Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 82 (87)

82 (87). Praise and prayer to Agni.

[Çāunaka (sampatkāmaḥ).—ṣaḍṛcam. āgneyam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. kakummatī bṛhatī; 3. jagatī.]

Of this hymn, verses 2 and 6 are found in Pāipp. xx., and verse 3 in iii. It is used in Kāuç. (59. 15), with ii. 6, in a rite for success; and also (59. 19), with hymn 17 etc.: see under 17; further, vss. 2-6, in the upanayana ceremony (57. 21), accompany the laying of five pieces of fuel in renewing a lost fire*; and the comm. quotes it from the Nakṣatra Kalpa (17-19) in various mahāçānti ceremonies. Vāit. (29. 19) employs it (or vs. 1?) in the agnicayana, after laying on fuel with vii. 15; further (5. 16) vs. 2, in the agnyādheya ceremony, while blowing the fire with one's breath; and yet again (2. 7) vs. 6, in the parvan sacrifice, while ladling out the sacrificial butter. *⌊Keç., p. 359²⁵; comm., p. 484 end.⌋

Translated: Ludwig, p. 428; Henry, 34, 102; Griffith, i. 369.

1. Sing (arc) ye good praise unto the contest for kine; put ye in us excellent possessions; lead ye this sacrifice of ours unto the gods; let streams of ghee purify themselves sweetly.

The verse is found also as RV. iv. 58. 10 and VS. xvii. 98. Both read in a arṣata (which is better), and at the the pavante. The comm. understands devatās in c. He regards the waters or the kine as addressed, and explains a in several different ways.

2. I seize in me Agni at first, together with dominion, splendor, strength; in me I put progeny, in me lifetime,—hail!—in me Agni.

The first and third pādas are read in TS. v. 7. 9¹, and the first three in MS. i. 6. 1, with sundry variants: both put gṛhṇāmi in a before ágre, and MS. rectifies the meter by inserting ahám between the two; for b, MS. has sahá prajáyā várcasā dhánena (TS. entirely different, rāyás póṣāya etc.); in c, MS. puts kṣatrám in place of prajā́m, and, for ā́yus, MS. gives rā́yas and TS. várcas (d is different in each text). Ppp. reads at the end agniḥ. The meter (8 + 11: 11 + 6 = 36) is imperfectly described by the Anukr.

3. Just here, O Agni, do thou maintain wealth; let not the downputters, with previous intents, put thee down; by dominion, O Agni, be it of easy control for thee; let thine attendant increase, not laid low.

The verse occurs also in VS. (xxvii. 4), TS. (iv. 1. 7²), MS. (ii. 12. 5); all have the better reading kṣatrám at beginning of c; and, for the difficult and probably erroneous pū́rvacittās of b, VS.TS. read pūrvacítas, and MS. pūrvácittāu (the editor noting that K. and Kap. S. read with VS.). The word, in whatever form, probably refers to other worshipers who get the start of us and outdo our Agni by their own; the comm. says: asmattaḥ pūrvaṁ tvadviṣayamanaskāḥ or tvadviṣayayāgakaraṇamanasaḥ. All the pada-mss. read at the end ániḥ-stṛtaḥ, and this is required by Prāt. ii. 86; but SPP. alters to áni-stṛtaḥ—which, to be sure, better suits the sense. The RV. pada-text also has (viii. 33. 9) ániḥ-stṛtaḥ; TS. (and by inference MS., as the editor reports nothing), ániṣṭṛtaḥ, unchanged. The verse in Ppp. stands in the middle of our hymn ii. 6 (between vss. 3 and 4); ⌊and it is important to remember that its position in the Yajus texts, VS.TS.MS., is similar: see note to ii. 6. 3⌋. Ppp. reads dabhan for ni kran in b, and kṣatram ⌊and sūyamam⌋ in c. This jagatī has one triṣṭubh pāda.

4. Agni hath looked after the apex of the dawns, after the days, [he] first, Jātavedas, a sun, after the dawns, after the rays, after heaven-and-earth he entered.

Anu 'after' seems here to have a distributive force: Agni is ever present to meet the first dawn etc. with his brightness; or it is the opposite of prati in vs. 5: anu 'from behind,' as prati 'from in front.' The verse is found as VS. xi. 17, and in TS. iv. i. 2², TB. 1. 2. 1²³, and MS. i. 8. 9. All these have in c ánu sū́ryasya purutrā́ ca raçmī́n (an easier and better reading), and, at the end, VS. MS. give ā́ tatantha, and TS.TB. ā́ tatāna. This verse and the next are repeated as xviii. i. 27, 28.

5. Agni hath looked forth to meet the apex of the dawns, to meet the days, [he] first, Jātavedas, and to meet the rays of the sun in many places; to meet heaven-and-earth he stretched out.

A variation of the preceding verse, perhaps suggested by RV. iv. 13. 1 a, which is identical with its first pāda; its second half agrees much more closely with the version of the other texts than does 4 c, d. The comm. is still more faithful to that version, by giving the (preferable) reading purutrā in c.

6. Ghee for thee, Agni, in the heavenly station; with ghee Manu kindleth thee today; let the goddesses thy kin (natpī́) bring thee ghee; ghee to thee let the kine milk, O Agni.

Ppp. reads duhrate in d. The comm. gives naptryas in c, and declares it to mean the waters; it is more probably the daughters of the sky in general.