Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 43 (44)

1499922Atharva-Veda SamhitaBook VII, Hymn 43 (44)William Dwight Whitney

43 (44). Of speech (?).

[Praskaṇva.—vāgdevatyam. trāiṣṭubham.]

Not found in Pāipp., nor elsewhere. Used in Kāuç. (46. 1), with v. 1. 7, in a rite against false accusation; the details cast no light on the meaning of the verse.

Translated: Henry, 15, 72; Griffith, i. 346.


1. Propitious to thee [are] some; unpropitious to thee [are] some; all thou bearest, with well-willing mind. Three voices (vā́c) [are] deposited within him (it?); of these, one flew away after sound (ghóṣa).

A mystical saying, of very doubtful interpretation; the comm. gives a long and worthless exposition. The 'some' and 'all' in a, b are feminine, like vāc; the 'thou' is masculine; the comm. (after Kāuç.) understands it of a 'man causelessly reproached.' Henry imagines the thunder to be intended, asmin signifying Parjanya, and renders d "one of them has gone to pieces with no other result than sound: i.e., without rain."