Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 9

9. For appeasement and weal: to various divinities.

[Brahman (çāntikāmaḥ).—caturdaça. sāumyam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. virāḍ urobṛhatī; 5. 5-p. pathyāpan̄kti; 9 5-p. kakummatī; 12. 3-av. 7-p. aṣṭi; 14. 4-p. saṁkṛti.] ⌊The Anukr. adds: çeṣāḥ (that is vss. 2-4, 6-8, l0-ll, 13) kāṇḍapratīkatvenā* ’nuṣṭubhaḥ. There thus remains not a single vs. that is not excepted from the definition trāiṣṭubham!—The Berlin ms., in its treatment of hymns 9-12, after ekarcam (h. 12), adds: vāsiṣṭham vāiçvadevaṁ çantātīyaṁ trāiṣṭubham (these four words apply well to hymns 10-11) ādyam (hymn 9) mantroktabahudeuatyam. W. follows the London ms.⌋ *⌊At the beginning of its treatment of the kāṇḍa, the Anukr. says brahmakāṇḍam ānuṣṭubham.⌋

The hymn is not found in Pāipp. The comm. finds it used in Pariçista 4. 5 ("muttering this, one should conduct a king to his dwelling-house") and 6. 5 (in the piṣṭarātrikalpa), and in Nakṣ. K. 18, as a hymn belonging to the çānti gaṇa (cf. note to Kāuç. 9. 7).

Translated: Griffith, ii. 268.

1. Appeased (çāntá) be heaven (dyú), appeased be earth, appeased be this wide atmosphere, appeased the waters rich in moisture (udanvánt), appeased be the herbs for us.

⌊With a, b, cf. AGS. ii. 4. 14; PGS. iii. 3. 6; MGS. ii. 8. 6 b.⌋

2. Appeased be the foretokens, appeased for us be the-done-and-undone, appeased both what is and what is to be: be just everything weal for us.

The comm. explains pūrvarūpāṇi first as kāryāpekṣayā kāraṇāvasthāpannāni vastūni, and again as "former births, the fruit of evil deeds." Instead of nas in b it reads me; and it points out that 'the done' means what is done that should not be done, and 'the undone' what was left undone that should have been done—which is far from necessary or certain.

3. This speech that is most exalted, divine, sharpened by bráhman, by which is produced (sṛj) what is terrible—by that be there appeasement for us.

4. Or (?) this mind that is most exalted, sharpened by bráhman, by which is produced what is terrible—by that be there appeasement for us.

All the mss. read in b vām instead of vā, and SPP's text follows them. The comm. makes no mention of either in its exposition of the verse; but its text (so SPP. reports) reads vā, as does ours by emendation.

5. These five senses, with mind as sixth, that are in my heart, sharpened by bráhman, by which is produced what is terrible—by them be there appeasement for us.

The mss. read mána ṣaṣṭhā́ni (p. mánaḥ: ṣaṣṭhā́ni), but SPP., as well as our text, emends to -ṭhāni, and this the comm. also understands. In all the verses 3-5, some of the mss. leave sasṛje unaccented. This verse (10 + 8 + 7: 8 + 8 = 41) is ill defined by the Anukr.

6. Weal for us be Mitra, weal Varuṇa, weal Vishṇu, weal Prajāpati, weal for us Indra, Bṛihaspati, weal for us be Aryaman.

This verse corresponds nearly to RV. i. 90. 9 and VS. xxxvi. 9; both these, however, put the pādas in the order a, d, c, b, and they read for our b çáṁ no víṣṇur urukramáḥ.

7. Weal for us be Mitra, weal Varuṇa, weal Vivasvant, weal the destroyer (ántaka), [weal] the portents from earth and from atmosphere, weal for us the planets (?) moving in the sky.

The mss. vary between utpā́tās and utpātā́s, the great majority favoring the former. SPP. reads pā́rthivā ”ntárikṣās, giving in pada-text -vā: ānt-, while the pada-mss. read -vā: ant-; but his reading is palpably wrong and impossible, while a very slight emendation would have given pārthivāntarikṣā́s (implying the pada-text pārthiva॰āntarikṣāḥ), which is implied in the translation above. The comm. explains as if he had pārthivās and āntarikṣās as two separate words; but, according to SPP., his text reads pārthivāntarikṣāḥ. Half the saṁhitā-mss. or more combine -ikṣācháṁ no, as if the word had ended in -kṣāt; and, as these included all known to us down to the time of printing, our text reflects them. The comm. of course makes no question of explaining grahās at the end as "Mars and the rest"; and perhaps there is no sufficient reason for questioning that interpretation. The Anukr. does not remark the redundancy of a syllable in 7 c.

8. Weal for us be the quaking (vip) earth, and weal what is meteor-smitten; weal be the red-milked kine, weal the earth when cleaving down.

All the mss. accent vepyamāná in a, and nearly all (including the pada-mss.) end it as a nom. pl. -mānā́ḥ; SPP. emends by dropping the blundering visarga, but does not venture to alter the equally blundering accent; of course, it must be made vepyámānā, as pres. pass, pple of the causative, unless we emend further to vépamānā, as our text reads, and as is decidedly better. The comm. reads vepyamānā, and explains it once by kampamānā and once by kampyamānā. ⌊Most⌋ mss., and SPP., read in b ulkā́ nírh-; ⌊but Whitney's I. and three of SPP's authorities give ni- for nir-⌋; the comm. ⌊reads -ni- and⌋ understands the two words to form a compound, as it is made to be in our text by simply removing the accent of -nir-; one does not see the applicability of the prefix nis-. In c, some of the mss. read lóhitaḥ, and some accent kṣīrā́ḥ; 'red-milked' would be with equal propriety rendered 'bloody-milked'; and the two things are of course equivalent. In d, the comm. has avadīryatī, glossing it with avadīryamāṇā, and this reading has been gratefully adopted in the translation. All the mss. give ávatīryatī́s, and all the pada-mss. divide it ávatīḥ: yatī́ḥ; SPP. emends to áva tīryatī́ḥ, by which nothing at all is gained; we emended to avatī́ryatī, which is at least grammatical, though hardly intelligible; avadīryatī is both; ⌊one of SPP's reciters gives áva dīryatī́⌋.

9. Be the meteor-smitten asterism weal for us; weal for us the enchantments and weal be the witchcrafts; weal for us the buried spells (valagá), weal the meteors; and weal be for us the land-plagues.

Literally, 'the afflictions (upasarga) of a region.' All the mss. read in a ulkā́bhíh (p. ulkā́: abhí॰h-), which SPP. accordingly adopts; the comm. again (as in 8 b) regards it as a compound, which it is unquestionably meant to be, and which our text gives by emendation; the prefix abhi suits the situation, as nir (8 b) did not. In c, SPP. has the better accent nikhātās, with a large minority of his mss.; none of ours give it, and we accepted nikhātā́s, since it is not without support elsewhere. Our valagā́s was an emendation for valgā́s; but our two pada-mss. ⌊D.s.m.L.⌋ compared later, have valagā́ḥ, as does one of SPP's; the latter, however, adopts valgā́s, against meter and sense, and against the comm. The pada-mss. all have ulkā́ in c, an evident blunder for -kā́ḥ, which SPP. this time ventures to read by emendation: it is extremely difficult to understand his selection of the cases where he is willing to emend. The metrical definition of the verse (really 12 + 11: 11 + 11 = 45) by the Anukr. is as bad as possible.

10. Weal for us be the planets belonging to the moon, and weal the sun (ādityá) with Rāhu; weal for us smoke-bannered death, weal the Rudras of keen brightness.

The translation follows in b the text of the comm. ādityaç ca rāhuṇā, as is read also by SPP., who follows the comm. and three or four authorities. Most of the mss. have -tyaḥ çarāhuṇā (p. also çarāhuṇā), but two or three çaṁ rāhuṇā. Those that accent -rāhuṇā or rāhuṇā at all accent it on the final, -huṇā́, and this accent SPP. has not dared to change, although it is against all rule and practice. In connection with dhūmaketu the comm. quotes Kāuç. 127. 1, where the word is used; it seems to me extremely unlikely that it signifies a comet; ⌊does it not refer rather to the smoke that rises from the pyre?⌋.

11. Weal [for us be] the Rudras, weal the Vasus, weal the Ādityas, weal the fires; weal for us the divine great seers, weal the gods, weal Bṛihaspati.

In c, SPP. reads maharṣáyas, against most of his authorities (although he gives saptaṛṣáyas in the two following verses). Some of the mss. leave devās in c unaccented; and two of SPP's treat the word in the same manner in d. Our emendation in d to devī́s is probably toe venturesome, although it seems strange to have 'the gods' mentioned as a body in connection with the mention of so many of them separately.

12. The bráhman, Prajāpati, Dhātar, the worlds, the Vedas, the seven seers, the fires—by them happy progress (svastyáyana) is made for me: let Indra grant (yam) me refuge; let Brahmán grant me refuge; let all the gods grant me refuge; let the gods all grant me refuge.

The Anukr., the comm., and a better connection are here followed, by adding to this verse the two pādas which in our edition are printed as 13 a, b, in accordance with the numbering of our mss. (8 + 10: 8 + 8 + 8: 10 + 10 = 62, two syllables short of a full aṣṭi); SPP. makes the same division. Some of SPP's mss. read in b devā́s instead of vedā́s: the accent vedā́s seems to be modeled on devā́s, for 'the Vedas' should be védās, and the word ought doubtless to be so emended; ⌊O.D. actually have védās, and the comm. says the four Vedas are intended⌋. We should expect at the beginning brahmā́. ⌊With c, cf. 16. 1 b.⌋

13. Whatsoever things that are appeased in the world the seven seers know, be they all weal for me; let weal be mine, let fearlessness be mine.

Many of the mss. accent in b lóke and saptárṣayo. ⌊In d asty is a misprint for astv.⌋

14. [Be] earth appeasement, atmosphere appeasement, sky appeasement, waters appeasement, herbs appeasement, forest trees appeasement; [be] all the gods appeasement for me, the gods all appeasement for me, appeasement with appeasements; by those appeasements all-appeasing do I appease what here is terrible, what here is cruel, what here is evil; [be] that appeased, [be] that propitious; be just everything weal for us.

With a large minority of his authorities, and with the comm., SPP. adds one more çā́ntiḥ before çā́ntibhis at the end of the first division; in the second division, he follows the mss. slavishly in reading sárva çā́ntibhiḥ; the comm. apparently (it is defective here) agrees with our emendation to sarvaçāntibhis. After this word, the mss. all have çamayāmoham, accenting either çámayā́mohám or çámayāmohám; the pada-mss. divide it absurdly çámaya: mohám; the comm. understands it as çamayāmo ‘ham, with substitution of aham for vayam by Vedic license (a mere exchange of plural and singular); SPP. unaccountably gives çámayāmohám with the pada-text çám: ayāmaḥ: akám; our emendation to çamayāmy ahám is evidently necessary. Similar passages occur in VS. xxxvi. 17; TA. iv. 42 (28); MS. iv. 9. 27 ⌊p. 138¹²⌋; but it is not worth while to quote them in detail; TA. (29) contains the compound sarvaçāntí and MS. has sárvaçānti. The "verse" is the only one in the whole work that is called a saṁkṛti (96 syllables); it counts naturally 94 syllables.

⌊Here ends the first anuvāka, with 9 hymns and 59 verses. The comm. (not SPP.) divides the Purusha-sūkta (our hymn 6) into two hymns, so that our vss. 1-5 make his hymn 6 and our vss. 6-16 make his hymn 7: thus his first anuvāka consists of 10 hymns.—There are of course no further quotations from the Old Anukr. or Pañcapaṭalikā: cf. p. 896, line 4.⌋