Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/430

xviii. 4-

55. As the five clans (mānavá) scattered (vap) a dwelling (harmyá) for Yama, so do I scatter a dwelling, that there may be many of me (?).

A corresponding verse is found in TA. (in vi. 6. 2); it reads hārmyám in a and c, and evám in c; and for d yáthā́ ’sāma jīvaloké bhū́rayas, which, however unmetrical, is at least capable of being translated, while this can hardly be claimed for our d. All the mss. read at the end ásatas, save one of SPP's, which follows the comm. in giving ásata, as is read in both editions—in ours, purely as an emendation. The comm. makes no difficulty of taking ásata as = syāta, and explaining "that ye my relatives may be numerous"; but that would be ásatha; and ásata has no grammatical standing of any kind, and hence is to be rejected. The comparison with TA. at least shows that the pāda is corrupt. The comm. foolishly divides evā́vapāmi in c into eva āvapāmi. Three of our pada—mss. (not Op.) most absurdly divide áva-pan in b; it is strange that SPP. reports nothing of the kind from his authorities. By Kāuç. (86. 11) the verse is used next after 2. 50 etc., with the direction iti saṁçritya ('on finishing the pile'?); the comm. says that with it they are to divide (kuṭṭay) leftwise, with sticks or bricks, the part of the cemetery on which the pile stood: in TA. it accompanies the "placing in the jar [of relics] the drugs called sarvāuṣadhi" (hence, perhaps, the use of vap in the verse, as they are strewn in); ⌊but cf. Caland, Todtengebräuche, p. 149⌋.

⌊On saṁçritya (?) and kuṭṭayeyus.—Kāuç. 86. 10 reads: idam id vā u na (xviii. 2. 50) upa sarpa (3. 49) asāu hā (4 .66) iti cinvanti. Sūtra 11 continues: yathā yamāya (4. 55) iti saṁçritya. Upon 10, Keç. says: çilābhir (? çalākābhir?) viṣamābhir iṣṭakābhir vā prasavyaṁ cinvanti çmaçānam. And the AV. comm., in giving the ritual for 2. 50 (p. 115) and 3. 49 (p. 161) and 4. 66 (p. 233), says: çmaçānadeçaṁ viṣamasaṁkhyākābhiḥ çalākābhir iṣṭakābhir vā prasavyaṁ cinuyāt, using the very same words in all three passages, save that he leaves out the second word in the second passage. Then, for 4. 55 (p. 224) he says: çalākābhir iṣṭakābhir vā prasavyaṁ citaṁ çmaçānapradeçam kuṭṭayeyuḥ.—In all these passages, çmaçāna or çmaçāna-deça or -pradeça must mean the mound which they heap (ci) over the buried bones: cf. ÇB. xiii. 8. 1$1$ athā ’smāi çmaçānaṁ kurvanti, gṛhān vā prajñānaṁ vā ('or as a monument'), and Harisvāmin's comment, p. 1017$15$, çmaçānam prasiddham asthi-saṁrakṣa-vāstu; the mound is, as with us, not quite knee-high, ÇB. xiii. 8. 3$12$, adhojānu.—The meaning of our comm. on 4. 55, accordingly, seems to be: 'after the mound has been heaped up