________________
398
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Sayana regards the dm. dey. páryuktà as = páriyukta (viniyukta ssi); cf. our remarks on haplology, Proc. Amer. Or. Soc., April, 1893 (Journ., vol. xvi, p. xxxiv ff.). But pari yug is not quotable elsewhere. The stanza figures in one of the abhayagana of the Ganamåla ; see Kaus. 16, 8, note.
Stanga 4. The order of the statement here is really to be reversed : when thou, O plant, wast begotten as apâ mârga (wiping out'), then the gods drove out the Asuras with thee.
Stanza 5.
For 'thy father's name,' cf. the note on V, 5, 1. For pratyák, see pratyán and pratikînaphalas in st. 7, and the note on IV, 17, 2.
Stanga 6. A cosmogonic brahmodya, pressed into the service of incantation! Cf. Contributions, Third Series, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, 172 ff. We have presented a purely philological translation of the stanza without attempting to bend it to the situation any further than is warranted by the wording. Grill takes ásat in the sense of wrong,' and similarly Sayana, asatkalpam krityårūpam. But a glance at the word in Jacob's Concordance to the principal Upanishads reveals the subjective character of the proceeding. The ásat is simply chaos,' manipulated as one of the primary cosmic forces: the sat, tad, satyam, or ritam would apparently have done just as well. For kartáram in the sense of evil-doer,' cf. V, 14, 11.
IV, 20. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 68. The hymn is addressed to a magic plant which is supposed to impart the power to expose hidden demons, wizards, and their hostile practices. The attributes of the plant are not stated in the hymn with sufficient clearness to enable us to point out its place in the redundant Indian
Digized by Google
