Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 52 (54)

52 (54). For harmony.

[Atharvan.—dvyṛcam. sāmmanasyam; āçvinam. 1. kakummaty anuṣṭubh; 2. jagatī.]

Not found in Pāipp. Kāuç. reckons it (9. 2) to the bṛhachānti gaṇa, and also (12. 5), with iii. 30 etc., to the sāmmattasyāni or harmony-hymns.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 428; Grill, 31, 181; Henry, 19, 79; Griffith, i. 351; Bloomfield, 136, 550.

1. Harmony for us with our own men, harmony with strangers—harmony, O Açvins, do ye here confirm in us.

The verse is found in TB. ii. 4. 4⁶ and MS. ii. 2. 6, and in a khila to RV. x. 191; TB. reads svāís and áraṇāis in a, b; MS. and the khila have svébhyas and áraṇebhyas, and MS. also asmábhyam in d. The verse is also uṣṇiggarbhā.

2. May we be harmonious with mind, with knowledge (cikitú); may we not fight (?) with the mind of the gods; let not noises arise in case of much destruction (?); let not Indra's arrow fall, the day being come.

Or (as the other translators), 'let not the arrow fly, Indra's day being come'; the comm. understands 'Indra's arrow,' i.e. the thunderbolt.* The comm., in c, reads vinihrute (= kāuṭilye nimitte or stāinyādikāuṭilyanimitte). Yutsmahi in b is doubtful; SPP. reads yuṣmahi, with the comm. (= viyuktā bhūma) and the minority of his mss. (also our K.Kp.); the rest have either yutsmahi or yuchmahi (the latter also our O.s.m.D.R.s.m., which seems to be only an awkwardness of the scribes for yutsmahi); on the whole, yutsmahi is better supported, and either gives an acceptable sense. SPP. strangely reads, with the comm. and the majority of his authorities, and with part of ours (P.?O.R.), út sthur in c, against both general grammar and the Prātiçākhya (ii. 18; its commentary quotes this passage as an illustration of the rule). With a Grill compares RV. x. 30. 6 c, sáṁ jānate mánasā sáṁ cikitre. Pāda b is triṣṭubh, if not a also: ⌊is the second sám an intrusion?⌋. *⌊Alternatively, and as açanirūpā parakīyā vāk.⌋