Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 31
31. For various blessings: with an amulet of udumbára.
[Savitṛ (puṣṭīkāmaḥ).—caturdaça. mantroktāudumbaramaṇidevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 5, 12. triṣṭubh; 6. virāṭ prastārapan̄kti; 11, 13. 5-p. ¸çakvarī; 14. virāḍ āstārapan̄kti.]
⌊Partly prose, vs. 12 (?).⌋ Found also in Pāipp. x. The comm. finds it used in Nakṣ. K. 17, 19, by one desiring wealth, or in the case of loss of wealth, in a mahāçānti ceremony called kāuberī, with binding on of an amulet of udumbara.
Translated: Grifiith, ii. 287.
1. With an amulet of udumbára, for the pious one desiring prosperity: may Savitar make in my cow-stall fatness (sphātí) of all cattle.
The translation implies in b emendation to vedháse, which seems hardly avoidable. The comm. gives two explanations of vedhasā: vidhātrā purā prayogaḥ. kṛtaḥ; and puṣṭyādividhātrā kartrā maṇinā. Nearly all the mss. accent paçū́nām (one of ours has -çūnā́m), and SPP. passes the anomaly without remark.
2. Whatever householder's fire of ours may be overlord of cattle: let the virile (vṛ́ṣan) amulet of udumbára unite me with prosperity.
The connection of the parts of the verse is obscure. The comm. makes b apodosis to a, supplying asti in a, and taking ásat optatively—which is extremely implausible. In d the mss. read sá mā (p. sáḥ: mā); the comm. divides sam ā, with his usual disregard of accent (ā = sarvataḥ); our sám mā is an obvious and unquestionable emendation, and is also read by Ppp. ⌊See my note to xviii. 2. 3, where this case and similar ones are put together, and cf. vi. 5. 2.⌋ The mss. further vary between púṣṭyā and puṣṭyā́, the decided majority having the latter.
3. Rich in manure, rich in fruit, svadhā́ and cheer (írā) in our house—prosperity let Dhātar assign to me through the keenness (téjas) of the [amulet] of udumbára.
A few of the mss. again accent púṣṭim. Ppp. reads in a karīṣiṇaṁ phalāvatīṁ. The comm. explains irā first as = bhūmi, and then as = ilā gāuḥ = gāvaḥ.
4. Both what [is] two-footed and what four-footed, what foods [there are], what savors (rása)—I seize (grah) the abundance of them, wearing the amulet of udumbára.
Some of the mss. read rásā at end of b. In c, our téṣām is an obviously called-for emendation; most mss. read tvéṣām or tveṣām (p. tú: éṣām or tú: eṣām); SPP. strangely gives tvéṣām in saṁhitā and tú: eṣām in pada, the two not agreeing together; the comm. either reads eṣām simply or overlooks the tu in his exposition. Ppp. gives gṛhṇīyāṁ teṣāṁ bhāumānaṁ.
5. I have seized all (pári-) the prosperity of cattle, of quadrupeds, of bipeds, and what grain [there is]; the milk of cattle, the sap (rása) of herbs, may Bṛihaspati, may Savitar confirm to me.
Nearly all the mss. accent this time puṣṭím.
6. Let me be the over-ruler of cattle; let the lord of prosperity (puṣṭá-) assign to me prosperity; let the amulet of udumbára confirm to me possessions (dráviṇa).
SPP. leaves asāni in a unaccented, though every ms. but one (doubtless an accidental exception) accents it, and defensibly, on the ground of antithesis.
7. Unto me the amulet of udumbára, with both progeny and riches: the amulet quickened by Indra hath come to me together with splendor.
Either Ppp. lacks 6 d and 7 a-c, or so much of its text is lost in the manuscript. Owe jinvitás in c was an emendation, all the mss. (SPP's as well as ours) giving jinvátas, and Ppp. likewise; but the comm. has jinvitas, and SPP. accordingly adopts it also in his text. Some of the mss. leave upa at the beginning unaccented.
8. The heavenly amulet, rival-slaying, riches-winning, in order to the winning of riches: let it confirm [to me] abundance of cattle, of food, [and] fatness of kine.
Nearly all the mss. read in d sphā́tir ní; ⌊disregarding the accent, five of SPP's authorities show sphātim⌋; SPP's text agrees with ours ⌊sphātím⌋, the comm. having the same. Ppp. again has bhāumānaṁ in c.
9. As in the beginning thou, O forest tree, wast born together with prosperity, so let Sarasvatī assign to me fatness of riches.
Some of the mss. accent púṣṭyā, and all ⌊but four⌋ leave jajñiṣe unaccented. The majority accent sphā́tim in c. Ppp. reads in d ā dadāti ⌊sarasvatīm (or -tī?)⌋.
10. Riches, fatness of milk, and grain shall Sarasvatī, shall Sinīvālī, and this amulet of udumbára bring to me.
Both our pada-mss. divide in b páyaḥ॰phātim, but SPP. reports no such reading among his three, and gives correctly páyaḥ॰sph- (the accent is probably false). Our text emends, perhaps unnecessarily, to gáy-. In c, the pada-m%s. make the blundering analysis of úpāvahāt into úpa: avahāt; SPP. gives, by emendation, úpa: vahāt; our text emends further to upā́vahāt (i.e. upa॰ā́vahāt); it is uncertain which the comm. favors, but probably the latter: the sole ms. has ⌊twice upāvahāt and once⌋ upa vahāt (probably misreading for upāvahāt) upāvahatu. Ppp. has upāvahat; in b, it agrees with the mss. in reading payasph-.
11. Thou art the virile (vṛ́ṣan) over-ruler of amulets; in thee the lord of prosperity generated prosperity; in thee [are] these powers (vā́ja), [are] all possessions; do thou here, O [amulet] of udumbára, force (sah) far away from us the niggard, misery, and hunger.
In a the comm. reads adhipas. In b Ppp. gives puṣṭipatis. At beginning of c, the comm. has tvayā me, which is not bad. In c, the pada-mss. have vājā. At beginning of d, all the mss. present āúdumbaras, and SPP. does not emend to -ra with us, although the comm. has it and the sense demands it. But in e, where all the mss. read amṛ́tam, he ventures to follow the comm. in substituting ámatim, which is better than our conjecture ávartim (misprinted avártim). ⌊Ppp. has, for e, ārād arātim abhitikṣayaṁ ca.⌋ The verse scans naturally as 5 × 11 = 55: it is easy, but needless, to make up the full count of a çakvarī, 56, by resolution.
12. Troop-leader art thou, arising a troop-leader; being anointed (abhisic), do thou anoint me with splendor; brilliancy art thou, brilliancy maintain thou upon me; wealth art thou, wealth assign thou to me.
The reading of a is probably corrupt; for utthā́ya, which both editions give (with two or three mss.), the mss. in general have ukthyāya or utthyāya or ucchyāya, with ā̀ or ā́. According to SPP., the comm's text has grāmaṇī chāyā, and Ppp. strangely gives the same; what he attempts to explain is very doubtful: ato ‘smākam api grāmaṇīr bhava...atha vā mām api çreṣṭhaṁ kuru. SPP. divides grāma॰nī́ḥ in his pada-text, but without authority from the mss., and against his practice in iii. 5. 7. In b, some of the mss. read ṣiñca. On the ground of meter, SPP. suggests that rayís in d may be for ádhirayis, one of the two successive adhi's being lost; this would be more acceptable if the word adhirayi, or anything closely analogous with it, anywhere occurred. The comm. makes an adhirayis (explaining it as adhigatarayis or prāptadhanas) by stealing for it the ádhi of c, with his usual disregard of pada-division and accent (neither of which, to be sure, is of much account in this book). ⌊The Index calls this vs. prose; but with ádhi at the end of c and ádhirayis in d it might scan as 11 + 12: 11 + 11.⌋
13. Prosperity art thou, with prosperity anoint (añj) thou me completely; being house-sacrificer, make thou me householder; O [amulet] of udumbára, do thou here put in us and confirm to us wealth having all heroes; I fasten thee on in order to abundance of wealth.
14. This amulet of udumbára is bound, a hero, to a hero; let it make for us a winning rich in honey, and may it confirm to us wealth having all heroes.
Some of the mss. accent sánim in c. Ppp. reads ucyate for badhyate in b.