# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IX/Hymn 2

2. To Kāma: for various blessings.
⌊Partly prose—"vs." 13.⌋ Found also (except vs. 4) in Pāipp. xvi. ⌊with vs. 16 before 12 and vs. 24 before 20⌋. The hymn (vs. 1) is prescribed in Vāit. 24. 10 to be recited, with homage to Kāma, in a part of the Agniṣṭoma ceremony; and in Kāuç. 49. 1 it (vs. 1) accompanies the release of a bull in a witchcraft ceremony.
Translated: Muir, v. 404 (nearly all); Ludwig, p. 519; Scherman, Philosophische Hymnen, p. 76 (part); Henry, 84, 118; Griffith, i. 430; Bloomfield, 220, 591.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-Chrestomathie, p. 40.
​1. The rival-slaying bull Kāma do I desire to aid (? çikṣ) with ghee, with oblation, with sacrificial butter; do thou, praised with great heroism, make my rivals to fall downward.
Kāma, lit. 'desire, love,' is so thoroughly personified throughout the hymn that the word is better transferred than translated.
2. What of my mind or my sight is not agreeable (priyá), what of me gnaws, does not enjoy (abhi-nand), that evil-dreaming do I fasten on my rival; praising Kāma, may I shoot up.
The sense of a, b is very doubtful; without b added, a would naturally mean 'what is not agreeable to my mind or sight'; the Pet. Lex. proposes to help the difficulty rather by emending b to yasmād bībhatse yac ca nā ’bhinande. This verse and the following one are included in the duḥsvapnanāçana gaṇa: see note to Kāuç. 46. 9. There is an irregularity in every pāda, but the Anukr. does not heed them. Ppp. has, for b, yan me hṛdaye na ’bhinandanti; and, for d, kāmaṁ juṣṭa hānudaṁ bhideyam—thus giving us no help. ⌊Pischel treats the vs., Ved. Stud. ii. 61. Aufrecht, KZ. xxxiv. 459, sees here a root bhas 'verdriessen, taedere.'⌋
3. Evil-dreaming, O Kāma, and difficulty, O Kāma, want of progeny, homelessness, ruin do thou, formidable, masterful, fasten on him who shall seek to devise (cikits-) distresses for us.
Ppp. combines yo ‘smabhyam in d.
4. Thrust, O Kāma; thrust forth, O Kāma; let them who are my rivals go to ruin; of them, thrust to lowest darknesses, do thou, O Agni, burn out the abodes (vā́stu).
The Anukr. takes no notice of the deficiency of two syllables in d, which in 9 d is made up by the addition of anu. In Vāit. 4. 5 the verse is strangely used to accompany the separation of two sacrificial ladles; in Kāuç. 48. 5 it accompanies the driving away of something with a branch.
5. That daughter of thine, O Kāma, is called a milch-cow, what utterance (vā́c) the poets name virā́j; with that do thou avoid them that are my rivals; let breath, cattle, life avoid them.
Or a might be 'that milch-cow is called thy daughter.' O. reads páry eṇān in d; but the passage is quoted under Prāt. iii. 80 as one in which the lingualization of n does not take place.
6. With the strength of Kāma, of Indra, of king Varuṇa, of Vishṇu, with the impulse of Savitar ('the impeller'), with the priestship (hotrá) of Agni I thrust forth my rivals, as a skilful pole-man (? çambín) a boat on the waters (udaká).
Çambín occurs nowhere else, and the meaning of çámba is doubtful. Ppp. reads in c piçācān instead of sapatnān.
7. Let Kāma, my valiant (vājín) formidable overseer, make for me freedom from rivals; let the all-gods be my refuge; let all the gods come to this call of mine.
'All' is víçve in c, and sárve in d. The verse is called jagatī by the Anukr., though only d is a jagatī pāda ⌊and that only by count⌋. Ppp. combines at the end of d māi ’mam ⌊and thus suggests the true metrical rendering of d as a triṣṭubh: similarly at ix. 3. 15⌋.
8. Enjoying this sacrificial butter rich in ghee, do ye, with Kāma as chief (-jyéṣṭha), revel here, making for me freedom from rivals.
Ppp. reads ghṛtam id in a, and kṛṇvantu in c. The verse is a perfectly good virāṇnāmagāyatrī but the Anukr. calls it an ārcī pan̄kti, as if it had 30 syllables.
9. Becoming, O Kāma, in alliance (sarátham) with Indra-and-Agni, may ye make my rivals to fall downward; of them, fallen to lowest darknesses, do thou, O Agni, burn along out the abodes.
With c, d compare 4 c, d above. The first half-verse presents various anomalies: sarátham demands an instrumental case; we should expect rather a plural verb (but compare vi. 104. 3 a, b); and it should be accented after hí. Emending indrāgnī́ to índreṇa, and reading pādáyāthas, would make everything right.
10. Slay thou, O Kāma, those that are my rivals; make them fall down to blind darknesses; be they all senseless (? nírindriya), sapless; let them not live any day soever.
Ppp. combines sapatnā ’ndhā in a-b, combines and reads nirindriyā ’ravāḥ in c, and has for d yathā nu jīvāt katamac ⌊-maç?⌋ cane ’ṣāṁ.
11. Kāma hath slain (vadh) them that are my rivals; he hath made for me wide space, prosperity; let the four directions bow to me; let the six wide ones ⌊fem.⌋ bring ghee to me.
The third pāda was found above as v. 3. 1 c. It is unusual for the Anukr. to note as bhurij a triṣṭubh containing a jagatī-pāda. ⌊Cf. Bergaigne, Rel. Véd. ii. 122.⌋
12. Let them float away downward, like a boat severed from its mooring; of them, thrust forth by missiles, there is no return again.
The verse is nearly identical with iii. 6. 7 above. ⌊Ppp. reads in c sāyakaṣ pra-.⌋
13. Agni [is] a repeller (? yava), Indra a repeller, Soma a repeller; let the repelling (? yavayā́van) gods repel (yu) him.
⌊Prose.⌋ This translation is altogether questionable. Perhaps the verse accompanies a ceremony in which barley (yáva) is used, a play on words being intended between yáva 'barley' and the root yu 'repel'; yavayā́van would then be 'going in barley.' Ppp. has for second half yavayanty amum amuṣyāyaṇam amuṣyāṣ putraṁ jīvalokaṁ mṛtalokaṁ katā ’mum. It is strange that the Anukr. does not note the paragraph as dvyavasānā.
14. With his heroes not safe ⌊á-sarvavīra⌋ let him go on, thrust forth, to be hated of friends, to be avoided of his own kin; on earth also stay (ava-sā) thunderbolts; may the formidable god massacre your rivals.
15. This great [earth], both stirred and unstirred, bears the lightning and all the thunders; let the Āditya, arising with property, with brilliancy, thrust downward my rivals, he the powerful one.
The first half-verse is wholly obscure, and the version given commits the grammatical solecism of taking vidyút as neut. accus. But for the last ca, vidyut might be taken as subject of the sentence. The verse has a triṣṭubh-pāda (a), of which the Anukr. makes no account.
16. What sufficient (udbhú) triply-guarding defense thou hast, O Kāma, worship (bráhman) as extended protection (várman), made unpierceable, with that do thou avoid them that are my rivals; let breath, cattle, life avoid them.
The last half-verse is ⌊nearly⌋ identical with 5 c, d above, and O. again reads eṇān in d. Ppp. puts the verse next before our 12. The description of the meter by the Anukr. is unintelligible, since we have (12 + 14: 12 + 14) 52 syllables, or an atijagatī; perhaps parājagatī is a misreading for this.
18. Wherewith the gods thrust forth the Asuras, wherewith Indra conducted the barbarians (dásyu) to lowest darkness, therewith do thou, O Kāma, thrust forth far from this world those who are my rivals.
Ppp. reads at end of b tamo ‘pabādhe, and at end of d sarvān for dūram. The verse (11 + 13: 11 + 11 = 46) is a queer sort of "jagatī."
18. As the gods thrust forth the Asuras, as Indra drove (bādh) the barbarians to lowest darkness, so do thou, O Kāma, thrust forth far from this world those who are my rivals.
Ppp. has again tamo ‘pabādhe, but this time dūram. The "jagatī" meter is like that of vs. 17.
19. Kāma was first born; not the gods, the Fathers, nor mortals attained (āp) him; to them art thou superior (jyā́yāṅs), always great; to thee as such, O Kāma, do I pay homage.
Ppp. reads in a, b prathamo nā ’nyat puro nāi ’naṁ devāsaṣ pitaro no ’ta martyāḥ; and it combines in d namāi ’t. The verse (9 ⌊10?⌋ + 10: 12 + 11 = 42) is a queer "triṣṭubh."
20. How great in width are heaven-and-earth; how far the waters flowed, how far fire—to them art thou etc. etc.
With a is identical iv. 6. 2 a. Some saṁhitā-mss. read sisyadúr in b (O.s.m.R.). ⌊I find no note of R.⌋ The meter is described by the Anukr. in accordance with that of vs. 11.
21. How great are the divergent (víṣvañc) quarters [and] directions; how great the regions (ā́çā), on-lookers of the sky—to them art thou etc. etc.
The verse lacks two syllables of being a real jagatī.
​22. How many the humble-bees (bhṛ́n̄ga), the bats, the kurū́nus; how many have been the vághās, the tree-creepers—to them art thou etc. etc.
The verse is a jagatī in number of syllables (12 + 13: 12 + 11 = 48). Bp. accents jatváḥ in a.
23. Superior art thou to him that winks, that stands; superior to the ocean art thou, O Kāma, fury—to them art thou etc. etc.
24. Verily no wind soever attains (āp) Kāma, not fire, sun, also not moon; to them art thou etc. etc.
Ppp. puts this verse before our 20, and reads for c, d na vāpaç carta kāmam āpur nā ’horātrāṇi nihatāni yaṅtī na vāi puṇyajāç ⌊intending puṇyajanāç?⌋ cana kāmam āpur na gandharvāpsaraso na sarpāḥ. The Anukr. accounts the verse simply a triṣṭubh ⌊perhaps counting b as 10 and balancing it with the 12 of c⌋.
25. What propitious excellent bodies thou hast, O Kāma, with which what thou choosest becometh real, with them do thou enter wholly into us; make evil devices (dhī́) enter away elsewhere.
The combination tā́bhiṣ ṭvám is an example under Prāt. ii. 84, and is quoted in the commentary there. Ppp. reads vṛṇīte at end of b, upa- for abhi- in c, and upa for apa in d. The Anukr. pays no heed to the extra syllable in d. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 24. 29 in the āgrahāyaṇī ceremony, to accompany the act of lying down (apparently merely on account of the occurrence of -saṁ-viç in c).
⌊The quoted Anukr. here says kāmasūktaḥ.⌋
⌊Here ends the first anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 49 verses.⌋