# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 28

28. To avert the ill omen of a twinning animal.
[Brahman (paçupoṣaṇāya).—yāminyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. atiçakvarīgarbhā 4-p. atijagatī; 4. yavamadhyā virāṭkakubh; 5. triṣṭubh; 6. virāḍgarbhā prastārapan̄kti.]
Not found in Pāipp. Used by Kāuç., in the chapter of portents, in the ceremonies of expiation for the birth of twins from kine, mares or asses, and human beings (109. 5; 110. 4; 111. 5).
Translated: Weber, xvii. 297; Griffith, i. 122; Bloomfield, 145, 359.
1. She herself came into being by a one-by-one creation, where the being-makers created the kine of all forms; where the twinning [cow] gives birth, out of season, she destroys the cattle, snarling, angry.
The translation implies emendation of rúçatī at the end to rúṣyatī or ruṣatī́ ⌊rather rúṣyatī, so as to give a jagatī cadence⌋—which, considering the not infrequent confusion of the sibilants, especially the palatal and lingual, in our text and its mss., and the loss of y after a sibilant, is naturally suggested ⌊cf. iv. 16. 6$^b$⌋. The comm. makes a yet easier thing of taking rúçatī from a root ruç 'injure,' but we have no such root. Some of our mss. (P.M.W.E.) read eṣā́m in a, and two (P.O.) have sṛ́ṣṭvā.* The comm. understands sṛṣṭis with eṣā in a, and explains ekāikayā by ekāikavyaktyā. Perhaps we should emend to ékāí ’kayā 'one [creature] by one [act of] creation' ⌊and reject eṣā́?, as the meter demands⌋. See Weber's notes for the comparison of popular views as to the birth of twins, more generally regarded as of good omen. The Anukr. apparently counts 11 ⌊13?⌋ + 15: 12 + 12 = 50 ⌊52?⌋ syllables; either bhūtakṛ́tas or viçvárupās could well enough be spared out of b ⌊better the former; but it is bad meter at best⌋. *⌊Shown by accent to be a blunder for sṛ́ṣṭyā, not sṛṣṭvā.⌋
2. She quite destroys the cattle, becoming a flesh-eater, devourer (? vy-ádvarī); also one should give her to a priest (brahmán); so would she be pleasant, propitious.
The pada-text divides vi॰ádvarī, evidently taking the word from root ad 'eat'; the Pet. Lex. suggests emendation to vyádhvarī, from vyadh 'pierce.' The comm. reads vyadhvarī, but he defines it first as coming from adhvan, and meaning "possessed of bad roads, that cause unhappiness," or, second, as from adhvara, and signifying "having magical sacrifices, that give obstructed fruit"! ⌊See note to vi. 50. 3, where W. corrects the text to vyadvará: accent of masc. and fem., Gram. § 1171 a, b.⌋
3. Be thou propitious to men (púruṣa), propitious to kine, to horses, propitious to all this field (kṣétra); be propitious to us here.
'Field' seems taken here in a general sense, and might be rendered 'farm.' The Anukr. takes no notice of the irregularities in c and d, probably because they balance each other.
4. Here prosperity, here sap—here be thou best winner of a thousand; make the cattle prosper, O twinning one.
The comm. supplies bhavatu to the first pāda. All the mss. agree in giving the false accent sahásrasātamā in b; it should be sahasrasā́tamā—or, to rectify the meter, simply -sā́. It pada-division, sahásra॰sātama is prescribed by the text of Prāt. iv. 45. Kakubh properly has no need of the adjunct yavamadhyā; it is very seldom used by our Anukr. as name of a whole verse ⌊8 + 12: 8⌋.
5. Where the good-hearted [and] well-doing revel, quitting disease of their own body—into that world hath the twinning one come into being; let her not injure our men and cattle.
The first half-verse is also that of vi. 120. 3 (which occurs further in TA.). Some of SPP's mss. write in b tanvā̀s, protracting the kampa-syllable.
6. Where is the world of the good-hearted, of the well-doing, where of them that offer the fire-offering (agnihotrá-)—into that world hath the twinning one come into being; let her not injure our men and cattle.
The omission of the superfluous yátra in b would rectify the meter. The Anukr. should say āstārapan̄kti instead of prastāra-; its virāj means here a pāda of 10 syllables.