Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VIII/Hymn 1
1. For some one's continued life.
[Brahman.—ekaviṅçakam. ārṣy (ārtvy?) āyuṣyam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. purobṛhatī triṣṭubh; 2, 3, 17-21. anuṣubh; 4, 9, 15, 16. prastārapan̄kti; 7. 3-p. virāḍ gāyatrī; 8. virāt pathyābrhatī; 12. 3-av. 5-p. jagatī; 13. 3-p. bhurin̄ mahābṛhatī; 14. 1-av. 2-p. sāmnī bhurig bṛhatī.]
Found also in Pāipp. xvi., with verse 17 after 20. ⌊Partly prose, "verse" 14.⌋
⌊Hymns 1 and 2 together are used with others in Kaug. in the upanayana (55. 17) with touching the student's navel, and again with others in rites for long life (58. 3, 11). The comm. cites them from Nakṣ. K. 23 in a mahāçānti. They are reckoned by Kāuç. to the āyuṣya gaṇa (note to 54. 11). For vs. 10, see below.⌋
Translated: Muir, v. 444; Ludwig, p. 495; Henry, 1, 35; Griffith, i. 385; Bloomfield, 53, 569.
1. To the ender Death [be] homage. Let thy breaths, expirations, rest here. Let this man be here with his life (ásu), in the portion of the sun, in the world of the immortal.
Ppp. puts our second pāda last.
2. Up hath Bhaga taken him, up Soma rich in shoots ⌊hath taken⌋ him, up the heavenly Maruts ⌊have taken⌋ him, up have Indra-and-Agni, for his welfare.
Or aṅçumant means 'rich in rays,' Soma having its secondary sense of 'moon': both were probably in the author's mind.
3. Here [be] thy life, here breath, here life-time, here thy mind; we bear thee up from the fetters of perdition with divine speech.
4.. Step up from here, O man, fall not down, loosening down the fetter (páḍbīça) of death; be not severed from this world, from the sight (saṁdṛ́ç) of fire, of the sun.
The mss., as usual, vary between páḍvīçam and páḍb-, and SPP. adopts the former; the comm. has the latter.
5. Let the wind, Mātariçvan, be cleansing for thee; for thee let the waters rain immortal things; may the sun burn weal for thy body; let death compassionate thee; do not thou perish.
Pavatām 'be cleansing' might properly enough be rendered simply 'blow.'
6. Up-going [be] thine, O man, not down-going; length of life (jīvā́tu), ability, I make for thee; for do thou ascend this immortal easy-running chariot, then shalt thou in advanced age (? jírvi) speak to the council (vidátha).
Both here and at xiv. 1. 21, our mss. on the whole read decidedly jírvis (only P.M. have jivrís, Bp. jívis, here), and SPP. reports all his authorities without exception as giving it, so that it is without question the true AV. reading (as against RV. jívri); the comm. reads ajirvis, and glosses it with ajīrṇas, and Ludwig renders 'lebenskräftig.'
7. Let not thy mind go thither; let it not be lost (tiró-bhū); do not neglect (pra-mad) the living, go not after the Fathers; let all the gods defend thee here.
8. Do not regard (ā-dhī) the departed, who lead [one] to the distance; ascend out of darkness, come to light; we take hold on thy hands.
Ppp. begins c with ud ā roha, which makes the pāda a good triṣṭubh; the omission of e ’hi would rectify it to an anuṣṭubh. The comm. omits e ’hi. Ppp. also reads hastam in d. ⌊With b, cf. v. 30. 12 b.⌋
9. Let not the dark and the brindled one, sent forth, [seize] thee, that are Yama's dogs, road-defenders; come thou hitherward; do not hesitate; stand not there with mind averted.
Ppp. reads mā ’va for mā vi in c. The comm. omits préṣitāu in a; he ⌊twice⌋ supplies bādhatām as the missing verb in a.
10. Do not follow that road; that is a frightful one—the one thou hast not gone before, that I speak of; to that darkness, O man, do not go forth; [there is] fear in the distance, safety for thee hitherward.
⌊Kāuç. reckons the vs. to the abhaya gaṇa, note to 16. 8.⌋ Ppp. mutilates tamas in c to tam. The comm. reads purastāt in d. ⌊For iyátha, see Gram. §801 d.⌋
11. Let the fires that are within the waters defend thee; let that defend thee which human beings kindle; let Vāiçvānara, Jātavedas defend [thee]; let not [the fire] of heaven consume thee along with the lightning.
Our text should read in d mā́ prá dhāk; the omission of prá is an error of the press. Ppp. reads mā pra dahāt.
12. Let not the flesh-eating [fire] plot against thee; move far from the destroying (sáṁkasuka) one; let heaven defend, let earth defend thee; let both sun and moon defend thee; let the atmosphere defend from the gods' missile.
Most of the mss. (not our Bp.P.M.I.) read rákṣatām in d, which SPP. accordingly (following all his authorities) retains, though the accent is not defensible. ⌊I can find no note to the effect that P.M.I. leave rakṣatām unaccented.⌋ Ppp. puts pādas a, b after c, d. The comm. reads saṁkusukāt in b.
13. Let both the knower and the attender defend thee; let both the sleepless one and the unslumbering one defend thee; let both the guardian and the wakeful one protect thee.
In bodhá and pratībodhá, in a, the radical sense is perhaps more that of 'wake.' The comm. understands six rishis bearing these several appellations to be intended. ⌊Cf. the closely related v. 30. 10, above; also MGS. ii. 15. 1 a, b, c, d, and the Index to their pratīkas.⌋ A similar formula is found also in K. xxxvii. 10; compare further PGS. iii. 4. 17. Ppp. reads anavadrāṇiç ca in b. ⌊In b, the first ca might be dropped, without hurting the meter.⌋
14. Let these defend thee; let these guard thee; to these [be] homage! to these hail!
After gopāyantu, Ppp. inserts te tvāṁ hasassāyatu.
15. Let Vāyu, Indra, Dhātar, the preserving Savitar, assign thee unto converse with the living; let not breath, strength, leave thee; we call after thy life.
16. Let not the jaw-snapping (?) grinder (jambhá), let not the darkness find thee, let not the tongue-wrencher (?); how shouldst thou be one that perisheth? up let the Ādityas, the Vasus bear thee, up let Indra-and-Agni, for thy welfare.
The translation implies a bold emendation of the unintelligible jihvā́ ā́ barhís to jihvābarhás, formed like muṣkābarhā́s ⌊at iii. 9. 2⌋; Ludwig has a kindred conjecture, ā́ barhīs (aor.). The comm. thinks of a demon's tongue stretched to the size of a barhis. The rendering of saṁhanu agrees with that of the Petersburg Lexicon, and with the comm's first gloss, saṁhatadanta; he adds as an alternative saṁhatahanur jambho ‘sthūladantaḥ. ⌊But cf. v. 28. 13 and note.⌋ Ppp. reads, for b, mā jihvacaryaḥ prasuyuṣ kathāsya.
17. Up hath heaven, up hath earth, up hath Prajāpati caught thee; up out of death have the herbs, with Soma for their king, made thee pass.
Put after vs. 20 in Ppp., as noted above.
18. Be this man just here, O gods; let him not go yonder from hence; him by what is of thousand-fold might do we make pass up out of death.
19. I have made thee pass up out of death; let the vigor-givers blow together; let not the women of disheveled locks, let not the evil-wailers, wail for thee.
The 'evil-wailers,' perhaps professional lamenters of death or other misfortune, appear again at xi. 2. 11. The comm., in a, has apīparan, which SPP., without sufficient reason, is inclined to regard as the original reading. For the fuller use of 'blow together,' see 2. 4 below. ⌊For agha-rúd, see Bloomfield, AJP. xi. 339; Caland, Todtengebräuche. Note 106. See also his note 517.⌋
20. I have taken, I have found thee; thou hast come back renewed; whole-limbed one! I have found thy whole sight, and thy whole life-time.
The verse is RV. x. 161. 5, which has another tvā after ā́ ’hārṣam in a, and the voc. punarnava ⌊with unlingualized n⌋ at end of b, with both of which variants the comm. agrees, while Ppp. also gives the former. ⌊For the lingualized ṇ, see Prāt. iii. 82.⌋
21. It hath shone out for thee; it hath become light; darkness hath departed from thee; away from thee we set down death [and] perdition, away the yákṣma.
The comm. also recognizes vy avāt as coming from root vas 'shine,' glossing it with vyāucchat: compare tasmāi vyāuchat PB. xvi. 1. 1. ⌊For the form, cf. Gram. §890 a and §167.⌋
⌊The first artha-sūkta, so called (see above, p. 472, top), ends here. The quoted Anukr. says ekaviṅçakam ihā ”dyam ucyate. It adds, further, sūktaçaç ca gaṇanā pravartate.⌋ ⌊See p. cxl.⌋