# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XI/Hymn 10

10. To conquer enemies: to Trishandhi.
Not found in Pāipp. ⌊For its use by Kāuç. in connection with hymn 9, see introduction to hymn 9.⌋
Translated: Ludwig, p. 531; Henry, 129, 169; Griffith, ii. 88; Bloomfield, 126, 637.
1. Stand ye up, equip yourselves, ye specters, together with ensigns; ye serpents, other-folks, demons, run after our enemies.
⌊Pāda a = 9. 2 a, 26 b; c = 9. 16 e.⌋
​2. Your mastery I know, [your] kingdom, O Trishandhi, together with red ensigns; what in the atmosphere, what in the sky, and what men (mānavá) [are] on the earth, let those ill-named ones sit (? upa-ās) in the mind (cétas) of Trishandhi.
The translation implies veda rā́jyam in a, while all the pada-mss. treat the word as a compound (veda॰rā́jyani). The comm. takes veda as an independent word, but renders it as a 3d sing., with triṣandhis supplied as subject; and he understands the enemies as addressed by vas in a. He supplies ketavas to the three ye's in c, d, regarding mānavās as adj., 'human.' And he cuts off the last two pādas, adding them instead to vs. 3, and reading at the beginning trisandhe tve ("= tava"); explaining upāsatām by sambhajantām, and making the following nouns its subject. For durṇāmānas he has -nam (as also our B.O.).
3. Iron-(áyas-)mouthed, needle-mouthed, likewise thorn-tree-(vikan̄kaṭī-)mouthed, let the flesh-eaters, of wind-swiftness, fasten on our enemies with the three-jointed (tríṣandhi) thunderbolt.
The comm. regards the epithets as signifying flesh-eating birds, and supplies ⌊alternatively⌋ 'sent forth' (preritās) to the concluding instrumentals.
4. O Jatavedas, Aditya, put thou between much human flesh; let this army of Trishandhi be well-placed in my control.
Most of SPP's pada-mss. give sénāḥ in c; no such reading has been noted among our mss. One would like to improve meter and sense together by emending tríṣandhes to -dhinā, understanding the 'army' to be the enemy's. Antár dhehi at the beginning may also mean 'hide'; and the comm. juggles the line into signifying, 'O Jātavedas, make the corpses of our enemies hide the sun'!
5. Stand thou up, O god-folk, O Arbudi, with the army; this tribute is offered (ā-hu) to you ⌊pl.⌋; the offering [is] dear to Trishandhi.
The comm. reads āhutis (for -tas) in c, and āhutipriyā as compound in d. ⌊In some copies the i of priyā is broken.⌋
6. Let the white-footed one tie together, this shaft (çaravyā̀), four-footed; O witchcraft, be thou for our enemies, together with the army of Trishandhi.
The comm. reads for dyatu, in a, patatu: cf. vs. 7 a. By çitipadī he understands a white-footed cow, called a çaravyà as being a çarūṇām bāṇānāṁ samūhaḥ.
7. Let the smoke-eyed (f.) one fall together, and the crop-eared one (f.) yell; it being conquered by the army of Trishandhi, let the ensigns be red.
The comm. supplies parakīye bale to jité; the pada-reading (simply jité) forbids us to regard the word as fem. dual. He takes the epithets in the first half-verse first as applying to the enemy's army, and then to the kṛtyā which is invoked against it. The verse is translated by Bloomfield, as noted above (see 9. 7), at AJP. xi. 340.
8. Let the winged ones descend, the birds, they that go about in the atmosphere, in the sky; let the wild beasts, the flies, take hold together; let the raw-flesh-eating vultures scratch at the human carrion.
The comm. explains radantām by svatuṇḍāiḥ pādāiç ca vilikhantu. ⌊Read diví ca yé?⌋
9. The agreement (saṁdhā) which thou hast agreed on with Indra and with the bráhman, O Brihaspati, by that Indra-agreement do I call hither all the gods: conquer ye on this side, not on that!
The comm. (with two or three of SPP's authorities) reads -adhattās in a; and he treats indra-saṁdhayā as two independent words in c. Saṁdhā́m in a is clearly proved an intrusion by the meter.
10. Brihaspati of the An̄giras race, the seers sharpened by the bráhman, set up (ā-çri) in the sky the Asura-destroying weapon, Trishandhi.
One would like to emend ān̄girasás to án̄girasas (as Ludwig translates). The comm. renders ā́ ’çrayan by asevanta, as if it were ā́ ’çrayanta.
11. By whom yonder sun, and Indra, both stand protected—Trishandhi the gods shared, in order to both force and strength.
12. All worlds did the gods completely conquer by means of that offering (ā́huti)—the thunderbolt which Brihaspati of the An̄giras race poured, an Asura-destroying weapon.
'Poured,' i.e. 'cast': a term used also elsewhere of the thunderbolt (BR. vii. 980).
13. The thunderbolt which Brihaspati of the An̄giras race poured, an Asura-destroying weapon—therewith do I blot out (ni-lip) yon army, O Brihaspati; I slay the enemies with force.
The comm. renders ní limpāmi by nitarāṁ chinadmi. He also has the strange reading amūs for amūm before sénām.
14. All the gods come over hither, who partake of [the offering] made with váṣat; enjoy ye this offering; conquer ye on this side, not on that!
15. Let all the gods come over hither; the offering [is] dear to Trishandhi; defend ye the great agreement by which in the beginning the Asuras were conquered.
The comm. appears to read in a -yanti, as in vs. 14 a, but he interprets it as an imperative this time.
16. Let Vāyu bend up the arrow-points of the enemies; let Indra break back their arms; let them not be able to set the arrow; let Āditya make their missile weapon (astrá) disappear; let the moon put (yu) them on the track of what is not gone.
The last clause is very doubtful and difficult; the comm. gives no aid, explaining with aprāptasyā ”jigamiṣataḥ çatroḥ...panthānam asmatprāptyupāyabhūtam mārgaṁ yutāṁ tataḥ pṛthakkurutām (taking yutām from yu 'separate,' and adding) tādṛçam mārgaṁ çatrur na paçyatv ity arthaḥ. He divides the verse into two, making the second begin with ādityá eṣām.
​17. If they have gone forward to the gods' strongholds, have made the bráhman their defenses; if (? yát) they have encouraged (? upa-vac) themselves, making a body-protection, a complete protection—all that do thou make sapless.
The verse occurred above as v. 8. 6, and the comm. declines to repeat his explanation there given—which, however, is not in our hands.
18. Causing to follow the puróhita with the flesh-eating [fire] and with death, O Trishandhi, go forth with the army; conquer the enemies; go forward.
The last pāda is identical with iii. 19. 8 c.
19. O Trishandhi, do thou envelop our enemies with darkness; of them yonder, thrust forth by the speckled butter, let none soever be freed.
The last half-verse is nearly identical with viii. 8. 19 c, d. ⌊For the stock-phrase d, see iii. 19. 8, note.⌋
20. Let the white-footed one (f.) fall upon (? sam-pat) yonder lines of our enemies; let yonder armies of our enemies be confounded today, O Nyarbudi.
The second pāda is identical with 9. 18 b; to be put in any connection with it, the words of the first pāda require to be rendered otherwise than in 6 a, 7 a, above. The comm. again reads çucas for sicas, as in the other passage ⌊9. 18: comm. p. 181$^{17}$⌋.
21. Confounded [be] our enemies, O Nyarbudi; slay thou of them each best man (vára); slay [them] with this army.
The comm. strangely reads amitrān beside mūḍhās. ⌊The rationale of his variant is perhaps as in 9. 6 above (nnya = nya). The pada-text has amítrāḥ. But the comm. also takes mūḍhāḥ as = mūḍhān.⌋
22. Whoever is mailed, and who without mail, and what enemy is in march (? ájman); by bowstring-fetters, by mail-fetters, smitten by the march let him lie.
The mss. are in good part awkward about the combination jm (in ajmani, ajmanā), writing what looks like a ṭm or pm, but there is no real variant. The comm. explains ájman as ajati gacchaty anene ’ty ajma rathādi yānam. He gives abhihitas, a preferable reading, in d.
23. Who have defenses, who have no defenses, and the enemies who have defenses—all those, O Arbudi, being slain, let dogs eat on the ground.
The accent yé ‘varmā́ṇaḥ, though read by all the mss. ⌊save R.⌋, is wholly inadmissible, and should be emended to yè ‘v-.
24. Who have chariots, who have no chariots, those without seats and they who have seats (sādá)—all those, being slain, let vultures, falcons, birds (patatrín) eat.
We may fairly question whether 'seat' means here 'seat on horseback.' The comm. explains asādās by açvādiyānarahitāḥ padātayaḥ, and sādinas by açvārūḍhāḥ 'mounted on horses.'
25. Let the army of our enemies lie with thousand corpses (-kúṇapa) in the conflict of weapons, pierced through, cut to pieces (?).
The obscure kakajā́kṛtā at the end is guessed by the comm. to mean kutsitajananā vilolajananā vā kṛtā; he attempts no etymology, but evidently sees in it the root jā. In a he has the strange reading senām for çetām.
26. Let the eagles (suparṇá) eat him, pierced to the vitals, crying loudly, lying crushed, the evil-minded one—what enemy of ours wishes to fight against this opposing offering.
The translation implies the emendation (which Ludwig's version also makes) of suparṇāís to suparṇā́s in a. The comm. takes it as qualifying çarāis understood and adjunct of marmāvídham: 'pierced etc. by well-feathered arrows.' In the irregular meter of the first line, the division is perhaps best made before adantu; a small minority of SPP's mss. so regard it, and accent adántu accordingly, and he follows them in his text; our Bp. puts its pāda-division after adantu, and, with one other ms., leaves the word without accent. ⌊See Henry's elaborate conjectures, p. 172: marmāvídho róruvataḥ suparṇā́ gaṇāír adantu mṛditám çáyānam. The other versions imply mármaviddham, and Bloomfield expressly conjectures marmaviddhám, overlooking the accent; but the comm. to Prāt. iv. 68 quotes marmāvídham as an instance of non-separation in pada-text.⌋
27. [The offering] which the gods follow (anu-sthā), of which there is no failure—with that let Indra, Vṛitra-slayer, slay, with the three-jointed thunderbolt.
⌊Here ends the fifth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 53 verses. The quoted Anukr. says, referring to this last hymn, antyo viṅçatiḥ sapta cā ’parāḥ.⌋
⌊The sum of the verses for hymns 1-2 and 4-10 is (68 + 189 =) 257. Reckoning hymn 3 (with the Berlin ed.) as of 56 vss., we get for the book (257 + 56 =) 313: and this is the summation given by codex I. On the other hand, reckoning hymn 3 as of (31 + 72 + 7 =) 110 vss. (see pp. 632, 628), we get for the book (257 + 110 =) 367. But the summation given by four of W's mss. (including P.W.B.) is 365. How to account for the discrepancy I do not see. One ms. sums up the last anuvāka as 51 (i.e. 26 + 25?—instead of 26 + 27 = 53) verses, and 10. 17 is indeed a galita-verse; but the Old Anukr. reckons hymn 10 as 27, not 25.⌋
⌊Three or four mss. sum up the sūktas "of both kinds" as 12.⌋
⌊Here ends the twenty-fifth prapāṭhaka.⌋