Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/152

x. 10- gárbhas understood. The accent of āhús indicates that hí belongs with it, and not with sasū́va. The name vaçā́ used for the cow throughout the hymn implies non-pregnancy. Ppp. reads at the end brahmaṇā kḷpta ⌊R's Collation spells it klipta⌋ uta bandhur asyāt. ⌊The verse may be counted as 36 syllables; but the nearest approach to a natural scansion would seem to be 8 + 8: 11 (taām) + 11.⌋ ⌊I will not attempt to revise W's treatment of this verse. Griffith and the other translators may be consulted.⌋

24. One combines (sam-sṛj) the fighters who alone is in control (vaçín) of her; the sacrifices became energies (? táras); the cow became the eye of energies.

25. The cow accepted the sacrifice; the cow sustained the sun; within the cow entered the rice-dish together with the priest (brahmán).

26. The cow they call immortality (amṛ́ta); the cow they worship (upa-ās) as death; the cow became this all—gods, men, Asuras, Fathers, seers.

27. Whoso knoweth thus, he may accept the cow; for so doth the all-footed sacrifice yield milk (duh) to the giver, unresisting.

28. Three tongues glisten (dīdī) within the mouth of Varuṇa; of these, the one that shines (rāj) in the middle is the cow, hard of acceptance.

29. The seed of the cow was quartered: the waters a quarter, the amṛ́ta a quarter, the sacrifice a quarter, the domestic animals a quarter.

30. The cow [is] the sky, the cow the earth, the cow Vishṇu, Prajāpati; the yield (dugdhá) of the cow did the Perfectibles (sādhyá) and they who are Vasus drink.

31. Having drunk the yield of the cow, the Perfectibles and they who are Vasus—they verily worship the milk (páyas) of her at the summit of the ruddy one.

32. Some milk her for soma; some worship ghee; they who gave the cow to the one knowing thus are gone to the triple heaven of the heaven.

33. Having given the cow to the Brahmans, one attains all worlds; for righteousness is set in her, also bráhman, likewise penance.