Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/454

xix. 8-

3. Be it for me well at sunset (?), well in early morning, well at evening, well by day; be it for me well with beasts, well with birds; with easy invocation, O Agni, having gone with well-being to a mortal, come thou again enjoying.

4. Detraction, evil gossip, reproach, sneezing about (?)—them, O Savitar, drive (suva) away for me empty-handed (?), with all.

The translation implies the text of the mss., which is also read by SPP., in the second half-verse: sárvāir me riktakuinbhā́n párā ⌊most mss. parā or yarā⌋ tā́nt savitaḥ suva; we might alter sárvāis to sarvátas, so as to fill out the meter and give a much better sense; the comm. understands it to mean "allied with all the deities of the asterisms"; riktakumbha he simply glosses with çūnyakalaça, adding no further explanation; the Pet. Lexx. conjecture "perhaps idle talk (lit. emptypottedness)"; the translation implies their going away 'with empty vessels'—that is, carrying off no result or advantage. The comm. explains anuhavá as a calling out ⌊inauspiciously⌋ to a person from behind, and parihavá as the same from both sides; parivādá is "harsh talk" (paruṣabhāṣaṇa); parikṣavá is ⌊alternatively⌋ sarvataḥ kṣutam. Some of the mss. read parichavám in b ⌊cf. note* and vs. 5⌋. Ppp. has for b parīvādaṁ parikṣayam; and for c, d, savyāimaviriktakumbhyāṁ parā tāṁ savitus savaḥ. The comm. appears to read suvaḥ at the end, but glosses it with parākuru, as if suva.

⌊The AV. comm. begins his remarks on this vs. virtually as follows: If a man sets out on business under a lucky asterism, and some one from behind him calls his name or does something of that sort [probably scolding, sneezing, and coughing are meant], those things are of ill-omen as tending to thwart the business in hand; and this verse contains a prayer for warding off the ill effects of those omens. (In this connection, we may note the cries and slaps by which the woodpecker deters the hunter just as he sets out, Jātaka, ii. 153$22$, 154$3$.)—It almost seems as if our comm. were acquainted with ĀpGS. 9. 2, which prescribes an expiation in case some one sneezes or coughs near one who is setting out on business: arthaprādhvasya parikṣave parikāsane cāpa upaspṛçyo ’ttare yathālin̄gaṁ japet (cf. ed. of Wintemitz, p. 12 and p. 61). Wintemitz,