Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 23

23. To the waters: for blessings.

[Çaṁtāti (?)—abdevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 2. 3-p. gāyatrī; 3. paroṣṇih.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. Reckoned by Kāuç. (9. 2) to the bṛhachānti gaṇa, and also (note to 7. 14) to the apāṁ sūktāni; and again (41. 14), with vi. 19 etc., used in a rite for good fortune: as to its combination (30. 11) with the preceding hymn, see that hymn. In Vāit. (4. 14) it accompanies in the parvan sacrifices the pouring out of water.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 431; Florenz, 278 or 30; Griffith, i. 257.

1. Flowing on, devoted to it; by day and by night flowing on; I, of desirable activity, call upon the heavenly waters.

The verse is found as a khila or appendix to RV. x. 9, as vs. 10 of that hymn. It reads there, in a, tádapasas, which is an obvious and called-for emendation of our text, and assumed in our translation; in c, -kratūs, which is also an improvement (our P. has it, but apparently only by an accident); and, for d, ā́ devī́r ávase huve. Ppp. has, for d, ahūpo devīr upa bruve. The first pāda lacks a syllable, unless we resolve sa-sṛ-u-.

2. Let them release here the worked-in waters of the ceremony for conducting forward; let them at once make [them] to go.

The translation implies emendation of ā́pas in a to apás, or else the use of the former as accusative, as in more than one other passage. Ótās, lit. 'woven in': i.e. brought in as part of the ceremony. But the comm. reads ūtās, and explains it as = saṁtatās or avicchedena pravahantyaḥ. ⌊In a, b, the reading of Ppp. appears to be like ours; but in c it has bhavantu etave.⌋ ⌊Cf. v. 23. 1 for ótās.⌋

3. In the impulse (savá) of the divine impeller (savitár) let men do their [sacred] work; weal to us be the waters, the herbs propitious.

Ppp. reads kṛṇvanti in b. Here, to preserve the balance of forms, apás has to be understood as nominative.