Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 30

30. For protection etc.: with an amulet of darbhá.

[As 28. pañcakam.]

Found also in Pāipp. xiii., with the two preceding, and, according to the comm., associated with them in use.

Translated: Griffith, ii. 287. ⌊☞ See p. 1045.⌋

1. What thou hast that brings death in old age, O darbhá, that has hundred-fold defense, good defense, therewith having made this man defended (varmín), smite thou my rivals by thy heroisms.

The translation implies jarā́mṛtyu çatávarma suvárma te, which is the text of neither edition, nor of the mss., nor of the comm., but simply what makes best sense with least departure from the mss. The mss. all give -tyuḥ çatáṁ vármasu ⌊W's B. varmasu⌋ (p. várma॰su) várma te; the comm. has jarāmṛtyuçatam marmasu (explaining jarasām mṛtyūnāṁ ca çataṁ granthiṣu!). The te in b had to be omitted in translating.

2. A hundred are thy defenses, O darbhá, a thousand thy heroisms; as such, all the gods have given thee to this man to wear, in order to [attain] old age.

Ppp. has at the end dadus. The comm. (with two of SPP's mss.) again reads in a marmāṇi. The decided majority of mss. have tvám at beginning of c; none of ours collated before publication had tám, which is doubtless the true text, and is read ⌊by W's O. and⌋ by SPP. and by the comm.

3. Thee they call the gods' defense, thee, O darbhá, Brahmaṇaspati; thee they call Indra's defense; thou defendest kingdoms.

The majority of mss. leave devavarma unaccented. We are tempted to emend to -páteḥ in b. Ppp. reads ⌊presumably in c⌋ tvām indrād devavarmā ”hus.

4. A destroyer of our rivals, O darbhá, burner of the heart of our hater—an amulet, increaser of dominion, protector of thy body, I make for thee.

Emendation to darbhám in a would relieve the anacoluthon of the verse. The comm., to get rid of it, first explains te as = tvā; but then secondly connects the whole verse into one sentence leaving darbha out. ⌊I am not quite clear as to whether he means to leave it out. He says: atha vā rakṣākāmaḥ puruṣaḥ sambodhyate: he rājan darbhamaṇiṁ sapatnakṣayaṇādisāmarthyopetaṁ te tubhyaṁ kṣatrasya vardhanaṁ tanūpānaṁ ca kṛṇomī ’ti sambandhanīyam.⌋

5. What the ocean roared (krand) against, [and] Parjanya with the lightning, therefrom was born the golden drop (bindú), therefrom the darbhá.

Our edition emends in a to samudré, which is doubtless an improvement, but not necessary. ⌊The translation follows the mss., SPP., and comm., which have samudró: Ppp. samudro ‘bhya-.⌋ The comm. derives the word (as many times elsewhere) from sam-ud-dravanti, and makes it an epithet of parjanyas, which he explains as meaning meghas. Most of the mss. accent bíndus. The comm. makes the second tatas refer to bindu, but gives no opinion as to the meaning of the latter. ⌊Ppp. reads vindus in c.⌋ ⌊Cf. Pischel, ZDMG. xxxvi. 135, who thinks the "drop" refers to pearl: cf. introduction to iv. 10.⌋