Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 83

83. To remove apacíts.

[An̄giras.—caturṛcam. mantroktadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 4. 1-av. 2-p. nicṛd ārcy anuṣṭubh.]

⌊Part (vs. 4) prose.⌋ Found also in Pāipp. i. (but without the added vs. 4). Kāuç. (31. 16) employs it in a healing rite, with vii. 76 (against gaṇḍamālā, schol., comm.); vss. 3 c, d and 4 are specified in the sequel of the rite (31. 20, 21); the comm. treats vs. 4 as beginning of hymn 84; it is applied by Kāuç. in the treatment of a sore of unknown origin (ajñātārus: catuṣpād gaṇḍa, comm.).

Translated: Ludwig, p. 500; Bloomfield, JAOS. xiii., p. ccxviii (= PAOS., Oct. 1887), or AJP. xi. 324; Griffith, i. 290; Bloomfield, again, SBE. xlii. 17, 503.

1. O apacíts, fly forth, like a bird (suparṇá) from its nest; let the sun make remedy; let the moon shine you away.

It was Bloomfield (in the article referred to above) who first maintained that the apacít is a pustule or sore. The comm. directly identifies the apacits with the gaṇḍamālās, "scrofulous swellings of the glands of the neck" (BR.), and explains all the processes implied in the hymn as referring to such. His etymology of the word under this verse is 'gathered offward by reason of defect' (doṣavaçād apāk cīyamānāḥ), and he describes them as 'beginning from the throat [and] proceeding downward' (galād ārabhya adhastāt prasṛtāḥ). The accent of kṛṇótu in c is the usual antithetical one; SPP. makes a wholly unnecessary and very venturesome suggestion to explain it.

2. One [is] spotted, one whitish (çyénī), one black, two red; of all have I taken the name; go ye away, not slaying [our] men.

The comm. explains enī as īṣadraktamiçraçveta.

3. Barren shall the apacít, daughter of the black one, fly forth; the boil (glāú) shall fly forth from here; it shall disappear from the neck (? galuntás).

The translation here given of 'galuntás is the purest conjecture, as if the word were a corruption of some form of gala (our W.O.D. read galantás), with ablative-suffix tas. It might contain gaḍu 'excrescence on the throat'; indeed, the comm. etymologizes it as gaḍūn + √tas! He uderstands na çiṣyati as two independent words. Ppp. has sakalaṁ tena çudhyati (or çuṣyati), perhaps 'thereby it dries wholly up.' For rāmāyaṇī, compare vii. 74. 1.

4. Partake (vī) of [thine] own oblation, enjoying with the mind; hail! as now I make oblation with the mind.

This verse, which breaks the uniformity of the book, is evidently an intrusion, and has no apparent connection with the rest of the hymn, although it is acknowledged by both Anukr. and comm. The latter curiously mixes it up with vs. 1 of the next hymn, reckoning it with 84. 1 a, b as one verse, and reckoning 84. 1 c, d and 2 as the following verse, thus ⌊making 83 a tṛca and 84 a caturṛca.⌋ ⌊An āṛcy amiṣṭubh would seem to be 24 syllables.⌋