# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book II/Hymn 1

1. Mystic.
[Vena.—brahmātmadāivatam. trāiṣṭubham: 3. jagatī.]
Found in Pāipp. ii., and parts of it in other texts, as pointed out under the several verses. ⌊Von Schroeder gives what may be called a Kaṭha-recension of nearly all of it in his Tübinger Kaṭha-hss., pp. 88, 89.⌋ Used by Kāuç. (37. 3) in addressing various articles out of whose behavior afterward signs of success or the contrary, and the like oracular responses, are to be drawn (the comm. gives them in a more expanded detail). And Vāit. (29. 14) applies vs. 3 in the upavasatha rite of the agnicayana.
Translated: Weber, xiii. 129; Ludwig, p. 393; Scherman, Philosophische Hymnen, p. 82; Deussen, Geschichte, i.$^1$ 253; Griffith, i. 41.
1 . Vena (the longing one?) saw that which is highest in secret, where everything becomes of one form; this the spotted one (pṛ́çni) milked [when] born; the heaven-(svàr-)knowing troops (vrá) have shouted at it.
2. May the Gandharva, knowing of the immortal, proclaim that highest abode that is in secret; three quarters (padá) of it [are] deposited in secret; whoso knoweth them, he shall be the father's father.
Ppp. begins with pṛthag (for pra tad), and for amṛtasya has -taṁ na, probably intending the amṛ́taṁ nú of VS. (xxxii. 9) and TA. (x. 1. 3-4: TA. reads also voce). In b, TA. gives nā́ma (for dhā́ma); and for paramám TA. has níhitam, and VS. víbhṛtam, while VS. ends with gúhā sát and TA. with gúhāsu. In c, Ppp. and TA. give padā́, and Ppp. nihatā; and TA., this time with the concurrence of Ppp., ends the pāda again with gúhāsu. In d, TA. has tád for tā́ni, and savitús for sá pitúṣ, while Ppp. gives vas for yas at the beginning. Prāt. ii. 73 prescribes the combination pitúṣ p- (in d), and both editions read it, though nearly all our saṁhitā-mss., and part of SPP's, read -túḥ p- instead. To make a good triṣṭubh pāda, we must resolve pṛ-d at the beginning. ⌊Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol. i. 433, discusses the verse.⌋
3. He, of us the father, the generator, and he the connection (bándhu), knoweth the abodes, the beings all; who of the gods is the sole nomenclator, of him all beings come to inquire.
Here, as usual elsewhere ⌊cf. BR. iv. 1088, citations from TB., TS., AB.⌋, -praçnam is of infinitival value. Ppp. begins quite differently: sa no bandhur janitā sa vidhartā dhārmaṇi veda etc.; its c, d are our 5 c, d, with variants for which see under vs. 5. VS. (xxxii. 10) and TA. (x. 1. 4) have a verse made up like that of Ppp., differing from the latter in the first half only by having vidhātā́ and dhā́māṇi. A corresponding verse in RV. (x. 82. 3) reads in a yás for sá and again for sá utá, accents of course véda in b, and has nāmadhā́s in c and anyā́ for sárvā in d; and with it agrees in all points VS. xvii. 27; while TS. (iv. 6. 2) and MS. (ii. 10. 3) also follow it closely in a, c, d (MS. vidhartā́ in a) but have a different b: yó naḥ sató abhy ā́ sáj jajā́na. Our O. has the RV. readings, véda in b and nāmadhā́s in c; and the latter is given by the comm. and by nearly half of SPP's authorities; the latter's text, however, agrees with ours. The verse is no jagatī at all, but, if we make the frequent (RV.) combination só 'tá in c, a perfectly regular triṣṭubh.
4. About heaven-and-earth at once I went; I approached (upa-sthā) the first-born of righteousness (ṛtá), abiding in beings as speech in the speaker; eager (?) is he; is he not Agni (fire)?
5. Around all beings I went, the web (tántu) of righteousness stretched out for beholding, where the gods, having attained immortality (amṛ́ta) bestirred themselves (?īraya-) upon the same place of union (yóni).
The proper rendering of d is especially doubtful, but ádhi, by its independent accent (which is established by Prāt. iv. 5), is clearly only a strengthener of the locative sense of yónāu. In b, perhaps better 'to behold the web' etc. (the comm. absurdly explains the particle kám as sukhātmakam brahma). The second half-verse is, as noted above, found in VS., TA., and Ppp., combined into one verse with our 3 a, b; Ppp. has in it ānaçānā samāne dhāmann adhī ”rayanta; VS. reads tṛtī́ye dhā́man for our samāné yónāu; TA., tṛtī́ye dhā́māny abhy āírayanta. Ppp. has as vs. 5 something quite different: for a, pari dyāvāpṛthivī sadyā ”yam (exchanging 4 a and 5 a: see under 4); for b, our own b; for c, d devo devatvam abhirakṣamāṇas samānaṁ bandhuṁ viparicchad ekaḥ. The first pāda requires the harsh resolution vi-çu-ā to make it full ⌊víçvāni would be easier⌋.