Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 32

32. For long life etc.: with an amulet of darbhá.

[Bhṛgu (saruakāmaḥ. āyuṣe).—daçakam. mantroktadevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 8. purastādbṛhatī; 9. triṣṭubh; 10. jagatī.]

Found also in Pāipp. xii. The comm. finds the hymn quoted in Nakṣ. K. 19, as used in a mahāçānti ceremony called yāmī, with the binding on of an amulet of darbha, in case of fear of Yama (yamabhaye).

Translated: Griffith, ii. 289; vs. 8 also by Zimmer, p. 205, with comment.

1. Hundred-jointed, hard to be stirred, thousand-leaved, uplifting (?)—the darbhá that is a formidable herb, that I bind on thee in order to [prolonged] life-time.

Some of the mss., as usual, read duçcav- in a. Very nearly all read uttirás in b (p. ut॰tiráḥ), and SPP. follows them; and this the translation implies, since it is acceptable enough ⌊cf., for the formation, uttudás, iii. 25. 1, and, for the meaning, uttirán, vi. 36. 2⌋, and appears in Ppp. (with -rṇam before it); but the comm. has úttaras, as our text by conjectural emendation. Some mss. have tát for tám in d; the comm., tena for taṁ te. ⌊Ppp. combines yograoṣadhis in c, which is susceptible of more than one interpretation.⌋ ⌊The gender of ugrás would seem to call for some remark.⌋

2. His hair they scatter not forth, they smite not blows on their breast [for him], to whom one yields refuge by the darbhá of uncut leaves.

The expression in a is a good example for the real identity of roots vap 'strew' and vap 'shear.' Many of the mss. accent urási in b. All the mss. leave yachati in d unaccented, and both editions commit the error of refraining from emendation to yáchati, which is of course necessary. Ppp. has at end of b ghnatī, and combines in c yasmā ’cch-. Bloomfield translates and comments on the verse in AJP. xi. 339 ⌊or JAOS. xv., p. xlv⌋. The comm. supplies in the first line as subject mṛtyudūtā rakṣaḥpiçācādyā vā, renders pra vapanti by ākarṣanti, and combines urasitāḍam into a compound—all very bad.

3. In the sky is thy tuft, O herb; in the earth art thou set (ni-sthā); with thee, that hast a thousand joints, do we increase further our life-time.

The translation follows the mss., the comm., SPP., and Ppp., all of which read tū́lam in a. ⌊Cf. ii. 7. 3, which perhaps suggested the wrong emendation of the Berlin text.⌋ In b, the comm. has viṣṭhitas ⌊and Ppp. niṣṭhitā⌋.

4. Thou didst bore through the three skies, also these three earths; by thee do I bore into my enemy's (durhā́rd) tongue [and] utterances (vácas).

In a, SPP. reads more correctly divás, with nearly all the mss. The comm. reads atṛṇas; he explains aty atṛṇas by atikramya gatavān asi or veṣṭitavān asi, and ni tṛṇadmi by veṣṭayāmi, both very unsuitably. The meter clearly calls for ca at the end, and Ppp. has it; whether the comm. means to acknowledge it as part of the text is doubtful; his text, according to SPP., does not present it. ⌊None of the other authorities has ca, but the Berlin ed. gives ca by emendation.⌋ Ppp. reads in b tisro dyāṁ pṛth-.

5. Thou art overpowering; I am full of power; may we, both of us, becoming full of power, overpower our rivals.

The comm. reads in a sahamānā; Ppp. in a-b, -no aham. To be compared is iii. 18. 5 (RV. x. 145. 5), which ends grammatically with a dual, sahāvahāi. Our sahiṣīvahi ⌊Skt. Gram. §907⌋ was an emendation, but is given also by Ppp.; the mss., SPP., and the comm., have -mahi.

6. Do thou overpower our hostile plotter, overpower those that fight us; overpower all enemies (durhā́rd); make for me many friends (suhā́rd).

Most of the mss. read in d bahúm; Ppp. and the comm. and two of SPP's authorities and one of ours have bakūn. Ppp. combines and reads in a, b no ‘bhimātihaṁ sakarvā pṛ-.

7. With the darbhá, god-born, constantly sky-propping—with it I have constantly won and shall win men (jána).

In a most of the mss. read devajāténa; SPP. with us. In b, SPP. follows the mss. in giving diví ṣṭambhéna (p. diví: stambhéna) our emendation to diviṣṭambhéna is obviously required, and is assumed by the comm. In c, our jánāṅ was an emendation for the jánās of the mss.; but two of SPP's mss. read jánāṅ, and it is accepted also in SPP's text. The comm. supports it by giving janān; ⌊and his text has janān asanam⌋. ⌊Ppp. also has janān, as noted below.⌋ In d, nearly all the authorities read ásanām (three of them have ásanānt s-), but SPP. finds among his, two that agree with the ⌊text of the⌋ comm. in presenting ásanam, which he adopts, and which is undoubtedly the true text; the aorist is the tense that best suits the connection. ⌊This remark seems to involve the implication that asanām might be an imperfect of the nā-class; but that can hardly have been Whitney's intention.⌋ Ppp. reads janān asanāṁ, ⌊and, in b, divaṣṭambhena.⌋

8. Make me, O darbhá, dear to Brahman-and-Kshatriya, both to Çūdra and to Āryan, and to whomsoever we desire, and to every one that looks abroad.

That is, 'every one that has eyes to see.' ⌊Cf. 62. 1, below, and VS. xviii. 48.⌋ A few authorities have the more proper accent -nyā́bhyām, but VS. xxvi. 2 (which has this and the following four words together) likewise accents -nyà-, as does SPP. Our çūdrā́ya was an emendation, all our mss. ⌊collated at time of publication⌋ having sūryā́ya, as do nearly all SPP's; but one of our later ones, with two or three of SPP's, the comm., and Ppp., give çūdrā́ya. All the mss. mis-accent vipáçate, most having vipaçyaté, others vípaçyate or vipaçyate; SPP. this time ventures to follow us in emending to ⌊vipáçyate⌋ the true reading. The Anukr. regards brahmarājanyā̀bhyām as belonging to the first pāda, and does not heed that the pāda has 13 syllables, one too many for a purastādbṛhatī.

9. He that, being born, made firm the earth, that propped (stabh) the atmosphere and the sky, whose wearer evil hath not found out—that darbhá here [is] our supporter [and] blessing.

Or, 'be our supporter.' Here at the end, the translation follows the very acceptable reading of Ppp., dharuṇo ‘dhivākaḥ. All the mss. give váruṇo ⌊one, váruṇó!⌋ divā́ kaḥ (the comm. divā ’kaḥ), which was plainly corrupt, but which SPP. (justifiably, from his point of view) retains without question. Roth's emendation, as read in our text, to váraṇo ‘dhivākáḥ hit very near the mark. All the mss. (except, doubtless by accident, one of ours) have in c viveda, without accent, and this SPP. admits in his text, though emendation (to vivéda, as made in our edition) is as obviously necessary as in vs. 8. All the mss. ⌊but O. tanú⌋, and Ppp., read in c nanú; ⌊and so does SPP.;⌋ our emendation to nā́ ’nu is acceptable, but not necessary. The comm. explains quite prosaically the plant's 'making firm the earth'; its roots keep the ground from being dissolved by water! The last words he understands thus: varuṇa (as coming from vṛ) means a keeper off (nivāraka) of darkness; and divā ’kaḥ signifies prakāçaṁ karotu. ⌊Ppp. begins b with so ‘stabh-.⌋

10. Rival-slaying, hundred-jointed, powerful, came into being the first of plants; let that darbhá here protect us all about; by it may I overpower fighters, them that fight [against me].

In a-b the mss. read sáhasvanāú ’ṣadh- (p. -svanā: óṣ-), but SPP. emends, as we had done, to -vān óṣadh-, as is read ⌊by one of his pada-mss., p.m.,⌋ by the comm., and also by Ppp. It is a naturally suggested conjecture that at some time -āno- as written in the Bengālī fashion may have been misread into -anāu-, and SPP. puts this forward; the lateness and unscholarly character of the pada-text to this book make the assumption of such an error far from implausible; we are surprised only at finding the comm's text antecedent to it. In d a few of the mss. accent pṛtanyátas. The verse is jagatī only in its second half. ⌊Pāda c is identical with 33. 1 c.⌋