Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

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ii. 12- BOOK II. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAMHITA. 56
the rest of the hymn that we can hardly consider them as properly belonging to it.
Their omission, with that of the borrowed RV. verse (our 6), would reduce the hymn to
the norm of this book.
13. For welfare and long life of an infant.
[Ai^arvatt. — bahudnatyam utd "gneyam. trdistubham : 4. anustubh ; j. virddjagati.']
Verses 1,4, 5 are found in Paipp. xv. Though (as Weber points out) plainly having
nothing to do with the godana or tonsure ceremony, its verses are applied by Kau^. to
parts of that rite. Thus, it accompanies the preparations for it (53. i) and the wetting
of the youth's head (53. 13); vss. 2 and 3, the putting of a new garment on him (54. 7);
vs. 4, making him stand on a stone (54.8); vs. 5, taking away his old garment (54.9).
And the comm. quotes vss. 2 and 3 from Pari9ista 4. i as uttered by a purohita on- handing
to a king in the morning the garment he is to put on, and vs. 4 from ibid. 4, as the same
throws four pebbles toward the four directions, and makes the king step upon a fifth.
Translated : Weber, xiii. 171 ;
Zimmer, p. 322 ; Griffith, i.
57.
1. Giving life-time, O Agni, choosing old age; ghee-fronted, gheebacked,
O Agni — having drunk the sweet pleasant {cdni) ghee of the
cow, do thou afterward defend {raks) this [boy] as a father his sons.
The verse occurs also in various Yajur-Veda texts, as VS. (xxxv. 17), TS. (i. 3. 144
et al.), TB. (i. 2. i"), TA. (ii. S-i), MS. (iv. 12.4) [MP. ii. 2. ij, and in several Sutras,
as A(JS. (ii. 10.4), QGS. (i. 25), and HGS. (i. 3. 5), with considerable variations. TS.
(with
which the texts of TB., TA., and AQS. agree throughout) has in a havUo jusands,
which is decidedly preferable to jarisam vrndnds [_,
which is apparently a misplaced
reminiscence of RV. x. 18.6 or AV. xii. z.i^y, at end of \>, ghrtdyonir edhi
and, in d, putrdm for putran. VS. has for a ayusmdn agne havtsd vrdhands, and
agrees with TS. etc. in b, and also in d, save that it further substitutes iman for imam.
MS. reads deva for agne in a, ixvA pibann amrtam iox pitva tnddhu of c Lthus making
a good tristubh padaj, and ends d with putrdm jardse tna e 'mdm. Ppp. agrees throughout
with MS., except as it emends the latter's corrupt reading at the end to jarase naye
'mam; and HGS. corresponds with Ppp. save by having ^r«i5//aj- in a. |_MP. follows
HGS. J QGS. gives in a havtsd vrdltdnas, in b agrees with TS. etc., and has in d
pile 'va putram iha r-. The last pada is jagatt.
|_The Anukr. counts II-|-II:I0-^I2 = 44: as if 10-I-12 were metrically the same
as 1 1 -t- 1 1 ! or as if the " extra " syllable in d could offset the deficiency in c ! The
impossible cadence of c is curable by no less radical means than the adoption of the
Ppp. reading. All this illustrates so well the woodenness of the methods of the Anukr.
and its
utter lack of sense of rhythm, that attention may well be called to it.J
2. Envelop, put ye him for us with splendor ; make ye him one to die
of old age ;
[make] long life ; Brihaspati furnished {pra-yam) this garment
unto king Soma for enveloping [himself].
The verse is repeated below, as xix. 24.4. It is found also in HGS. (i. 4. 2) |_MP.
ii. 2. 6J, and a, b in MB. (i. 1.6). HGS. in a omits nas, and reads vasasdi'nam for
varcase 'main, and in b it has qatdyusam for jardmrtyum ; MB. agrees with this, only
making the verse apply to a girl by giving endm and qatdyusim. There appears to be
a mixture of constructions in a : pdri dhatta vdrcasd is right, but dhattd requires rather
vdrcase. Emending to krnutd would enable jaramrtyum to be construed with imam