Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 27

27. Against birds of ill omen.

[Bhṛgu.—yāmyam uta nāirṛtam. jāgatam: 2. triṣṭubh.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. With 28. 1 and 29. 1, it constitutes RV. x. 165. ⌊MGS. ii. 17. 1 a-e is made up of our vi. 27, parts of 29. 1 and 28.3, and 28. 1: see also the pratīkas in Knauer's Index.⌋ Hymns 27, 28, and 29 are employed together in Kāuç. (46. 7) against birds of ill omen (the comm. to AV. reads patatribhyas for patitebhyas of the edition of Kāuç.).

Translated: Florenz, 282 or 34; Griffith, i. 259; Bloomfield, 166, 474.

1. Seeking what, O gods, the sent dove, messenger of perdition, hath come hither, to it will we sing praises, make removal; weal be [it] to our bipeds, weal to our quadrupeds.

RV. has precisely the same text in this verse. Ppp. begins with devaṣ k-. Some of the mss. (including our P.M.W.T.) read níḥkṛtiṁ in c. The verse lacks two syllables of being a full jagatī.

2. Propitious to us be the sent dove, harmless, O gods, the hawk (çakuná) [sent] to our house; for let the inspired (vípra) Agni enjoy our oblation, let the winged missile avoid us.

Ppp. agrees with RV. in the better reading gṛhéṣu (for gṛháṁ naḥ) at end of b. ⌊One suspects that "hawk" may be too specific.⌋

3. May the winged missile not harm us; it maketh its track on the hearth, in the fire-holder; propitious be it unto our kine and men; let not the dove, O gods, injure us here.

The form āṣṭrī́ (p. āṣṭrī́ íti) is quoted under Prāt. i. 74 as an example of a locative in ī (pragṛhya); RV. has the less primitive form āṣṭryā́m; the comm. explains it by vyāptāyām araṇyānyām. For c, d, RV. has a slightly different text: çáṁ no góbhyaç ca púruṣebhyaç ca ’stu mā́ no hiṅsīd ihá devāḥ kapótah. The AV. version spoils the meter of c, but the Anukr. does not heed this.