Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XVI/Paryaya 4
4. Paryāya the fourth.
[Brahman.—saptaka. ādityadevatya. 1, 3. sāmny anuṣṭubh; 2. sāmny uṣṇih; 4. 3-p. anuṣṭubh; 5. āsurī gāyatrī; 6. ārcy uṣṇih; 7. 3-p. virāḍgarbhā ’nuṣṭubh.]
Translated: Griffith, ii. 203.
1. May I be the navel of riches, the navel of my equals.
The scholiast (pariçiṣṭa) adds this verse (or paryāya) 3. 1 under Kāuç. 18. 25. ⌊Cf. note to 3. 1.⌋
2. Of good seat (? svāsát) art thou, of good dawns, an immortal among mortals.
The adjectives are sing. masculine. The pada-text reads su॰āsát and su॰uṣā́ḥ.
3. Let not breath quit me; nor let expiration, deserting me, go away.
⌊For 'deserting me' one might perhaps say 'leaving me low.' For the combination with párā gā, cf. TS. v. 7. 91. Most of our mss. (all except D.R.) leave mā́m unaccented; ⌊the curious blunder is made also by nine of SPP's mss., as against five mss. and two reciters that gave mā́m⌋. All our mss. save one (R.) combine apānó ‘va ⌊instead of -nò⌋. The verse is ⌊almost⌋ identical with vii. 53. 4 a, b ⌊which has me ’mám for mā́ mā́m⌋.
4. Let the sun protect me from the sky, Agni from the earth, Vāyu from the atmosphere, Yama from men (manuṣyà), Sarasvatī from them of the earth.
The verse can be read into 32 syllables, but the metrical definition of the Anukr. is altogether absurd. ⌊Griffith gives ahnás its usual meaning: possibly W's "sky" is not intentional, but a mere slip. Cf., however, 7. 6, below.⌋
5. O breath-and-expiration, do not desert me; let me not perish (pra-mī) among the people (jána).
6. With well-being today, O waters, may I, whole [and] with my whole train (-gaṇá), attain dawns and evenings.
The verse is really composed of two triṣṭubh pādas.
7. Puissant (çákvarī) are ye; may cattle approach me; let Mitra-and-Varuṇa [assign] me breath-and-expiration; let Agni assign me dexterity.
Nearly all our mss. (not T.s.m.R.) give stheṣu instead of stheṣus; ⌊and so do three of SPP's⌋. ⌊For the form, see Gram. § 894 c.⌋
⌊Here ends the first anuvāka, with 4 paryāyas and 32 avasānarcas: see the summations at page 793, above. The piece here quoted from the Old Anukr. is prājāpatyo ha catuṣkaḥ: see p. 792.⌋