Grihya Sutras

SR No.: 007685
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1886
Total Pages: 2642
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 1215

158
VEDIC HYMNS.
Verse 10.
Note 1. See note 1 to I, 39, 3.
Note 2. Atrín, which stands for attrín, is one of the many names assigned to the powers of darkness and mischief. It is derived from atrá, which means tooth or jaw, and therefore meant originally an ogre with large teeth or jaws, a devourer. Besides atrá, we also find in the Veda átra, with the accent on the first syllable, and meaning what serves for eating, or food:
X, 79, 2. átrâni asmai pat-bhik sám bharanti.
They bring together food for him (Agni) with their feet. With the accent on the last syllable, atrá in one passage means an eater or an ogre, like atrín :
V, 32, 8. apadam atrám-mridhrá-vâkam. Indra killed the footless ogre, the babbler. It means tooth or jaw:
I, 129, 8. svayám sa rishayádhyai ya nah upa-îshé atraíh. May she herself go to destruction who attacks us with her teeth.
It is probably from atrá in the sense of tooth (cf. odóvtes= ¿dóvres) that atrín is derived, meaning ogre or a devouring devil. In the later Sanskrit, too, the Asuras are represented as having large tusks, Mahâbh. V, 3572, damshtrino bhimavegås ka.
Thus we read I, 21, 5, that Indra and Agni destroy the Rakshas, and the poet continues:
ápragâh santu atrínah.
May the ogres be without offspring!
IX, 86, 48. gahí vísvân rakshásah indo (íti) atrínah.
Kill, O Soma, all the tusky Rakshas. Cf. IX, 104, 6; 105, 6. VI, 51, 14. gahí ní atrínam paním.
Kill, O Soma, the tusky Pani.
I, 94, 9. vadhaíh duh-sámsân ápa duh-dhyah gahi duré và yé ánti và ké kit atrinah.
Strike with thy blows, O Agni, the evil-spoken, evilminded (spirits), the ogres, those who are far or who are near.
See also I, 36, 14; 20; VI, 16, 28; VII, 104, 1; 5; VIII, 12, 1; 19, 15; X, 36, 4; 118, 1.
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