Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/467

923

1. Freedom from rivals in front, behind us [is] fearlessness made; Savitar [protect] me on the south, the lord of Çachī me on the north.

2. From the sky let the Ādityas defend me; from the earth let the fires defend; let Indra-and-Agni defend me in front; let the Açvins yield (yam) refuge round about; crosswise let the inviolable [cow], let Jātavedas, defend [me]; let the being-makers be my defense (várman) on all sides.

In e the mss. all read tiraçcī́naghnyā́, which the pada-text resolves into tiraçcī́n: aghnyā́, and this SPP. retains, though tiraçcī́n is not a possible word. Our emendation to -cī́nā ’ghnyā́ is a very simple one (implying -cī́nā: aghnyā́); the translation is founded on it; but a more radical alteration of the pāda would be acceptable: something like, for instance, tiryák cā ’gnī́ rakṣatu jātávedāḥ; the jātávedās leads naturally to the suspicion that agnís is somehow hidden in the ’ghnyā́; the comm. indeed reads tiraçcīn agnī r-; but he is able to regard tiraçcīn as a masc. accus., implying asmān; or else as by Vedic license for -cīs, and this for -cībhyas, implying digbhyas (!); and such assumptions are forbidden us. The pada-mss. all read rakṣantu in e.

The Anukr. in its metrical definition treats this all as one verse, and the same treatment is implied by the summation at the end of the amivāka (see p. 928); but the comm. and one of our mss. make what follows the second avasāna into a separate or