Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

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iv. lO- BOOK IV. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAlClHITA. 162
out of the ocean — by the shell having slain the demons, we overpower
the devourers.
Ppp. combines in a. yo 'grata r-. Grill takes agratas as " first"; and the comm. as-
= agre, and not qualifying jajtlise : " at the top or front of shining things, such as stars."
3. By the shell [we overpower] disease, misery ; by the shell also the
saddnvas; let the all-healing shell, of pearl, protect us from distress.
Ppp. has in a avadyatn instead of dmatiin. The comm. takes dmatim from root
man Lsee BR's note, s.v. 3 dmati \: "ignorance, the root of all mishap (anarthay';
and, forgetting his explanation of only two verses ago, he this time declares kr^ana a
" name of gold."
4. Born in the sky, ocean-born, brought hither out of the river, this
gold-born shell [is]
for us a life-prolonging amulet.
Ppp. has samudratas at end of a, and in c again (as in i c) hiranyadas. Nearly all
our mss. (except O.K.), and some of SPP's, with the coram., read in d ayuhpr- Lcf. Prat,
ii. 62 n.J; but the point is one in regard to which each ms. is wont to follow its own course,
regardless of rule, and both editions very properly give ayuspr-, as required by the Prat.
5. The amulet born from the ocean, born from Vrtra, making day —
let it protect us on all sides from the missile of gods and Asuras.
The comm. makes Vrtra here signify either the demon Vrtra or the cloud ; doubtless
the latter is intended ; then he explains divakara as the sun, and jdia as " released,"
and renders " as brilliant as the sun freed from the clouds," which is extremely artificial
divakara need mean no more than 'flashing with light.' The comm. also foolishly
understands in d heiya instead of -as (p. hetyah). \_Dev-, ablative by attraction, from
gen. — cf. Skt. Gram. §982 a. J The first pada is deficient by a syllable, unless we
resolve samiidrat into four syllables.
6. One of the golds art thou ; out of soma wast thou born ; thou art
conspicuous on the chariot, lustrous (rocand) on the quiver thou.
prolong our lives
May it
The last pada, which occurs in four other places (ii.4. 6 etc.), looks like a late addition
here; as elsewhere, some of the mss. (five of SPP's) read tarsal. Except our
Op., all
the pada-xms,. blunderingly resolve simatvdm (as it would be permissibly and
customarily read by abbreviation : see Whitney, Skt. Gr. § 232) into sdmd : tvdrit
instead of sdmdt: tvdmj the comm. understands sdmSt, and both editions give the full
reading. Here one is strongly tempted to translate soma by " moon," and the comm.
takes it so {amrtamayat somamandaldt) ; but Ppp. discourages it by reading sa hosad
(for -mddf) adhi. The comm. glosses rocana by rocamana dlpyamana. For c, Ppphas
rathesu darqatatn.
7. The gods' bone became pearl ; that goes about within the waters,
possessing soul ; that do I bind on thee in order to life-time, splendor,
strength, to length of life for a hundred autumns:' let [the amulet] of
pearl defend thee.
Karqands in e, though read by all our mss. and nearly all of SPP's, is hardly to be
tolerated ; we should have either kfqanas, as above, or karqanas, which the comm.