Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/64

ix. 1- and at Kāuç. 139. 15 it is prescribed to be used, with many others, in the ceremony of initiation of a Vedic student. The verses are not metrical, though the Anukr. calls them anuṣṭubh (as having 31 and 32 syllables). In 12 a the accent-mark under ye has dropped out.

14. May I generate honey; may I win honey; rich in milk, O Agni, have I come; unite me here with splendor.

15. Unite me, O Agni, with splendor, with progeny, with life-time; may the gods know me as such; may Indra know, together with the seers.

16. As the honey-makers bring together honey upon honey, so, O Açvins, let splendor be maintained in my self.

17. As the flies (mákṣā) smear down here honey upon honey, so, O Açvins, let my splendor, brilliancy, strength, and force be maintained.

18. What honey on hills (girí), on mountains, what in kine, in horses, in strong drink (súrā) as poured out, what honey [is] there, [be] that in me.

19. O ye Açvins, lords of beauty! anoint me with the honey of bees (sāraghá), that I may speak splendid words among the people.

20. Thunder [is] thy voice, O Prajāpati; a bull, thou castest vehemence on the earth, on the sky; upon that live all cattle; with this it lavishes (pṛ) food (íṣ) [and] refreshment.

The first half-verse is the same with 10 a, b, saving diví for ádhi at the end. 'That' in c is fem. (tā́m), and might refer either to 'voice' or to 'earth'; 'this' is masc. (or neut., téna), and might refer either to 'vehemence' or to 'sky'; while 'it' is again fem. The obscurity of the verse baffles interpretation. The Pet. Lex. suggests 'seed' as a possible rendering of çúṣma ('vehemence'). The metrical description of the