# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book X/Hymn 7

7. Mystic: on the skambhá or frame of creation.
Found also (except vss. 13, 42-44) in Pāipp. xvii. (with slight differences of order, noted under the verses). Neither Kāuç. nor Vāit. takes any notice of the hymn.—*⌊If the hymn is trāiṣṭubham, why are these verses specified? see note to 38.⌋ †⌊As to the Anukr's description of this verse, see under the verse.⌋
Translated: Muir, v. 380-384 (vss. 1-41); Ludwig, p. 400; Scherman, p. 50 (vss. 1-41: with comment); Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 310 (sympathetic interpretation and useful introduction); Henry, 22, 68; Griffith, ii. 26.—As to the appearance of Brahm as a new conception, as a Wunderding (yakṣá: vs. 38), cf. the Kena Upanishad, § 3, vss. 14-25, and Deussen's introduction, Sechzig Upanishad's, p. 204.—The hymn is nearly related to the following one (8), and, with many a riddle and paradox, they both lead up to the fundamental conception of the Upanishads (see last verse of hymn 8), the idea of the Ātman.—In the new volume of the Ved. Stud., iii. 126 ff., Geldner discusses yakṣá at length.
1. In what member of him is penance situated? in what member of him is right (ṛtá) deposited? where is situated [his] vow (vratá), where his faith? in what member of him is truth established?
Ppp. combines in a tapo ‘sya. In b, the pada-text reads asya: ádhi: ā́॰hitam. There is no reason for calling the verse virāj.
Skambha, lit. 'prop, support, pillar,' strangely used in this hymn as frame of the universe or half-personified as its soul. Ppp. reads in d skambhasya mahan mim-. ⌊Read vimímāno in d?⌋
3. In what member of him is situated the earth? in what member is situated the atmosphere? in what member is the sky set? in what member is situated what is beyond the sky?
This is one of the five verses (3-6, 9) which are left by the Anukr. to fall under the general description of the hymn as trāiṣṭubham. All of them are more or less redundant; this, for example, is as much bhurij as vs. 2, which was so described. Ppp. puts the verse before our 2.
4. Whither desiring to attain does Agni flame aloft? whither desiring to attain blows Mātariçvan? whither desiring to attain, the turns (āvṛ́t) go, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Here we have two syllables in excess, unnoticed by the Anukr. Many of the mss. accent svít in d.
5. Whither go the half-months, whither the months, in concord with the year? whither the seasons go, whither they of the seasons, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Again two unnoticed redundant syllables.
6. Whither desiring to attain run in concord the two maidens (yuvatí) of diverse form, day-and-night? whither desiring to attain, the waters go, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Here it is only the last pāda that is one syllable in excess. Ppp. puts the verse before our 5.
7. In what, having established [them], Prajāpati maintained all the worlds, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Many of our mss. appear to read stabdhā́ in a, but it is doubtless only carelessness in writing. Here again, as above and in the verses below where the refrain is written out, part of the mss. accent svít.
8. What that was highest, lowest, and what that was midmost Prajāpati created, of all forms—by how much did Skambha enter there? what did not enter, how much was that?
Or (in d) 'what he did not enter.' The Anukr. this time notices the redundant syllable (in a).
9. By how much did Skambha enter the existent? how much of him lies along that which will exist? what one member he made thousand-fold, by how much did Skambha enter there?
The Anukr. again passes without notice the redundant syllable in c.
​10. Where men know both worlds and receptacles (kóça), waters, bráhman, within which [are] both the non-existent and the existent—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
A part of this verse has disappeared in Ppp. ⌊The pada reads ā́paḥ and antáḥ.]
11. Where penance, striding forth, maintains the higher vow (vratá), where both right and faith, waters, bráhman, are set together, that Skambha etc. etc.
The verse (8 + 8: 8 + 8 + 12 = 44) is, with those that agree with it, strangely named by the Anukr. ⌊Ppp. exchanges the places of vratam and ṛtam in b, c, and of āpas and brahma in d.⌋
12. In whom earth, atmosphere, in whom sky is set, where fire, moon, sun, wind stand fixed (ā́rpita), that Skambha etc. etc.
⌊The pada-text has ā́rpitāḥ, which SPP., with many of his saṁhita-mss., adopts as saṁhitā-reading also; Ppp. has -tā.⌋
13. In whose member all the thirty-three gods are set together, that Skambha etc. etc.
Wanting in Ppp., as noted above.
14. Where the first-born seers, the verses, the chant, the sacrificial formula, the great one (mahī́); in whom the sole seer is fixed—that Skambha etc. etc.
Mahī́ usually designates the earth; what in this connection it should be meant to apply to is doubtful. All the saṁhitā-mss. combine ekarṣír (Ppp. eka ṛṣir), but most of them, with the Anukr., yátra ṛ́ṣ- in a. Ppp. reads bhūtakṛtas for prathamajas.
15. Where both immortality (amṛ́ta) and death are set together in man (púruṣa), of whom the ocean, the veins (nāḍī́) are set together in man, that Skambha etc. etc.
Ppp. reads, for b, puruṣaç ca samāhitāḥ, and puts the verse after our 16. Read in a mṛtyúç ca (an accent-sign slipped out of place).
16. Of whom the four directions are (sthā) the teeming (? prapyasá) veins, where the sacrifice hath strode forth, that Skambha etc. etc.
Prathamā́s at end of b in our edition seems to be a misprint for prathasā́s, intended as a correction of prapyasā́s, which last, however, is distinctly read by all our mss.* (p. pra॰pyasā́ḥ); for the formation, compare -bhyasa from root bhī (through a secondary root bhyas). *⌊Except P., which has prathasā́s; SPP. puts -mā́s into his text against his fifteen authorities, which give prapyasā́s.
17. Whoever know the bráhman in man, they know the most exalted one; whoever knows the most exalted one, and whoever knows Prajāpati, whoever know the chief bráhmaṇa, they know also accordingly (anu-sam-vid) the Skambha.
For both b and f, Ppp. reads te skambham arasaṁ viduḥ (intending anusaṁviduḥ?).
​18. Whose head [was] Vāiçvānara, [whose] eye the An̄girases were, whose members the familiar demons (yatú)—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
19. Of whom they call bráhman the mouth, the honey-whip the tongue also, of whom they call virā́j the udder—that Skambha etc. etc.
Ppp. reads for c virājaṁ yasyo ”dhā ”hus.
20. From whom they fashioned off the verses, from whom they scraped off the sacrificial formula, of whom the chants [are] the hairs (lóman), the Atharvans-and-An̄girases the mouth—that Skambha etc. etc.
⌊Ppp. combines ṛco ‘pāt- in a, and has charidāṅsy asya for sāmāni yasya in c.⌋
21. The branch of the non-existent, standing forth, people know as in a manner the highest thing; also the lower ones who worship (upa-ās) thy branch think [it?] the existent thing.
The translation of .this highly obscure verse is only mechanical, and as literal as possible. Ppp. has only the first half. The definition of the Anukr. is a strange one; the verse is only a bhurig anuṣṭubh (in virtue of the iva, which properly is to be reduced to va, making a regular anuṣṭubh).
22. Where both the Ādityas and the Rudras and the Vasus are set together; where both what is and what is to be, [and] all the worlds are established—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
23. Of whom the thirty-three gods always defend the treasure (nidhí): that treasure, which, O gods, ye defend, who at present knoweth?
24. Where the bráhman-knowing gods worship the chief bráhman—whoso verily knoweth them eye to eye (pratyákṣam), he may be a Brahman (brahmán), a knower.
Perhaps an acceptable emendation in d would be bráhma: i.e. 'he may be (may be regarded as) one knowing the bráhman': cf. ÇB. xiv. 6. 9$^{11}$. Ppp. reads, for c, d, yo vāi tad brahmaṇo veda taṁ vāi brahmavido viduḥ. Read in a devā́ (an accent-sign dropped out).
25. Great (bṛhánt) by name [are] those gods who were born out of the non-existent; that one member of Skambha people call non-existent beyond.
The second half-verse is capable of other interpretations; Ludwig emends parás to purā́; Muir, tacitly, to páram; Scherman translates it 'afterwards' (nachher); Ppp. reads instead puras. One of our mss. reads in b ‘satas p-; ⌊and so does SPP. without report of variant⌋.
26. Where the skambhá, generating forth, rolled out the ancient one, that one member of the skambhá they know also accordingly [as] the ancient one.
Or, 'know etc. that ancient one as one member of the skambha.' Ppp. again (as in 17 b, f) arasaṁ viduḥ in d. Read in our edition prajanáyan in a.
​27. In whose member the thirty-three gods shared severally the limbs (gā́tra)—those thirty-three gods verily only (éka) the bráhman-knowers know.
Or (so Muir), 'some bráhman-knowers.' Ppp. reads in b gātrāṇi bhejire.
28. People know the golden-embryo [as] highest, not to be overcrowed (anatyudyá); the skambhá in the beginning poured forth that gold within the world.
Ppp. puts this verse after our 30.
29. In the skambhá the worlds, in the skambhá penance, in the skambhá right is set; thee, O skambhá, I know plainly [as] set all together in Indra.
The mss. are much at variance in regard to skámbha in c; all save W. (the poorest and least trustworthy of all) end the word with m, and O.s.m.D. accent skambhám. That skámbha is really intended can hardly admit of question; Ppp. appears to read it.
30. In Indra the worlds, in Indra penance, in Indra right is set; thee, O Indra, I know plainly [as] all established in the skambhá.
The translation implies emendation in c of índram to índra. Of course, it is possible to render índram here, and skambhám in 29 c, but where the whole sense is so mystically obscure alterations help little.
31. Name with name he calls aloud, before the sun, before the dawn; as first the goat (? ajá) came into being, he went unto that autocracy beyond which there is nothing else existent.
Ppp. reads johavīmi in a, and jagāma (for iyāya) in d. The translators all understand ajás here as 'the unborn one,' and with more reason than in most places elsewhere. The description given by the Anukr. of the very irregular verse (8 + 8: 10 + 10 + 11 = 47) is altogether ill-fitting.
32. Of whom earth is model (pramā́) and atmosphere belly; who made the sky his head—to that chief bráhman be homage.
In this and the two following verses and vs. 36 we have the anomaly that bráhman, neuter, is apparently referred to by the masculine relative yás (in accordance with which the genitive yásya is also doubtless to be understood as masculine); perhaps we ought to render the last pāda thus: 'to him, [who is] the chief bráhman,' etc. ⌊Cf. Deussen, p. 312.⌋ The verse is shorter by two syllables than verses 34 and 36, with which the Anukr. reckons it, and, on the other hand, agrees with 33, to which the Anukr. gives a different name.
33. Of whom the sun is eye, and the moon that grows new again; who made Agni his mouth—to that chief bráhman be homage.
Ppp. combines cakrā ”syaṁ in c. As to the meter, see the note to vs. 32. ⌊The Anukr. seems to mean that this is an anuṣṭubh of which the last pāda is one of 10 syllables (virāj).⌋
​34. Of whom the wind [was] breath-and-expiration, [of whom] the An̄girases were the eye; who made the quarters fore-knowing (? prajñā́na)—to that chief bráhman be homage.
Ppp. gets rid of the obscure prajñānīs by reading for c divaṁ yaç cakre mūrdhānaṁ. The Anukr. describes correctly vss. 34 and 36.
35. The skambhá sustains both heaven-and-earth here; the skambhá sustains the wide atmosphere; the skambhá sustains the six wide directions; into the skambhá hath entered this whole existence (bhúvana).
The pada-text has (as translated) skambhé in d. Ppp. puts the verse after our 36, and reads in a pṛthivīṁ dyām utā ’mūṁ, and in d combines skambhāi ’daṁ. The Anukr. takes no notice of the irregularity of the verse (14 + 11: 11 + 13 = 49). ⌊Bergaigne, Rel. Véd., ii. 122, would separate pradiças from urvīs.⌋
36. Who, born from toil, from penance, completely attained all worlds; who made soma all his own—to that chief bráhman be homage.
The sense of 'own' in c is given by the middle verb-form.
37. How does the wind not cease (il)? how does the mind not rest (ram)? why (kím) do the waters, seeking to attain truth, at no time soever cease?
Ppp. reads for d pra cakramati sarvadā. ⌊Scherman, p. 54: 'warum kommen fúrwahr die strebenden Wasser niemals zur Ruhe?'⌋
38. A great monster (yakṣá) in the midst of the creation (bhúvana), strode (? krāntá) in penance on the back of the sea—in it are set (çri) whatever gods there are, like the branches of a tree roundabout the trunk.
The first pāda is repeated below, as 8. 15 c. Ppp. combines in d to paritāi ’va. Notwithstanding the lack of a syllable in a, the Anukr. ⌊balancing a with redundant d?⌋ calls the verse simply a triṣṭubh; the hymn is so long that it has apparently been forgotten that the whole was called trāiṣṭubha, and that therefore no triṣṭubh needs a further specification. Since there are more regular anuṣṭubh-verses than triṣṭubh also, we should expect rather the designation ānuṣṭubham for the hymn. Read at end of a mádhye (an accent-sign dropped out). ⌊With regard to Brahm as a "wonder" (yakṣá), see introduction.⌋
39. Unto which with the two hands, with the two feet, with speech, with hearing, with sight; unto which the gods continually render (pra-yam) tribute, unmeasured in the measured out—that skambhá tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Notwithstanding the discordance of case, vímite is perhaps coordinate with yásmāi. Ppp. omits the first two pādas. The dual and the repetition of yásmāi make it probable that we have to supply in them 'one renders tribute,' or the like. The Anukr. takes no notice of the redundant syllable in d.
40. Smitten away is his darkness; he is separated from evil; in him. are all the three lights that are in Prājapati.
​41. He who knows the golden reed (vetasá) standing in the sea—he verily is in secret Prajāpati.
All the mss. have in c gúhya pr-; perhaps gúhā was the original reading; our text has emended to gúhyaḥ.
The remaining verses are wanting in Ppp.; they appear to constitute no original part of the hymn. They are also not translated by Muir and Scherman.
42. A certain pair of maidens, of diverse form, weave, betaking themselves to it, the six-pegged web; the one draws forth the threads (tántu), the other sets [them]; they wrest not off (apa-vṛj), they go not to an end.
Ápa vṛñjāte perhaps means only 'break off, finish.' ⌊Ná gamāto, 'they shall not go' etc.⌋ A nearly related verse is found in TB. (ii. 5. 5$^3$); dvé svásārāu vayatas tántram etát sanātánaṁ vítataṁ ṣáṇmayūkham: ávā ’nyā́ṅs tántūn kiráto dhattó anyā́n nā́ ’pa vṛjyā́te (? both text and comm. have in the Calc. ed. nā́ṣapṛjyā́te ⌊and in the Poona ed. nā́vapṛjyā́te ) ná gamāte ántam; this is a preferable version especially of c. We have to resolve tan-tṛ-am in order to make a full triṣṭubh. ⌊The TB. comment makes the verse refer to day and night: cf. RV. i. 113. 3.⌋
43. Of them, as of two women dancing about, I do not distinguish (vi-jñā) which is beyond; a man (púmāṅs), weaves it, ties [it] up; a man hath borne it about upon the firmament (nā́ka).
The last two pādas, with 44, correspond to RV. x. 130. 2, which reads: púmāṅ enaṁ tanuta út kṛṇatti púmān ví tatne ádhi nā́ke asmín: imé mayū́khā úpa sedur ū sádaḥ sā́māni cakrus tásarāṇy ótave. Our úd gṛṇatti is only a corruption, but simulates a form from root grath, and is rendered accordingly. ⌊For the exchange of surd and sonant, cf. Roth, ZDMG. xlviii. 110 and note to ii. 13. 3.⌋ The true scanning in a is doubtless -yanti-or ’va; ⌊better -tior iva, with jagatī cadence?⌋.
44. These pegs propped up the sky; the chants they made shuttles for weaving.
See the note to the preceding verse. Both here and in 42 b some of the mss. read mayūṣa. Bp. reads at the end yā́tave. The Anukr. says of the verse ime mayūkhā ity ekāvasānā pañcapadā nicṛt padapan̄ktir ⌊i.e. 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 4 = 24⌋ ārcy anuṣṭub dvipadā vā ⌊i.e. 12 + 12 = 24⌋ pañcapadā nicṛt padapan̄ktir iti. ⌊The last three or four words seem to be mere repetition.⌋
⌊The quoted Anukr. says caturdaça (i.e. 14 over 30).⌋