# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book X/Hymn 9

9. With the offering of a cow and a hundred rice-dishes.
Found also in Pāipp. xvi. The hymn (vs. 1) is quoted in Kāuç. 65. 1 to accompany the closing of the mouth of a victim, and some of the verses (1-3, 26, 27) in other neighboring parts of the sūtra. In Vāit. is used a single verse (26).
Translated: Ludwig, p. 270 (in great part); Henry, 32, 83; Griffith, ii. 42.
1. Fasten thou up the mouths of the mischief-making ⌊ones⌋; bring (arpay-) this thunderbolt upon our rivals; given by Indra, first, with a hundred rice-dishes, cousin-slaying, the success (gātú) of the sacrificer.
It is a cow (f.) accompanied by a whole hundred of odanas or offerings of boiled rice, that is here the subject; we had in various places above a goat (m.) with five such additions. Ppp. reads in d yajamānāya. The Anukr. does not heed that the third pāda is jagatī.
2. Be thy skin the sacrificial hearth, [be] the hairs which [are] thine the barhís; this rein (raçanā́) hath seized thee; let this pressing-stone dance over thee.
The parts of this and the preceding verse are prescribed in Kāuc. 65. 1-3 to be used to accompany certain sacrificial acts to which they are adapted.
3. Be thy tail-tuft the sprinklers; let thy tongue do the cleansing, O inviolable one; do thou, having become clean, fit for sacrifice, go on to heaven, O thou of the hundred rice-dishes.
The form bā́las (which Ppp. also reads) ⌊as against vā́las⌋ is vouched for ⌊incidentally⌋ by the comm. to Prāt. i. 66 ⌊in its discussion of the exchange of r and l⌋. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 65.9. Sam mārṣṭu = 'serve as sammārjana.'
4. Whoso cooks her of the hundred rice-dishes, he is adapted to the fulfilment of wishes; for all his priests (ṛtvíj), being gratified, go as they should.
All the saṁhitā-mss. read in c asya rtv-.
5. He ascends the heavenly road (svargá), where is yon triple heaven of the heaven (dív), who, making [her] cake-naveled, gives her of the hundred rice-dishes.
The meaning and connection of c are not very clear. Ludwig renders "and makes her the middle point of the apūpa," which is against the accent; probably 'adding cakes numerous enough to cover her.' ⌊Is it not virtually equivalent to 'putting a cake on her navel,' as preparatory to sacrificing her?⌋ Ppp. has hiraṇyajyotiṣam instead of apūpanābhim (cf. the next verse). The resolution kṛtu-ā́, necessary to make the verse a regular anuṣṭubh, is rather harsh.
​6. He obtains those worlds, [those] which are heavenly and ⌊those⌋ which are earthly, who, having made [her] lighted with gold, gives her of the hundred rice-dishes.
Ppp. reads for b yeṣa devās samāsate, and has apūanābhim here in c, instead of in 5 c.
7. What people are thy quellers, O heavenly one ⌊f.⌋, and what thy cookers, they shall all guard thee: be not afraid of them, thou of the hundred rice-dishes.
Ppp. puts this verse before our 5.
8. The Vasus shall guard thee on the right, thee the Maruts on the left (uttarā́t), the Ādityas behind; do thou run beyond the Agnishṭoma.
That is, probably, exceed or surpass even this important ceremony.
9. The gods, the Fathers, men (manuṣyà), and they that are Gandharvas-and-Apsarases—they shall all guard thee; do thou run beyond the over-night sacrifice (atirātrá).
Ppp. reads gandharvāpsaraso devā rudrān̄girasas tvā. ⌊Cf. note to vs. 8.⌋
10. He obtains the atmosphere, the sky, the earth, the Ādityas, the Maruts, the quarters, all worlds, who gives her of the hundred rice-dishes.
11. Sprinkling forth ghee, well-portioned, the divine one will go to the gods; hurt not him who cooks thee, O inviolable one; go on to heaven, O thou of the hundred rice-dishes.
Ppp. reads in b devāṅ devī.
12. The gods that are stationed (-sad) in the sky, and that are stationed in the atmosphere, and these that are upon the earth—to them do thou always yield (duh) milk, butter, also honey.
Several of the mss., with a carelessness common in such cases, read dhukṣa in d. We have to resolve deva-ā in a, in order to make a normal pāda. Ppp. rectifies the meter of a by reading instead pitaras for devās. ⌊Ppp. combines -ṣado ‘ntar- in a-b.⌋
13. What head is thine, what mouth is thine, what ears and what jaws are thine—let them yield to thy giver curd, milk, butter, also honey.
Ppp. reads ye te çṛn̄ge for second half of a, and so for second part of b yāu ca te akṣāu ⌊cf. vs. 14⌋.
14. What lips are thine, what nostrils, what horns, and what thine eyes—let them yield etc. etc.
Ppp. reads instead yat te mukhaṁ yā te jihvā ye dantā yā ca te hanū.
15. What lungs are thine, what heart, the purītát with the throat—let them yield etc. etc.
Yás at the beginning is emended from yát, which all the mss. ⌊both W's and SPP's⌋ read.
​16. What liver is thine, what two mátasnās, what entrail, and what thine intestines—let them yield etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in b yā ”ntrāṇi.
17. What plāçí is thine, what rectum (? vaniṣṭhú), what (two) paunches, and what thy skin—let them yield etc. etc.
18. What marrow is thine, what bone, what flesh, and what blood—let them yield etc. etc.
Ppp. reads in a yāny asthīni, thus rectifying the meter. The Anukr. does not notice the lacking syllable in the pāda. Yás at the beginning is again emendation for the yát of all the mss. ⌊both W's and SPP's⌋.
19. What fore-legs (bāhú) are thine, what shanks (doṣán), what shoulders ⌊áṅsa⌋, and what thy hump—let them yield etc. etc.
Ppp. reads, after bāhū, yāu te aṅsāu dūhanaṁ yā ca etc.
20. What neck-bones (grīvā́) are thine, what shoulder-bones ⌊skandhá⌋, what side-bones (pṛṣṭí), and what ribs (párçu)—let them yield etc. etc.
The Anukr. does not notice the lacking syllable in a.
21. What thighs are thine, knee-joints, what hips, and what thy rump—let them yield etc. etc.
22. What tail is thine, what thy tail-tuft, what udder, and what thy teats—let them yield etc. etc.
23. What hind-thighs are thine, what dew-claws, [what] pasterns (ṛchára), and what thy hoofs—let them yield etc. etc.
One of our mss. (O.) reads in b ṛtsárās, and Ppp. supports it by giving kṛtsarās.
⌊The reading ṛtsárās seems to be supported by E. as well as by O. and Ppp. Its phonetic relation to ṛcchárās resembles that of Pāli ucchādana, jighacchā, bībhaccha to Skt. utsādana, jighatsā, bībhatsa (Kuhn, Pāli-gram., p. 52, gives kucchā = kutsā, vaccha = vatsa). Unless I err, our vulgate text here shows a Prākritism such as we have good right to assume also at iii. 12. 4, in case of the much-discussed ucchántu, which may be a mere vernacularized rendering of ukṣántu (cf. tacchaka = takṣaka, Kuhn, l.c.).⌋
24. What hide is thine, O thou of the hundred rice-dishes, what hairs, O inviolable one—let them yield etc. etc.
25. Let thy two breasts (kroḍá) be sacrificial cakes, smeared over with sacrificial butter; having made them wings, O divine one, do thou carry him who cooks thee to heaven (dív).
The Anukr. very strangely ignores the two resolutions in b and c, and reckons the pādas as 7 syllables each.
26. What in the mortar, on the pestle, and on the hide, or what rice-grain, [what] kernel in the winnowing-basket, or what the wind, Mātariçvan, blowing (pū), shook (math)—let Agni as hótar make that well-offered.
It is very much out of place to reckon five pādas (12 + 9: 8 + 7 + 11 = 47) in this verse; but the pada-ms. supports the Anukr., by making a mark of pāda-division after mātaríçvā; evidently either this word or pávamānas (rather the former) is an intrusion in c. ⌊The last pāda we had as vi. 71. 1 d.⌋ The verse is quoted in Vāit. 4. 9; also (with vi. 122, 123) in Kāuç. 63. 29, to accompany the closing libations. Ppp. reads in b ye vā çūrpe taṇḍulāṣ kaṇāḥ.
27. The heavenly waters, rich in honey, dripping with ghee, I seat in separate succession in the hands of the priests (brahmán); with what desire I now pour you on, let all that fall to my lot; may we be lords of wealth.
Ppp. begins a with imā āpo madh-, and c with yatkāme ’dam. Compare the verses vi. 122. 5 and xi. 1. 27, which are in part coincident with this; ⌊also MGS. i. 5. 4 and Index under devīr āpo. The verse (rather than i. 4. 3, which has the same pratīka) is quoted in Kāuç. 65. 8, to accompany the setting of water pots. The metrical definition of the Anukr. suits well enough.
⌊The quoted Anukr. says "aghāyatām": cf . vs. 1.⌋