Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 33
33. For various blessings: with an amulet of darbhá.
[As 32.—pañcakam. 1. jagatī ; 2, 5. triṣṭubh; 3. ārṣī pan̄kti; 4. āstārapan̄kti.]
Found in Pāipp. xii., following our hymn 32. Used with the latter in the same ceremony, according to the comm. ⌊For citations by Kāuç., see under vs. 3.⌋
Translated: Griffith, ii. 290.
1. Of thousand-fold worth, hundred-jointed, rich in milk, fire of the waters, consecration (rājasū́ya) of plants—let this darbhá here protect us all about; may the divine amulet unite us with [prolonged] life-time.
SPP. accents in a sahasrārghás, with the minority of mss.; Ppp. has -ghyas. The comm. reads sahasvān (for pay-), and renders sahasrārghas by bahumūlyas. Ppp. reads in d dāivas and sṛjātu.* The verse is a jagatī only in the second half. ⌊Pāda c is identical with 32. 10 c.⌋ *⌊Other forms like sṛjātu under 7. 4.⌋
2. Snatched out of ghee, rich in honey, rich in milk, earth-establishing, unstirred, stirring [other things], thrusting away and putting down rivals—ascend thou, O darbhá, with the energy (indriyá) of the great ones.
There are no variants in this verse except of a few mss. on one and another point of no consequence. Ppp. has at the end mahatā mahendriyeṇa. The verse is a sort of variation of v. 28. 14, above; ⌊and a recurs below, 46. 6 a⌋.
3. Thou goest across the earth with force; thou sittest beauteous (cā́ru) on the sacrificial hearth at the sacrifice; the seers bore thee [as] purifier; do thou purify us from difficulties.
Literally, 'purify (remove, strain out) difficulties from us.' ⌊As to a, Griffith notes appositely that "the [darbha] grass spreads with great rapidity, re-rooting itself continually."⌋ In c, the translation follows the text of SPP., who emends bhā́rantas of all the mss. ⌊save one⌋ and of our edition to abharanta on the authority of the comm. alone. Ppp. reads bhūmig ady eṣy oj-. The comm. quotes TB. i. 3. 71 to prove that darbha is properly called a 'purifier' or 'strainer.' There is not a bit of pan̄kti-character in the verse; ⌊with the ordinary resolutions, and that of bhuumim besides, it scans easily as 12 + 12: 11 + 11;⌋ of course it can be scanned down to 40 syllables by neglecting easy and natural resolutions. ⌊The verse is quoted by Kāuç. in full at 2. 1 and by pratīka at 137. 32: cf. p. 897, ¶3, and see Bloomfield's notes to the passages of Kāuç.⌋
4. A keen (tīkṣṇá) king, of mighty power, demon-slaying, belonging to all men (-carṣaṇí), force of the gods, formidable strength [is] that; I bind it on thee in order to old age, to well-being.
Ppp. reads in c tejas for ojas, and in d tat for tam.
5. With the darbhá thou shalt do heroic deeds; wearing the darbhá, do thou not stagger by thyself; excelling (ati-sthā) over others with splendor, shine thou like the sun unto the four quarters.
Our kṛṇávas is an emendation; all the mss., and SPP., give kṛṇávat or kṛṇavat, which the comm. also reads ⌊and renders by kuryās⌋ (without spending a word of explanation on the grammatical anomaly; it simply falls under his general rule that in the Veda one form may be used in place of another); Ppp. has kṛṇu. In c SPP. reads, with the comm. ⌊but the ms. atha⌋, ádha instead of our ádhi (varcasā́ ’dhā ’nyā́nt s-); the mss. have várcasāidhyányāṁ (also -sāiṅdhyá-, -sāidhá-, -sāiṅdhá-, -sīdha-; and the comm's text -sāudha-), in pada-text várcasā: āidhi (or eddhi): ányām (or anyā́m), or (in our pada-mss., and one of SPP's s.m.) várcasā: edhányām. Our emendation affords better sense, and accounts for the y* that appears in the majority of mss. after dh. Ppp. also supports it, reading atiṣṭhāpo varcase ‘dhy anyā sūryāi ’vā bhāhi. ⌊In b, Ppp. reads bibhratā ”tmanā.⌋ ⌊The comm. has adhiṣṭhāya in c.⌋ *⌊But SPP. points out that dhya and dhā look very much alike in most old mss.⌋
⌊Here ends the fourth anuvāka, with 7 hymns and 68 verses. If you reckoned 27. 14-15 as 3 verses, the sum would be 69.⌋