Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 20

20. Against fever (takmán).

[Bhṛgvan̄giras.—yakṣmanāçanadāivatam. 1. atijagatī; 2. kakummatī prastirāpan̄ktiḥ; 3. sataḥpan̄ktiḥ.]

Only the last verse is found in Pāipp., in book xiii. Appears in Kāuç. (30. 7) in a remedial rite for bilious fever, and is reckoned (note to 26. 1) to the takmanāçana gaṇa.

Translated: Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 384, 393; Ludwig, p. 511; Zimmer, p. 380; Florenz, 273 or 25; Griffith, i. 255; Bloomfield, 3, 468.

1. Of him as of burning fire goeth the vehemence (?); likewise, as it were, shall he crying out go away from me; some other one than us let the ill-behaved one seek; homage be to the heat-weaponed fever.

The translation given implies the easy emendation of çuṣmíṇas to çúṣmas, which eases the meter,* and helps the sense out of a notable difficulty. The comm. and the translators understand (perhaps preferably) mattás in b as pple of mad, instead of quasi-ablative of the pronoun ma, as here rendered ("he flees, crying like a madman," R.). The comm. takes avratas as intended for an accusative, -tam. The verse is really a jagatī with one redundant syllable in a. *⌊The metrical difficulty is in the prior part of a; the cadence of a is equally good with çuṣmíṇas or with çúṣmas.⌋

2. Homage to Rudra, homage be to the fever, homage to king Varuṇa, the brilliant (tvíṣīmant), homage to the sky, homage to the earth, homage to the herbs.

The Anukr. scans the verse as 12 + 12: 9 + 6 = 39 syllables.

3. Thou here who, scorching greatly, dost make all forms yellow—to thee here, the ruddy, the brown, the woody takmán, do I pay homage.

Ppp. reads, in a, rūras for yas; its c, d are aruṇāya babhrave tapurmaghavāya namo ‘stu takmane. The comm. understands ványāya in d as gerundive of root van = saṁsevyāya: perhaps 'of the forest,' i.e., having no business in the village. The verse (9 + 11: 9 + 12) is too irregular for the metrical definition given ⌊cf. viii. 2. 21⌋.

The second anuvāka ends here, having 10 hymns and 32 verses, and the quotation from the old Anukr. is simply dvitīyāu, which ought to combine with the prathama of the first anuvāka—only one does not see how, as the two are not equal in number of verses.