Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/474

vi. 31- {{smaller block|hūyate. Ppp. reads -gāya su çriyat. In c, RV. (etc.) reads áha, particle, for áhas, and the comm. does the same; TS. gives, for the whole pāda, práty asya vaha dyúbhiḥ; while MS. substitutes our 2 c, in its RV. version, having given its wholly independent version of this as 2 c (see above); Ppp. has at end divi. In a, MS. reads triṅçáddhāmā, as compound; the other texts (and three of SPP's authorities) have triṅçád dhā́ma (the pada-reading is dhā́ma). Both TS. and MS., it may be added, put vs. 3 before 2.

With this hymn ends the third anuvāka, of 11 hymns and 33 verses; the extracted item of Anukr. is simply tṛtīya (see end of the next anuvāka).{{smaller block/e}}

{{c|'''32. Against demons.'''}}

{{smaller block|{{c|[''1, 2. Cātana; 3. Atharvan.—agnidāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. prastārapan̄kti.'']}}

The first two verses found also in Pāipp. xix.* Kāuç. has the hymn (or vss. 1, 2) in a remedial rite against demons (31. 3); the fire is circumambulated three times, and a cake is offered; and it is reckoned (note to 8. 25) to the cātana gaṇa. Verse 3 is by itself reckoned (note to 16. 8) to the abhaya gaṇa, and also (note to 25. 36) to the svastyayana gaṇa. *⌊Ppp. then has a third verse, whose a {{=}} vi. 40. 1 a, and whose b is corrupt. Roth's note seems incomplete.⌋

Translated: Florenz, 291 or 43; Griffith, i. 262; Bloomfield, 36, 475.}}

1. Within the flame, pray, make ye this sorcerer-destroying libation with ghee; from afar, O Agni, do thou burn against the demons; mayest thou not be hot toward our houses.

{{smaller block|Our mss. (so far as noted) and nearly all SPP's, accent juhutā́ in a; but his text, as well as ours, emends to juhutā. The comm. understands at the beginning antar dāve as two separate words; and that is a preferable, and probably the true, reading. The gen. in d is peculiar; we should expect with it tītapāti, in impers. sense: 'may there be no sickness befalling our houses.' Ppp. reads ghṛhaṁ naḥ at end of b; and, for d, mā ’smākaṁ vasū ’pa tītipanthā. The verse (10 + 10: 12 + 11 {{=}} 43) is ill-defined as a mere triṣṭubh.}}

2. Rudra hath crushed (çṛ) your necks, O piçācás; let him crush in (api-çṛ) your ribs, O sorcerers; the plant of universal power hath made you go to Yama.

{{smaller block|A few of SPP's authorities (also the Anukr., in citing the verse) read açarīt in a. Some of our mss. accent piçācā́ḥ at end of a (P.M.I.p.m.), and yātudhānā́ḥ (P.M.I.); all the pada-mss. absurdly have viçvátaḥ॰vīryāḥ at end of c. Ppp. has, for a, b, çarvo vo grīvāy açarīṣ piçācā vo ’pa çṛṇāty agniḥ and in d it gives mṛtyunā for yamena. ⌊The "verbal forms with suspicious āi" in the AV. (çarāis etc., asaparyāit: cf . Gram. §§555 c, 904 b, 1068 a) have been treated by Bloomfield, ZDMG. xlviii. 574 ff., and Böhtlingk, ibidem, liv. 510 ff. Cf. also note to xviii. 3. 40.⌋}}

3. Fearlessness, O Mitra-and-Varuṇa, be ours here; drive ye backward the devourers with your gleam; let them not find a knower, nor a foundation (pratiṣṭhā́); mutually destroying one another let them go unto death.

{{smaller block|The verse occurs also in AGS. (iii. 10. 11), which has, in a, b, -ṇā mahyam astv arciṣā çatrūn dahatam pratītya; in c, vindantu; in d, bhindānās. The latter half-verse is found again as viii. 8. 21 c, d. Pāda a has a redundant syllable unheeded by the Anukr.}}