Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VI/Hymn 92

92. For success of a horse.

[Atharvan.—vājinam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. jagatī.]

Found also in Pāipp. xix. Applied by Kāuç. (41. 21) in a rite for the success of a horse; and by Vāit. (36. 18) in the açvamedha, as the sacrificial horse is tied.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 459; Griffith, i. 295; Bloomfield, 145, 507.

1. Be thou, O steed (vājín), of wind-swiftness, being harnessed (yuj) go in Indra's impulse, with mind-quickness; let the all-possessing Maruts harness thee; let Tvashṭar put quickness in thy feet.

The verse is also VS. ix. 8, where, for b, is read índrasye ’va dákṣiṇaḥ çriyāt ’dhi. Ppp. puts bhava after vājin in a, and reads dāivyasya for viçvavedasas in c. The comm. gives an alternative explanation of viçvavedas, as often of its near equivalent jātavedas: viçvadhanaḥ sarvagocarajñāno vā. The Anukr., as often, takes no note of the triṣṭubh pāda d.

2. The quickness, O courser, that is put in thee in secret, also that went about committed to the hawk, to the wind—with that strength do thou, O steed, being strong, win the race, rescuing in the conflict.

This verse also is found in VS. (ix. 9 a), with considerable variants: at the beginning, javó yás te vājin; for b, çyené páritto ácarac ca vā́te; in c, nas for tvám; for d, vājajíc ca bháva sámane ca pār-. Ppp. resembles this in b: çyene carati yaç ca vāte. Half SPP's authorities end with -iṣṇú; I have noted no such reading among our mss. The Anukr. ignores the irregularity of this verse and of vs. 3. ⌊The vs. is discussed by Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi. 17, or Festgruss an Roth, p. 154. For d, see Pischel, Ved. Stud., ii. 314, and Baunack, KZ. xxxv. 516.⌋

3. Let thy body, O steed, conducting a body, run pleasance (vāmá) for us, protection for thyself; uninjured, great, a god for maintaining, may he set up his own light in the sky, as it were.

This is translated literally according to the AV. text, although comparison with the corresponding RV. verse (x. 56. 2) shows that its readings are in part pure corruptions. So, in b, RV. makes ⌊the meter good and⌋ the sense easy by giving dhā́tu for dhā́vatu; in c it has devā́n for devā́s (the comm. gives instead divas); and, in d, mimīyās (ā́ mimīyāt = āgacchatu, comm.). Ppp. has, for a, aste vājiṅ tanvaṁ vahantu; in c, avihvṛtas; in d, svarānasīvām. The verse is probably originally addressed to Agni, and added here only because of the occurrence of vājin at its beginning. The comm. understands tanvàm in a of a rider: ārūḍhasya sādinaḥ çarīram.

The ninth anuvāka, of 10 hymns and 32 verses, ends here; the old Anukr. is thus quoted: dvyadhikāv apacit.