Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 44 (45)

44 (45). Extolling Indra and Vishṇu.

[Praskaṇva.—mantroktadevatyam. bhurik triṣṭubhh.]

Found also in Pāipp. xx. Further, in RV. (vi. 69. 8), TS. (iii. 2. 11² et al.), MS. (ii. 4. 4), and PB. (xx. 15. 7); AB. (vi. 15) gives a sort of comment on the verse, and a story fabricated to explain its meaning. Used in Kāuç. (42. 6) in a rite for establishing harmony (on the arrival of a distinguished visitor, Keç.). In Vāit. (25. 2), joined with hymns 58 and 51 in recitation in the atyagniṣṭoma ceremony.

Translated: Henry, 16, 72; Griffith, i. 347.—Discussed, as RV. verse, by Muir, iv². 84.—It seems that W. intended to rewrite this.

1. Ye have both conquered; ye are not conquered; neither one of them hath been conquered; O Vishṇu, Indra also, what ye fought, a thousand—that did ye triply disperse.

The other texts have but a single* variant, enos for enayos at end of b; but Ppp. has instead of this eva vām; and further, in d, sahasraṁ yad adhīraethām. Some of the pada-mss. (including our D.) divide apa-spṛdhethām in c. Henry renders d "ye made then three thousand (treasures?) to appear." The comm. renders yat in c by yad vastu prati, and makes tredhā refer to the three things (loka, veda, vāc) stated to be conquered in the AB. legend. TS. vii. 1. 6⁷ views the act as a division of a thousand by three. *⌊The accent víṣṇo, we must suppose, is a misprint (delete the sign under ca): for the other texts have viṣṇo, accentless, as does the Index Verborum; and so has SPP. Of his fourteen authorities, seven indeed give víṣṇo, and so does our I.—doubtless wrongly: cf. Haskell, JAOS. xi. 66.⌋