Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 15

15. For superiority.

[Uddālaka.—vānaspatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. Kāuç. applies (19. 26) in a rite for prosperity, with vi. 142. 3, using an amulet of barley. It is also reckoned (note to 19. 1) to the puṣṭika mantras.

Translated: Florenz, 267 or 19; Griffith, i. 252.

1. Thou art the highest of herbs; of thee the trees are subjects (upastí); let him be our subject who assails us.

The verse is RV. x. 97. 23 (with which VS. xii. 101 precisely agrees), which has, for a, tvám uttamā́ ’sy oṣadhe, and accents úpastayas úpastis. Ppp. elides the a of asi in a, and in c, d has upastir asmākaṁ bhūyād yo ‘sman. The comm. regards the palāça tree as addressed.

2. Whoever, both kindred and not of kin, assails us, of them may I be highest, as this one of trees.

The Ppp. version of i. 19. 4 a, b is (as pointed out at that place) nearly our a, b here. In this verse Ppp. reads samb- and asamb-, and its c is sambandhūn sarvāṅs tīn tvā.

3. As of herbs soma is made highest of oblations, as the talā́çā of trees, [so] may I be highest.

Ppp. reads, for b, c, uttamaṁ havir ucyate (which is better): yavā tvam āiva vṛkṣāṇām. The comm. has palāça in c. If talā́çā is a good reading, it may mean the same as tālīçā (Flacourtia cataphracta).