Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 8

8. For well-being: to the asterisms etc.

[Gārgya.—sapta. mantroktanakṣatradevatyam (6. brāhmaṇaspatyā). trāiṣṭubham: 1. virāḍ jagatī; 6. 3-av. 6-p. atijagatī.]

Verses 4-6 are found in Pāipp. xx. The same viniyoga is pointed out by the comm. for this as for the preceding hymn.

⌊As to the asterisms, and as to the inclusion of the full text of this hymn in the Nakṣatra Kalpa, see introduction to hymn 7.⌋

Translated: Griffith, ii. 267.

1. What asterisms are in the sky, in the atmosphere, in the waters, on the earth, what ones in the mountains, in the quarters, what ones the moon goes on preparing (pra-kḷp), let all those be propitious to me.

The mss., and so SPP., have the incorrect accent prákalpayan in c; it is emended in our text. It is possible, but not natural, to count in the verse 46 syllables, with the Anukr.

2. Let them of the series of twenty-eight, propitious, helpful, together allot to me acquisition (yóga); I go forward to acquisition and possession (kṣéma); I go forward to possession and acquisition; homage be to day-and-night.

In b, the comm. reads sahá yógam as a compound, sahayogam. He explains, after the usual fashion, yoga as alabdhavastuprāpti (his ms., alabhya-), and kṣema as labdhavastuparipālana, and the translation follows him. The verse (11 + 8: 8 + 8 + 8 = 43) is quite improperly let pass as simply a triṣṭubh. ⌊As, for the twenty-eight, see introduction to hymn 7.⌋

3. Be it for me well at sunset (?), well in early morning, well at evening, well by day; be it for me well with beasts, well with birds; with easy invocation, O Agni, having gone with well-being to a mortal, come thou again enjoying.

In a the translation follows our conjectural emendation of svástitam (or svastí tám, or svastítam, as some of the mss. variously read; the pada-mss. have svastí: tám or svástitam; ⌊one. ms. and two çrotriyas of SPP. and⌋ the comm. give svastí tát) to svastamitám, which is bold, but not implausible. For sudivám the comm. has the better supported sudinam. The mss. ⌊except D. and L., which read suçakunám⌋ and SPP. accent suçakúnam, which may be correct. The translation of the second half-verse is only a makeshift; the line appears to be thoroughly corrupt; implied is the reading svastyā́ mártyaṁ gatvā́; SPP. reads, with nearly all the mss., svasty àmártyaṁ gatvā́, against the proper accent ámartyam. SPP's pada-mss. read at the end ā́ya: abhi॰nándan (one has ā́yā); both our mss. are imperfect, one reading simply ā́, the other perhaps ā́yā with the y erased; if the word is to be accepted at all, it should apparently be ā́: aya. The repetition of martya in our text is doubtless too daring, considering how unsatisfactory a result it yields after all.

4. Detraction, evil gossip, reproach, sneezing about (?)—them, O Savitar, drive (suva) away for me empty-handed (?), with all.

The translation implies the text of the mss., which is also read by SPP., in the second half-verse: sárvāir me riktakuinbhā́n párā ⌊most mss. parā or yarā⌋ tā́nt savitaḥ suva; we might alter sárvāis to sarvátas, so as to fill out the meter and give a much better sense; the comm. understands it to mean "allied with all the deities of the asterisms"; riktakumbha he simply glosses with çūnyakalaça, adding no further explanation; the Pet. Lexx. conjecture "perhaps idle talk (lit. emptypottedness)"; the translation implies their going away 'with empty vessels'—that is, carrying off no result or advantage. The comm. explains anuhavá as a calling out ⌊inauspiciously⌋ to a person from behind, and parihavá as the same from both sides; parivādá is "harsh talk" (paruṣabhāṣaṇa); parikṣavá is ⌊alternatively⌋ sarvataḥ kṣutam. Some of the mss. read parichavám in b ⌊cf. note* and vs. 5⌋. Ppp. has for b parīvādaṁ parikṣayam; and for c, d, savyāimaviriktakumbhyāṁ parā tāṁ savitus savaḥ. The comm. appears to read suvaḥ at the end, but glosses it with parākuru, as if suva.

⌊The AV. comm. begins his remarks on this vs. virtually as follows: If a man sets out on business under a lucky asterism, and some one from behind him calls his name or does something of that sort [probably scolding, sneezing, and coughing are meant], those things are of ill-omen as tending to thwart the business in hand; and this verse contains a prayer for warding off the ill effects of those omens. (In this connection, we may note the cries and slaps by which the woodpecker deters the hunter just as he sets out, Jātaka, ii. 153²², 154³.)—It almost seems as if our comm. were acquainted with ĀpGS. 9. 2, which prescribes an expiation in case some one sneezes or coughs near one who is setting out on business: arthaprādhvasya parikṣave parikāsane cāpa upaspṛçyo ’ttare yathālin̄gaṁ japet (cf. ed. of Wintemitz, p. 12 and p. 61). Wintemitz, Hochzeitsrituell, p. 95 (cf. p. 26), gives the verses that are to be repeated: I give them as he has printed them at MP. i. 13. 5-6: anuhavám parihavám parīvadám parikṣapám: dúsvapnaṁ (should be -niaṁ) dúruditaṁ tád dviṣádbhyo diçāmy ahám: ánuhūtam párihūtaṁ çakunāir yád açākunám: mṛgásya sṛtám akṣṇáyā tád etc. This passage and AV. x. 3. 6 stand in close rapport with our vss. 3-4 here.⌋

*⌊As for the readings parichavam and chavam as against parikṣavam and kṣavam (4 b, 5 a, b), the former are avouched by a large minority of SPP's authorities and they prevail also in the mss. first collated by Whitney: and so Ppp. has paricchava for parikṣava of our x. 3. 6. The forms with ch appear to be allowable Prākritisms, like uchantu = ukṣantu at iii. 12. 4: cf. rchara = rtsara at x. 9. 23 and my note; and uccase = ucyase at xii. 4. 4.—For sneezing as an omen, see Henry C. Warren, On superstitious customs connected with sneezing, JAOS. xiii. = PAOS. May, 1885, p. xvii-xx. He quotes Jātaka, ii., p. 15 ff. etc., and Whitney adds JB. ii. 155.⌋

5. [Drive] away evil sneezing about; may we enjoy (bhaj) propitious (púṇya) sneezing; let the evil-nosed jackal and púṇyaga urinate upon [it] for thee.

Part of the mss. read in a, b parichavam and chavam: [see note* to vs. 4⌋. All the mss., and so SPP., have at the beginning apapāpám; the comm., with us, ápa pāpám. Again, all the mss. and SPP. accent bhakṣīmáhi. Ppp. reads āpa māpa parikṣapaṁ puṇyam bhakṣīmahi kṣapam, which gives no help. For c, d, SPP. reads çivā́ te pāpa nā́sikām puṇyagaç cā ’bhí mehatām (the pada being púṇya॰gaḥ: ca: abhí: me: hatām); the comm., çivā te pāpanāçikā paṇḍakaç cā ’bhi medhatām. The comm. explains çivā as a name for jackal (so adopted in the translation above); pāpanāçikā is, of course, destroying evil; abhi medhatām = protsāhayatu: the general sense being that, whereas the sight or hearing of a jackal, or the sight of a eunuch, is a bad omen, they are in virtue of the spell of this verse to have a totally opposite influence. How SPP. would render his text ⌊of a, in particular?⌋ it is impossible to see. The version given here lays no claim to being of any value. Ppp. reads çivā te pāpanāçakā (in this word favoring the comm.) ṣaṇṇagasyā ’bhimehataḥ, which does not seem to help us. The reading of the line in our edition is not to be praised.

6. These (fem.), O Brahmaṇaspati, that go dispersing upon the wind—do thou, O Indra, making them come together, make them most propitious for me.

The pada-mss. give in b vā́taḥ instead of vā́te, which latter is evidently the true reading. The comm. also understands vātas, which compels him to take īrate as = īrte, and to translate it as if causative. The comm. understands the quarters (diças) as intended, and points it out as well-known that in a violent wind these are confounded, one of them being taken for another. This is hardly better than silly; but what is really the subject of the verse is very hard to see. The Anukr. omits any definition of these three anuṣṭubh verses*; and, what is much more strange, although it describes the hymn as of seven verses, and the mss. and the comm. so number, it combines 6 and 7 together into one verse as 8 + 8: 8 + 8: 11 + 9 = 52. ⌊Ppp. has, for b, viṣūcer vāca īyate, and at end of d -tamaṣ kṛdhi. *⌊No: see p. 912, line 9.⌋

7. Let well-being be ours; let fearlessness be ours; homage be to day-and-night.

The verse is wanting in Ppp.