Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 21

21. The meters.

[Brahman.—ekarcam. chāndasam. 1-av. 2-p. sāmnī bṛhatī.]

⌊Prose.⌋ ⌊Not found in Pāipp.⌋ The comm. finds the verse quoted by the appellation chandogaṇa in Nakṣatra Kalpa 18.—⌊The Anukr. says: idam Brahmā chandonukrāntivijñānāyā ’paçyat.—The meters are arranged, according to the number of their syllables, in an arithmetical progression ascending by a difference of 4. In VS. xxiii. 33, all these and kakúbh are mentioned.⌋

Translated: Griffith, ii. 279.

1. Gāyatrī, uṣṇih, anuṣṭubh, bṛhatī, pan̄kti, triṣṭubh-and-jagatī.

The mss. are at variance as to the use of any kampa-sign between the first two words. ⌊The metrical definition (18 syllables) calls for the resolution gāyatrī uṣ-.⌋ SPP's authorities appear all (except one pada-ms. -tī) to read at the end jágatyāi; ours vary between -tī, -tye, -tyāi, and -tyāu. The text of the comm. reads pan̄kti (instead of -tis), and, either with reason or on account of his usual disregard of accent, he takes the whole verse as a single compound word in the dative case, explaining it to mean gāyatryāi svāhā, uṣṇihe svāhā, etc., and declaring it thus to contain seven mantras; and SPP. thinks this to be "doubtless" the original character of the line; it would be safer to say "perhaps," or "possibly," since the separate accentuation, the nominative form pan̄ktís, and the division by the Anukr. into two pādas (in the pada-mss., after anuṣṭúp) all speak against it. The mss. accent triṣṭúb jágatyāi.