Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 41 (42)

41 (42). To the heavenly falcon (the sun).

[Praskaṇva.—dvyṛcam. çyenadāivatam. 1. jagatī; 2. triṣṭubh.]

Found also in Pāipp. xx. (in inverted verse-order). Used by Kāuç. (43. 3) in the house-building ceremony (to purify the site, Keç., comm.): compare Bloomfield in JAOS. xvi. 12; further added by the schol. (note to 8. 23) to the vāstu gaṇa; moreover, the verses are called (40. 9) samprokṣanyāu, and are variously made to accompany rites involving sprinkling (Bloomfield, ib. p. 13). Verse 2 appears in Vāit. (22. 23) in the agniṣṭoma, with vi. 122 and 123.

Translated: Henry, 15, 71; Griffith, i. 345.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 285.

1. Across wastes, across waters penetrated the men-beholding falcon, seeing a resting-place; passing all the lower spaces, may he come hither, propitious, with Indra as companion.

Ppp. combines (as often) -kṣā ’vasāna- in b, and çivā ”jagāma in d. Avasāna-, either 'his goal' (so Henry) or 'the settlements of men.' The meter is pure triṣṭubh.

2. The men-beholding falcon, heavenly eagle, thousand-footed, hundred-wombed, vigor-giving—may he confirm to us the good that was borne away; let ours be what is rich in svadhā́ among the Fathers.

That is, probably, 'a pleasant life.' Ppp. makes nṛcakṣās and suparṇas exchange places in a, and reads vayo dhāt at end of b. Pāda c is jagatī.