the pravargya rite of the agniṣṭoma; and vs. 1 appears again in the agnicayana (28. 33) accompanying the deposition of a plate of gold. And the comm. further quotes the hymn as employed by the Nakṣ. K. (18) in the brāhmī mahāçānti, and by Pariç.. 11. 1 in the tūlāpuruṣa ceremony. There is nothing at all characteristic or explanatory in any of these uses. The hymn is quite out of the usual Atharvan style, and is, as it was doubtless intended to be, very enigmatical; the comm. does not really understand it or illuminate its obscurities, but is obliged at numerous points to give alternative guesses at its meaning; and the translation offered makes no pretense of putting sense and connection into its dark sayings.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 393; Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 255; Griffith, i. 129; Weber, xviii. 2.
1. The bráhman that was first born of old (purástāt; in the east?) Vena hath unclosed from the well-shining edge (sīmatás; horizon?); he unclosed the fundamental nearest shapes (viṣṭhā́) of it, the womb (yóni) of the existent and of the non-existent.
The verse occurs in a large number of other texts: SV. (i. 321), VS. (xiii. 3), TS. (iv. 2. 82), TB. (ii. 8. 88), TA. (x. 1, vs. 42), MS. (ii. 7. 15), K. (xvi. 15 et al.), Kap. (25. 5 et al.), ÇÇS. (v. 9. 5), AÇS. (iv. 6. 3); and its pratīka in AB. (i. 19), GB. (ii. 2. 6)—and, what is very remarkable, everywhere without a variant; it is also repeated below as v. 6. 1. Vena is, even in the exposition of the verse given by ÇB. (vii. 4. 1. 14), explained as the sun, and so the comm. regards it, but very implausibly; the moon would better suit the occurrences of the word. The comm. gives both renderings to purástāt in a, and three different explanations of the pāda. In b, the translation takes surúcas as qualifying the virtual ablative sīmatás ⌊which Weber takes as sīm átas! see also Whitney's note to Prāt. iii. 43⌋; the comm. views it as accus. pl., and so does ÇB.; the latter makes it mean "these worlds," the former either that or "its own shining brightnesses." Pāda c is the most obscure of all; ÇB. simply declares it to designate the quarters (díças); the comm. gives alternative interpretations, of no value; upamā́s (p. upa॰mā́ḥ, as if from root mā with upa) he paraphrases with upamīyamānāḥ parichidyamānāḥ.
2. Let this queen of the Fathers (? pítrya) go in the beginning (ágre) for the first birth (janús; race?), standing in the creation; for it (him?) have I sent (hi) this well-shining sinuous one (? hvārá); let them mix (çrī; boil?) the hot drink for the first thirsty one (? dhāsyú).
The connection of the pādas is here yet more obscure than their separate interpretation; the third pāda may perhaps signify the lightning. The verse, with variants, is found in ÇÇS. (v. 9. 6) and AÇS. (iv. 6. 3), and its pratīka in AB. (1. 19) and GB. (ii. 2. 6); the first three read in a pitre for pitryā and eti for etu, and AB. inserts vāi after iyam; and Ppp. also has pitre. In b the two Sūtra-texts give bhūmaneṣṭhāḥ, which is perhaps intended by the bhūminaṣṭāu of Ppp.; in d, the same two have çrīṇantī prathamasya dhāseḥ, and Ppp. -ntu prathamas svadhāsyuḥ. The comm. takes pitryā to mean "come from Prajāpati"; "the queen" is the divinity of speech—or else "this earth," pitryā relating to its father Kaçyapa; dhāsyu is the god desiring food in the form of oblation, and surucam hvãram is suṣṭhu rocamānaṁ kuṭilaṁ vartamānam, qualifying gharmam; ahyam is an adjective, either gantavyam, from the root ah 'go,' or "daily," from ahan 'day'! and çrī is either "mix" or "boil."
