Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/208

ii. 1- VS. (xxxii. 8) and TA. (x. 1. 3) have the first half-verse: VS. reads in a paçyan níhitaṁ gúhā sád, and TA. páçyan víçvā bhúvanāni vidvā́n; both have ékanīḍam at end of b. The pratīka is quoted in ÇÇS. xv. 3. 8, with the addition iti pañca, apparently referring to this hymn. Ppp. has padam for guhā in a, ekanaḍam in b, dhenur for pṛçnis in c (with -nās at the end), and, for d, svarvido 'bhyanuktir virāṭ. The phrase abhy ànūṣata vrā́ḥ occurs also in RV. iv. 1. 16 d; Pischel (Ved. Stud. ii. 121 ⌊and 321⌋) takes vrā́s to mean "women"; the comm. etymologizes it as āvṛtātmānaḥ prajāḥ. ⌊Cf. RV. x. 123. 2.⌋

2. May the Gandharva, knowing of the immortal, proclaim that highest abode that is in secret; three quarters (padá) of it [are] deposited in secret; whoso knoweth them, he shall be the father's father.

3. He, of us the father, the generator, and he the connection (bándhu), knoweth the abodes, the beings all; who of the gods is the sole nomenclator, of him all beings come to inquire.

4. About heaven-and-earth at once I went; I approached (upa-sthā) the first-born of righteousness (ṛtá), abiding in beings as speech in the speaker; eager (?) is he; is he not Agni (fire)?

Of this verse, only the first pāda is found in VS. (xxxii. 12 a) and TA. (x. i. 4), VS. reading itvā́ for āyam, and TA. having at the end yanti sadyáḥ. Ppp. has for first half pari viçvā bhuvanāny āyam upācaṣṭe prathamajā ṛtasya, and for d dhāsraṁ neṣaṇa tveṣo agniḥ. The accus. vā́cam in c suggests emendation to -ṣṭhā́m, in apposition with prathamajā́m; but then the comm. agrees with Ppp. in reading instead -jās,