Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 111

111. For relief from insanity.

[Atharvan.—caturṛcam. āgneyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. parānuṣṭup triṣṭubh.]

This hymn, like the preceding, is wanting in Pāipp. Kāuç. (8. 24) reckons it as one of the mātṛnāmāni (with ii. 2 and viii. 6); and the comm. quotes a remedial rite against demons (26. 29-32) as an example of their use.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 512; Zimmer, p. 393; Grill, 21, 170; Griffith, i. 306; Bloomfield, 32, 518.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 50.

1. Free thou this man for me, O Agni, who here bound, well-restrained, cries loudly; thenceforth shall he make for thee a portion, when he shall be uncrazed.

Nearly all our mss., and the great majority of SPP's, have the false accent atás at beginning of c; both editions give átas. The comm. reads yathā for yadā in d. The comm. paraphrases suyatas by suṣṭhu niyamito niruddhaprasaraḥ san. Pāda b has a redundant syllable.

2. Let Agni quiet [it] down for thee, if thy mind is excited (ud-yu); I, knowing, make a remedy, that thou mayest be uncrazed.

The comm. reads udyatam (= grahavikāreṇo ’dbhrāntam) instead of udyutam in b.

3. Crazed from sin against the gods, crazed from a demon—I, knowing, make a remedy, when he shall be uncrazed.

A few of the authorities (including our O.) accent yádā in d; yáthā would be a preferable reading. ⌊Bloomfield, "sin of the gods," AJP. xvii. 433, JAOS., etc.⌋

4. May the Apsarases give thee again, may Indra again, may Bhaga again; may all the gods give thee again, that thou mayest be uncrazed.

The saṁhitā reading in a and c would, of course, equally admit of tvā: aduḥ 'have given thee,' and this would be an equally acceptable meaning; the comm. so understands and interprets. In our text, read púnas at beginning of c (the sign for u dropped out).

The difference of meter tends to point out vs. 1 as an alien addition by which this hymn has been increased beyond the norm of the book.