Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 71

71. Against harm from improper food.

[Brahman.—āgneyam: 3. vāiçvadevī. jāgatyam: 3. triṣṭubh.]

Found also in Pāipp. ii. (in the verse-order i, 3, 2), and vs. i a second time in xx. ⌊For Yajus versions of vss. 1 and 3, see v. Schroeder's Zwei Hss., p. 16, and Tübinger Kaṭha-hss., p. 77.⌋ Used by Kāuç. (45. 17), with iii. 29, vii. 67, etc., in a rite (following the vaçāçamana), explained as for obviating ill effects from acceptance of gifts and the like; also (57. 29), in the upanayana, accompanying an offering by the pupil from the food obtained by begging. And Vāit. (4. 16) has it in the parvan sacrifice, as the priest eats his portion.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 433; Grill, 66, 165; Griffith, i. 284; Bloomfield, 196, 494.—See also Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 152.

1. What food of various form I eat oftentimes (bahudhā́)—gold, horse, also cow, she-goat, sheep, just whatsoever I have accepted—let Agni the offerer (hótar) make that well-offered.

Ppp. has, in c, kiṁ cit, and for d, a. t. viçvād agadaṁ k. TA. (ii. 6. 2¹²) has pādas a, b, c as a, b, d of a verse of five pādas: in b it inserts vā́sas (Ppp. vāusu) before híraṇyam and omits (not Ppp.) áçvam after it; after b it inserts yád devā́nāṁ cákṣuṣy ā́go ásti; in c it contracts -jagráhā ’hám into -jagrāhám; and it ends with agnír mā tásmād anṛṇáṁ kṛṇotu. The comm. (unless it is a misprint) reads jagrāha in c. The last pāda is x. 9. 26 d. The first two vss. are mixed jagatī and triṣṭubh.

2. Whatever, offered [or] unoffered, hath come to me, given by the Fathers, assented to by human beings (manuṣyà), what my mind is as it were excited at—let Agni the offerer make that well-offered.

The comm. reads rārajītu in c, but explains it as an indicative. The mss. are divided between manuṣyāìḥ (which both editions give) and -yāíḥ at the end of b (our Bp.P.M.H.T.K. have the latter). Ppp. inserts yat after hutam in a. ⌊W. has here overlooked a part of R's note, which (if I understand him) means that our vs. 2 continues in Ppp. thus: (b) yasmād anna manaso ’drārajīmi, (c, a corruption of TA's c given under vs. 1 above) yad devānāṁ cakṣuṣākaçīnā, (d) ’gniṣ etc.⌋

3. What food I eat unrighteously, O gods, and promise, intending to give [or] not intending to give—by the greatness of the great Vāiçvānara let [it] be propitious honeyed food for me.

TA. (11. 6. 2¹¹) has the first half-verse, adding the same three pādas as above (see under vs. 1). For the doubtful saṁgṛṇā́mi it reads vā kariṣyán, and Ppp. has the same, also omitting (perhaps by accident) ádāsyan. The second pāda is nearly repeated as 119. 1 b, below. The comm. renders saṁgṛṇāmi by pratijānāmi. The Daç. Kar. cites (to Kāuç. 57. 29: see the note to that rule) the three verses in full, but substitutes for 3 c, d our 53. 2 c, d, vāiçvānaro no ad-, etc.