Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 47

47. To night: for protection.

[Gopatha.—navakam. mantroktarātridevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. pathyābṛhatī; 2. 5-p. anuṣṭubgarbhā parātijagatī; 6. purastādbṛhatī; 7. 3-av. 6-p. jagatī.]]

Found also in Pāipp. vi. According to the comm., hymns 47 and 48 form a single "sense-hymn" (arthasūkta), and 49 and 50 another; and their use is prescribed in Pariç. 4. 3-5, as of two hymns, in a ceremony of worship of night.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 467; Zimmer, p. 179; Griffith, ii. 303.

1. O night, the earthly space (rájas) hath been filled with the father's orderings (dhā́man); great, thou spreadest thyself (vi-sthā) to the seats of the sky; bright darkness comes on (ā-vṛt).

The verse is VS. xxxiv. 32, and is also found as first verse of a khila (Aufr., p. 682) to RV. x. 127, in both places without variant. ⌊It is quoted in Nirukta, Dāivatakāṇḍa iii. 29.⌋ Ppp. reads in b pitaraṣ prāyu dh-, and in c sudhāṅsi. The comm. holds 'the father' in b to designate the "skyey world" (dyuloka), quoting the commonplace dyāuḥ pitā pṛthivī mātā in support of it; dhāmabhis he glosses with sthānāiḥ saha, and tveṣam with dīpyamānam. ⌊For dhā́mabhis we might perhaps better say 'by or in accordance with the orderings'; but Griffith understands it as 'wondrous works.'⌋

2. She of whom the further limit is not seen, nor what separates; in her everything that stirs goes to rest (ni-viç); uninjured may we, O wide darksome night, attain thy further limit—may we, O excellent one, attain thy further limit.

In a, SPP. accents dádṛçe, without adding any note as to ms.-readings; it is perhaps merely an oversight, as all our mss. save one have plainly dadṛçé, and this is the Atharvan accent (cf. x. 8. 8), against RV. dádṛçe, which is wholly anomalous. Ppp. reads yoyavad, and, in b, ni miṣate rejati; its c is wholly corrupt. The comm. connects na yoyuvat with what follows, and explains it thus: na vibhajamānaṁ vibhaktaṁ nā ”sīt kiṁ tu viçvam ekākāram evā ’bhūt. The RV. khila, in vs. 4, has pāda e, twice repeated.

3. The men-watching lookers that are thine, O night, ninety [and] nine—eighty are they [and] eight, also seven [and] seventy of thine;—

In b, SPP's pada-mss. have navatī́ḥ. In c, the decided majority accent açī́tis, and all santi, which SPP. emends to sánti, thus changing "the ancient accent," and without sufficient reason, since santi is defensible, 3 c to 5 b inclusive being of the nature of a parenthesis, extending the navatír náva of 3 b. The khila ⌊vs. 2⌋ to RV. x. 127 has a corresponding verse ⌊as also has ÇÇS. at ix. 28. 10⌋, with yuktā́sas for draṣṭā́ras, with santu in c, and ⌊so the khila, at least⌋ the accent saptá in d. The Atharvan mss. vary between sápta and saptá; our text gives the former, SPP. the latter, which is better, as being the usual Atharvan accent, and having ⌊about⌋ half the mss. in its favor. The comm. explains the draṣṭā́ras as "troop-gods" (gaṇadevās), and does not so much as hint at any connection with the stars, which nevertheless we cannot well question to be meant, in their various and manifold groupings. A ca after aṣṭāú in c would be a welcome addition to both meter and sense.

4. And sixty and six, O wealthy one; fifty [and] five, O pleasant one; four and forty, three and thirty, O mighty (vājín) one;—

Ppp. has in b naçaṁnihi, in d vādini.

5. And two of thine and twenty of thine, O night; eleven the least (avamá)—with those protectors today do thou protect us, O daughter of the sky.

At beginning of d all the authorities ⌊with one unimportant variant⌋ read ná, which seems impossible. We emended it to ní (cf. ní pāti in ix. 10. 23); SPP., following that blind guide the comm., reads nú; this is entirely unacceptable, both on account of the sense, and because nú cannot stand at the beginning of a pāda: cf. note to v. 6. 5. The authorities are much at odds as to the accent of duhitar divas, the majority having duhitár divás. Ppp. reads in b rātrī ek-.

6. Let no demon, [no] mischief-plotter master us; let no evil-plotter master us; let no thief today master our kine, nor a wolf our sheep;—

The mss. have at the beginning rákṣā (p. rákṣa), as 2d sing, imperative, and pāda d of RV. vi. 71. 3 (the verse is found also in VS. ⌊xxxiii. 69⌋ TS. ⌊i. 4. 24¹⌋ TB. ⌊ii.4. 4⁷⌋ MS. ⌊i. 3. 27⌋) gives the same, ⌊as does RV. vi. 75. 10 d⌋. The translation follows our conjectured emendation, which, in view of the implausibility of the impv. rákṣa standing so alone, has a right to consideration. Ppp. reads mākir ṇo a-. The comm. reckons our 6 a, b as a whole verse ⌊his 6⌋; our 6 c, d and 7 a, b as his vs. 7; our 7 c, d and 8 a, b as his vs. 8; our 8 c, d and 9 a, b as his vs. 9; and our 9 c, d and 10 as his vs. 10; thus making the sixth verse instead of the tenth to consist of two padas only, while yet counting ten verses in the hymn. SPP., on the other hand ⌊see his Critical Notice in vol. i., p. 24⌋, counts vs. 6 as our edition does, but adds our 8 a, b to our vs. 7 to form his vs. 7, thus making it of six pādas; and then counts our 8 c, d and 9 a, b as his vs. 8, and our 9 c, d and 10 as his vs. 9. This is in accordance with the Anukr. ⌊in that it gives six pādas to vs. 7 and makes a total of 9 vss.⌋, and is a decidedly preferable division to that in our text, which was founded on the numbering of our first mss., and it will be followed in translating here. The sense, however, would be still better suited by making vs. 6 of three lines, instead of vs. 7. ⌊In what follows, I give first the numeration of the Berlin edition, and then, in parenthesis, SPP's numeration.⌋

7, 8 a, b. (7.) Nor a robber our horses, O excellent one; nor the sorceresses our men.

By the most distant roads let the thief, the robber, run; by a distant one let the toothed rope, by a distant one let the malignant hasten (ṛṣ).

As to the division, see under the preceding verse. In the fourth pāda, part of the mss. accent taskarás. In the first, there is discordance among them as to the accent of bhadre. The 'rope with teeth' is of course the snake, as the comm. also has sense to see (rajjuvad āyataḥ sarpādiḥ). Our 8 a, b is identical with iv. 3. 2 c, d; and our 7 c, d resembles a, b of the same verse. ⌊For yātudhānyàs the comm. reads the masculine, -nās.⌋

8 c, d, 9 a, b. (8.) Do thou, O night, make the snake blind, harsh-smoked (?), headless; grind up the two jaws of the wolf; cast (ā-han) the thief into the snare.

⌊Apart from the variation in c, the verse is identical with 50. 1, below: see note thereon.⌋ All the mss. (except, by accident, one of SPP's) at the beginning have ándha; SPP. reads ádha, with one ms. and the comm.; but ádha is plainly out of place, and andham, as emended in our text (it should have been accented andhám; ⌊correct the misprint⌋), a very plausible correction. Our rendering of tṛṣṭadhūma is mechanically accurate; probably the word is corrupt; Ppp. reads the pāda andho rātri tiṣṭadhūmam. The comm. explains as ārtikārī dhūmo viṣajvālādhūmo ni- (ms. vi-) çvāsadhūmo vā yasya; the translators understand -dhūma as "breath" or "odor"; ⌊Griffith renders 'with pungent breath'⌋. In c, d the mss. have jambháyāsthéna táṁ drupadé jahi (but many of them have -bhā́-). SPP. follows them and prints jambháyās téna táṁ dr-: from this our text makes a bold departure* ⌊implying as its pada-reading jambhaya: ā́: stenám: drupadé: jahi⌋; but something had to be done to make sense; any one is invited to do better if he can. The comm. reads with the mss., and forces through a meaningless version. Ppp. has a different and corrupt text: hano vṛkasya jambhayādvāinaṁ nṛpate jahi ⌊cf. end of note to 50. 1⌋.

*⌊The assumption of an ā́ (ā́...jahi) after jambhaya is supported by nírjahyāsténa...jahi at 50. 1 c, d, below, where the collocation is almost unequivocal (see the note); for although jahyās (as given by the pada-mss.) is a good optative of hā, the combination of hā with nis is hardly Vedic, and we must there assume the division nir jahy ā ste-, the locative drupadé fitting well with ā jahi (cf. i. 11. 4; x. 8. 4 c). The rationale of the corruption here is not hard to see: the hiatus between c and d being once covered by the fusion of the final of jambhaya with the ā́ of ā́ stenám, nothing was easier than to see a form jambhayās in the first part of the combination, and then to substitute téna for the vastly less common stenám or for the meaningless tenám (which might be read out of the combination: see Prāt. ii. 40 note); the exigency of the meter occasioned by the blunder with jambhayās then made the insertion of tám easy. With the Berlin solution of the corruption, the meter is in perfect order. The interesting parallel from the Avesta, hām zanva zembayadhwem, Yasht i. 27, adduced by Geldner, KZ. xxx. 514, may here be noted.⌋

9 c, d, 10. (9.) With thee, O night, we stay; we shall sleep, do thou watch; yield refuge to our kine, horses, men (púruṣa).

'Stay' (vas) means specifically 'spend the night.' In b the pada-mss. commit the incredible blunder of dividing svapiṣyā́m: ási (or asi); some of the saṁhitā-mss. accent svápiṣyā́- and all either jāgṛhi or jā́gṛhi; SPP. follows us in violating the "ancient accent" and emending a jāgṛhí. In c, Ppp. has yachād aç-.