Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 17

17. Against premature birth.

[Atharvan.—caturṛcam. garbhadṛṅhaṇadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found, except vs. 1 (in the order 4, 2, 3), in Pāipp. xix. Used by Kāuç. (35. 12) in the rite for securing the fœtus against abortion.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 477; Florenz, 269 or 21; Griffith, i. 254; Bloomfield, 98, 467.

1. As this great earth receives the embryo of existences, so let thine embryo be maintained, in order to birth after pregnancy.

The comm. reads anusūtram for ánu sū́tum. The first half-verse has already occurred, as v. 25. 2 a, b ⌊where the note gives the parallel passages⌋. The comment to Prāt. ii. 103 notes the non-lingualization of the s of sū́tum after ánu—which is wholly superfluous unless it read ánusūtum.

2. As this great earth maintains these forest-trees, so let thine etc. etc.

Ppp. begins yathe ’yam urvī pṛthivī, and reads, in c, d, garbha anu and suvitave.

3. As this great earth maintains the rugged (párvata) mountains, so let thine etc. etc.

4. As this great earth maintains the various (víṣṭhita) living beings, so let thine etc. etc.