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254
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
double entente) among the Fathers or manes.' The first hemistich of the third stanza, considered by itself, might be readily interpreted as being uttered at the funeral of a maiden; indeed, it seems possible that material of this sort has been worked over for the occasion. The secondary employment of stanzas, composed primarily for the burial service, is possibly to be assumed for stanzas 2-4 of RV. VII, 55 (see Aufrecht, Ind. Stud. IV, 342), and for AV. II, 12,7-8 (q.v.). The Anukramanî makes the following curious statement in regard to our hymn: namas te astu (I, 13), bhagam asyà (I, 14), iti súkte vaidyute dve anushtubhe, prathamam vaidyutam param vârunam vosta yamyam vå, prathamena vidyutam astaud, dvitiyena tadartham yamam. There seems to be no reason for associating these hymns, nor for regarding I, 14 as having any relation to lightning?
Stanza 1. Padas a and o, apparently each hypermetric, may be restored by reading, with elision and crasis, bhágåsya, and mahabudhneva.
d. pitrishu, ' with her relatives,' as stated more explicitly in st. 2. So also Sâyana. Cf. the words pitrishad and amågúr in the lexicons. But there seems to be intended, too, an allusion to the manes, i.e. to death; cf. the introduction.
Stansa 2. a, b. Såyana, here and in the next stanza, refers rågan to Soma, supporting his hypothesis by a reference to RV. X, 85, 40, where Soma is said to have been the first to woo the maiden, being followed by Gandharva, Agni, and man. Cf. also Vas. Dharm. XXVIII, 5.
0, d. It depends upon circumstances whether the girl lives with her (widowed) mother, or her father, or, after the decease of her parents, with her brother; cf. for the latter contingency, AV. I, 17, 1.
Unless the word îsânahatâ, Kaus. 36, 15, has misled the author of that very late and bungling performance.
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