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298
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
imprecation and incantation. Here the poet takes the offensive against the thwarting enemy.
a. For saptá prânắn, cf. Tait. Br. 1, 2, 3, 3. Shankar Pandit, on the basis of a considerable number of his MSS. (both Samhita and Padapå tha), reads manyáh for magñáh. So also Sayana, manyah dhamanyah kanthagatà nâdiviseshầh. The MSS. frequently write y for 8, especially in connection with nasals (anaymi and yunaymi for anagmi and yunagmi); cf. Maitr. S. I, 3, 35 (p. 42, note 4), and Ind. Stud. IV, 271 note. On general textual and exegetical grounds the reading magñáh is preferable.
Stansa 8.
Schlagintweit translates Padas c, d, (entweder) soll das feuer in deinen leib einkehren, (oder) deine rede gehe zu leben.' The sense he imagines to be: 'If the word of the accuser is true, then he shall remain unharmed ; if not he shall be injured by fire.' Essentially in the same spirit are Weber's, Zimmer's, and Kaegi's renderings. Cf. RV. X, 15, 14.
II, 14. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 66. It is regretable that this textually and exegetically difficult hymn is illumined but very little by its abundant employment in the practices of the Atharvavedins. In its more general aspects it figures as one of the katanani (sc. saktâni), 'hymns designed to chase away (demons and diseases),' at Kaus. 8, 25; next, it occurs in another cycle (gana) of hymns of a somewhat problematic character, called mrigårasûktâni or mrigarâni, 'purificatory hymns'(?), at Kaus. 9, 1 (cf. 27, 34). In this sense it is employed twice, Kaus. 72, 4; 82, 14, to purify the entrance to a house, nissalåm iti salanivesanam samprokshya. If we could only trust that punning juxtaposition of -sålâm and sålå-, it would remove one of the chief cruxes in its interpretation !
As regards its narrower application, it is associated distinctly with difficulty in bearing offspring: at Kaus. 34, 3-11 it is employed in a charm for preventing miscarriage ;
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