Questions of King Milinda Part 01

SR No.: 007681
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1890
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 1881

362
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
tâni), designed to produce harmony.' The practices which are undertaken with them are stated in the sequel, Kaus. 12, 6-9, as follows: 6. 'Ajar full of water, anointed with the dregs of ghee, is carried about the (quarrelling) throng and poured out in their midst. 7. The same proceedings are undertaken with a jar full of brandy (sura). 8. (They who desire peace) are given to eat the pickled flesh of a young cow three years old. 9. Food, brandy, and water from the (public ?) drinking-place are anointed with the dregs of ghee (and consumed).' In justification of this translation, see the commentaries here, and at Kaus. 35, 19: the relation of the proceedings to the charm are not clear in every detail; see especially st. 6, and VI, 70, 1.
The hymn has been treated previously by Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V, 439; Metrical Translations, p. 139; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 256, 516 ; Zimmer, p. 316; Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 306 ff.; Grill?, pp. 30, 116 ff.; Hillebrandt, Vedachrestomathie, p. 45. The Anukramanî designates the hymn as kândramasam sammanasyam, its author being Atharvan. The Atharvan abounds in such songs of harmony; they occur also outside of the Atharvan literature, e.g. RV. X, 191; Maitr. S. II, 2, 6; Kâth. S. X, 12 ; Tait. Br. II, 4, 4, 4 ff. See also the charm against family quarrels (kule kalahini) in Kaus. 97, and cf. in general Zimmer, p. 316.
Stanga 1. Sâyana reads sâmmanushyam in Pâda a, and aghnyâs in Pâda d.
Stanza 2. The opposite of this picture of peace is portrayed vividly at Sat. Br. IV, 1, 5, 3 ff., where a certain tribe is described as not living in peace: 'father fought with son, and brother with brother.' See also the story of Kyavana as told in the Gaiminîya-Brâhmana, Proc. Amer. Or. Soc., 1883 (Journal, vol. xi, p. cxlv): then neither did mother know son, nor son mother.'
b. Sâyana reads måtå for mâtrá.
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