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INTRODUCTION.
xix
catalogued at Kaus. 8, 16, and there distinctly described as såntah, holy;' the second list is stated at Vait. Sa. 5, 10 itself to be angirasa, in the obscure terms, kapurviparvarodâkâvrikkâvatînådânirdahantîbhir angirasibhih. These names are in general unknown, the text is not quite certain, but the designation of the last, nirdahantî, shows that the list is designed for unholy sorcery practices (åbhikärika)? The adjective angirasa is in general in the ritualist texts of the AV. equivalent to abhikarika. Thus sambhara angi. rasah, Kaus. 47, 2, means 'utensils for sorcery';' danda angirasah, Kaus. 47, 12, means 'staff for sorcery;' agnir angirasah, Kaus. 14, 30, means 'sorcery-fire S' The fifth kalpa of the AV., usually known as Ångirasa-kalpa, bears also the names Abhikara-kalpa, and Vidhana-kalpa, 'textbook of sorcery ;' see ibid. XI, 376 ff. It is worth while to follow out this specific use of the
term angirasa in non-Atharvan texts, lest it be The term angiras in suspected of being an Atharvanic refinement. non-Atharvan The Rig-vidhåna IV, 6, 4, has the following texts.
sloka: 'He against whom those that are skilled in the Ångirasakalpas practice sorcery repels them all with the Pratyangirasakalpa.' The term pratyangirasa is the exact equivalent of pratyabhikárana, 'counter-witchcrafts' (AV. II, 11, 2), and the krityåpratiharanani, Ath. Paris. 32, 2 (cf. Kaus. 39, 7, note). The texts of the sort called atharvanapratyangirakalpam ( see Ind. Stud. I, 469) deal with the same theme, as does the Yagur-vidhana (Agni-purana, 259, 1c) in the expression pratyangireshu (sc. karmasu). Cf. also the titles of works, pratyangiråtatva, pratyangiråpasikanga, and pratyangirasukta, mentioned in Böhtlingk's Lexicon, as probably dealing with the same theme. We may connect with this pejorative use of the
Cf. AV. III, 2, 5; VII, 108, 2; IX, 2, 4; 5, 31; XIV, 2, 48.
Dårila, ghoradravyâni. : Kesava, digiraso sgnih kandalagnih.
* yam angirasakalpais tu tadvido s bhikaranti sa pratyangirasakalpena sarvams tin pratibadhate. CL also the following slokas, and IV, 8, 3; Ath. Paris. 3, I; and see Rudolf Meyer's preface to his edition of the Rig-vidbana, p. xxxi.
Sayana, nivâryate parakritabhikâraganitâ krityå anena iti pratyabbikaranah.
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