Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 87

87. To establish some one in sovereignty.

[Atharvan.—dhrāuvyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. ⌊This hymn and verses 1 and 2 of the next, form one continuous passage in the RV. (x. 173. 1-5): see Oldenberg, Die Hymnen des RV., i. 248-9; and cf. introduction to our iii. 12.⌋ It is further found in TB. (ii. 4. 2^8-9) and K. (xxxv. 7). This hymn and the one next following are used together by Kāuç.: in a kāmya rite (59. 13), by one desiring fixity (dhrāuvya or sthāirya); in a rite of expiation for earthquakes (98. 3), with xii. 1; and the comm. regards them (and not iii. 12. 1, 2) as intended by dhruvau at 136. 7 (and the same should doubtless be said of 43. 11), in the rite against the portent of broken sacred vessels; further, they appear in the indramahotsava (140.8), 87. 1 c being curiously specified in addition. In Vāit. (28. 16), this hymn alone (or vs. 1) appears in the agnicayana, at the raising of the ukhyāgni.

Translated: by the RV. translators, and Zimmer, p. 163; and, as AV. hymn, by Ludwig, p. 373; Griffith, i. 292.

1. I have taken thee; thou hast become within; stand thou fixed, not unsteady; let all the people (víças) want thee; let not the kingdom fall away from thee.

The RV. version has, in a, edhi for abhūs; and RV.TB. (also VS. xii. 11) have -cācalis at end of b; and so has TS. (iv. 2. 1⁴), though it reads ⌊in d asmín for mā́ tvát and çraya for bhraçat⌋; while MS. (ii. 7. 8) agrees with our text in a, b, c, but gives for d asmé rāṣṭrā́ṇi dhāraya. The comm. explains antar abhūs by asmākam madhye ‘dhipatir abhavaḥ, which reminds us of madhyameṣṭhā and madhyamaçī ⌊see note to iv. 9. 4⌋. ⌊Our c is the c of iv. 8. 4 (see the note thereon), of which the TB. version has our d here as its d.⌋

2. Be thou just here; be not moved away; like a mountain, not unsteady; O Indra, stand thou fixed just here; here do thou maintain royalty.

RV.TB. have again -cācalis at end of b, and TB. has vyathiṣṭhās for ápa cyoṣṭhās in a. The metrical contraction parvate ’va is not opposed by the Anukr. At beginning of c, RV.TB.Āp. have the better reading índra ive ’há (to be read índre ’ve ’há: whence, doubtless, the AV. version); and, as the comm. gives the same, SPP. has adopted it in his text, against all his authorities as well as ours. The AV. version (found also in Ppp.) is not to be rejected as impossible; the person is himself addressed in it as Indra: i.e., as chief. Ppp. has ni for u in d. ĀpÇS. (xiv. 27. 7) has the RV. version, except yajñam for rāṣṭram in d. In our text an accent-sign has dropped out under the ṣṭhe of -ṣṭhe ’há in c-d.

3. Indra hath maintained this man fixed by a fixed oblation; him may Soma bless, and Brahmaṇaspati here.

RV. begins imám índro ad-, and has, in d, tásmā u for ayáṁ ca. TB. (also ĀpÇS. xiv. 27. 7, which agrees with it throughout ⌊except bruvan for bravan⌋) has eṇam for etám in a, and tásmāi devā́ ádhi bravan for c. ⌊Our c, d occurred above, 5. 3 c, d.⌋