Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XV/Paryaya 1

1. Paryāya the first.

[aṣṭāu. 1. sāmnī pan̄kti; 2. 2-p. sāmni bṛhatī; 3. 1-p. yajurbrāhmy anuṣṭubh; 4. 1-p. virāḍ gāyatrī; 5. sāmny anuṣṭubh; 6. 3-p. prājāpatyā bṛhatī; 7. āsurī pan̄kti; 8. 3-p. anuṣṭubh.]

Translated: Aufrecht, Ind. Stud. i. 130; Griffith, ii. 185.

1. A Vrātya there was, just going about; he stirred up Prajāpati.

Ppp. reads: vrātyo vā ida agra āsīt. The verse lacks one syllable of a full sāmnī pan̄kti (20 syll.).

2. He, Prajāpati, saw in himself gold (suvárṇa); he generated that.

For suvarṇam ātmann, Ppp. reads: ātmanas suparṇam.

3. That became one; that became star-marked (lalā́ma); that became great; that became chief; that became bráhman; that became fervor; that became truth; therewith he had progeny.

Ppp. has the same text with slight differences of order. The verse counts the required 48 syllables if we restore the elided a in tápo abhavat.

4. He increased; he became great; he became the great god (mahādevá).

In this verse both elided initial a's have to be restored, making 19 syllables.

5. He compassed the lordship of the gods; he became the Lord (ī́çāna).

We need to read pári āit and -no abhavat to make 16 syllables. ⌊Of this verse, Ppp. has only the last three words.⌋

6. He became the sole Vrātya; he took to himself a bow; that was Indra's bow.

Ppp. inserts devānām before ekavr-, and reads tad indradhanur abhavat. To read abhavat, again, fills out the 20 syllables.

7. Blue its belly, red [its] back.

That is, apparently, of the bow (the rainbow); though 'its' (asya) might equally well be 'his.'

8. With the blue he envelops (pra-vṛ) a hostile cousin, with the red he pierces one hating him [—he who knows thus]: so say the theologians (brahmavādín) .

If we read -ti íti, the syllables are 32; but to call the passage an anuṣṭubh is absurd. It can hardly be questioned that the addition in brackets is called for by the sense.