Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XIX/Hymn 46

46. With and to an amulet called ástṛta 'unsubdued.'

[Prajāpati.—saptakam. astṛtamaṇidāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. 5-p. madhyejyotiṣmatī triṣṭubh; 2. 6-p. bhurik çakvarī; 3. 7. 5-p. pathyāpan̄kti; 4. 4-p*; 5. 5-p. atijagatī; 6. 6-p. uṣṇiggarbhā virāḍ jagatī.] *⌊The Anukr. says: indrāya tvā (vs. 4) catuṣpadā: asmin maṇāv (vs. 5); iti pañcapadā jagatī (Berlin ms., atijagatī): most unsatisfactory; and why should vs. 4 be defined as 4-p.?⌋

Found also in Pāipp. iv. (in the verse-order 1, 2, 6, 5, 3, 4, 7). Used, according to the comm., by one desiring strength, in a mahāçānti ceremony called mārudgaṇī, with a threefold amulet named astṛta, being so prescribed by Nakṣ.K. 19.

Translated: Ludwig, p. 462; Griffith, ii. 302.—See also Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 165.

1. Prajāpati bound thee first [as] unsubdued (ástṛta), in order to heroism; it do I bind for thee in order to life-time, to splendor, and to force and to strength: let the unsubdued one defend thee.

Astṛta is literally 'not laid low.' In the two occurrences above (i. 20. 4: v. 9. 7) it is accented on the final; but, as ástṛta would be the normal accent, it is left here unchanged in our text, as well as in SPP's. The pada-texts read in a badhnāt, but that is no reason why we should not understand it as abadhnāt, and our text (not SPP's) so prints it. Our text further emends at the beginning of c the tát of the mss. to táṁ, as required by the gender of astṛtas. The omission of badhnāt in a, and of várcase in the second half-verse, would make an anuṣṭubh (apart from the refrain); but the meter throughout the hymn is unusually careless of regularity, and Ppp. has both words, reading in a, b badhnātu prathama saṁbhṛtaṁ, and in d, e combining varcaso ’jase and ca astṛtas. ⌊With c, d, cf. iv. 10. 7 c, d.⌋

2. Standing upright, defend thou this man unremittingly, O unsubdued one; let not the Paṇis, the sorcerers, damage thee; as Indra the barbarians, [so] do thou shake down them that fight [us]; overpower and scatter (ví) all our rivals: let the unsubdued one defend thee.

All the mss. ⌊with unimportant variants⌋ read in a tiṣṭhanta; SPP. emends to tiṣṭhatu, because the comm. reads the latter; our tíṣṭhan suits the connection decidedly better. ⌊The vocative astṛta and the tvā are⌋ perhaps sufficient reasons for our altering the rákṣann of the mss. (also of the comm. and Ppp.) into rakṣa, and the translation follows ⌊the printed text of Berlin⌋. To humor his tiṣṭhatu, SPP. changes the following ástṛta (mss. ástṛte ’mám; p. ástṛta: imám) to ástṛtas ⌊but only in the pada-text, so that his saṁhitā does not agree therewith⌋; our text simply emends to astṛta ⌊accentless⌋; the comm. also regards the word as vocative. Ppp. has instead saṁbhṛta, ⌊and, if I understand Roth's Collation, combines it with a following corrupt imanu, so as to read saṁbhṛte ’manu⌋; and, in c, Ppp. has indrī ’va. The majority of mss. accent pṛtanyátas. The Anukr. apparently means us to scan thus: 11 + 4 + 11: 15 + 8 + 8 = 57.

3. Whom even a hundred, hurling (pra-hṛ), smiting down, have not subdued (stṛ), to him Indra committed sight, breath, also strength: let the unsubdued one defend thee.

In a, the pada-mss. wrongly divide ca: ná, and SPP. follows them. In b, about a third of SPP's authorities read vighnántas; Ppp. has bhijanto. The yám that follows it is our emendation, plainly suggested by the meter, the requirement of the sense, and the accent of the verb; but the comm. and Ppp. agree with the mss. in lacking it. At the end of b our tastriré is an emendation (now supported by Ppp., which has the same reading) for the tastiré of the mss. (one or two have tasthiré), the comm. ⌊but the ms. has nirastire⌋, and SPP.; the comm. explains it as = tastarire, with Vedic omission of part of the ending: this is of his usual degree of insight; what SPP. would do with his tastiré is hard to see; the emendation to tastriré is obvious and unquestionable. For tásmin in c Ppp. gives yasmin. The mss. in general read páryadanta (p. pári: adanta), but two or three of ours, with the comm's text (SPP.), -ntaḥ cá-; our emendation to páry adatta, now ratified by Ppp., is accepted by SPP. The comm's explanation implies pari yad antaç ca-; and he takes the yat as a form of root i (pari yat paryagamayat paripūritavān)! With the insertion of yám in b, the verse is a good pan̄kti, as defined by the Anukr.

4. With Indra's defense (várman) we surround thee, who became over-king of the gods; let all the gods lead thee forward again; let the unsubdued one defend thee.

A part of the verse ⌊pāda b, it would seem?⌋ has fallen out in Ppp.; ⌊this has dhāmāi for dhāpayāmo⌋. The meter is insufficiently defined by the Anukr. (13 + 11: 11 + 8 = 43): ⌊see introduction, above⌋.

5. In this amulet [are] a hundred and one heroisms; a thousand breaths in this unsubdued one; a tiger, do thou attack (abhi-sthā) all [our] rivals; whoso shall fight against thee, be he inferior (ádhara): let the unsubdued one defend thee.

SPP. reads in b asmin; our asmín is given by a small minority of the mss.; the majority have ásmin, some asmin, one asmìn. ⌊The vs. (11 + 10: 11 + 11 + 8 = 51) is a triṣṭubh (defective in b), with the refrain added: see introd.⌋

6. Snatched out of ghee, rich in honey, rich in milk, thousand-breathed, hundred-wombed (? -yóni), vigor-imparting, both wealful and delightful, both rich in refreshment and rich in milk—let the unsubdued one defend thee.

⌊We had a at 33. 2 a, above: cf. v. 28. 14.⌋ Ppp. reads at the beginning ullabdhas; one or two of SPP's mss. have dúrluptas ⌊cf. note to xviii. 2. 3⌋, úrluptas. In b, all the authorities (save one or two) give sahásram prāṇás or sahásra prāṇáḥ (p. sahásram: prāṇáḥ);* but the comm. implies (perhaps only by his usual neglect of accent) sahásraprāṇas, and SPP. reports one of his mss. as giving the same; and he accordingly follows us in adopting it; Ppp. reads with the mss. ⌊sahasraṁ prāṇáḥ⌋. The comm. gives an extraordinary explanation of -yoni in b: yoniçabdena çatrusaṁgamananimittaṁ çatruviyojanasādhanaṁ vā balaṁ vivakṣyate: that is, without any regard to the established meanings of yoni, he takes it here as a mere representative of the radical sense of the root yu 'unite' or of the root yu 'separate'—he does not venture to decide which! The metrical description of the Anukr. is fairly correct (11 + 12: 7 + 8 + 8 = 46). *⌊These corruptions of the true sahásraprāṇas are noteworthy as examples of faulty half-way assimilation of a reading to something similar in the immediate context: here the cause of the confusion is plainly the sahásram prāṇā́ḥ of vs. 5 b.⌋

7. That thou mayest be superior, free from rivals, rival-slaying—mayest be controler of thy fellows—so may Savitar make thee: let the unsubdued one defend thee.

The mss., and SPP., read in a uttarás (p. ut॰taráḥ); our text makes the necessary emendation to úttaras. In c, the same read asat; we emended to asas, and ought to have gone a step further and accented ásas, since the following táthā shows that the three preceding pādas are all alike under the government of yáthā; Ppp. has in c, with us, asas. Ppp. further combines ‘so ‘sapatnaḥ in a-b, and reads tvā abhi in e.