Satapatha Bramhana Part 03

SR No.: 007679
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2382
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 965

422
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
dawn (cf. RV. VI, 55, 1, and Ludwig's note, vol. iv, 147). All this is possible, but excessively problematic.
c, d. The cloudy allusions of the preceding Pâdas are obfuscated further by the statement here that the plant has been sprinkled with the blood of the brown horse of Yama, an expression which may also harbour an allusion to night (cf. syåvî, RV. I, 71, 1; III, 55, 11; Naighantuka 1, 7). Elsewhere the horses of Savitar (RV. I, 35, 5), Agni (RV. II, 10, 2), Rudra (AV. XI, 2, 18) are designated as syävá. The Padapatha reads asná, 'by the mouth,' and Zimmer adopts this reading, against the Pet. Lex., Kuhn (p. 61), Whitney in the Index Verborum, and Grill. The Padapåtha itself has asnáh in the next stanza-an obvious inconsistency. I cannot rid myself of the impression that there is some connection between this and a statement in the Maitr. S. IV, 9, 19; Tait. År. IV, 29, asrinmukho rudhirena-bhyakto yamasya datah, the messenger of Yama bloody-mouthed, bedaubed with blood;' if so the brown horse of Yama may be a variant of the two dogs of Yama called syâma and sabala,' sun and moon,' or day and night' (cf. Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 163 ff.), and this would again lead back to the word rấtrî in st. 1. Non liquet. Grill : 'It is conceived that the plant has absorbed the blood of a divine animal with which it has been sprinkled, and has acquired thereby corresponding strength and virtue.'
Stanza 9. a, b. Zimmer: 'aus des rosses maul (cf. the preceding note) herausgefallen lief sie an die bäume;' Kuhn: 'vom blut des rosses hergeeilt, glitt sie sogleich den bäumen zu ;' Grill: 'entsprungen aus des pferdes blut lief diese zu den bäumen hin.' sámpatitâ is not altogether satisfactory; the Pet. Lex. translates it ' zusammengeflossen, zusammengeronnen. The entire picture is vague, and is not rendered less so by the next Pâda.
c. The meaning of this Påda is by no means established. It is formulary in character and always employed in connection with plants. In the oshadhistuti, RV. X, 97, 9;
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