Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 101

101. For virile power.

[Atharvān̄giras (çepaḥprathanakāmaḥ).—brāhmaṇaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Not found in Pāipp. Used by Kāuç. (40. 18) in a rite for sexual vigor, after vi. 72.

Translated: Griffith, i. 474.—Cf. iv. 4; vi. 72.

1. Play thou the bull, blow, increase and spread; let thy member increase limb by limb; with it smite the woman.

The comm. takes yathā and an̄gam in c as two separate words, and many of SPP's saṁhitā mss. accent yáthā ’n̄gám According to the comm., the amulet of arka-wood is the remedy here used. ⌊Cf. also the Bower Manuscript, ed. Hoernle, Part I., p. 5, çloka 60, and p. 17, where pomegranate rind and mustard oil take the place of arka.⌋

2. Wherewith they invigorate one who is lean, wherewith they incite (hi) one who is ill—with that, O Brahmaṇaspati, make thou his member taut like a bow.

Our Bp. reads vājayánti in a. The second half-verse is nearly a repetition of iv. 4. 6 c, d. The comm. reads vaçam for kṛçam in a.

3. I make thy member taut, like a bowstring on a bow; mount, as it were a stag a doe, unrelaxingly always.

This verse is a repetition of iv. 4. 7. The Anukr. passes unnoticed the abbreviated iva both here and in vs. 2.