Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 119

119. For relief from guilt or obligation.

[Kāuçika (anṛṇakāmaḥ).—āgneyam. trāiṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xvi. (in the verse-order 1, 3, 2). All the verses occur, but not together, in TA. ⌊See also v. Schroeder, Zwei Hss., p. 15, for vss. 2 and 3; and Tübinger Kaṭha-hss., pp. 70, 75, for 1, 2, and 3.⌋ Is not used by Vāit., nor by Kāuç. otherwise than with ⌊the whole anuvāka and with⌋ hymns 117 and 118; see under ⌊hymns 114 and 117⌋.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 442; Griffith, i. 310.

1. If (yát), not playing, I make debt, also, O Agni, promise (sam-gṛ) not intending to give, may Vāiçvānara, our best over-ruler, verily lead us up to the world of the well-done.

Ppp. puts aham before ṛṇam in a, and reads urum for ud it in d. The first half-verse has correspondents in TB. (iii. 7. 12³) and TA. (ii. 4. 1¹). In a, TB. reads cakā́ra and TA. babhū́va for kṛṇómi and TB. puts yát after ṛṇám; for b, TB. reads yád vā́ ’dāsyant saṁjagā́rā jánebhyaḥ, and TA. áditsan vā saṁjagára j. ⌊For b, cf . vi. 71. 3 b.⌋

2. I make it known to Vāiçvānara, if [there is on my part] promise of debt to the deities; he knows how to unfasten all these bonds; so may we be united with what is cooked (pakvá).

The first three pādas have correspondents in TA. (ii. 6. 1¹), which reads, in a, b, vedayāmo yádī nṛṇám, and, in c, pā́çān pramúcan (i.e. -cam) prá veda; Ppp. also has pra veda instead of veda sárvān. Our d, which seems quite out of place here, occurs again at the end of xii. 3. 55-60, which see (TA. has instead sá no muñcātu duritā́d avadyā́t). The comm. explains pakvena here as paripakvena svargādiphalena, or the ripened fruit of our good works. The Anukr. seems to allow the contraction sāi ‘tān in c.

3. Let Vāiçvānara the purifier purify me, if (yát) I run against a promise, an expectation (ācā́), not acknowledging, begging with my mind; what sin is therein, that I impel away.

The whole verse, this time, has its correspondent in TA. (ii. 6. 1²), which, however, reads for a v. pávayān naḥ pavítrāir (Ppp. means the same, but substitutes pāvayā naṣ); and has, in d, átra for tátra and áva for ápa. Ppp. has saṁgalam near beginning of b. The comm. reads -dhāvāni in b, and explains by ābhimukhyena prāpnavāni; the minor Pet. Lex. suggests emendation to ati-dhāv- 'transgress.' Ludwig emends āçā́m to āsām (referring to devatāsu in 2 b); the reading and pada division ā॰çā́m are vouched for by Prāt. iv. 72, to which rule the word is the counter-example; the comm. explains it by devādīnām abhilāṣam. ⌊Bergaigne comments on root sū, Rel. Véd. iii. 44.⌋