Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 56

56. For protection from serpents.

[Çaṁtāti.—1. vāiçvadevī, uṣṇiggarbhā pathyāpan̄kti; 2, 3. rāudryāu: 2. anuṣṭubh; 3. nicṛt.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. (in the verse-order 1, 3, 2). Used by Kāuç. (50. 17), in a rite for welfare, with iii. 26, 27 and xii. 1. 46, against serpents, scorpions, etc.; and again (139. 8), with various other verses and hymns, in the ceremony for commencing Vedic study. In Vāit. (29. 10), in the agnicayana, it and other passages accompany oblations to Rudra.

Translated: Aufrecht, ZDMG. xxv. 235 (1871); Ludwig, p. 502; Grill, 5, 162; Griffith, i. 276; Bloomfield, 151, 487.—See also the introduction to iii. 26.

1. Let not the snake, O gods, slay us with our offspring, with our men (púruṣa); what is shut together may it not unclose; what is open may it not shut together: homage to the god-people.

Pādas c and d are found again below as x. 4. 8 a, b. ⌊Read sáṁyataṁ yán ná ví ṣparad, viā́ttam yán ná etc.?⌋ Ppp. reads in b sahapāuruṣān, and omits the concluding pāda. The comm. has vi sphurat in c; he understands the 'open' and 'shut' of the snake's mouth, doubtless correctly. MB. (ii. 1. 5) has a parallel phrase: saṁhatam mā vivadhir vihatam mā ’bhisaṁvadhīḥ.

2. Homage be to the black [snake], homage to the cross-lined, homage to the brown constrictor; homage to the god-people.

Ppp. reads haye for astu in a. The comm. explains svaja 'constrictor' as "self-born" ⌊and Aufrecht as the "natural" color, that is, "green "⌋.

3. I smite thy teeth together with tooth, thy (two) jaws together with jaw, thy tongue together with tongue, thy mouth, O snake, together with mouth.

Ppp. reads at the beginning saṁ te dadāmi dadbhir datas, omits u in b, and ends with āsnāhasyam. The comm. understands "thy lower teeth with thine upper tooth," and so in the other cases: but this is very unacceptable; and more probably the tooth, jaw, etc. are said of some object or instrument used in the incantation.