Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 72 (75, 76)
72 (75, 76). With an oblation to Indra.
[1, 2. Atharvan.—dvyṛcam. āindrani. 1. anuṣṭubh; 2. triṣṭubh.—3. Atharvan.—āindram. trāiṣṭubham.]
Here again, following our leading ms. and the sense, we combined into one what the Anukr. etc. treat as two hymns, our vs. 3, which begins a new decad,* being reckoned as a separate hymn. No one of the three verses is found in Pāipp.; but they are a RV. hymn (x. 179). Kāuç. (2 .40) uses the hymn in the parvan sacrifices, for Indra (the schol. adds iti tisras, as if the three verses were to be regarded as one hymn; there is no quotation of vs. 3 as a separate hymn). In Vāit., vs. 1 (or vss. 1, 2?) is repeated (14. 3) by the hotar in summoning the adhvaryu to milk the cow in the agniṣṭoma ceremony; and again in the same (21. 18), vs. 3 (= hymn 76) accompanies the offering of the dadhigharmahoma. *⌊Cf. p. 389.⌋
Translated: Henry, 27, 92; Griffith, i. 361.
1. Stand ye up; look down at Indra's seasonable portion; if cooked, do ye offer [it]: if uncooked, do ye wait (mad).
RV. makes the construction in the second half-verse more distinct by reading çrātás and áçrātas, nominatives; the comm. regards our çrātám (= pakvam) and áçrātam as made neuter to qualify a havis understood; he explains mamáttana ⌊cf. BR. v. 471⌋ as = pacata or taptaṁ kuruta (referring to the expression madantīs applied to water), or, alternatively, as indraṁ stutibhir madayata; those addressed are the priests (he ṛtvijaḥ).
2. The oblation [is] cooked; hither, O Indra, please come forward; the sun hath gone to the mid-point of his way; [thy] companions wait upon (pari-ās) thee with treasures (nidhí), as heads of families on a chieftain (vrājapatí) as he goes about.
RV. reads in b vímadhyam, for which our text is only a corruption, and accents ⌊cf. Gram. § 1267 a⌋ vrājápatim in d. The comm. explains vimadhyam as vikalam madhyam, īṣadūnam madhyabhāgam; he calls the offering referred to the dadhigharma (as Vāit.).
3 (76. 1). Cooked I think [it] in the udder, cooked in the fire; well cooked I think [it], that newer rite (? ṛtá); of the curds of the midday libation drink thou, O thunderbolt-bearing Indra, much-doing, enjoying [it].
RV. reads súçrātam in b, and purukṛd (vocative) in d. ⌊For a, cf. Aufrecht's Rigveda2 i. p. xvii, preface.⌋