Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/46

viii. 7-

Found also in Pāipp. xvi.; ⌊but the order of vss. 3 and 4 is inverted; likewise that of vss. 6 and 7⌋. ⌊"Verses" 22-24 are prose, in Brāhmaṇa style—-Whitney's treatment of this hymn is doubtless only a rough first draft, which he would have revised thoroughly had his life been spared. The understanding of this hymn is so peculiarly dependent upon an understanding of the ritual that I have felt obliged to present the latter with exceptional fulness—without attempting, however, to revise W'ss version into entire accordance therewith.⌋

⌊Vāit. does not notice the hymn. Its principal use by Kāuç. is in the army rites of the 16th kaṇḍikā. In the previous one (15. 11), vs. 22 is used with v. 2. 6 etc. when the king mounts a new chariot. And at 73. 5, among the citations for the morning and evening oblations, is one that bears a marked resemblance to our vs. 14.⌋

⌊The text of the "army rites" (16. 9-20), cites expressly vss. 1, 2, and parts of 24, and is indeed largely made up of the names of the objects mentioned in the hymn (see below). Not only Dārila, but also Keçava (Bl., p. 314$1$), and the introd. which SPP. gives (p. 658-9) in lieu of the lost comm., all present instructive details.⌋

⌊With vs. 1, the sorcerer twirls a fire-drill (16. 9) made of açvattha and badhaka sticks (16. 11: cf. vss. 3, 4). Thereupon, while reciting the first half of vs. 2, he lays down some "old rope" (jīrṇa-rajju, Dār.: apparently to serve as tinder?) "in the place where the sparks [from the fire-drill] fall" (so Dār. and Keç.). When the smoke appears, he exorcises it with the words

This is the second half of our verse 2, with agním left out. When the flame breaks out (agniṁ jātam), he addresses it with

This is the same half-verse, with dhūmám left out. See Keç., p. 314$28 ff.$, SPP., p. 658$33 ff.$.—This now is the fire for the "army rites."⌋

⌊Upon it, with use of h. 8, is placed successively (16. 14) fuel of açvattha, badhaka, tājad-bhan̄ga ('castor-oil plant'), āhva (palāça), khadira, and çara ('reeds'). These things are all mentioned in vss. 3-4; Dārila's list (n. to 48. 1) agrees entirely with this: cf. also BI., p. xliv.—Next follows the bestrewing of the tracks of the hostile army with various symbolical objects, to wit: first (16. 15), "the fetters aforesaid" (at 14. 28) of hemp and of muñja-grass smeared with in̄giḍa; then (16. 16-17), "traps [? kū́ṭa: see n. to vs. 16] of açvattha, "hempen nets," and "stakes of badhaka." Various expressions in the hymn may be taken either as allusions to these objects or