Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/435

265 11. Indra is overlord of heaven; let him favor etc. etc.

12. The father of the Maruts is overlord of cattle; let him favor etc. etc.

13. Death is overlord of creatures (prajā́); let him favor etc. etc.

14. Yama is overlord of the Fathers; let him etc. etc.

15. The upper (pára) Fathers—let them favor etc. etc.

16. The lower (ávara) Fathers (tatá)—let them favor etc. etc.

17. The Fathers (tatá), the grandfathers (tatāmahá)—let them favor etc. etc.

1. Brought together from the cloud (? párvata), from the womb (yóni) of the sky, from every member, let the virile organ, seed-placer of the embryo, set (ā-dhā) [it] like the feather on the shaft.

Or 'from the sky [as] womb.' That which is 'brought together' is the thing (seed) to be 'deposited.' The translation of d implies emendation to çárāu; Weber conjectures tsarāu. The insertion of the feather in the arrow-shaft is elsewhere also the subject of comparison as a work of effective skill; cf. RV. x. 18. 14 b. The verse is