Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book I/Hymn 25

25. Against fever (takmán).

[Bhṛgvan̄giras.—yakṣmanāçanānidāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 2, 3. virāḍgarbhā; 4. puro 'nuṣṭubh.]

Found in Pāipp. i. Used by Kāuç. in a remedial rite (26. 25) against fever, in connection with heating an ax and dipping it in hot water to make a lotion; and reckoned (26. 1, note) to the takmanāçana gaṇa.

Translated: Weber, iv. 419; Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 384-6, 403, 406; Ludwig, p. 511; Zimmer, p. 384 and 381; Griffith, i. 29; Bloomfield, 3, 270; Henry, Journal Asiatique, 9. x. 512.—Cf. Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 136.

1. As Agni, entering, burned the waters, where the maintainers of duty (dhárma-) paid acts of homage, there they declare to be thy highest birth-place; then do thou, O fever (takmán), complaisant, avoid us.

The comm. explains pāda a in accordance with the ceremonial act founded on its mechanical interpretation; c ⌊cf. RV. i. 163. 4 d⌋ shows that it is part of the heavenly waters that is intended. Saṁvidvān (occurring nowhere else) he renders "fully knowing thy cause, the fire (or Agni)": the translation takes it as equivalent to the not uncommon saṁvidāna. Adahat he quietly turns into a future: "shall burn thee, O fever"! Ppp. reads aduhat instead, and in c combines to tā "huḥ. ⌊Cf. Grohmann's interpretation. l.c., 403, 404.⌋

2. If thou art flame (arcís) or if heat (çocís), or if thy birth-place seeks the shavings (?), hrū́ḍu by name art thou, O god of the yellow one; then do thou, O fever, complaisant, avoid us.

The pada-reading çakalya॰eṣí in b is assured by Prāt. iii. 52, but the meaning is extremely obscure. Ppp. has the better reading çākalyeṣu 'among the shavings'; janitram rather requires a locative. The comm. guesses it as loc. of çakalyeṣ, from çakalya explained as a "heap of shavings," and root iṣ 'seek,' and so an epithet of fire; BR. conjecture "following the shaving, i.e: glimmering." Ppp. reads in a dhūmas for çocis. The name at the beginning of c is of quite uncertain form; the ms. readings are hrūḍu, hrūdru, hruḍu, hūḍu, rūḍu, hrudbhu, hruḍu, rūḍhu ⌊hrūḍhu⌋; SPP. adopts in his text the same form as we, and, it is to be hoped, on the authority of his oral reciters, which in such a case must be better than mss.; Ppp. has (in both verses) huḍu, which is a word occurring also elsewhere, and meaning "ram"; the comm. reads rūḍhu, explaining it as = rohaka or puruṣaçarīre utpādaka 'producing in the human body.' ⌊Henry, Journal Asiatique, 9. x. 513, suggests that the problematic word may be connected with the Assyrian ḥuraçu and the Hebrew ḥarūç, and so go back to a proto-Semitic *ḥarūḍu, 'gold.'⌋. Halévy, however. l.c., 9. xi. 320 ff., suggests that it may be rather a Sanskritization of χλωρός, 'greenish-yellow,' and compares the relations of vāiḍūrya, Prākrit veḷurya (veruliya) βηρύλλιον. Cf. further, Barth, Revue de l'histoire des religions, xxxix. 26.⌋

3. If heating (çoká) or if scorching (abhiçoká), or if thou art son of king Varuṇa, hrúḍu by name etc. etc.

Ppp. has for b the more sensible version rudrasya prāṇo yadi vāruṇo (vā 'ruṇo?) 'si.

4. Homage to the cold fever, homage I pay to the fierce (rūrá) heat (çocís); to the one that befalls on every other day, on both days, to the third-day fever be homage.

Ppp. reads in b durāya kṛṇvā vayaṁ te, and in c ubhayebhyaç ca hatas. The compound ubhayadyus is noticed in Prāt. iv. 21. ⌊As for rhythmical fevers—tertian, quartan, etc., see Grohmann, l.c., 387, 3S8.⌋