# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book IX/Hymn 10

10. Mystic.
[Brahman.—aṣṭāviṅçakam . govirāḍadhyātmadāivatyam (23. māitrāvaruṇī). trāiṣṭubham: 1, 7, 14, 17, 18. jagatī; 21. 5-p. atiçakvarī; 24. 4-p. puraskṛtir bhurig atijagatī; 2, 26, 27. bhurij.]
This hymn is in RV. a continuation of the preceding; but our vss. 9 and 23 are not found in the RV. with the rest (9 is RV. x. 55. 5 and 23 is RV. i. 152.3); ⌊while of 19, only d is found in RV., making, with the odd fifth pāda of our vs. 21, the first half of RV. i. 164. 42 (42 a, b = 21 e + 19 d); and our 24 (prose) does not occur in the RV. at all⌋. The first 23 verses are found also in Pāipp. xvi. The hymn is not quoted in Kāuç. (except as vs. 20 is also vii. 73. 11); but a few verses (9, 13, 14) are cited in Vāit.
Translated: as AV. hymn, by Henry, 110, 150; Griffith, i. 464.—For other translations etc. see the introduction to hymn 9.
1. That the gāyatrī́-verse is set (ā-dhā) in the gāyatrī́-verse, or that they fashioned the triṣṭúbh-verse out of the triṣṭúbh-verse, or that the jágatī step is set in the jágatī (jágat)—whoever know that, they have attained immortality.
RV. ⌊vs. 23⌋ and Ppp. read in b trāíṣṭubhād vā trāíṣṭubhaṁ.
2. By the gāyatrī́-verse he measures off the song (arká), by the song the chant (sā́man), by the triṣṭúbh-vevse the hymn (vāká), by the hymn of two feet [or] of four feet the hymn; by the syllable they measure the seven tunes (vā́ṇi).
The words 'song,' 'hymn,' 'tune' are used rather loosely in rendering here.
3. By the jágatī he established (skabh) the river in the sky; in the rathaṁtará he beheld (pari-paç) the sun; they call the three kindlers (samídh) the gāyatrī́-verse's; it was superior to them by bulk, by greatness.
The translation of the last pāda is not without uncertainties; tátas is here understood as quasi-object of prá ririce. RV. ⌊vs. 25⌋ reads in a astabhāyat.
4. I invite that well-milking milch-cow; a skilful-handed milker also shall milk her; may the impeller impel us the best impulse; the hot drink is kindled about: that may he kindly proclaim.
We had this verse above as vii. 73. 7. The only variant in RV. ⌊vs. 26⌋ is the better vocam at the end. ⌊Oldenberg discusses verses 4-7, IFA. vi. 182.⌋
​5. Lowing, mistress of good things, seeking her calf with her mind, hath she come unto [it]; let this inviolable one yield milk for the Açvins; let her increase unto great good-fortune.
This verse, again, is vii. 73. 8, above, excepting that the latter reads nyā́gan at end of b. Our pada-text has here abhi॰ā́gāt, while that of RV. ⌊vs. 27⌋ gives abhí: ā́: agāt; both yield the same saṁhitā-reading.
6. The cow lowed toward the winking calf; she uttered hing at [its] head, in order to lowing; bellowing the mouth (? sṛ́kvan) unto the hot drink, she lows a lowing, she abounds with milk.
Compare 1. 8, above; the second line is nearly identical in the two verses. It is quite differently rendered by the translators at one and another point, being very obscure. For abhí in a, RV. reads ánu, Ppp. apa.
7. This one here twangs, by whom the cow is surrounded; she lows a lowing, being set (çritá) on the sparkler (dhvasáni); since she put down mortals by her thoughts (cittí), becoming the lightning, she threw (ūh) back the wrap.
Both RV. ⌊vs. 29⌋ and Ppp. read mártyam in c.
8. Breathing lies the swift moving thing, living, stirring, fixed, in the midst of the abodes (pastyā̀); the living one moves at the will (? svadhā́bhis) of the dead one; the immortal one [is] of like source with the mortal.
The verse is excessively obscure, and Hillebrandt's translation of the second half, and reference to the moon (Ved. Mythol., pp. 336, 498), very forced and implausible. The verse lacks a syllable in a (and the pada-text sets its mark of pāda-division after éjat; perhaps we are to resolve -ga-ātu. Ppp. puts the verse after our vs. 9. ⌊RV., vs. 30, shows no variant. Roth's most interesting interpretation (ZDMG. xlvi. 759) makes of the verse a riddle whose answer is "the body and the soul." He emends to ánanac in a. Böhtlingk, Berichte der sächsischen Gesell., 1893, xlv. 88, reviews Roth's interpretation.⌋
9. The shaker-apart (? vidhú) that runs on the back of the sea, being young, the hoary one swallowed; see thou the poesy of the heavenly one with greatness; today he died, yesterday he received breath (sam-an).
This verse is RV. x. 55. 5; also SV. i. 325 etc.; TA. iv. 20. 1; MS. iv. 9. 12. All alike read sámane bahūnā́m for salilásya pṛṣṭhé (MS., except in its pada-text, has other slight differences which are palpable blunders). Vidhú is (as at 8. 22, above) divided in pada-text vi॰dhú. It doubtless designates here the moon, however it may have won the right to do so. Ludwig and Hillebrandt (Ved. Mythol. i. 465) translate d 'today (he died yesterday) he has come to life'; but this is in the highest degree forced, and may be pronounced even inadmissible. Ppp. reads vidyudūdrāṇā at the beginning. ⌊See Kaṭha-hss., p. 82.⌋ The verse is quoted in Vāit. 40. 7; 41. 12.
10. He who made him knows not of him; [he is] verily out of sight now of him who saw him; he, enveloped within his mother's womb, with his much progeny, entered into perdition (nírṛti).
The translation follows the RV. reading, nírṛtim, in d, since the nom. -tis seems unconstruable. Both RV. ⌊vs. 32⌋ and Ppp. put the verse after our vs. 11, and the latter reads so ‘sya in a. Haug interprets the lightning to be intended.
11. I saw the shepherd, not lying down, moving both hither and thither upon his roads; he, clothing himself in the collecting, he in the dispersing ones, rolls greatly on among existences.
Doubtless the sun. The verse ⌊RV. vs. 31⌋ is found a second time in RV. as x. 177. 3; and also at VS. xxxvii. 17; TA. iv. 7. 1; M.S. iv. 9. 6; AA. ii. 1. 6$^{6-10}$—all accenting in a ánipadyamānam, which is alone acceptable. ⌊Our d recurs, with sá prefixed, at x. 2. 7 c. If we read varīvartti there, we ought also to do so here.⌋ ⌊Cf. Kaṭha-hss., p. 101.⌋
12. The heaven our father, generator, navel here; this great earth our connection, mother; the womb (yóni) within the (two) outstretched cups (camū́); here the father hath set (ā-dhā) the daughter's embryo.
'Navel,' i.e. 'central point, place of union.' RV. ⌊vs. 33⌋ reads me for nas in a and b.
13. I ask of thee the extreme (pára) end of the earth; I ask the seed of the male (vṛ́ṣan) horse; I ask the navel of all existence; I ask the highest (paramá) firmament (vyòman) of speech.
RV. ⌊vs. 34⌋ exchanges the place of b and c, and rectifies the meter by inserting another tvā before vṛ́ṣṇo, and reading pṛchā́mi yátra bhúvanasya nā́bhiḥ. Ppp. follows RV. in the former case, but in the latter has pṛchāmi tvāṁ bh. n.; it makes ⌊as between b and c⌋ the same inversion of order as RV.; and it begins d with vācaṣ pṛchāmi. The Anukr. takes no notice of the irregularity of our meter. The verse, with the following one, is found also in other texts: VS. xxiii. 61, 62; TS. vii. 4. 18$^2$; LÇS. ix. 10. 13, 14. VS. reads in both verses precisely as RV., and LÇS. differs from it only by having pṛchāmas instead of -mi four times in vs. 13. TS. has for 13 b pṛchā́mi tvā bhúvanasya nā́bhim. The two verses are quoted in Vāit. 37. 3.
14. This sacrificial hearth is the extreme end of the earth; this soma is the seed of the male horse; this sacrifice is the navel of all existence; this priest (brahmán) is the highest firmament of speech.
RV. ⌊vs. 35⌋ (also VS. LÇS.: see above) and Ppp. read for b, c: ayáṁ yajñó bhúv. nā́.: ayáṁ sómo etc. (our b). TS. has védim āhuḥ páram ántam pṛthivyā́ yajñám āhur bhúvanasya nā́bhim: sómam āhur vṛ́. áç. ré. brahmāí ’vá vācáḥ etc. The Anukr. absurdly calls the verse a jagatī on account of the two redundant syllables in the AV. version of c.
15. I do not distinguish what this is that I am; I go secret, fastened together with mind; when the first-born of righteousness hath come to me, then indeed I attain a share of this speech.
Ppp. agrees with RV. ⌊vs. 37⌋ in putting this verse ⌊and the next⌋ after our vs. 17. The RV. pada-text has in c ā́: ágan ⌊so Müller's five editions and Aufrecht's first: Aufrecht's second, ā́: agan⌋; our ā॰ágan is better. Ppp. reads balinā for manasā in b.
​16. Offward, forward goes, seized by svadhā́, the immortal one, of like source with the mortal; the two, constantly going separate apart—the one they noted, the other they noted not.
Haug and Hillebrandt (Ved. Mythol., i. 336, note) both understand svadhā́ here as meaning the offering to the manes, but their conjectural interpretations of the verse are totally discordant. ⌊The vs. is RV. vs. 38 without variant. See the interpretations of Roth and of Böhtlingk as cited under vs. 8 above.—The Kaṭha variant (WZKM. xii. 282) is áprān̄ for ápān̄.—The vs. is found at AA. ii. 1. 8.⌋
17. Seven half-embryos, the seed of existence, stand in front (? pradíçā), in Vishṇu's distribution; they, by thoughts (dhītí), by mind, they, inspired, surround on all sides the surrounders.
Or, 'being surrounders.' As noted above, the verse in RV. ⌊vs. 36⌋ and Ppp. stands before our vs. 15. Both 17 and 18 are defective as jagatīs. ⌊Cf. Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 184; also Henry, Actes du dixième Congrès intern. des Orientalistes, Section I, Inde, p. 45-50, "Cruelle énigme."⌋
18. In the syllable of the verse (ṛ́c) in the highest firmament, on which all the gods sat down: he who knoweth not that, what will he do with the verse? they who know that sit together yonder.
RV. ⌊vs. 39⌋ reads imé instead of amī́ in d. O. combines vidúṣ ṭé just before it. The verse is found also in TB. iii. 10. 9$^{14}$ and TA. ii. 11. 1—in both, with the RV. reading. Its pratīka occurs also in GB. i. 22. Read véda in c.
19. Shaping (kalpay-) with measure the step of the verse, they shaped by the half-verse all that stirs; the bráhman of three feet, many-formed, spread out (vi-sthā); by that do the four quarters live.
The comm. to the Prāt. (ii. 93) quotes ví taṣṭhe at end of c as an example of the s of sthā lingualized after ví even though the reduplication intervenes; and that establishes ví taṣṭhe as the true reading. The majority of the saṁhitā-mss. have it; but W.E.O. give caṣṭe; Ppp. also has parirūpaṁ vi caṣṭe. Only the fourth pāda is found in RV., being i. 164. 42 b (we have 42 a as our 21 e); the same occurs below as xi. 5. 12 d.
20. Mayest thou be well-portioned, feeding in excellent meadows; so also may we be well-portioned; eat thou grass, O inviolable one, at all times; drink clear water, moving hither.
We had this verse ⌊RV. vs. 40⌋ above, as vii. 73. 11.
21. The cow verily lowed, fashioning the seas; one-footed, two-footed [is] she, four-footed; having become eight-footed, nine-footed, thousand-syllabled, a series (pan̄tí) of existence; out from her flow apart the oceans.
The five pādas are vs. 41, and 42 a, of the RV. hymn; which, however, reads gāurī́s for gāúr íd in a, and paramé vyòman for bhúvanasya pan̄tíḥ in d. The RV. vs. 41 occurs also in TB. ii. 4. 6$^{11}$ ⌊and it is there followed by the RV. vs. 42 entire⌋ and TA. i. 9. 4, with the RV. readings, excepting gāurī́ at the beginning ⌊and tásyām in TB. for tásyās⌋. Our pādas b-e, again, are repeated as xiii. 1. 42 below. The verse (12 + 12: 12 + 11 + 11 = 58) lacks two syllables of being a proper atiçakvarī (60 syllables).
​22. Black the descent, the yellow eagles, clothing themselves in waters, fly up to the sky; they have come hither from the seat of righteousness; then, forsooth, with ghee they deluged the earth.
The verse occurs also above as vi. 22. 1, and pādas a-c below in xiii. 3. 9. For parallel passages etc. see die note to vi. 22. 1. It is RV. i. 164. 47, the last verse of the RV. hymn that is included in the AV. text here (RV. vss. 43-46 are our 25-28 below), although of the remaining five RV. vss. all but one (51) are found in other parts of our text.
23. She that is footless goes first of them (fem.) that have feet: who understood (ā-cit) that of you, O Mitra and Varuṇa? the embryo brings (ā-bhṛ) the burden of her; she (?) fills (? pṛ) truth, protects (ni-pā) untruth.
The last pāda is especially obscure: he? or she? or it? and which root pṛ, 'fill' or 'pass'? The verse is RV. i. 152. 3, where we read tārit instead of pāti at the end, and asya for asyās at end of c. Ppp. also has tārīt, but, instead of ā́ cid asyāḥ (or asya), it reads ād ṛtasya.
24. Virā́j [is] speech, virā́j earth, virā́j atmosphere, virā́j Prajāpati; virā́j became death, the over-king of the perfectibles (sādhyá); in his control are what was, what is to be; let him put in my control what was, what is to be.
⌊Prose.⌋ This verse, with all that follows it, is wanting in Ppp. The Anukr. reckons the whole first part to the pause as one pāda (20 syllables, a kṛti-pāda); the pada-text understands it as two, dividing after pṛthivī.
25. The dung-made smoke I saw from far, with the dividing one, thus beyond the lower; the heroes cooked a spotted ox (ukṣán); those were the first ordinances.
The construction and sense of b are very obscure. The verse is 43 of RV. i. 164, and the remaining three follow in order. ⌊Henry, Mém. de la Soc. de linguistique, ix. 247, cites the vs.⌋
26. Three hairy ones look out seasonably; in the (a?) year one of them shears itself; another looks upon all with might (çácībhis); of one is seen the rush, not the form.
The RV. version ⌊vs. 44⌋ has in c víçam éko abhí caṣṭe; our abhicáṣṭe is a regular case of antithetical accent. The RV. pada-text does not divide saṁvatsare. Haug interprets the verse of the three forms of Agni; Hillebrandt (Ved. Mythol., i. p. 472), of the moon (!?), sun, and wind.
27. Speech [is] four measured out quarters (padá); those are known by Brahmans who are skilful; three, deposited in secret, they do not set in motion (in̄gay-); a fourth of speech human beings speak.
This verse is found, without variant, in TB. (ii. 8. 8$^5$) and ÇB. (iv. i. 3$^{17}$), as well as in RV. ⌊vs. 45⌋. Our Bp.$^2$D.Kp. read ná: īn̄gayanti in c.
​28. They call [him] Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; likewise he [is] the heavenly winged eagle; what is one the sages (vípra) name (vad) variously; they call [him] Agni, Yāma, Mātariçvan.
Our pada-text differs from that of RV. ⌊vs. 46⌋ by dividing bahu॰dhā́.
⌊The fifth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 50 verses, ends here.⌋
⌊One of our mss., P., sums up the book as of 8 artha-sūktas [their vss. number 214] and 7 paryāya-sūktas [hymns 6 and 7: their ¶'s number 62 + 26 = 88] or "15 sūktas of both kinds" reckoned together. Cf. the introduction, p. 517. The same ms., P., sums up the avasānarcas [of hymns 6 and 7] as 99 [73 + 26] and the "verses of both kinds" as 313 [that is 214 + 99]; but codex I. gives 302 [that is 214 + 88].⌋
⌊The twenty-first prapāṭhaka ends here.⌋