Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 28 (29)

28 (29). Of the instruments of offering.

[Medhātithi (?).—vedadevatākam. trāiṣṭubham.]

Found also in Pāipp. xx. To this hymn, as to the preceding, Kāuç. pays no attention; but it is used twice by Vāit.: once in the parvan ceremony (4. 12), as the hotar unties the veda-bunch; and once in the agniṣṭoma (13. 2), in connection with the prayaṇīya iṣṭi.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 19; Henry, 11, 65; Griffith, i. 341.

1. The vedá [is] well-being, the tree-smiter well-being; the rib [is] sacrificial hearth (védi), the ax our well-being; oblation-making, worshipful, lovers of the offering, let those gods enjoy this offering.

The first half-verse corresponds to the initial clauses of TS. iii. 2. 4¹: sphyáḥ svastír vighanáḥ svastíḥ párçur védiḥ paraçúr naḥ svastíḥ. By the vedá is doubtless here meant the bunch of sacred grass so called, used in the ceremonies of offering (darbhamuṣṭi, comm.). The ṇ of drughaṇas (p. dru॰ghanaḥ) is prescribed by Prāt. iii. 76. The comm. explains it by lavitrādiḥ, because drur drumo hanyate ‘nena. Half of SPP's authorities accent páraçus the first time, and of ours all but one ( D. ), and we accordingly adopted that reading in our text, as it seemed very unlikely that it would be so distinguished from paraçús in the same pāda without reason—and the reason in fact seems to be that it stands for párçus (TS.) ⌊which pronunciation the meter decidedly favors—for the suastí at the end of b must scan as 3 syllables⌋. SPP. accents paraçús both times. The comm. apparently understands páraçus, as he explains it as parçuḥ pārçvavan̄kris ⌊tṛṇādicchedanī⌋, but the second paraçús by vṛkṣacchedanasādhana. He takes away the strange inconsistency in the use of svasti by reading (like TS.) svastiḥ at end of b. ⌋Discussions of drughaṇa: Geldner, Ved. Stud. ii. 3; von Bradke, ZDMG. xlvi. 462; Bloomfield, ib. xlviii. 546; Franke, WZKM. viii. 342.⌋ ⌊In b, Ppp. reads paraçur vediṣ paraçu nas svasti, and, in d, havir idaṁ for yajñam imaṁ.⌋