Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book V/Hymn 18
18. The Brahman's cow.
[Mayobhū.—pañcadaçakam. brahmagavīdevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4, 5, 8, 9, 13. triṣṭubh (4. bhurij).]
Found also in Pāipp. ix. (except vs. 7; in the order 1, 2, 4, 13, 5, 6, 14, 3, 15, 9, 8, 10-12). Not noticed in Vāit., but quoted in Kāuç. 48. 13 with the next hymn (as the "two Brahman-cow" hymns), just after hymn 17, in a witchcraft rite.
Translated: Muir, i2 284; Ludwig, p. 447; Zimraer, p. 199; Grill, 41, 148; Griffith, i. 215; Bloomfield, 169, 430; Weber, xviii. 229.
1. Her the gods did not give thee for thee to eat, O lord of men (nṛpáti); do not thou, O noble, desire to devour (ghas) the cow of the Brahman, that is not to be eaten.
An accent-mark under the nya of rājanya in c has been lost.
2. A noble hated of the dice, evil, self-ruined (-párājita)—he may eat the cow of the Brahman: "let me live today, not tomorrow."
I.e., if such is his wish. Ppp. reads, for b, pāpātmam aparājitaḥ. ⌊Cf. Isaiah xxii. 13; I Cor. xv. 32.⌋
3. Like an ill-poisonous adder enveloped with [cow-] hide, this cow of the Brahman, O noble, is harsh, not to be eaten.
That is (a, b) a poisonous serpent in disguise. At beginning of c, mā́ in our text is an error for sā́.
4. Verily it conducts away his authority, smites his splendor; like fire taken hold of it burns up all; he who thinks the Brahman to be food, he drinks of Timātan poison.
5. Whatever insulter of the gods, desirous of riches, not from knowledge, slays him, thinking him gentle, in his heart Indra kindles a fire; both the firmaments (nábhas) hate him as he goes about.
Ppp. has in a enām, which is better. The pada-text absurdly reads yé instead of yáḥ at the beginning. The Anukr. seems to combine ubhā́i ’nam in d, as the meter demands, although ubhé is even a pragṛhya; part of the mss. (M.W.I.H.O.) read ubhá e-.
6. The Brahman is not to be injured, like fire, by one who holds himself dear; for Soma is his heir, Indra his protector against imprecation.
The Pet. Lex. suggests the (acceptable, but unnecessary) emendation of b to agnéḥ priyā́ tanū́r iva; this, however, is favored by the reading of Ppp., agneṣ priyatamā tanūḥ. The expression seems to be incomplete: "as fire [is not to be touched] by one" etc. Ppp. also combines indro ‘sya in d. It is strange that the pada-text does not divide dāyādáḥ ⌊BR. dāyá + āda⌋ as a compound word.
7. He swallows down what (f.) has a hundred barbs; he is not able to tear it out—the fool who thinks of the food of Brahmans "I am eating what is sweet."
The verse is wanting in Ppp. (as noticed above). The mss. read niḥkhídan at end of b; our edition has made the necessary emendation to -dam. The cow, of course, is meant in a, b. Many mss. (B.M.E.I.H.D.K.) accent malvàḥ in c.
8. His tongue becomes a bow-string, his voice an [arrow-] neck, his teeth [become] shafts (nāḍīkā́) smeared with penance; with these the Brahman (brahmán) pierces the insulters of the gods, with bows having force from the heart [and] speeded by the gods.
Pāda d lacks a syllable, though the Anukr. takes no notice of it. Hṛdbalāís is a questionable formation; Ppp. has instead nirjalāis, which may contain hidden a better reading ⌊R. nirjyāis 'without bow-string'?⌋.
9. The Brahmans have sharp arrows, have missiles; what volley (çaravyā̀) they hurl, it is not in vain; pursuing (anu-hā) with fervor and with fury, they split him down even from afar.
Ppp. bas te tayā at the end, instead of enam. ⌊Pāda b is of course jagatī.⌋
10. They that ruled, a thousand, and were ten hundreds, those Vāitahavyas, having devoured the cow of the Brahman, perished (parā-bhū).
Sahásram is taken as in apposition with yé, since rāj properly governs a genitive. Ppp. has a different c, tebhyaḥ prabravīmi tvā. A syllable is lacking in a, unnoted by the Anukr.
11. The cow herself, being slain, pulled down those Vāitahavyas, who cooked the last she-goat of Kesaraprābandhā (?).
12. Those hundred and one fellows (? janátā) whom the earth shook off, having injured the progeny of the Brahmans, perished irretrievably.
Bp. accents properly vi॰ádhūnuta in b, but all the saṁhitā mss. give vyàdh-, and D. has correspondingly ví॰adh-: cf. 19. 11 . Ppp. reads vāi for tās in a, and bhūmir yā in b.
13. The insulter of the gods goes about among mortals; he becomes one who has swallowed poison, [becomes] mainly composed of bones; he who injures the Brahman, the connection of the gods, he goes not to the world to which the Fathers go.
Garagīrṇá is an anomalous compound, but its meaning is hardly doubtful; it is so interpreted by the comm. to AÇS. ix. 5. 1; ásthibhūyān, virtually 'reduced to a skeleton.' Ppp. exchanges our 4 c, d and 13 c, d, givinig the former here without a variant.
14. Agni verily our guide. Soma is called [our] heir, Indra slayer of imprecation (?): so know the devout that.
Ppp. reads, for second half-verse, jayatā ’bhiçasta indras tat satyaṁ devasaṁhitam. Pāda c plainly calls for correction (pada has abhí॰çastā); Zimmer proposes abhíçastam, the Pet. Lex. ⌊vii. 1515⌋ abhíçastim; abhíçatyās, gen., or even abhiçastipā́s (cf. vs. 6), might be suggested as yet more probable.
15. Like an arrow smeared [with poison], O lord of men, like an adder, O lord of cattle—that arrow of the Brahman is terrible; with it he pierces the insulting.
Ppp. reads digdhā instead of ghorā in c. The Anukr. does not call the verse bhurij, although the full pronunciation of the iva in a would make it so. In the first half-verse doubtless the two lower castes are addressed.