Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 69

69. To the waters: for long life.

[Brahman.—catasraḥ. mantroktādevatyāḥ. 1. āsury anuṣṭubh; 2. sāmny anuṣṭubh; 3. āsurī gāyatrī; 4. sāmny uṣṇih (1-4. 1-av.).]

⌊Prose.⌋ Found also in Pāipp. xix. The four verses of this hymn are called in Kāuç. and Vāit. jivās, and are prescribed to accompany the rinsing of the mouth with water in the parvan ceremony (Kāuç. 3. 4; Vāit. 1. 19, misunderstood by the editor), in a rite for long life at the reception of a Vedic student (Kāuç. 58. 7), and in the madhuparka ceremony (Kāuç. 90. 22); of these the comm. takes notice only of Kāuç. 58. 7. With this use is doubtless connected the attribution of the hymn in the Anukr. to the waters as divinity. ⌊As to the citation by technical designation, and especially as to the ritual uses, see p. 897, ¶2.⌋

Translated: Griffith, ii. 320.

1. Living are ye; may I live; may I live my whole life-time.

2. Living on are ye; may I live on; may I live my whole life-time.

3. Living together are ye; may I live together; may I live my whole life-time.

4. Lively are ye; may I live; may I live my whole life-time.

The comm. adds our hymn 70 as fifth verse to this hymn, and then commits the blunder of understanding Indra etc., there spoken of, as addressed with "living are ye" etc.; it is, of course, the waters that are meant, as the liturgical use plainly shows. In vs. 2 all authorities give úpa jīvā́ stha (p. úpa: jīvā́ḥ: stha); ⌊both editions give upajīvā́s⌋. In vs. 3 they have saṁjīvā́s (though with considerable variety of accent); most, too, accent saṁjīvyā́sam. The comm. reads upajīvyās and saṁjīvyās, which make the decidedly easier sense, 'fit to be lived on and with'; then the following clauses would mean 'may I live on you and with you.' Ppp. reads throughout stu instead of stha.