# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IX/Hymn 8

8. Against various diseases.
Found also (except vs. 4) in Pāipp. xvi. Not noticed in Vāit., but quoted (vs. 1) in Kāuç. 32. 18, in a remedial ceremony. ⌊The last two verses are specified (32. 19) as used "with worship of the sun."⌋
Translated: Zimmer, p. 378; Henry, 105, 141; Griffith, i. 455; Bloomfield, 45, 600.
1. Headache, head-ailment, earache, anæmia (? vilohitá), every head-disease of thine, do we expel out [of thee] by incantation (nir-mantray-).
Ppp. reads in a çīrṣaktyaṁ, and in b tṛtīyakam for vilohitam. ⌊For çīrṣaktí, see references under i. 12. 3.⌋
​2. From thy (two) ears, from thy kán̄kūṣas, the earache, the visálpaka, every head-disease etc. etc.
As to visalpakam, instead of the visalyakam of the edition, see under vi. 127. 1. For the obscure kan̄kūṣa Ppp. has kaṅkukha, and for b it reads çuktivalçaṁ vilohitam.
3. For reason of which the yákṣma removes from ears, from mouth—every head-disease etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in b nāsata ”syata ⌊intending -tas -tas⌋.
4. Whatever one makes a man dumb (? pramóta), makes [him] blind—every head-disease etc. etc.
'Dumb' for pramóta is Zimmer's conjecture; the word is wholly obscure, and form, accent, and meter make it suspicious; one is tempted to conjecture prámohitam; but muh with prefix pra is not a Vedic combination. The Anukr. takes no notice of the defective pāda.
5. Limb-splitting, limb-wasting, and visálpaka of all the limbs—every head-disease etc. etc.
Ppp. reads instead, for a, b, çīrṣarogam an̄garogaṁ viçvān̄gīnaṁ viçalyakam. ⌊As to visálp-, see under vi. 127. 1.⌋ With a is to be compared v. 30. 9 a.
6. Of whom the fearful aspect makes a man tremble—the takmán of every autumn we expel out [of thee] by incantation.
Ppp. reads pāuruṣam in b, and, for c, d, takmānaṁ çītaṁ rūraṁ ca taṁ tve nir man-: cf. v. 22. 10, 13.
7. The yákṣma that creeps along the thighs, that goes also to the groins, from thy limbs within we expel etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in c balāsam for yakṣmaṁ te [cf. our 8 c and under 9⌋.
8. If it is born out of desire, of aversion, of the heart—the balā́sa from thy heart, thy limbs we expel etc. etc.
9. Yellowness from thy limbs, apvā́ from thy belly within, the yákṣma-maker from thy self within we expel etc. etc.
The pada-text reads in c yakṣmaḥ॰dhā́m. The Prāt. takes no notice of the irregular form of the first member of the compound, as it does, superfluously (ii. 56), of the contrary treatment of çepas in çepa॰harṣaṇīm. In Ppp. our third pāda becomes the second, and for third we have nearly our 7 c: yakṣmaṁ te sarvam an̄gebhyo.
10. Let the balā́sa become ash, let it become sickening urine; the poison of all yákṣmas have I exorcised from thee.
11. Forth at the orifice let it run out, the kā́hābāha, from thy belly; the poison of all etc. etc.
⌊Literally 'to the orifice'; Henry "vers le trou," i.e. "par l'anus."⌋ The Pet. Lexx. plausibly conjecture kāhābāha to be an imitative term for rumbling in the bowels; it may also possibly be understood as used adverbially, like bāl in i. 3. Ppp. has a quite different reading for b: kahāvalaṁ tvaṅdarā.
​12. Out of thy belly, lung, navel, heart, the poison of all etc. etc.
Ppp. rectifies the meter of a by inserting pari before klomnas, and makes c, d agree with our 9 c, d. The Anukr. brings out an uṣṇih (28 syll.) by unnaturally refusing to make the resolutions nābhi-ās and tu-at ⌊and scanning as 6 + 7: 8 + 7⌋.
13. They that break apart the crown, rushers against the head (mūrdhán)—not injuring, free from disease, let them run out, out at the orifice.
The 'they' in this and the following verses (13-18) is fem. The Pet. Lexx. take arṣaṇī́ in b as an independent noun (it is found only here), and conjecture it to mean 'pricking pains.'
14. They that rush unto the heart, that stretch along the vertebrae—not injuring etc. etc.
Prāt. iii. 47 prescribes the form uparṣánti (instead of upārṣánti: p. upa॰ṛṣánti) in this and the two following verses. Ppp. reads every time upadiçanti.
15. They that rush unto the two sides, that stab (nikṣ) along the ribs—not injuring etc. etc.
The Anukr. intends pārçvé to be read unresolved.
16. They that rush on crosswise, rushers in thy belly (vakṣáṇā)—not injuring etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in b vakṣaṇābhyaḥ, and omits the following te.
17. They that creep along the intestines, and confound the entrails—not injuring etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in b yāpayanti for mohayanti. ⌊Roth most ingeniously suggests that the Ppp. reading may mean āntrā, ni-y-āmayanti. Or is yāpayanti to be taken in a sense quite like our English 'cause (the bowels) to move,' i.e. 'produce diarrhœa'?⌋
18. They that suck out the marrow, and break apart the joints—not injuring etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in a anusarpanti for nirdhayanti. We are to resolve maj-jñ-o to fill out the measure.
19. They that intoxicate (maday-) the limbs, the yákṣmas, thy gripers—the poison of all yákṣmas have I exorcised from thee.
Ppp. reads in b ropaṇā saha. Some of our mss. (P.M.O.p.m.) read yé ’n̄gāni.
20. Of the visalpá, of the vidradhá, or of the vātīkārá, of the alaji—the poison etc. etc.
Ppp. again reads viçalyasya ⌊cf. under vi. 127. 1⌋; also, in b, vātīkālasya.
21. Forth from thy feet, knees, hips, buttock, spine, nape the pangs, from thy head the disease have I made disappear.
Ppp. reads, after te, gulphābhyāṁ jan̄ghābhyāṁ jānubhyām ūrubhyāṁ çro. p. bh.; it reads ānūkyāt in c, and inserts before çīrṣṇas, grīvābhyas skandhebhyas. It is apparently the intrusion of arṣaṇī́s that spoils the meter in our c.
​22. Together the bones (kapā́la) of thy head, and the discusser (vidhú) of thy heart—arising, O Āditya, thou with thy rays hast made disappear the disease of the head, hast pacified the limb-splitter.
The first two pādas seem independent; an unfinished construction. The pada-text reads vi॰dhúḥ in b, as if it recognized in the word the root dhū + vi; this is not implausible, and the translation follows it (the simple "beat" of the Pet. Lexx. seems quite unacceptable; it might be 'palpitation'). But Ppp. reads instead vidus, and so do a part of our mss., namely, W.O.s.m.D.Kp. ⌊W. interlines a query over "discusser," which word he coins and uses in the sense 'shaker asunder.' "Discuss" in this sense is "obsolete except in surgical use."⌋ Ppp. further has, for our c etc.: udyat sūryādityo an̄gāni roma nakhāni sarvāṇi sadanāni nīnaçat.
⌊The fourth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 48 verses, ends here. The quoted Anukr. says navadaçā ’pare ca.⌋