Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/381

note to i. 19. 4⌋), against the great majority of his mss. as well as all of ours; instead of it the comm. has durhatān.

10. Let perdition halter him, as a horse with a horse-halter (-abhi-dhā́nī); the fool (malvá) that is angry at me, he is not loosed from the fetter.

The comm. (with one of SPP's mss.) has at the end mucyase, but explains it as a 3d sing. impv.: mukto na bhavatu; an imperative would be welcome, if honestly come by. Malva he glosses with çatru. ⌊As to abhi-dhā, cf. iii. 11. 8 and note.⌋

37. Against various superhuman foes: with an herb.

[Bādarāyaṇi.—dvādaçarcam . ajaçṛn̄gyapsarodevatyam. ānuṣṭubham: 3. 3-av.6-p. triṣṭubh; 5. prastārapan̄kti; 7. paroṣṇih; 11. 6-p. jagatī; 12. nicṛt.]

Found (except vs. 9) in Pāipp. xiii. (in the verse-order 1-4, 7, 6, 5, 12, 8, 10, 11), but in a much defaced condition. Used by Kāuç. with the preceding hymn, as one of the cātanāni (8. 25); but also independently (28. 9) in a remedial rite against possession by evil spirits. And the comm. quotes it from Nakṣ. K. 21 ⌊error for Çānti K., says Bloomfield⌋, as employed in a mahāçānti called gāndharvī. ⌊As to Bādarāyaṇi, see introduction to hymn 40.⌋

Translated: Kuhn, KZ. xiii. 118 (interesting Germanic parallels); Ludwig, p. 352; Griffith, i. 180; Bloomfield, 33, 408; Weber, xviii. 144.

1. By thee of old the Atharvans slew the demons, O herb; by thee did Kaçyapa slay; by thee Kaṇva, Agastya.

The comm. explains that one or other of the specified plants, the sahamānā etc., is here addressed.

2. By thee do we expel (cat) the Apsarases, the Gandharvas; O goat-horned one, drive the demon; make all disappear by [thy] smell.

'Drive' (aja) in c is a play upon the name goat (aja-) in 'goat-horned.' The comm. declares the epithet to be equivalent to viṣāṇin (Odina pinnata), and to be given on account of the shape of the fruit. ⌊Dhanvantari, p. 23, Poona ed., gives meṣaçṛn̄gī and viṣāṇikā as synonyms of ajaçṛn̄gī.⌋ Ppp. has in b cātayāmasi instead of -mahe.

3. Let the Apsarases go to the stream, to the loud (?) down-blowing of the waters: Guggulū, Pīlā, Naladī, Āukṣagandhi, Pramandanī: so go away, ye Apsarases; ye have been recognized.

⌊See Weber's note and reference to Rumpelstilzchen.⌋ Tārá in b is rendered "crossing"; but as this sense is found nowhere else, it seems safer to take the word as the adjective, common later; the comm. glosses it with tārayitāram, a worthless etymological guess. After it, instead of avaçvasam, the comm. reads iva svasam (= suṣṭhu nāupreraṇakuçalaṁ yathā), and, strangely enough, Ppp. has the same. As everywhere else where the word occurs, the mss. vary between gulgulu and guggulu, and SPP. reads the former and our edition the latter; here the decided majority, with Ppp. and the comm., give gulg- (our Bp.H.K. have gugg-). Pādas c and d appear to be made up of names of Apsarases, all formed upon odor-names: guggulū́ is fem. to gúggulu 'bdellium,' and naladī́ to nálada 'nard'; pramandanī́ is related with pramanda 'a certain fragrant plant'; and āukṣágandhi means something like 'ox-smell'; but the