# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XI/Hymn 9

9. To conquer enemies: to Arbudi.
This and the following hymn are wanting in Pāipp., although bits of vss. 15-17 of this one are to be found in Pāipp. xvii. The opening words of the two are quoted together in Kāuç. 16. 21, in connection with rites for insuring success in war. ⌊The use of the two hymns forms a sequel to the rites described in the introduction to viii. 8, which see; and cf. under viii. 8. 24.⌋
Translated: Ludwig, p. 530; Henry, 126, 164; Griffith, ii. 84; Bloomfield, 123, 631.
1. What arms (bāhú) [there are], what arrows, and the powers (vīryà) of bows, swords (así), axes (paraçú), weapon, and what thought-and-design in the heart—all that, O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see; and do thou show forth specters (udārá).
The comm. refers to AB. vi. 1, where Arbuda is named and called a serpent-sage, and declares Arbudi and Nyarbudi to be his two sons. Udārān he explains as udgatān antarikṣacarān rakṣaḥpiçācādīn mantrasāmarthyodbhāvitān, or also as sūryaraçmiprabhavā ulkādaya āntarikṣyā utpātāḥ, specters or portents. ⌊Pāda d, below, vs. 13 b.⌋
2. Stand up, equip ye yourselves (sam-nah), O friends, god-folk; beheld, concealed of you be [those] who are our friends, O Arbudi.
The occurrence of mitrās m. and mitrāṇi n. in the same verse is puzzling, also the conjunction of saṁdṛṣṭa and gupta, and of vas with the singular arbude. The comm. reads saṁdṛṣṭās and guptās in c. Our Bp. reads yā́ḥ in d. ⌊Pāda a = 26 b and 10. 1 a.⌋ ⌊W. interlines "protected?" over "concealed."⌋
3. Stand ye (two) up, take ye hold; with tying up, with tying together, gird ye the armies of our enemies, O Arbudi.
The dual verbs doubtless imply, as the comm. also points out, the inclusion of Nyarbudi in the address to Arbudi ⌊cf. vs. 11⌋. The comm. reads senām in c.
4. The God that is Arbudi by name, and the lord (ī́çāna) Nyarbudi, by whom the atmosphere is involved (ā-vṛ), and this great earth—by those (two) who are allied with Indra, I go after what is conquered with an army.
Probably 'I follow up with my army what is already conquered by them.' The two last pādas are by the comm. reckoned as the first line of the next verse.
5. Stand thou up, O god-folk, Arbudi, with the army; breaking (bhañj) the army of our enemies, envelop it with [thy] coils (bhogá).
The comm. explains bhogébhis as ātmīyāiḥ sarpaçarīrāiḥ.
6. Presenting to view, O Nyarbudi, the seven kinds of specters, with them all do thou stand up, when the butter is offered, with the army.
The pada-text reads in a jātā́n: ni॰arbude; but the reading is plainly false, and should be either jātā́: ni॰arbude, or jātā́ni: arbude; either of these, considering that to the scribes nya and nnya are entirely equivalent and exchangeable (see my Skt. Gr. §§ 229, 232), would correctly represent the saṁhitā-reading. ⌊Cf. the reading of the comm. at 10. 21.⌋
7. Smiting herself, tear-faced, and crop-eared (?), let her yell, with disheveled hair, when the man is slain, bitten (? rad), O Arbudi, of thee.
'Her'—namely, the wife or sister or the like; more distinctly pointed to in the next verse. Radita ought to mean rather 'scraped' or 'scratched'; there seems to be no other example of it in the sense 'bitten': perhaps as a mere scratch from the fang of a serpent is enough to kill. The comm. takes radita as a noun (like ruta, stnita, citta, etc.), = dantāir vilekhane khādane sati. Of kṛdhukarṇ#i the comm. says: kṛdhv iti hrasvanāma: karṇābharaṇaparityāgena hrasvakarṇī. The verse is translated (also vs. 14, and 10. 7) by Bloomfield, in AJP. xi. 340.
8. Drawing in her karū́kara, seeking with her mind her son, husband, brother, also her people (svá)—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
The ending is the same with that of vs. 7, understood as the comm. takes it; we might also supply '[he being] bitten' etc. The Pet. Lex. renders karūkara 'vertebra of the neck and spine': rather (in ÇB. xii. 2. 4$^{10,14}$), perhaps, 'a point or spinous process of a vertebra.' The comm. explains karu as an imitative word, and karūkara as meaning anything that makes the sound karu, and so designating hastapādādyavayavagataṁ saṁdhimad asthijātam; and he goes on loke hi bhayavaçād ubhayor hastayoḥ parasparān̄gulinipīḍanena tādṛçaṁ çabdam utpādayanti. This is far from relieving satisfactorily the obscurity. Most of our mss. accent svā̀n in c.
​9. Let the buzzards, jāṣkamadás, vultures, falcons, winged ones, let the crows, the birds (çakúni), satisfy themselves—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
We have here two refrain-phrases, neither of which stands in any grammatical connection with its surroundings (the pple. 'exhibiting' being nom. sing. masc). The comm. reads in a aliklabāḥ and yāḥ klamadāḥ; and some of the mss. have jāḥkam- (so our B.O.s.m.).
10. Then let all wild beasts, let the fly, let the worm satisfy itself upon the carrion of men, bitten, O Arbudi, of thee.
Here the refrain stands again in grammatical connection.
11. Take ye (two) hold, tear out (sam-bṛh) [their] breath-and-expiration, O Nyarbudi; let groaning (? nivāçá) noises assemble—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Again (as in vs. 3) the other serpent-deity is included in a in the invocation ⌊this time of Nyarbudi⌋. The comm. reads vṛhatam in a. He explains nivāçās as nīcīnaṁ vāçyamānā ābhāṣyamāṇāḥ.
12. Make thou [them] tremble; let them quake together; unite our enemies with fear; with broad-gripping arm-hooks pierce thou our enemies, O Nyarbudi.
The comm. reads in c ūrugrāhāis (which is not bad) and bāhuvan̄kāis, explaining the latter by bāhunā vakrabandhanāiḥ. Our P.M.W. read at the end amítrāṇy arbude: compare 6 a, above.
13. Let their arms be confounded, and what thought-and-design is in their heart; let not anything of them be left—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
The second pāda is the same with vs. 1 d, above.
14. Smiting themselves let them (f.) run together, smiting on the breast, the thighs (? paṭāurá), not anointing, with disheveled hair, wailing when the man is slain, bitten, O Arbudi, of thee.
Translated by Bloomfield, ib. (see vs. 7). I follow both translators in rendering paṭāurá by 'thigh,' although it is not too acceptable, considering the familiarity of ūru as name for 'thigh.' SPP. reads instead paṭūrāú, with a very small minority of his mss. (of ours, only B.s.m. has it), and with the comm. The latter defines it simply as tat- (i.e. uraḥ) pradeçāu. He makes aghārin from agha and root ṛ: aghena bhartṛviyogajanitena duḥkhenā ”rtāḥ!
15. Dog-accompanied Apsarases, she-jackals (? rū́pakā) also, O Arbudi, the riçā́, licking much in the inner vessel, seeking what is ill-deposited—all these (f.), O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters;—
16. Her that strides upon the khaḍū́ra, mutilated, wearing what is mutilated (?); the specters that are concealed, and what Gandharvas-and-Apsarases [there are], serpents, other-folk, demons;—
The comm. reads at the beginning khadūre, and explains it as ākāçe dūradeçe; our Bp.Kp. have ṣaḍū́re. Again neglecting the accent, he takes adhi and can̄kramām as two independent words. He also reads -vāçinīm in b; -vāsin might be 'dwelling' (so understood by the Pet. Lexx. and Ludwig). Finally, he reckons the last (irregular) pāda to the following verse. ⌊Pada e = 10. 1 c.⌋
17. The four-tusked ones, the black-toothed, the pot-testicled, the blood-faced; they that are self-frighting and frighting.
The first four epithets are accus. pl. masc.; probably, like the accus. fem. at beginning of vs. 16, objects of prá darçaya 'show forth' in vs. 15. The comm. explains svabhyasās and udbhy- by svāyattabhītayo rākṣaṣāḥ and udgatabhītayaḥ.
18. Do thou, O Arbudi, make to tremble yonder lines (síc) of our enemies; let both the conquering one and the conqueror, allied with Indra, conquer our enemies.
SPP. reads in his saṁhitā-text jáyāṅç ca in c, with the large majority of his mss., and with part of ours (E.O.s.m.K.). The prolongation being so anomalous, and unsupported by the Prāt., I thinkk jáyaṅç ca decidedly the more acceptable reading. The comm. gives it. He also has çucas for sicas in b. Read amitrāṅ at end of c, with anusvāra-sign, not anunāsika. ⌊Pāda b = 10. 20 b.⌋
19. Let our enemy lie squelched, crushed, slain, O Nyarbudi; let tongues of fire, tufts of smoke, go conquering with the army.
The comm. reads in a pravlīnas, in accordance with the more usual form.
20. Of our enemies, pushed forth by it, O Arbudi, let Indra, lord of might (çácīpáti), slay each best man (vára); let no one soever of them be freed.
'By it'—i.e. by the army; the comm. reads instead tvayā 'by thee.' With a, b compare vi. 67. 2 c, d. ⌊Our d occurs several times: see note to iii. 19. 8.⌋
21. Let their hearts burst open (ut-kas), their breath pass up aloft; let dryness of mouth follow after our enemies, ⌊and⌋ not those who are friendly.
The comm. renders ut kasantu by çarīrād udgacchantu, and ud īṣatu equivalently.
22. Both they who are wise (dhī́ra) and they who are unwise, those going away and they who are deaf, they of darkness arid they who are ​hornless (tūpará), likewise those that smell of (?) the goat—all those (m.), O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters.
The meaning of -abhivāsin is wholly uncertain ⌊cf. Pāli vāsita⌋; the Pet. Lex. conjectures instead -abhivāçin, and the comm. reads bastāvivāçin, as from basta + avi + vāçin. He also, in defiance of pada-text and accent, renders tamasā́s as támasā. ⌊Cf. nabhasá-s (not nábhas-as), ix. 4. 22.⌋
23. Let both Arbudi and Trishandhi pierce through our enemies, in order that, O Indra, Vṛitra-slayer, lord of might, we may slay of them, of our enemies, by thousands.
Triṣandhi, lit. 'of three joints,' is conspicuous especially in the next hymn. The comm. explains it here as kaçcit senāmohako devaḥ saṁdhitrayopetavajrāyudhābhimānī vā.
24. The forest-trees, them of the forest-trees, herbs and plants, Gandharvas-and-Apsarases, serpents, gods, pure-folk (puṇyajaná). Fathers—all those, O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters.
The comm. identifies the 'pure-folk' with the yakṣas. ⌊With c, d, cf. viii. 8. 15, above.⌋ ⌊Cf. Kāuç. 73. 5.⌋
25. Mastery over you have the Maruts [gained], the heavenly Āditya, Brahmaṇaspati; mastery over you have both Indra and Agni, Dhātar, Mitra, Prajāpati; mastery over you have the seers gained (kṛ)—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
One would like to emend devás to devā́s in a.
26. Masters (ī́çāna) of them all, stand ye up, equip yourselves, ye friends, god-folks; having wholly conquered in this conflict, scatter ye to your several worlds.
The mss. set the avasāna in this verse after yūyám, and SPP. very properly does the same. ⌊Our b, c = 2 a, b: b = 10. 1 a.⌋
⌊The quoted Anukr. says "ye bāhavaḥ": see vs. 1.⌋