Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 38
38. For brilliance.
[Atharvan (varcashāmaḥ).—caturṛcam. bṛhaspatidevatyam uta tviṣidevatyam. trāiṣṭubham.]
Found also in Pāipp. ii. (in the order 1, 2, 4, 3); and in TB. ii. 7. 71-2 (in the order 1, 4, 2, 3) and K. xxxvi. 15 (in the order 3, 2, 1, 4). This hymn and its successor are employed together by Kāuç. (13. 3-6) in a rite for glory, with the navel-hairs of sundry creatures ⌊cf. Weber, Rājasūya, p. 99, n. 3⌋, and splinters of ten kinds of trees; and they are reckoned to both varcasya gaṇas (notes to 12. 10 and 13. 1). They are further included ⌊139. 15⌋ with several others (i. 30; iv. 30, etc.) in a rite (called utsarjana, comm.) in the ceremony of entering on Vedic study.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 240; Florenz, 297 or 49; Griffith, i. 265; Bloomfield, 116, 477.
1. What brilliancy (tvíṣi) is in lion, in tiger, and what in adder, in fire, in the Brāhman, what in the sun: the fortunate goddess that gave birth to Indra—let her come to us, in union with splendor.
Ppp. reads vavardha for jajāna in c, and sā ā ni ’tu in d. TB. has in the refrain ā́ ’gan (or ā́ gan) for āt ’tu.
2. What brilliancy is in elephant, in leopard, what in gold, in waters, in kine, what in men (púruṣa): the fortunate goddess etc. etc.
Ppp. and TB. agree in reading áçveṣu púruṣeṣu góṣu in b.
3. In chariot, in dice, in the bull's strength (vā́ja), in wind, in rain-god, in Varuṇa's vehemence (çúṣma): the fortunate goddess etc. etc.
Ppp. inverts the order of vā́te and parjánye in b; TB. ⌊and comm.⌋ read vṛṣabhásya in a.
4. In a noble (rājanyà), in the drum, in the drawn [arrow], in the horse's vigor, in man's roar (?): the fortunate goddess etc. etc.
Ppp. and TB. agree in prefixing yā́ at the beginning of the verse, and TB. has krándye for vā́je in b, while Ppp. has, for b, tviṣir açve māyāṁ stanayitna goṣu yā. Māyú is not properly used of púruṣa 'man,' and the expression is obscure and doubtful. The comm. takes ā́yatāyām as = ātāḍyamānāyām and qualifying dundubhāú! ⌊For the meaning here assigned to it, see note to vi. 65. i.⌋ In this hymn, again, it appears as if the equivalence to three verses were recognized, the refrain of vss. 2, 3 being left out of account. But the Anukr. acknowledges four verses, and each of the four has its refrain in TB.