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406
vrishâm ekavrisham, and glosses, sekanasamarthânâm vîryavatâm purushânâm madhye imam râgânam . . . mukhyasektâram asahâyasûram... kuru; cf. our note on III, 5, 7.
c. nír akshnuhi, lit. 'castrate,' continuing the picture of the preceding Pâda: the king is to be a bull, his enemies castrated. Cf. RV. I, 33, 6; Sat. Br. IV, 4, 2, 13; XIII, 4, 2, 5, and the word mahânirashta. Ludwig, 'drive out;' Zimmer,' zerstreue;' Sâyana, samkukitaprabhâvân kuru.
d. Sâyana divides aham uttareshu, with the result, 'I (the purohita) put him among the highest rulers.' Cf. XII, 4, 50.
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Stanza 2.
c. The Tait. Br. II, 4, 7, 7, the Paippalâda, and Sâyana read várshman, loc. sing. I see no cogent reason for giving up (with Zimmer, Hillebrandt, and Grill) the reading of our MSS., várshma.
IV, 28. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 158.
Bhava and Sarva, two of the well-known forms (mûrti) of Rudra (cf. especially their epithet ugrá in sts. 3, 6, 7)1, are implored by virtue of their cosmogonic powers to afford protection against calamity, and, with the familiar Atharvanic specialisation, to destroy sorceries and demons. The ritual, Kaus. 28, 8, regard the hymn as medicinal (sarvavyâdhibhaishagyam, 'a remedy for all diseases'). Seven cornucopias are made from (leaves of) the kampîla (crinum amaryllacee), filled with water, and anointed with the dregs of ghee. With the right hand the water is poured upon the patient, and the cornucopias are thrown behind the patient. The connection between the prayer and the practice is not manifest. The hymn is rubricated also in takmanâsanagana of the Ganamâlâ, Ath. Paris. 32, 7; see Kaus. 26, 1, note. It has been translated by Muir, 1. c., P. 332.
1 See the introduction to XI, 2 for the Vedic texts, and the Western literature, dealing with this subject.
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