Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VIII/Hymn 9

9. Mystic: extolling the virā́j.

[Atharvan.—ṣaḍviṅçam. kāçyapeyam uta sarvārṣaṁ chāndasam. trāiṣṭubham: 2, 3. pan̄kti (3. āstārapan̄kti); 4, 5, 23, 25, [26]. anuṣṭubh; 8, 11, 12, 22. jagatī; 9. bhurij; 14. 4p. atijagatī.]

Found also (except vss. 19, 20) in Pāipp. xvi. ⌊with vs. 23 after vs. 24⌋. The Kāuç. takes no notice of the hymn; ⌊but the Vāit. (33. 8) allows the use of 21 vss. (from vs. 6 to the end) in the sattra sacrifice at the celebrant's option⌋.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 439; Henry, 26, 65; Griffith, i. 416.—See also Muir, v. 370.

1. Whence [were] those two born? which side (árdha) was that? out of what world? out of which earth? the two young (vatsá) of the virā́j rose out of the sea (salilá); of those I ask thee: by whether [of them was] she milked?

The 'which' is both times katama, implying the existence of more than two; but Ppp. has instead katarasyāḥ pṛihivyāḥ.

2. He who caused the sea to resound (krand) with greatness, making a threefold lair (yóni) as he lay, the desire-milking young of the virā́j; he made his bodies secret (gúhā) in the distance.

Ppp. combines yo ‘krand- at the beginning, and reads in b tyabhijaṁ çayānaṁ.

3. What three great ones (bṛhát, n.) there are, the fourth of which [one] disjoins [as] speech—the priest (brahmán) may know it by penance, the inspired one, in which one (ékam) is joined, in which one [is joined].

Ppp. reads catvāri instead of trīṇi in a. Caturthám 'fourth' might also be subject of 'disjoins.' Compare ix. 10. 27 (RV. i. 164. 45).

4. Forth out of bṛhát [as] sixth five sāmans [were] fashioned; bṛhát was fashioned out of bṛhatī́; out of what was bṛhatī́ made?

Ppp. reads ṣaṣṭhaḥ instead of -ṭhāt.

5. Bṛhatī́ the measure (mā́trā) was fashioned forth out of measure [as] a mother; illusion (māyā́) was born from illusion, Mātalī out of illusion.

The desire to play upon the root mā 'measure, fashion,' is the leading motive in the making of this verse. The pada-text gives the absurd reading māyā́ḥ at beginning of c; Ppp. reads after it hi instead of ha.

6. Vāiçvānara's counterpart [is] the sky above, as far as Agni forced (bādh) apart the two firmaments; from that sixth yonder come the sómas; up from here they go unto the sixth of the day.

For ā́ ’múto, in c, Ppp. reads āmico. The remainder of the hymn, from this verse on, is by Vāit. 33. 8 allowed to be introduced at pleasure in the navarātra ceremony.

7. We these six seers ask thee, O Kaçyapa, for thou didst join what is joined and what is to be joined; they call (ah) virā́j the father of the bráhman; distribute (? vi-dhā) it to us [thy] friends according to [our] numbers.

Ppp. reads pṛchāmi ṛṣ- in a.

8. After whom, when removed, the sacrifices remove (pra-cyu), [whom], when attending, they attend on (upa-sthā), in whose course (vratá) ⌊and?⌋ impulse the monster (? yakṣá) stirs—that, O seers, is the virā́j in the highest firmament.

9. Breathless, she goes by the breath of breathing ones (f.); virā́j goes unto svarā́j from behind; virā́j that touches, that is adapted to, everything—some see her, some see her not.

No ms. ⌊of ours⌋ inserts t between -rā́ṭ and sva- in b ⌊but four of SPP's do so⌋, as required by Prāt. ii. 8 (under which this is one of the passages quoted). In d we ought properly to have emended to tve...tve (accentless); all the mss. accent the two words, against the uniform usage elsewhere; and the pada-mss. commit the further blunder of giving both times tvé íti, as if the word were the Vedic locative of the 2d pers. pronoun (as in v. 2. 3).

10. Who understandeth (pra-vid) the pair-ness of virā́j? who the seasons, who the ordering (kálpa) of her? who her steps (kráma), how many times milked out (vi-duh)? who her abode (dhā́man), how many times dawnings (vyùṣṭi)?

The version is much more literal than intelligent, especially at the end, where we expect rather vyùṣṭam than -ṭīs. 'Pair-ness,' mithunatvám, means especially the condition of being a pair of opposite sexes.

11. This same is she that first shone forth; among these other ones (f.) she goes about having entered; great mightinesses [are] within her; the woman, the new-going generatrix, hath conquered.

This verse occurred above, as iii. 10. 4. It is found also in other texts in connection with the four verses which follow it here. Ppp. has ⌊in a, b⌋ the same readings as in iii. 10. ⌊4 a, b⌋; ⌊and, here also, it inverts the order of c and d⌋.

12. The two meter-winged dawns, greatly adorning themselves, move on together toward the same lair (yóni); spouses of the sun, they move on together, understanding, having ensigns, unaging, having abundant seed.

The Pet. Lexx. give the first word in the form chándaspakṣa, although Prāt. ii. 62 expressly requires -aḥpa-, and all the mss. read it except Bp., which has -aṣpa-. The verse is found also in TS. iv. 3. 11¹, MS. ii. 13. 10, K. xxxix. 10. Both TS. and MS. have at the beginning chándasvatī; MS. reads uṣásāu, and at the end -retasāu; at end of b, MS. gives anusáṁcarete and TS. ánu saṁcárantī; both have ví for sám in c, and TS. ketúṁ kṛṇvāné for ketumátī in d. Ppp. reads carati in c.

13. Three (f.) have come along the road of righteousness; three heats (gharmá) have come after the seed; one (f.) enlivens the progeny, one the refreshment (ū́rj); one defends the realm of the godly ones.

The verse follows the preceding in the other three texts also. TS.MS. rectify the meter of b by reading gharmā́sas, and for rétas MS. has rétasā and TS. jyótiṣā; TS. gives rákṣati for jínvati in c; and for rāṣṭrám in d TS. has vratám and MS. kṣatrám.

14. She that was fourth set Agni-and-Soma; the seers arranging the (two) wings of the sacrifice—gāyatrī́, triṣṭúbh, jágatī, anuṣṭúbh, bṛhadarkī́, bringing heaven (svàr) for the sacrificer.

The meter-names in the second half-verse are all in the accusative, possibly as coordinate with 'wings' in b; but comparison with the other texts indicates that the verse is very corrupt. The translation implies emendation of adadhus to adadhāt in a; it would not be absolutely impossible to take 'the seers' as subject in a, and 'her that was fourth' as joint object with 'Agni-and-Soma.' Of the other texts (as above), TS. begins with catuṣṭomó abhavad, and MS. with catuṣṭomám adadhā; both rectify the meter of a by omitting ā́sīt; in b both have ṛṣayas as vocative, and after it bhávantī, and MS. has pakṣā́ (for -ṣāú) before it; in c, MS. has virā́jam for anuṣṭúbham; in d, TS. begins with bṛhád arkám, MS. with arkám alone; and both follow it with yuñjānā́ḥ svàr (TS., of course, súvar) ā́ ’bharann idám. Ppp's only variant is bṛhadarkīr in d.

15. Five milkings after five dawnings; five seasons after the five-named cow; five quarters arranged by the fifteenth—those (f.) [are] one-headed toward one world.

'The fifteenth' (masc. or neut. sing.) might mean also 'fifteen-fold, of fifteen parts,' etc. The verse is found in the three other texts (as above), but in TS.MS. (also in K.?) separated at some distance from those that here precede; also in PGS. iii. 3. 5: all read samānámūrdhnīs instead of ékamū- in d.

16. Six [are] born the beings first-born of righteousness; six sā́mans carry the six-day (?) [sacrifice]; after the six-yoked plough (sī́ra) severally a sā́man; six they call (ah) the heavens and earths, six the wide [spaces].

The translation implies in b the reading ṣaḍahám; this is given in our text, against the authority of our pada-mss. ⌊which have ṣáṭ: ahám⌋; the saṁhitā-mss. (except O.p.m.) have ṣaḍ-. All the latter read in a -já rtásya (p. prathama॰jā́: ṛtásya ⌊cf. JAGS. x. 451⌋.

17. Six they call the cold, and six the hot months; tell ye us the season, which one [is] in excess (átirikta); seven eagles (suparṇá), poets, sat down; seven meters after seven consecrations.

None of the mss. read çītā́nṭ ṣáḍ in a, as demanded by Prāt. ii. 9. In d the construction of the two nouns is reversible.

18. Seven [are] the offerings (hóma), the fuels seven, the sweet things (mádhu, n.) seven, the seasons seven; seven sacrificial butters (ā́jya) went about the existent thing (bhūtá); those (f .) are seven-vultured, so have we heard.

The version is as literal as possible; to modify it would imply an understanding of it. The nearest fem. word for 'those' in d to relate to is 'fuels' in a. All the saṁhitā-mss. combine saptá rtávo in b. Ppp. reads in b nu for ha, and has instead of our c, d: sapta jyāyāṁ parihūta gāyaṁ saptahotā ṛtudayajetitās sapta gṛdhrā iti çuçravā ’haṁ. Nearly all the mss. (all of ours save E.) read āyam (the saṁhitā-mss. -aṁ) at end of c.

19. Seven [are] the meters increasing (-úttara) by four, the one set upon the other: how do the praises (stóma) stand firm in them? how are they set in the praises?

The gender of anyás at beginning of b speaks strongly for a compound like the later anyo ‘nya; but the double accent and the pada-reading (anyáḥ: anyásmin) are against it. The pada-text divides ā́rpitāni (ā॰árp-) at end of b, but not at end of d. The verse is wanting in Ppp.

20. How did gāyatrī permeate (vi-āp) the triple [stóma]? how is triṣṭúbh adapted to that of fifteen? how jāgatī to that of thirty-three? how [is] anuṣṭúbh that of twenty-one?

This verse, like the preceding, is wanting in Ppp.; and they are in a manner interruptions of the progress of the hymn.

21. Eight [are] born the beings first-born of righteousness; eight, O Indra, are the priests (ṛtvíj) who are of the gods; Aditi has eight wombs (yóni), eight sons; the oblation (havyám) goes unto the eighth night.

With a compare 16 a above; here as there all the saṁhitā-mss. combine -já rtásya, as in b all combine indra rtv-. Ppp. reads from the beginning: aṣṭāu dhāmāni prathamajaṁ tasyā ’ṣṭe ’ndra ṛtv-; and, in d, api for abhi.

22. Thus thinking what is better have I come hither; in your friendship I am auspicious (çéva); being of the same birth, your skill is propitious; it (m.), understanding, goes about to you all (f.).

The adjectives in a, b are fem., seeming to indicate that the virāj is regarded as speaking. Ppp. has ā ’gaṁ at end of a, and nas for vas both times in c, d. 'It' in d apparently refers to 'skill.'

23. Eight of Indra, six of Yama, seven of the seers, seven-fold; waters, men (manuṣyà), herbs—them five followed (sac) after.

The nouns in c are accusatives, and are apparently summed up in 'them' (tā́n). All the mss. this time read with our text yamásya ṛ́ṣ- in a-b. Ppp. puts the verse after our 24.

24. Since the heifer milked solely (kévalī) for Indra [his] will (váça), the beestings, [when] first milked, then [she] gratified in four ways the four—gods, men, Asuras, and seers.

Ppp. reads at the end atha rṣīn; all our mss. save O. make the combination utá ṛ́ṣin as in the printed text.

25. What now [is] the ox (gó), who the sole seer, what the abode (dhā́man), what the blessings (āçís)? the monster on the earth [is] simple (ekavṛ́t); the sole season—which now is that?

Ppp. reads sāma for dhāma in b. All our mss. combine ekaṛṣís in a, but all ekartús (also Ppp.) in d. It is necessary here and in the next verse to render gāús 'ox,' because the accompanying adjectives are masculine. 'Which' in d is the superlative katamá. ⌊Over "simple" W. has interlined "single."⌋

26. One [is] the ox, one the sole seer, one the abode, singly the blessings; the monster on the earth [is] single; the sole season is not in excess.

Again Ppp. reads sāma for dhāma, and all the mss. (with Ppp.) have ekaṛṣís but ekartús.

⌊Here ends the ninth artha-sūkta. It begins with kútaḥ. The quoted Anukr. here says kutaḥ.⌋