Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

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iv. 15- BOOK IV. THE ATHARVA-VEDA-SAKIHITA. 1 76
there be lightnings ; let the wind blow ; let them extend the sacrifice,
being manifoldly let loose; let the herbs become full of delight.
Ppp. reads mahantam at beginning of a, and visrstam at end of c. The first pada
is nearly RV. v. 83. 8 a, wliich, liowever, reads ud aca n( sinca. Our P.M.W. read
tanvAntam in c. The comm., doubtless correctly, understands the waters as the
"them" of c; ud aca he explains as samudrad udakaptirnam uddhara; he supplies
antariksam to savidyutam ; the expression is better understood as an impersonal one.
|_With b, d, cf. RV. V. 83. 4 a, b.J
Here ends the third anuvaka, having 5 hymns and 51 verses; the quoted Anukr.
says ekavin^aiih.
16. The power of the gods.
[Brahman. — navarcam. satydnrtdnvtksanasuktam. vdrunam. trdisiubham : i. anustubh ;
J. bhurij ; y.jagati; 8. j-p. mahdbrhati ; 9. virdnndmatripddgdyatrT^
Five verses of this hymn (in the verse-order 3, 2, 5, 8, 7) are found together in
Paipp. v., and parts of vss. 4 and 6 elsewhere in the same book. It is used by
Kau^. (48. 7) in a rite of sorcery against an enemy who " comes cursing " and vs. ; 3
also in the portent-ceremony of the seven seers (127. 3), with praise to Varuna.
By reason of the exceptional character of this hymn as expression of the unrestricted
presence and influence of superhuman powers, it has been a favorite subject of trans-
Miiller, Chips
lation and discussion. Translated : Roth, Ueber den A V., p. 29 ; Max
from a German Workshop, \. \\ (1867); Muir, OST. v. 63 ;
Ludwig, p. 388 ;
Muir,
Metrical Translations, p. 163 ; Kaegi, Der Rigveda ', p 89 f. (or p. 65 f. of R. Arrowsmith's
translation of Kaegi), with abundant parallels from the Old Testament;
Grill, 32, 126; Griffith, i. 153; Bloomfield, 88,389; Weber, xviii.66. Some of the
above do not cover the entire hymn. — See also Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie,
p. 38; Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 146; further, Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 406;
Hermann Brunnhofer, Iran und Turan (1889), p. 188-196 ; Weber, Berliner Sb., 1894,
p. 782 f.
LWeber entitles the hymn " Betheuerung der Unschuld, Eidesleistung"; see his
instructive note, Ind. Stud, xviii. 66, note 2. " Comes cursing " hardly takes account
of the voice of ^apyamanam as used by Kaug. 48. 7. J
I. The great superintendent of them sees, as it were, from close by;
whoever thinks to be going on in secret, all this the gods know.
The verse is altogether wanting in Ppp. All the mss. read in a-b -ta ant- (p. -ta :
ant-), with irregular absence of combination across the cesura ; the case might be one
of those contemplated by Prat. iii. 34, although not quoted in the comment on that rule ;
SPP. reads with the mss., and our edition might perhaps better have done the same
(it is emended to -ta 'nt-). But SPP. also reads in cyds taydt, instead oiyd (i.t.ydh)
staydt*, while nearly all his pada-mss. (with all of ours) require the latter ; his wholly
insufficient reason seems to be that the comra. adopts tdyat; the comm. also has, as
part of the same version, carat, and views the two words as contrasted, " stable
(samtatyena vartamdnam sthiravastu) and " transient " (carana(ilam na^varam ca
vastu), which is absurd "
: he is great, because he knows (manyate=jdnati.') all varieties
of being." The comm. understands esdm as meaning " of our evil-minded enemies,"
and keeps up the implication throughout, showing no manner of comprehension of the
meaning of the hymn.
*|_See Prat. ii. 40, note, p. 426 near end. J