# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VIII/Hymn 2

2. To prolong some one's life.
Found also in Pāipp. xvi., all but the last verse, and with 9 before 8. *⌊Verse 13 appears to be the one upon the strength of which the Anukr. declares the hymn to be trāiṣṭubham (its remaining 27 vss. being exceptions!); and even this is no real triṣṭubh. It counts indeed 44 (8 + 12: 12 + 12) and might be called purastāj jyotiṣmatī.⌋
⌊Vāit. uses only vs. 16: see under 16.—The uses by Kāuç. are many. For the uses of this hymn with h. 1, see introd. to h. 1. Further, in the name-giving ceremony, it is used (58. 14) with pouring a continuous stream of water on the youth's right hand; and this is followed (58. 15) by the binding on of an amulet of deodar (see note to vs. 28 below); and the use of vs. 16 is especially prescribed (58. 17: the text of the sītra in the comm. differs from that of Bl.) to accompany the putting a new garment upon him. Vss. 12-13 are prescribed (97. 3) in case of family quarrels (see also note to vs. 9 below); vs. 14 (comm., 14-15) is used in the tonsure ceremony (54.17); and again vs. 14 (comm., 14-15), on the child's first going out of the house (58. 18). Vs. 17 was previously prescribed for the same tonsure ceremony (53. 19: the comm. reads kṣuram abhyukṣya triḥ pramārṣṭi) on sprinkling and wiping the razor; and the same vs. is substituted for vi. 68. 3 by the Daça Karmāṇi in the same ceremony (53. 17 note); furthermore, it is used at the beginning of the ceremony of the reception of the Vedic student (55. 3). Vs. 18 (comm., 18-19) is used on the first feeding of the child (with rice and barley: 58. 19); and vss. 20 and 22 on his "committal" (58. 20, 21) respectively "to day and night" and "to the seasons."—Bloomfield (note to 58. 17) cites a passage describing the four "committals": 1. to heaven and earth, with vss. 14-15; 2. to rice and barley, with vss. 18-19; 3. to day and night, with vs. 20; 4. to the seasons, with vs. 22.—Finally, the comm. regards vs. 15 as intended, with v. 1. 7 etc., at Kāuç. 46. 1-3, in the rite against false accusation.⌋
Translated: Muir, v. 447; Ludwig, p. 496; Henry, 4, 39; Griffith, i. 388; Bloomfield, 55, 573.
1. Take thou hold. on this bundle (?) of immortality; unsevered length of life be thine; I bring back thy life, [thy] life-time; go not to the welkin (rájas), to darkness; do not perish.
SPP. with all his authorities save one (which has snú-) reads çnúṣṭim in a, and this must doubtless be regarded as the true AV. text: compare iii. 17. 2. The comm. glosses it here with prasnuti 'a dripping forth,' and then explains amṛtasya çnuṣṭi as the stream of water which, according to one direction in Kāuç. (58. 14), is to be poured out while the hymn is recited. He glosses rajas with rāga, and explains it and tamas as the two familiar guṇas so called: it is, indeed, a little startling to find the two names here side by side.
2. Come thou hitherward unto the light of the living; I take thee in order to life for a hundred autumns; loosening down the fetters of death, imprecation, I set for thee further a longer life-time.
Some of SPP's mss. accent falsely abhyèhi in a. Ppp. transposes the order of c and d, and reads lokam for arvān̄ in a.
3. From the wind have I found thy breath, from the sun I thy sight; what is thy mind, that I maintain in thee; be in concord with thy limbs; speak with thy tongue, not babbling.
The comm. reads in d viçvān̄gāis and ālapan.
4. I blow together upon thee with the breath of bipeds [and] quadrupeds as upon [new-] born fire; homage, O death, to thy sight, homage to thy breath have I made.
5. Let this man live; let him not die; him we send together; I make a remedy for him; death, do not slay the man.
The majority of the mss. (including all ours save Bp.O.) leave mṛtyo in d accentless. ⌊Both editions read mṛ́tyo.⌋
6. The lively, by-no-means-harming, living herb, the preserving, overpowering, powerful, do I call hither, for this man's freedom from harm.
⌊Pādas a and b are repeated at viii. 7. 6.⌋ The accent of the two participles jīvantī́m and trāyamāṇā́m seems to mark them as appellatives rather than proper participles. Naghāriṣá, like naghamārá, seems a fusion of the phrase na ghā (or gha) riṣyati etc.; the pada-mss. chance mostly to agree in the frequent error of reading ṛ for ri (nagha॰ṛṣā́m; Bp. ॰riṣā́m); the comm. reads and explains nagharuṣām, taking -gha- as representing root han: yasyāḥ kopo ‘pi na ghātakaḥ; he regards the plant intended as the paths (Clypea hernandifolia). Ppp. reads naghāriṣaṁ, adds arundhatīm after sahasvatīm in d, and has hvaye for huve. The long ī in óṣadhīm is expressly taught by Prāt. iii. 6; naghāriṣām is mentioned in the introduction to the fourth chapter (add. note 4, at 11. 7).
7. Bless thou [him]; do not take hold; let him loose; even being thine, let him be one of completed years (?) here; O Bhava-and-Çarva, be ye gracious; yield protection; driving away difficulty, bestow ye life-time.
The obscure -hāyas in b is translated here as if akin with hāyana ⌊cf. vs. 8 d⌋; the comm. glosses sarvahāyas with sarvagati; the Petersburg Lexicons conjecture 'having complete liveliness or power.' For sā́n, the comm. reads sam ⌊and joins it with sṛjā́, supplying prāṇāis⌋.
8. Bless thou this man, O death; pity him; let him go up from here; unharmed, whole-limbed, well-hearing, hundred-yeared by old age, let him attain enjoyment with himself.
Ppp. reads him for ’yam in b, and combines in d-e -hāyanā ”tm-. The comm. paraphrases ātmánā in d with ananyāpekṣaḥ san. ⌊Read as 8 + 11: 8 + 8 + 8.⌋
9. Let the missile of the gods avoid thee; I make thee pass from the welkin (rájas); I have made thee pass up out of death; removing afar the flesh-eating Agni, I set for thee an enclosure in order to living.
The comm. reads in c nirāuham; SPP. follows grammatical rule and reads -haṅ jīv- this time ⌊cf. note to 1. 19. 4⌋ because all his saṁhitā-mss. happen to agree in doing so; some of ours, however, do not. The comm. explains rájasas in b as mūrchālakṣaṇād āvaraṇāt. ⌊At 97. 6, Kāuç. gives in full, for use in case of a family quarrel (cf. above, introd.), a verse whose first half agrees entirely with the second half of this.⌋
10. The down-going in the welkin, not to be ventured down upon, which is thine, O death—from that road defending this man, we make bráhman a covering (varman) for him.
The comm. reads in b anavadhṛṣyam; root dhṛṣ+ ava is found only in these two derivatives. For rajasám ⌊cf. Gram. §1209 b⌋ Ppp. has rajasas; the comm. simply paraphrases the former by rajomayam. One or two of the pada-mss. (including our Bp.) leave mṛtyo unaccented in b; Ppp. elides ‘nav- after it; and, in c, combines pathāi ’maṁ (satisfying the meter).
11. I make for thee breath-and-expiration, old age as [mode of] death, long life-time, welfare; all the messengers of Yama, sent forth by Vivasvant's son, moving about, I drive away.
Ppp. reads in b jarāmṛtyum, and, in d, caratā ”rān (i.e. carata ārād?) apa.
12. Afar niggardliness, perdition, away seizure (grā́hi), the flesh-eating piçācás, every demon that is of evil nature—that we smite away, as it were into darkness.
Or 'like darkness.' The comm. reads in b purogrāhim, and, in d, eva for iva. Ppp. has tavāi ’va for tat tama iva. 'Afar' and 'away' in a, b anticipate as it were the 'we smite away' of d.
13. Thy breath I win from immortal Agni, from long-lived Jātavedas, that thou mayest take no harm, mayest be immortal in alliance [with him]: that I make for thee; let that prove successful for thee.
A number of the mss. (including our Bp.E.D.) read ṛ́ṣyās in c. Ppp. has vanave for vanve in b, and yatrā at beginning of c.
14. Let heaven-and-earth be propitious to thee, not distressing, conferring fortune (? abhiçrī́); let the sun burn weal unto thee; let the wind blow weal to thy heart; let the heavenly waters, rich in fatness (páyas), flow propitious upon thee.
Ppp. combines sūryā ”tapatu in c, reads kṣaranti in e, and adds further at the end çivās te santv oṣadhīḥ. The comm. gives adhiçriyāu in b, glossing it with prāptaçrīke çrīprade.
15. Propitious to thee be the herbs; I have caught thee up from the lower unto the upper earth; there let both the Ādityas, sun and moon, defend thee.
Ppp. reads ā ’hāriṣam in b, and ati for abhi in c, and combines -masā ubhā at the end.
​16. What enveloping (paridhā́na) garment thou hast, what inner wrap (nīví) thou makest for thyself, that we make propitious unto thy body; be it not harsh to thy touch.
SPP. reads, "with all his authorities," ádrūkṣṇam in d. Our mss. might doubtless all be understood in the same way, but some of them look more like -ḍū- or -dū-; -rū-, which our text unfortunately gives, is not found in any; neither rūkṣṇa nor drūkṣṇa appears to be met with elsewhere; the comm. glosses with arūkṣam; he also reads açnute for astu te at the end. Ppp. has ‘dukṣaṇam. ⌊Vāit. (10. 6) employs the vs. in the paçubandha on draping the sacrificial post.⌋
17. In that with a dangerous (? marcáyant) very sharp (sutejás) razor thou, a hair-dresser, shearest hair and beard, adorning the face, do not thou steal away our life-time.
The translation given implies in c the reading çúmbhan, which, it can hardly be questioned, is the true one, although it is read by only one ms. (our W.) and by Ppp.; the rest of our mss. all have, and our edition with them, çúmbham. SPP. accepts the unintelligible çúbham, with the comm., and with, as he reports, the majority of his authorities, the rest reading, like ours, çúmbhaṁ; the comm. explains çúbham with dīptaṁ tejasvi and has to supply after it kuru to make any sense. Ppp. further reads -çmaçrū in b, and māi ’nam for mā nas in c. According to the distinct direction of the Prāt. (ii. 76), we ought to read ā́yuṣ prá in d, and its authority is sufficient to establish that as the true text, against both the editions; half SPP's authorities give it, though only one of ours (R.); on such a point the mss. are often at odds, and their evidence of little weight. The verse occurs also in several Gṛhya-Sūtras, AGS. (i. 17. 16); PCS. (ii. 1. 19), and HGS. (i. 9. 16); all read supeçasā in a; in b, HGS. has vaptar, PGS. vapati, AGS. and PGS. keçān; in c, the two latter have çunddhi çiras, HGS. varcayā mukham; in d, AGS. and PGS. give asya for nas; all have āyuḥ pra. ⌊Found also MP. ii. 1. 7: see also MGS. i. 21. 7 and p. 153.⌋ ⌊Cf. Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 184.⌋
18. Propitious to thee be rice and barley, free from balā́sa, causing no burning (?); these drive off the yákṣma; these free from distress.
Compare Grohmann in Ind. Stud. ix. 399. The comm. does not connect abalāsāú with balā́sa, but regards it as a-bala-asa, and glosses it with çārīrabalasyā ’kṣeptārāu. Adomadhāú (cf. adomadám, vi. 63. 1, and note) is very obscure; Ppp. reads instead adhomadhāu; the comm. adomadhū, glossing it with upayogānantaram madhurāu. Ppp. reads yatas for etāu in both c and d, and follows it in d by muñcata mā ’ṅhasaḥ.
19. What thou eatest (aç), what thou drinkest, of grain, milk of the plowing—what should be eaten, what should not be eaten—all food I make for thee poisonless.
The comm. reads strangely kṛchrāt instead of kṣsyās in b.
20. Both to day and to night, to them both we commit thee. Defend ye this man for me from the arā́yas that seek to devour [him].
Some of SPP's authorities, also the comm. and Ppp., read dadhmasi at end of b. Ppp. further has rāyebhyas at beginning of c, and nas (for me) in d. The comm. explains arāyebhyas as = adhanebhyo dhanāpahartṛbhyo vā.
​21. A hundred, a myriad years, two periods (yugá), three, four, we make for thee; let Indra-and-Agni, let all the gods, approve thee, not showing enmity.
The second half-verse is i. 35. 4 c, d. The 'periods' here are not at all likely to be those of the later chronology, though the comm. naturally thinks them so. ⌊Alternatively, he makes yugé = 'generations.'⌋ Ppp. has santu for kṛṇmas in b, and omits te in c. The pada-mss. read té: ánu instead of te: ánu: compare under i. 35. 4. ⌊We had a "sataḥpan̄kti" at vi. 20. 3.⌋
22. Unto autumn, unto winter, unto spring, unto summer, we commit thee; [be] the rains pleasant to thee, in which the herbs grow.
Ppp. has again dadhmasi in b.
23. Death is master of bipeds; death is master of quadrupeds; from that death, lord of kine, I bear thee up; ⌊so⌋ do thou not be afraid.
Ppp. reads for d ud dharāmi sa mā mṛta ⌊intending mṛthās?⌋.
24. Thou, unharmed one, shalt not die; thou shalt not die, be not afraid; [men] die not there, nor go to lowest darkness.
Ppp. gives in c pra mīyante—a better reading, as rectifying the meter. ⌊Pāda b occurs as vs. 1 a of a khila to RV. i. 191, with the two clauses inverted.⌋
25. Every one, verily, lives there—ox, horse, man, beast—where this charm (bráhman) is performed, a defense (paridhí) unto living.
The verse has a correspondent in TA. (vi. 11. 12), but with a different first pāda: TA. makes it nā vāí tátra prá mīyate (nearly as our 24 c in Ppp.).
26. Let it protect thee from thy fellows, from witchcraft, from thy kinsmen; be thou undying, immortal, surviving; let not thy life-breaths (ásu) leave thy body.
Ppp. reads sugantubhyas at end of b.
27. The deaths that are a hundred and one, the perditions (nāṣṭrā́) that are to be over-passed—from that let the gods free thee, from Agni Vāiçvānara.
Ppp. reads in b nāṣṭrātta (-tu?) jīvyāḥ. ⌊See note to iii. 11. 5 for "101 deaths."⌋
28. Agni's body art thou, successful (pārayiṣṇú); demon-slayer art thou, rival-slayer, likewise expeller of disease, a remedy pūtúdru by name.