Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XI/Hymn 6
6. To many different gods: for relief.
[Çaṁtāti.—trayoviṅçakam. cāndramasam uta mantroktadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham*: 23. bṛhatīgarbhā.] *⌊The Anukr. omits the definition of 18 as pathyāpan̄kti.⌋
Found also (except vss. 3, 20, 23) in Pāipp. xv. (in considerably altered verse-order: 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 15, 8, 9, 14, 17, 10, 11, 19, 13, 12, 18, 16, 22, 21).
⌊The hymn is included by Kāuç. 9. 2, 4 in the çānti gaṇas, major and minor; and all of the hymn except vss. 7, 9, 22, 23 (those in which the word aṅhas is missing) is reckoned to the aṅholin̄ga gaṇa (note to 32. 27). The last verse is cited separately at 58. 25 in a rite for long life. The same verse is variously cited by the subordinate works and the schol.: see note to 9. 2; 42. 13 (student's return); 53. 8 (godāna); 55. 1 (upanayana); Keç. to 44. 5 (vaçāçamana). Verse 9 is reckoned to the rāudra gaṇa, note to 50. 13.⌋
Translated: Henry, 117, 155; Griffith, ii. 72; Bloomfield, 160, 628.
1. We address (brū) Agni, the forest trees, the herbs and the plants, Indra, Brihaspati, the sun: let them free us from distress.
The comm. questions whether to render brūmas by stumas or by iṣṭaphalaṁ yācāmahe.
2. We address king Varuṇa, Mitra, Vishṇu, likewise Bhaga; Aṅça, Vivasvant we address: let them free us from distress.
3. We address god Savitar, Dhatar and Pūshan; we address Tvashṭar at the head (agriyá): let them free us from distress.
MS. has nearly the same verse in ii. 7. 13, but with a like our 2 a.
4. The Gandharvas-and-Apsarases we address, the (two) Açvins, Brahmaṇaspati, the god that is Aryaman by name: let them free us from distress.
5. Day-and-night now we address, sun-and-moon both; all the Ādityas we address: let them free us from distress.
Ppp. combines, in b, -masā ubhā, and reads in c ādityān sarvān.
6. The wind we address, Parjanya, the atmosphere, also the quarters, and all regions we address: let them free us from distress.
7. Let day-and-night, likewise dawn, free me from what comes from a curse; let god Soma free me, whom they call the moon.
Ppp. reads at end of b vṛṣā for uṣāḥ, and in c ādityas for devas. ⌊C.f. Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. 270.⌋
8. The earthly, the heavenly cattle, also the beasts (mṛgá) that are of the forest; we address the hawks (çakúnta), the birds (pakṣín): let them free us from distress.
Or, 'the winged hawks.' Ppp. has a better and more independent a (ours = 5. 21 a, above): ye grāmyās sapta paçavaḥ ⌊cf. iii. 10. 6 note⌋.
9. Bhava-and-Çarva now we address, Rudra and him that is lord of cattle; the arrows of them which we well know (saṁ-vid)—let those be ever propitious to us.
Ppp. reads in b ugraṣ for rudram, and, instead of d, the refrain te no muñcantv aṅhasaḥ. The comm. has vidmas for -ma in c. ⌊Pāda d is nearly repeated at vs. 22 d.⌋
10. We address the sky, the asterisms, the earth, the yakṣās, the mountains; the oceans, the rivers, the pools—let them free us from distress.
Ppp. reads in b bhāumam. The comm. explains yakṣāṇi as pūjyāni tatrayāni puṇyakṣetrāṇi. MS. has the verse in ii. 7. 13, but reads samudrā́n and veçantā́n in c.
11. The seven seers now we address, the heavenly waters, Prajāpati; the Fathers with Yama as their chief (çréṣṭha) we address: let them free us from distress.
Most of the mss. (including all of ours that are noted) read saptarṣī́n in a, and SPP. gives it in his text; the comm. has saptaṛṣīn.
12. The gods that are seated in the sky, and that are seated in the atmosphere, the mighty ones (çakrá) that are set (çri) on the earth—let them free us from distress.
⌊We had a, b above at x. 9. 12. In a read devaso?⌋
13. The Ādityas, the Rudras, the Vasus, the gods in heaven, the Atharvans, the An̄girases full of wisdom—let them free us from distress.
Perhaps b is rather 'the divine Atharvans in heaven'; Ppp. reads devā dāivā atharvaṇaḥ.
14. We address the sacrifice, the sacrificer, the verses (ṛ́c), the chants (sā́man), the remedies; the sacred formulas (yā́jus), the invocations we address: let them free us from distress.
Bheṣajā, which probably refers to material like that included in the Atharva-Veda, is explained by the comm. as çāntikarāṇi vāmadevyādīni; no hymns in our collection receive any such title in the Kāuçika.
15. The five kingdoms of plants, having Soma as their chief (çréṣṭha), we address; the darbhá, hemp, barley, sáha—let them free us from distress.
Ppp. rectifies the meter of b by reading brūmasi; in c it puts bhan̄gas before darbhas. The mss., as usual, differ as to the accent of rājya; several (including our O.) read rā́jyāni, and our R.s.m. has rājyā̀ni. The comm. calls saha simply 'a kind of herb.'
16. The niggards we address, the demons, the serpents, the pure-folk, the Fathers; the hundred-and-one deaths we address: let them free us from distress.
⌊With b, cf. viii. 8. 15, and 9. 24 below. Cf. note to iii. 1 1. 5 for the "hundred-and-one deaths." Cf. also Chāndogya Up., viii. 73, 93, 103, where Indra passes three thirty-two-year terms of studentship with Prajāpati and is then bidden (viii. 113) to pass five years more, to make out the full tale of 101 years.⌋
17. The seasons we address, the lords of the seasons, the year-divisions and the winters, the summers, the years, the months: let them free us from distress.
The verse nearly agrees with iii. 10. 9. The comm. quotes from Tāitt. Brah. ii. 6. 19 in explanation of what gods are lords of the several seasons. Ārtavān he defines as tattadṛtuviçeṣasatnbandhinaḥ padārthān; hāyana and samā are to him simply other names for 'year.'
18. Come, ye gods, from the south; from the west come up eastward; from the east, from the north, mighty, all the gods, coming together: let them free us from distress.
Ppp. rectifies the meter of b by adding nas at the end.
19. All the gods now we address, of true agreements, increasers of righteousness, together with all their spouses: let them free us from distress.
20. The collective gods now we address, of true agreements, increasers of righteousness, together with their collective spouses: let them free us from distress.
This verse (omitted in Ppp.) differs from the preceding only by twice reading sarva instead of viçva. The epithet ṛtāvṛ́dh may also signify 'increasing by righteousness.'
21. Existence we address, the lord of existences, and who is controller of existences; all existences, assembling—let them free us from distress.
Bhūtám at the beginning may be adjective, 'him who is.' Ppp. reads patis for vaçī at end of b, and, for c, bhūtāni sarvā brūmas.
22. They that are the five divine directions, that are the twelve divine seasons, that are the fangs of the year—let them be ever propitious to us.
All the saṁhitā-mss. happen to read together in b dvā́daça rtávaḥ, which SPP. adopts; Ppp. makes the same combination. ⌊Pāda d is nearly 9 d above.⌋
23. The immortal remedy, chariot-bought, which Mātalī knows—that Indra made enter into the waters; that remedy, O waters, give ye.
The pada-text reads mā́talī also. ⌊Concerning Mātalī, see Weber, Sb. 1895, p. 837.⌋ All the mss. accent ā́po in d, and it accordingly is read by both editions; but the sense requires the emendation to āpo, as translated; ⌊so the comm.: he āpaḥ⌋. The verse is so discordant with the rest of the hymn as to seem an addition made to it; ⌊it is not found in Ppp.⌋.
The comm. ⌊p. 123⌋ regards the verse as referred to in Vāit. 3. 13, quoting the whole sūtra, but with mātalyā instead of pātrāṇy at the beginning; the mss. of Vāit. read mātalyā or mārttalyā.
⌊Here ends the third anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 49 verses. The quoted Anukr. says agnim-brūmake tisraḥ: i.e. 'in the hymn agnim brūmaḥ, there are three [over twenty].'⌋