Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 106

106. Against fire in the house.

[Pramocana.—dūrvāçālādevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. (with the verse-order 2, 1, 3). Kāuç. employs the hymn (52. 5) in a rite for welfare, to prevent conflagration of the house: a hole is made inside, and water conducted into it, etc. And vss. 3, 2 appear in Vāit. (29. 13), with others, in the agnicayana, in the rite of drawing a frog, water-plant, and reed over the site of the fire-altar.

Translated: Ludwig, Der Rigveda, iv. 422; Grill, 63, 170; Bloomfield, AJP. xi. 347, or JAOS. XV. p. xlii (= PAOS., Oct. 1890); Griffith, i. 303; and again, Bloomfield, SBE. xlii. 147, 514.

1. In thy course hither, [thy] course away, let the flowery dū́rvā grow; either let a fountain spring up there, or a pond rich in lotuses.

The verse corresponds to RV. x. 142. 8; where, however, the words in b are all plural, and c, d read thus: hradā́ç ca puṇḍárīkāṇi samudrásya gṛhā́ imé. SPP., against the majority of his authorities, strangely adopts in his text the RV. version of b; it is read also by the comm., and apparently by Ppp.; we have noted only one of our mss. as having puṣpíṇīḥ (O.s.m.). The comm. says: anenā ’gnikṛtabādhasyā ’tyantābhāvaḥ prārthitaḥ.

2. This is the down-course of the waters, the abode (nivéçana) of the ocean; in the midst of a pool are our houses: turn thy faces away.

The first half-verse is RV. x. 142. 7 a, b (also VS. xvii. 7 a, b; TS. iv. 6. 1³; MS. ii. 10. 1), without variation. The last pāda is by the comm. regarded as addressed to the fire (one of whose common epithets is viçvatomukha 'having faces in every direction'); perhaps rather 'the points of thine arrows': cf. VS. xvi. 53.

3. With a fetal envelop of snow, O house, do we envelop thee; for mayest thou be for us having a cool pond; let Agni make a remedy.

The first two pādas correspond to VS. xvii. 5 a, b (also in TS. iv. 6. 1¹, MS. ii. 10. 1), which, however, has ágne instead of çā́le; a RV. khila to x. 142 differs only by dadātu for kṛṇotu in d. Ppp. has, in c, -hradāya for hradā hi, and, in d, also dadātu for kṛṇotu. None of our mss., and very few of SPP's authorities, read agníṣ k- in d, though it appears to be called for by Prāt. ii. 65, and both editions accept it. The comm. explains the envelop to be avakārūpeṇa çāivālena. ⌊Ppp. combines bhuvo ‘gnir.⌋