Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 63 (65)

63 (65). To Agni: for aid.

[Kaçyapa Mārīca.—jātavedasam. jagatī.]

Found also in Pāipp. xx. Kāuç. (69. 22) uses it in the preparation of the house-fire, with invocation.

Translated: Henry, 25, 88; Griffith, i. 357.

1. The fight-conquering, overpowering Agni do we call with songs from the highest station; may he pass us across all difficult things; may divine Agni stride (?) across arduous things.

The translation implies emendation of kṣā́mat to krā́mat in d, as suggested by BR. (and adopted also by Henry), since the former seems to give no good sense, and both form and composition with ati are elsewhere unknown for root kṣam: cf. also xii. 2. 28 c. But the parallel verse TA. x. 1. (68) has kṣāmat ⌊so both ed's, text and comm.⌋ and Ppp. reads kṣāmād devo ‘dhi. Our comm. explains ati kṣāmat as = atyarthaṁ kṣāmāṇi dagdhāni karotu! TA. further gives ugrám agním for agnim ukthāis, rectifies the meter of b by reading huvema, leaves the combination devó áti in d, and has duritā́ ’ty for -tāni. Our c is the same with RV. i. 99. 1 c. The verse has no jagatī character at all.