Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 25

25. To a horse.

[Gopatha.—ekarcam. vājidevatyam. ānuṣṭubham.]

The verse is not found in Pāipp. The comm. finds it quoted in Nakṣ. K. 17-18, in a mahāçānti ceremony called gāndharvī, on occasion of the loss (kṣaya) of a horse.

Translated: Griffith, ii. 282.

1. I harness (yuj) thee with the mind of one that is unwearied and that is first; be thou an up-carrier uphill; having carried up, then run thou back.

The real sense of the hymn is very obscure; neither the viniyoga nor the comm. casts any light upon it. ⌊SPP. regards the comm. as taking utkūlamudvaho as one word;⌋ the comm. reads bhavas for bhava: and he explains the phrase simply by atidṛpto bhava. Instead of uduhya, the comm. has duhīya (= çatrujayalakṣaṇāni phalāni labheya). SPP. accents útkūlam, with all the mss.; our alteration to utkū́lam is not sufficiently motived; the minor Pet. Lex. has utkūlám, which is more in accordance with general analogies. Fully half the mss. accent úduhya. In our text, bháva (in c) is a misprint for bhava (an accent-mark fallen out).