined for me the recent literature concerning the auto-toxic action of snake-venoms. The evidence is not conclusive as yet, but points to the immunity of snakes to snake-poison.—Cf. vii. 88, below.⌋

5. O Kirātan, O spotted one, O grass-haunter (?), O brown one! listen ye to me, O black serpents, offensive ones! stand ye not upon the track (? stāmán) of my comrade; calling out (ā-çrāvay), rest quiet in poison.

It is hardly possible to avoid emending stāmā́nam in c to sthā́mānam ⌊'station'⌋ or srāmāṇam ⌊'course,' from sṛ 'run'—but not quotable⌋; Ppp. is very corrupt in c, d, but seems to intend no variants. It reads upatarṇi babhrav in a; our babhra is by Prāt. i. 81, and this passage is quoted in the comment on that rule. It further mutilates to asitalīkā in b. The accents in our text ⌊and SPP's⌋ on ásitās and álikās are against all rule, and doubtless to be regarded as misreadings; the translation implies their absence. In c correct to sákhyuḥ (accent-sign lost over u). A number of ⌊our⌋ mss. (P.M.H.I.O.) ⌊and five of SPP's⌋ read miṣé for viṣé in d (and nimiṣe 'at a wink' would be an acceptable emendation); M.W. end with rabhadhvam. ⌊Griffith identifies kāirāta with karait, the Hindūstānī name (now well known in the Occident) of an awfully venomous little serpent. This would be most interesting, if certain; but friend Grierson writes me that it is improbable on phonetic grounds. We should expect in Hind. kērā.⌋

6. Of the Timātan (?) black serpent, of the brown, and of the waterless, of the altogether powerful (?), I relax the fury, as the bow-string of a bow; I release as it were chariots.

The translation is as if the reading at end of c were manyúm.* The pada-reading in c is sātrā-sahásya, according to Prāt. iii. 23. Ppp. has tayimātasya in a, and in c upodakasya 'water-haunting,' which is better. ⌊Whitney would doubtless have revised this carefully. The divergences of the translators reflect the uncertainties of the exegesis. 'I slacken as it were the cars of the wrath of' etc.—Griffith. 'I release (thee) from the fury of' etc.—Bloomfield. 'Des Asita...des Manyu Streitwagen gleichsam spanne ⌊ich⌋ mir ab' or 'die Streitwagen des Grimmes des Asita' etc.—Weber. For d, 'as the string from off (áva) the bow.'⌋ *⌊Ppp. reads manyum.⌋

7. Both ā́ligī and víligī, both father and mother—we know your connection (bándhu) completely; sapless ones, what will ye do?

The wholly obscure words in a (p. ā́-ligī, ví-ligī) might also be nom. m. of stems in -in; but their accent is against it. Ppp. reads, for a, b, ālakā ca vyaca luptvā yas te mātā. The Anukr. makes no account in b of the two syllables that are lacking to make an anuṣṭubh pāda.

8. Daughter of the broad-knobbed one (?), born of the black barbarian (f.)—of all them (f.) that have pierced defiantly (?) the poison [is] sapless.

The translation conjectures in a a relationship of -gūla to gūḍa and gola, and implies for b emendation to dāsyā́ ásiknyāḥ—since something had to be done to make the line translatable. ⌊One of SPP's authorities has ásiknyāḥ.⌋ Ppp. begins with udakūlāyā 'of the water-bank'; the rest of its version is "without meaning." The first word is quoted by the commentary to Prāt. iii. 72 in the form urū-gūlāyāḥ (so the ms.) ⌊urŭ-?⌋. ⌊W's version 'pierced' implies reference to root dṛ (not drā 'run,' as in Index). For pratán̄kam, both here and at iv. 16. 2, he first wrote 'rapidly,' and then interlined 'defiantly.' Why? BR. take it as gerund, 'of all that have run gliding': i.e., I suppose, 'that dart along on their bellies'?⌋

9. The eared hedgehog said this, coming down from the mountain: whichsoever of these (f.) are produced by digging, of them the poison is most sapless.

This verse, which is rather out of place here, seems like a variation of RV. i. 191. 16: kuṣumbhakás tád abravīd giréḥ pravartamānakáḥ: vṛ́çcikasyā ’rasáṁ viṣám. Ppp. begins with kaṇvā. ⌊For the diminutive, cf. iv. 37. 10 and xiv. 2. 63.⌋

10. Tābúva, not tābúva; verily thou art not tābúva; by tābúva [is] the poison sapless.

Ppp. has instead tāvucaṁ na tāvucaṁn aher asiktaṁ tāvucenā ’rasaṁ viṣam. With this verse, according to Kāuç. (29. 13), one sips water from a gourd.

11. Tastúva, not tastúva; verily thou art not tastúva; by tastúva [is] the poison sapless.

Ppp. has for a, b, tastuvaṁ na harisiktaṁ tastuvaṁ. But for the ⌊unlingualized⌋ n of tastúvena, the word in our mss. might be equally read tasrúva ⌊SPP. reports this reading⌋. With this verse, according to Kāuç. (29. 14), one "binds the navel." ⌊Weber, Sb. 1896, p. 681 (see also p. 873), gives an elaborate discussion of these two verses. He deems tābuva a misread tāthuva (root stu = sthā), 'stopping, bannend.' But see Barth, Revue de l'histoire des religions, xxxix. 26.⌋