Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

iii. 21- BOOK III. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAMHITA. 126
the wind, Parjanya, then also Agni— these have appeased the flesh-eating
one.
All our mss. save one (O.), and all SPP's save two or three that follow the comm.,
read a^t^amam (apparently by infection from the end of vs. 9) at the end ;
both editions
emend to -mati, which is the reading of the coram. LPpp. has the vs. in vii. (as noted
above), and combines -prstha "pa in a-b and parjanya "d in c. — For " soma-backed,"
see Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 60 f.
J
\
;
22. To the gods: for splendor (vdrcas).
\yasistha. — varcasyam. bdrhaspatyam uta vdifvadevam. diiustubham : i.virdt tristubh ;
3- SP- pardnustub virddatijagatl ; 4.3-av. 6-p. jagati.']
Found also (except vs. 6) in Paipp. iii. Is reckoned to the varcasya gana
(Kaug. 12. 10, note), and used in a charm for splendor (13. i), with binding on an
amulet of ivory. The comm. quotes the hymn also as employed by the Naks. K. in a
mahai;a.nti called brahmi, for attainment of brahman-s^XtnAor ;
and by Parig. iv. i ,
in
the daily morning consecration of an elephant for a king.
Translated : Ludwig, p. 461 ;
Weber, xvii. 282 ; Griffith, i. 1 15.
1. Let elephant-splendor, great glory, spread itself, which came into
being from Aditi's body; that same have all together given to me — all
the gods, Aditi, in unison. 1
Cf. vii. 17. 3 n.J
A number of the mss. (including our Bp.Op.) read adityas LaccentlJ in b, and
several of ours follow it W\X\\ ydm instead oi ydt. Ppp. rectifies the meter of d by reading
devdsas. Emendation in a to brhddya^as would be acceptable. (JB. (iii. 1.3.4;
perhaps on the basis of b?) has a legend of the production of the elephant from something
born of Aditi (see R. in Ind. Stud. xiv. 392). The comm. explains prai/ia/dm in
a by asmasu prathitam prakhyatam bhavatu
' be proclaimed as belonging to us.' In
our edition, an accent-mark has dropped out from under the ba of -babhiiva. An irregular
verse, scanned by the Anukr. as 124-10:10+10 = 42, but convertible into 45 syllables
by resolving tanu-as, sdru-e, viqu-e (of which only the first is unobjectionable). LIf we
read devdsas in d, the vs. is in order (12-1-11 : ?-l-ii), except in c {idd it sdrve?).\
2. Let both Mitra and Varuna, Indra and Rudra, [each] take notice
the all-nourishing gods — let them anoint me with splendor.
All the mss.* read cetatus at end of b, and so does Ppp., and our edition has it ;
but
SPP. follows the comm. and substitutes cetatuj SV. i. 154 has sSmah piisa ca cetatuh;
the translation implies cetatu, the other being probably a false form, generated under
stress of the difficult construction of a singular verb with the preceding subjects.
Weber takes it as cetatus, 3d dual perf. of root cat " frighten into submission." The
Anukr. takes no notice of the deficiency of a syllable in a. * [_So W's two drafts ;
but his
collations note P.M.W. as reading cetutah (!) and Op. as reading cetatu.
3. With what splendor the elephant came into being, with what the
king among men {tnanusyd), among waters, with what the gods in the
beginning went to godhood — with that splendor do thou, O Agni, now
make me splendid.
Apsii, in b, is an impertinent intrusion as regards both sense and meter; it is wanting
in Ppp. In c all the mss. give dyam (sarhh., dyaih); our edition makes the necessary