Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 90

90. For safety from Rudra's arrow.

[Atharvan.—rāudram. 1, 2. anuṣṭubh; 3. ārṣi bhurig uṣṇih.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. (in the verse-order 2, 1, 3). Used by Kāuç. (31. 7) in a healing rite against sharp pain (çūla); also reckoned (note to 50. 13) to the rāudra gaṇa.

Translated: Grill, 14, 168; Griffith, i. 294; Bloomfield, 11, 506.

1. The arrow that Rudra hurled at thee, at thy limbs and heart, that do we now thus eject asunder from thee.

Ppp. has, for c, imāṁ tvām adya te vayam. The comm. understands the infliction to be the çūlaroga (colic?). ⌊In c, idám, 'thus' or 'herewith' i.e. 'with this spell'?⌋

2. The hundred tubes that are thine, distributed along thy limbs, of all these of thine do we call out the poisons.

Ppp. reads hirās for çatam in a, and sākam for vayam in c. The comm. takes nirviṣāṇi as a single word in d (= viṣarahitāni). ⌊Cf. i. 17. 3.⌋

3. Homage to thee, O Rudra, when hurling; homage to [thine arrow] when aimed (prátihita); homage to it when let fly; homage to it when having hit.

Ppp. has, in b, pratihitābhyas; in c, d, visṛjyamanābhyo namas trayatābhyaḥ (but in i., where the verse is also found, nipatitābhyaḥ). The verse is uṣṇih only by number of syllables.