Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/158

cl ⌊We may here digress to add that, if we compare table 1 with those following, it appears, fifthly, that in book vii. are put all the hymns of the three grand divisions that contain only 1 or 2 verses; sixthly, that neither in this division, nor yet in the other two, nor even in book xix., is there a hymn of 19 verses, nor yet one of 20. From table 1, again, it appears, seventhly, that this division contains a hymn or hymns of every number of verses from 4 verses to 18 verses (mostly in books i.-v.) and from 1 verse to 3 verses (exclusively in books vi. and vii.).⌋

⌊'''Excursus on hymn xix. 23, Homage to parts of the Atharva-Veda.'''—It is worth while at this point to recall to the reader's mind this remarkable hymn in its bearing upon some of the questions as to the structure of our text: see pages 931-4, and especially ¶6 of p. 931. As our saṁhitā begins with four-versed hymns, so does xix. 23 begin with homage "to them of four verses " (p. 931, line 29), and not with homage "to them of one verse." Again, grouping all hymns of four verses or more in this division according to length, there are 15 groups (not in the least conterminous with books) each containing a hymn or hymns of every number of verses from 4 to 18, and to these 15 groups the first 15 verses of xix. 23 correspond (p. 931, line 27). Again, of the fact that books i.-xviii. contain not one hymn of 19 verses nor yet one of 20, account seems to be taken in that the form of verses 16 and 17 differs from that of the 15 preceding (p. 931, line 37). Again, as in our series the norm two is lacking, so also is lacking in xix. 23 a dvyṛcebhyaḥ svāhā (but cf. p. 931, line 28, with p. 933, line 2). Finally the verses of homage "to them of three verses" and "to them of one verse" (xix. 23. 19-20) stand in the same order relative to each other and to the verses of homage to the 15 groups as do books vi. and vii. to each other and to the books containing the hymns of more than three verses, namely books i.-v.—Cf. further pages clvii and clix.⌋

⌊We now return to the arrangement of the books within the division by norms.—The norms of books i.-vii. respectively, as the books stand in our text, are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 3, 1. From this point of view, the books fall into two groups: group X contains books i.-v., and its norms make a simple continuous ascending numerical scale beginning with four (4, 5, 6, 7, 8); group Y contains books vi. and vii., and its norms make a broken descending numerical scale beginning with three (3, 1). Here several questions arise as to group Y: first, why is its scale inverted, that is, why does not book vii. precede book vi? second, why does not group Y (and in the reversed order, vii., vi.) precede group X, so as to make the whole series begin, as is natural, with one instead of four, and run on in the text as it does in the table at p. cxliv? and, third, why is the scale broken, that