# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XI/Hymn 5

5. Extolling the Vedic student (brahmacārin).
Found also in Pāipp. xvi. (with slight differences of order, which will be pointed out under the verses). Not quoted either in the Kāuçika or in the Vāitāna Sūtra; ⌊but the schol. to Kāuç. 55. 18 prescribe vs. 3 for use in the upanayana⌋. ⌊It is cited also at the beginning of GB. (i. 2. 1-8), the chapter on the brahmacārin.⌋
Translated: Muir, v. 400 (18 vss.); Ludwig, p. 452; Scherman, p. 84 (19 vss.); Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 277; Henry, 114, 150; Griffith, ii. 68; Bloomfield, 214, 626.—Cf. also Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 161; Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. 471. Henry, p. ix of his preface to Books X-XII, cites this hymn in his discussion of bráhman, which he connects with root bhrāj; and Oldenberg reviews the matter in IFA. viii. 40-41. Deussen entitles the hymn "The Brahman-pupil as incarnation of Brahm," and gives a general interpretation of its content by way of introduction. This should be consulted. The rendering "Vedic-studentship" is too rigid to fit everywhere: cf. vs. 18, note.
1. The Vedic student goes on setting in motion (iṣ) both firmaments; in him the gods become like-minded; he maintains earth and heaven; he fills his teacher with fervor (tápas).
Ppp. has yasmin for tasmin in b; it rectifies the meter of c by reading at the end dyām utā ’mūm; it combines sā ”cāryam, and ends the verse with bibharti. The comm. explains piparti with pālayati both here and in vs. 2.
2. The Fathers, the god-folk, all the gods individually assemble after the Vedic student; the Gandharvas went after him, thirty-three, three hundred, six thousand; he fills all the gods with fervor.
Ppp. puts the verse after 3, and reads, after pitaras in a, manuṣyā devajanā gandharvā ’nusaṁyantu sarve: trayastriṅçataṁ triçataṁ ṣaṭsahasrān sarvān sa devāṅs tapasā bibharti. None of the mss., nor either edition, reads ṣaṭtsahasrāḥ, as required by Prāt. ii. 8.
3. The teacher, taking [him] in charge (upa-nī), makes the Vedic student an embryo within; he bears him in his belly three nights; the gods gather unto him to see him when born.
Upa-nī probably already a technical term for 'receive as pupil, initiate.' ⌊Prescribed in the schol. to Kāuç. 55. 18, as noted above.⌋ ⌊The first line seems to be prose: see at end of Anukr.-extracts.⌋
4. This piece of fuel [is] earth, sky the second; also the atmosphere he fills with fuel; the Vedic student fills the worlds with fuel, girdle, toil, fervor.
Ppp. reads mekhalāvī for -layā, and at the end again ⌊for the third time⌋ bibharti. ⌊We have the converse variant at xiii. 1. 1.⌋
5. Prior born of the bráhman, the Vedic student, clothing himself with heat (gharmá), stood up with fervor; from him [was] born the brā́hmaṇa, the chief bráhman, and all the gods, together with immortality (amṛ́ta).
Ppp. reads tapaso ‘dhi tiṣṭhat at end of b. Of a the meaning may probably be 'was born before the bráhman' (so the translators).
6. The Vedic student goes kindled with fuel, clothing himself in the black-antelope-skin, consecrated, long-bearded; he goes at once from the eastern to the northern ocean, having grasped the worlds, again and again violently shaping (? ācarikṛ) [them].
Ppp. reads in b kārṣṇiṁ, and in c sadyet pūrvād. The comm. has in d saṁgṛhya; he explains muhur ācarikrat by atyartham ābhimukhyena karoti. ⌊'Northern ocean': cf. note to xi. 2. 25.⌋
7. The Vedic student, generating the bráhman, the waters, the world, Prajāpati, the most exalted one, the virāj, having become an embryo in the womb of immortality; having become Indra, he has shattered (tṛh) the Asuras.
Ppp. reads in d amṛtān instead of asurān. More than half of SPP's authorities read bhūtvā amṛt- uncombined in c.
8. The teacher fabricated both these envelops (nábhas), the wide, profound, [namely] earth and sky; them the Vedic student defends by fervor; in him the gods become like-minded.
The last pāda is identical with 1 b above. Ppp. is more original, reading for c, d: tāu brahmacārī tapasā ’bhi rakṣati tayor devās sadamādam madanti; it also omits ime in a; and it puts the verse after our vs. 9. The comm. ⌊and two of SPP's authorities⌋ read tam for te at beginning of c.
9. This broad (pṛthivī́) earth, and the sky, the Vedic student first brought [as] alms (bhikṣā́); having made them [both] fuel, he worships; in them are set (ā́rpita) all beings.
Ppp. omits the meter-disturbing ā́ in b, and reads for c, te brahma kṛtvā samidhā upāsata. 'Worships': i.e., as the comm. explains, 'tends the fire with them.'
10. The one this side, the other beyond, the back of the sky, in secret [are] deposited ⌊ni-dhā⌋ the two treasures (nidhí) of the brā́hmaṇa; them the Vedic student defends by fervor; the whole of that he, knowing, makes bráhman for himself.
The construction and sense of the last pāda are very doubtful. For c, Ppp. has its version of our 8 c over again: tāu brahmacārī tapasā ’bhi rakṣati; it also combines parā ’nyo in a. ⌊To bring out the play of the original, one might render nidhī́ by 'deposits.'⌋
​11. The one this side, the other hence, from earth, the two fires come together between these two envelops; upon them are set (çri) the firm rays; these the Vedic student stands upon by fervor.
For our obscure first pāda Ppp. substitutes a more translatable version: arvāg anyo divas pṛṣṭhād ito ‘nyaṣ pṛthivyāḥ; and it reads ati for ‘dhi in c; and the comm. has also ati, combining it with the following to atidṛḍhās. ⌊The comm. also has tām (misprinted tā: see "Corrections") for tān in d.⌋
12. Roaring on, thundering, the ruddy white-goer has introduced (? anu-bhṛ) in the earth a great virile member; the Vedic student pours seed upon the surface (sā́nu), on the earth; by that live the four directions.
Extremely obscure, and there are no valuable variants. Ppp. has at the beginning abhikrandann iruṇac chatin̄go; the comm. reads varuṇaḥ çyatin̄go, explaining the latter word by çyetavarṇaṁ jalapūrṇam megham prāptaḥ. The last pāda is found elsewhere, as ix. 10. 19 d, RV. i. 164. 42 b.
⌊For consistency, the Berlin ed. should have abkikrándant.⌋ ⌊The Anukr. defines the vs. as of 50 syllables and appears to scan it as 13 + 11: 11 + 14 = 49. The ms. puts the mark of pāda-division before pṛthivyā́m. This last is a most palpable gloss of sā́nāu. If we reject it, pādas b, c, d are good triṣṭubhs.
13. In the fire, in the sun, in the moon, in Mātariçvan, in the waters, the Vedic student puts fuel; their gleams (arcís) go about separately in the cloud; their sacrificial butter (ā́jya) is man, rain, waters.
Ludwig conjectures "purīṣam fog" in d for puruṣas. Ppp. is too corrupt in c, d to be of service. 'Their' in c, d is tā́sām fem., apparently relating to samidhas 'sticks of fuel,' though we had only the singular in b; but the comm. regards it as 'of fire etc.,' the fem. being used because the last of the series (⌊the meter-disturbing⌋ apsu ' waters ') was feminine—which is possible.
14. The teacher [was] death, Varuṇa, Soma, the herbs, milk; the thunder-clouds were warriors; by them [was] this heaven (svàr) brought.
This verse stands in Ppp. before our vs. 13; it reads at the beginning parjanyas instead of ācāryas, reads in c jīmūtā ”saṅ, and in d svar ābharam. The comm., in order to put some sense into the identification of the teacher with death and Varuṇa, regards it as alluding to the instruction of Naciketas by Death (Kaṭha Upanishad, etc.) and of Bhṛgu by Varuṇa ⌊TA. ix. 1, etc.⌋. ⌊For c, d, Roth compares ÇB. xi. 8. 1$^2$.⌋
15. Varuṇa, having become teacher, makes his own (? amā́) the entire ghee; whatever he sought of Prajāpati, that the Vedic student furnished, a friend (mitrá) from his own self.
The translation implies svā́t as the proper pada-reading in d, and the comm. also understands this; but all the pada-mss. read svā́n, as if accus. pl. The end of this verse and the beginning of the next are unfortunately wanting in Ppp.; it reads at the beginning amād idaṁ kṛṇ-. The mss. put the avasāna after prajā́palāu instead of after váruṇaḥ, and SPP. divides accordingly ⌊see his note⌋; our division is changed in obedience to the requirements of the sense. Ludwig understands mitrás as signifying the god Mitra.
​16. The teacher [is] the Vedic student; the Vedic student [is] Prajāpati; Prajāpati bears rule (vi-rāj); the virā́j became the controlling Indra.
17. By Vedic-studentship, by fervor, a king defends his kingdom; a teacher by Vedic-studentship (brahmacárya) seeks a Vedic student.
Ppp. reads rakṣate in b, and ichati in d.
18. By Vedic-studentship a girl wins (vid) a young husband; by Vedic-studentship a draft-ox, a horse strives to gain (ji) food.
Instead of jigīṣati at the end, SPP. reads jigīrṣati 'strives to swallow,' finding it in the comm., and in less than a quarter (four out of seventeen) of his authorities; none of ours give it, so far as noted. Ppp. suggests yet another and a better reading, namely jihīrṣati—if, as seems probable, that underlies its corruption jāhiruṣati. As between jigīṣati and jigīrṣati, the former seems preferable. ⌊These verses will seem much less inept if we give a less rigid interpretation to brahmacarya: see Deussen, p. 281, p. 278.⌋
19. By Vedic-studentship, by fervor, the gods smote away death; Indra by Vedic-studentship brought heaven (svàr) for the gods.
Ppp. reads apā ’jayan at end of b ⌊and amṛtaṁ for devebhyaḥ in d⌋.
20. The herbs, past and future, day and night, the forest tree, the year together with the seasons—they are born of the Vedic student.
All the saṁhitā-mss. chance to agree in c in reading sahá rtúbhis, which SPP. accordingly gives in his text. Ppp. also has it; and further bhūtābhavyam in a, and brahmacāriṇā at the end.
21. The earthly, the heavenly cattle, they of the forest, and they that are of the village, the wingless and they that are winged—they are born of the Vedic student.
Ppp. again reads at the end -cāriṇā. ⌊For paçavas, cf. xi. 2. 24 note.⌋
22. Individually do all that are of Prajāpati bear breaths in their bodies (ātmán); all these the bráhman defends, brought in the Vedic student.
Ppp. reads at end of b bibhrate; one would like to emend to bíbhratas. ⌊But cf. Deussen's interpretation, p. 282.⌋ Ppp. also has in c sarvāṅs tān.
23. That, sent forth (? pariṣūtá) of the gods, not mounted onto, goes about shining; from that [was] born the brā́hmana, the chief bráhman, and all the gods, together with immortality.
The translation of the first half-verse is merely mechanical. The second is identical with 5 c, d, above. Ppp. puts the verse after our vs. 24, reads puruhūtam instead of the obscure pariṣūtam in a, and gives the verse a last half of its own: tasmin sarve paçavas tatra yajñās tasminn annaṁ saha devatābhiḥ; and this version of the second half-verse is given in GB. i. 2. 7. The comm. explains pariṣūtam as parigṛhītam; ātmatayā sākṣātkṛtam.
​24. The Vedic student bears a shining bráhman; in that [are] woven together all the gods; [he] generating breath-and-expiration, then out-breathing (vyāná), speech, mind, heart, bráhman, wisdom.
Ppp. reads in b asmin for tasmin; its verse has for second half our 26 c, d, and our 24 c, d is added at the end of our 23, which, as above noticed, comes second of the two verses; it reads for d cakṣuç çrotraṁ janayan brahma medhām. ⌊The sequence is, therefore, 24 a, b, 26 c, d, 23, 24 c, d.⌋ The GB. cites prāṇāpānāu janayan as a pratīka at i. 2. 8.
25. Sight, hearing, glory put thou in us; food, seed, blood (lóhita), belly.
Ppp. begins differently: vācaṁ çreṣṭhāṁ yaço ‘smāsu. ⌊Deussen renders udáram by 'Leibessegen.'⌋
26. Shaping (?) these things, the Vedic student stood performing penance (tapas tapya-) on the back of the sea (salilá), in the ocean; he, bathed, brown, ruddy (pin̄galá), shines much on the earth.
The comm. explains 25 and 26 together, as if one verse. The translation implies the emendation, apparently unavoidable, of kálpat to kálpan; the comm. makes no scruple of glossing it with kalpayan.
⌊The quoted Anukr. says "brahmacārī" ca.⌋
⌊Here ends the twenty-fourth prapāṭhaka.⌋