# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book VII/Hymn 81 (86)

81 (86). To the sun and moon.
[Atharvan.—ṣaḍṛcam. sāvitrīsūryacādramasam. trāiṣṭubham: 3. anuṣṭubh; 4, 5. āstārapan̄kti (5. samrāj).]
⌊Partly prose—4 and 5.⌋ Wanting in Pāipp. The verses of this hymn are by Bloomfield regarded as intended by the name dārçībhis, and so directed by Kāuç. (24. 18) to be used ⌊to accompany the worship of the darça (see vs. 3 and note)⌋; Keç. also says that some mutter the hymn at new moon on first sight of the moon, for the sake of prosperity: and this seems to be the true value of the hymn; but the comm. does not acknowledge it. The comm. regards vss. 1 and 2 as intended to be quoted at Kāuç. 75. 6, in the nuptial ceremonies, with xiv. 1. 1, but the verse intended must be rather xiv. 1. 23, as marked in the edition. The comm. further quotes a use of vss. 3-6 from the Nakṣatra Kalpa (15), in a planet-sacrifice, with an offering to Mercury (budha).
Translated: Henry, 33, 101; Griffith, i. 368.— Cf. Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. 302-3.
1. These two move on one after the other by magic (māyā́); two playing young ones (çíçu), they go about the sea; the one looks abroad upon all beings; thou, the other, disposing the seasons art born new.
Said of the sun and moon. This and the next following verse are RV. x. 85. 18, 19, and are also found in MS. iv. 12. 2; this one, further, in TB. ii. 7. 12$^2$ (repeated in ii. 8. 93): all read adhvarám (for ‘rṇavám) at end of b; they have, for c, víçvāny anyó bhúvanā ’bhi- (but MS. vi-) cáṣṭe, and, at end of d, jāyate (the comm. also has jāyate) púnaḥ; and TB. combines ṛtū́n an-. Repeated below as xiv. i. 23 and (a, b, c) xiii. 2. 11 ⌊on the latter verse Henry has an elaborate comment, Les Hymnes Rohitas, p. 38-40⌋. ⌊As for the thrice occurring haplography, víçvānyó for víçvānyanyó, cf. iv. 5. 5, note.⌋ Too irregular (11 + 12: 9 + 12 = 44) to be passed simply as triṣṭubh. ⌊The other texts suggest the true rectification of the meter of c.⌋
2. Ever new art thou, being born; sign (ketú) of the days, thou goest to the apex (ágra) of the dawns; thou disposest their share to the gods as thou comest; thou stretchest out, O moon, a long life-time.
In RV. and MS. (as above), and TS. ii. 4. 14$^1$, the four verbs are in the third person, and we have candrámās nom. in d. Further, TS. reads ágre at end of b, and tirati in d. The application of b to the moon is obscure. The absence of any allusion to the asterisms is not without significance. ⌊Over "stretchest" W. interlines "extendest."⌋ ⌊Vss. 1-2 are repeated below as xiv. i. 23-24.⌋
3. O stem of soma, lord of fighters! not-deficient verily art thou by name; make me, O first-sight (darçá), not-deficient, both by progeny and by riches.
The darçá is the slender crescent of the new moon when first visible, and here compared with one of the stems or sprouts from which the soma is pressed, and which swell up when wetted, as the crescent grows. The identification of the moon and soma underlies the comparison. The comm. first understands the planet Mercury (called, among other names, somaputra 'son of the moon') to be addressed, and explains the verse on that basis, and then gives a second full explanation on the supposition that the address is to the moon itself.
4. First sight art thou, worth seeing art thou; complete at point art thou, complete at end; complete at point, complete at end may I be, by kine, by horses, by progeny, by cattle, by houses, by riches.
⌊Prose.⌋ Some mss. (including our O.) combine darçató ‘si. The pada-division sám॰antaḥ is prescribed by Prāt. iv. 38.
5. He who hateth us, whom we hate—with his breath do thou fill thyself up; may we fill ourselves up with kine, with horses, with progeny, with cattle, with houses, with riches.
⌊Prose.⌋ The mss. read in c pyāçiṣīmahi, which SPP. accordingly adopts in his text, although it is an obvious and palpable misreading for pyāsiṣīmahi (which the comm. gives); pyāsiṣīmahi is found in many texts (VS.TA.ÇÇS.ÇGS.HGS.), but also pyāyiṣīmahi (as iṣ-aorist from the secondary root-form pyāy) in ĀpÇS. (iii. 4. 6). It is by an error that our printed text has pyāyiṣ- ⌊instead oi pyāsiṣ-: see Gram. §914 b⌋. These two prose "verses" are very ill described by the Anukr.
6. The stem which the gods fill up, which, unexhausted, they feed upon unexhausted—therewith let Indra, Varuṇa, Brihaspati, shepherds of existence, fill us up.
The verse is found also in TS. (ii. 4. 14$^1$), MS. (iv. 9. 27; 12. 2), ÇÇS. (v. 8. 4): in a, all read ādityā́s, thus rectifying the meter, and MS. has yáthā before it, and also at beginning of b, with a correlative evá at beginning of c; in b, all end with ákṣitayaḥ píbanti, and MS.ÇÇS. have ákṣitim before it; in c, TS.ÇÇS. give no rā́jā for asmā́n índraḥ. The late idea of the subsistence of the gods upon the moon is to be seen in the verse. The Anukr. seems to balance deficient a with redundant c.
With this hymn ends the seventh anuvāka, of 8 (or 9) hymns and 31 verses; the quoted Anukr. says of the verses triṅçad ekā ca saptamaḥ; and, of the hymns, saptamāv ⌊is this to be joined with the colophon of the fifth anuvāka, p. 428? thus, pañcamasaptamāv⌋ aṣṭāu.