13. For welfare and long life of an infant.
[Atharvan.—bahudevatyam utā ”gneyam. trāiṣṭubham: 4. anuṣṭubh; 5. virāḍjagatī.]
Verses 1, 4, 5 are found in Pāipp. xv. Though (as Weber points out) plainly having nothing to do with the godāna or tonsure ceremony, its verses are applied by Kāuç. to parts of that rite. Thus, it accompanies the preparations for it (53. 1) and the wetting of the youth's head (53. 13); vss. 2 and 3, the putting of a new garment on him (54. 7); vs. 4, making him stand on a stone (54. 8); vs. 5, taking away his old garment (54. 9). And the comm. quotes vss. 2 and 3 from Pariçiṣṭa 4. 1 as uttered by a purohita on handing to a king in the morning the garment he is to put on, and vs. 4 from ibid. 4, as the same throws four pebbles toward the four directions, and makes the king step upon a fifth.
Translated: Weber, xiii. 171; Zimmer, p. 322; Griffith, i. 57.
1. Giving life-time, O Agni, choosing old age; ghee-fronted, ghee-backed, O Agni—having drunk the sweet pleasant (cā́ru) ghee of the cow, do thou afterward defend (rakṣ) this [boy] as a father his sons.
The verse occurs also in various Yajur-Veda texts, as VS. (xxxv. 17), TS. (i. 3. 144 et al.), TB. (i. 2. 111), TA. (ii. 5. 1), MS. (iv. 12.4) ⌊MP. ii. 2. 1⌋, and in several Sūtras, as AÇS. (ii. 10. 4), ÇGS. (i. 25), and HGS. (i. 3. 5), with considerable variations. TS. (with which the texts of TB., TA., and AÇS. agree throughout) has in a havíṣo juṣāṇás, which is decidedly preferable to jarásaṁ vṛṇānás ⌊, which is apparently a misplaced reminiscence of RV. x. 18. 6 or AV. xii.2. 24⌋; at end of b, ghṛtáyonir edhi; and, in d, putrám for putrā́n. VS. has for a ā́yuṣmān agne havíṣā vṛdhānás, and agrees with TS. etc. in b, and also in d, save that it further substitutes imā́n for imám. MS. reads deva for agne in a, and píbann amṛ́tam for pītvā́ mádhu of c ⌊thus making a good triṣṭubh pāda⌋, and ends d with putráṁ jaráse ma e ’mám. Ppp. agrees throughout with MS., except as it emends the latter's corrupt reading at the end to jarase naye ’mam; and HGS. corresponds with Ppp. save by having gṛṇānas in a. ⌊MP. follows HGS.⌋ ÇGS. gives in a haviṣā vṛdhānas, in b agrees with TS. etc., and has in d pile ’va putram iha r-. The last pāda is jagatī.
⌊The Anukr. counts 11 + 11: 10 + 12 = 44: as if 10 + 12 were metrically the same as 11 + 11! or as if the "extra" syllable in d could offset the deficiency in c! The impossible cadence of c is curable by no less radical means than the adoption of the Ppp. reading. All this illustrates so well the woodenness of the methods of the Anukr. and its utter lack of sense of rhythm, that attention may well be called to it.⌋
2. Envelop, put ye him for us with splendor; make ye him one to die of old age; [make] long life; Brihaspati furnished (pra-yam) this garment unto king Soma for enveloping [himself].
