Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

J ;
iii. 27- BOOK III. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAMHITA. 134
for defender, TS. designates the cross-lined serpent, MS. the prdaku (in the corrupt
form srdaku or -agu: the editor adopts the latter). Ppp. makes wind (vata) the
arrows.
5. Fixed quarter; Vishnu overlord; the serpent with black-spotted
(kalmdsa-) neck defender ; the plants arrows : homage to those etc. etc.
Ppp. reads kulmasa- \
the comm. explains the word by krsnavarna. TS. calls the
quarter iyim 'this'; in MS. it is ^i/rta downward ' ; TS. treats of it after the upward
'
one, and makes Yama the overlord. In our edition, an accent-mark under the -ksi- of
raksita has slipped to the right, under -ta.
6. Upward quarter; Brihaspati overlord; the white {^vitrd) [serpent]
defender ; rain the arrows : homage to those etc. etc.
Ppp. has here the thunderbolt {a(;atii) for arrows. Part of the mss. (including our
E.O.K.Kp.) give cttrd instead of ^vi/rd as name of the serpent ; TS. reads qvitrd, but
MS. (probably by a misreading) citrd. TS. calls the quarter brhad
'
great.' TS. (after
the manner of the AV. mss.) leaves out the repeated part of the imprecation in the
intermediate verses (2-5); MS. gives it in full every time. LReference to this vs. as
made by Bergaigne, Tiel. vid. iii. 12 (cf. Baunack, KZ. xxxv. 527), is hardly apt.
28. To avert the ill omen of a twinning animal.
\Brahman (pa(ufosanaya). — ydminyam. anustiibham : t . ati^akvarigarbhi 4-p . atijagatt
4. yavamadhyd virdtkakubh ; 5. tristubh ; 6. virddgarbhd prastdrapanktil^
Not found in Paipp.
Used by Kauq., in the chapter of portents, in the ceremonies of
expiation for the birth of twins from kine, mares or asses, and human beings (109.5 ;
110.4; 111.5)-
Translated: Weber, xvii. 297 ; Griffith, i. 1 22 ; Bloomfield, 145,359.
1. She herself came into being by a one-by-one creation, where the
being-makers created the kine of all forms; where the twinning [cow]
gives birth, out of season, she destroys the cattle,
The translation implies emendation of
snarling, angry.
rtiqatt at the end to rusyatl or rusati Lrather
rusyatl, so as to give a yo^a/f cadencej — which, considering the not infrequent confusion
of the sibilants, especially the palatal and lingual, in our text and its mss., and the
loss oiy after a sibilant, is naturally suggested l_cf. iv. 16. 6b J. The comm. makes a yet
easier thing of taking rti(ail from a root ru( ' injure,' but we have no such root. Some
of our mss. (P.M.W.E.) read esam in a, and two (P.O.) have sfstva.* The comm.
understands srstis with esa in a, and explains ekdikaya by ekaika^iyaktyd. Perhaps we
should emend to dkal'kayd ' one [creature] by one [act of] creation ' ^and reject esal,
as the meter demandsj.
See Weber's notes for the comparison of popular views as to
the birth of twins, more generally regarded as of good omen. The Anukr. apparently
counts ii|_i3 ?J-f 15 : 12-1-12 = 50 L52 ?J
syllables ; €\X\ie.x bhiitakftas or viqvdrupds