Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/172

i. 1- it perhaps refers to the sounds or syllables of which this is made up. If, on the other hand, çruta (as in vi. 41. 1) means 'sense of hearing,' the triṣaptās may be the healthy hearers, old and young (so R.). R. prefers to regard tanvàs as gen. sing.: tanvò me = 'to me'; the comm. does the same; Weber understands accus. pl. Read in our edition bálā (an accent-sign dropped out under -lā).

As an example of the wisdom of the comm., it may be mentioned that he spends a full quarto page and more on the explanation of triṣaptās. First, he conjectures that it may mean 'three or seven'; as the three worlds, the three guṇas, the three highest gods; or, the seven seers, the seven planets, the seven troops of Maruts, the seven worlds, the seven meters, or the like. Secondly, it may mean 'three sevens,' as seven suns (for which is quoted TA. i. 7. 1) and seven priests and seven Adityas (TA. i. 13. 3; RV. ix. 114. 3), or seven rivers and seven worlds and seven quarters (TB. ii. 8. 3$8$), or seven planets and seven seers and seven Marut-troops. Thirdly, it may signify simply thrice seven or twenty-one, as twelve months + five seasons + three worlds + one sun (TS. vii. 3. 105), or five mahābhūtas + five breaths + five jñānendriyas + five karmendriyas + one antaḥkaraṇa. At any rate, they are gods, who are to render aid. ⌊Discussed by Whitney, Festgruss an Roth, p. 94.⌋

2. Come again, lord of speech, together with divine mind; lord of good, make [it] stay (ni-ram); in me, in myself be what is heard.

3. Just here stretch thou on, as it were the two tips of the bow with the bow-string; let the lord of speech make fast (ni-yam); in me, in myself, be what is heard.

4. Called on is the lord of speech; on us let the lord of speech call; may we be united with (sam-gam) what is heard; let me not be parted with what is heard.

The hymn is not found in the Pāipp. ms., but may have been among the contents of the missing first leaf. In the quotations of the Kāuç. it is not distinguishable from the following hymn; but the comm. is doubtless right in regarding it as intended at 14. 7,