DIPAK BHATTACHARYA

ON T H E NEW M A T E R I A L IN T HE A T H A R V A V E D A

P A I P P A L , ~ D A x

INTRODUCTORY

The Paippalgdasamhitg of the Atharvaveda (= AVP) was first discovered in the seventies of the last century. It was a single birchbark MS (= K) partly destroyed and consisting of an unusually corrupt text. But even this MS could give one an idea of the independent character of the AVP in relation to the more well known Saunak~yasam. hit~ of the Atharvaveda (= AVS}. 2

In 1959 the late Professor Durgamohan Bhattacharya discovered several MSS of the AVP (= Or) in Orissa, 3 These contain better readings and are complete.

Unfortunately the discoverer breathed his last (November 1965) before the publication of the entire AVP which he had been editing. Of the 20 K~nd.as only the first K~n.d.a (111 hymns) was published (Sanskrit College Calcutta, 1964) during his lifetime. The second volume consisting of K~n.d.a~ I I - I V (171 hymns) was published in 1970. The third volume is in press.

The delay in the publication encouraged the pfesent author, who is at present engaged in completing the edition, to start examining collecting and arranging the new material this Samhit~ offers us. The term new material means the literature which we can know as part of the Paippalgdasamhit~ from the Orissa manuscripts as well as, partially, from K.

1. A Quantitative Comparison o f the Dif ferent Versions

Both the AVS and the AVP consist of 20 K~nd.as. The number of hymns and stanzas found in the AVS, Or and K is given in the following table.

It should be noted here that because of its corrupt nature, it is ?Cry difficult to count the total number of stanzas in K. Barter put the figure around 6500. 4

Table I does not give an accurate idea of the actual magnitude of Or in relation to K. For, the hymn division in K is often different from that in Or. Just as with the AVS, the AVP MSS too vary in indicating the divisions into hymns. Usually the number is more in Or, either because of the lacunas of K or because of the smaller size o f the hymns in Or. The Or MSS too occasiona!ly vary between themselves.

A great lacuna in K has been responsible for the omission of the Pit.rmedha hynms (AVS XVIII), tile Vrfitya hymns (AVS XV) and large parts of K~nd.a

lndo-Iranian Journal 27 (1984) 173-188. 0019-7246/84/0273-0173 $01.60. �9 1984 by D. Reidel Publishing Company.

174 D. B H A T T A C H A R Y A

TABLE I s

Khn.da Or. hymns Or. stanzas K. hymns K. stanzas AVg. hymns AVg. stanzas

I 112 486 112 35 153 II 91 491 91 36 207 III 40 278 40 31 230 IV 40 303 40 40 324 V 40 372 40 31 376 VI 23 237 22 142 454 VII 20 211 19 118 (123) 286 VIII 20 231 20 10 (15) 293 IX 29 302 25 10 (15) 313 X 16 166 16 10 (13) 350 XI 16 147 7 10 (12) 313 XII 22 196 7 5 (11) 304 XIII 9 90 14 4 ( 9) 188 XIV 9 81 4 2 139 XV 23 227 23 2 (18) 220 XVI 155 1361 155 2 ( 9 ) 103 XVII 56 494 41 1 30 XVIII 82 676 (approx.) 32 4 283 XIX 56 902 55 72 453 XX 64 637 61 143 958

923 7888 824 6500 (Barret) 708 (762) 5977

XVI of the AVg. Forming parts of K~n.d.a XVIII of the AVP, the mat ter here is

quantitatively not much different from that in the AVS, but the general nature of

the difference between the two recensions is reflected in this part too. The order

of AVS K~nd.as here is XIV, XIII, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII.

In K~n.d.a XX too K has lost many stanzas without any trace.

The derangement o f material in K~n.d.as XI, XII, and XIII in K also requires

comments, as Table I above cannot give any idea of what took place here. Table

II below shows the disorder in K as well as in Barret's edition.

Comments on Table H

Kan.d.a XI starts on F. 138 b, 1.8 of K. For the sake of convenience this may be

regarded as the beginning of page 1 of another manuscript with the text on one

side of the leaves. This may be termed *K and our K was copied from it.

In *I, which is the first part of the Table, there is no error of arrangement. It

covered F. 138 b, 1.8 to F. 141 a, 1.8 of K, and the first 6 pages of *K, each

page being of the same size as that of K. The part ends with tanvo which is the

penult imate word o f AVP XI. 7.1d. The whole verse runs as follows in Or:

NEW M A T E R I A L IN PAIPPALfxDA-SAMHITA

TABLE II

175

Or Barret *K(K)

F. 138 b, 1.8 oin ekddagas, kdnd. dn . . . F. 141 a, 1.8 yat ki.rn ca tanvo

XI. 1.1

XI. 7.1 d (incomplete)

F 141 a, 1,8 tam gac[ visadftsanamm F.'141 b, 116 " ' " ekddagodhydyah samdptdh. F. 141 b, 1.7 atha dvddago. . . F. 141 b, 1.9 hemdsan ~kayd.s

XllI. 3.3 c - d -tam sat[nam, visadf(sanam/. XIII. 4.7

Ix XIII. 5.1 b (complete) .herod man[.sayd

XI. 1.1

XI. 6.11 d

XI. 6.11 e

XI. 7.7

XII. 1.1 b

I *I

*IV (II)

F. 141 b, 1.9 kdle mand.s . . . .

F. 153 b, 1.5 namamt pasyaga

XI, 8.7 kdle manah. . . . .

XIII. 3.3 c (incomplete) na rndm apa(ya dga-

F. 153 b, 1.5 rapah yasyosadhayas. . . F. l i 3 b, 1.i2 " ity atharvani trayoda- gd kdn. d.a prathamo nuvdkah.

F. 153 b, 1.12 kdIosvo vahatus. . . F. 154 a, 1.3 r vi pa@ati

XI. 7.1 d, 2 a . . . rapah. /yasyau.sadhayah. . . . XI. 7.7 (complete) }x XI. 8.1 . . . k{do agvo vahati . . . . . XI. 8.6 (complete)

XII. 2.7 IV

XIII. 13.5 c

XIIL 13.5 d, 6 a . . .

XIII. 13.10

XII. 2 . 1 . . . III

XII. 2.6

*III

*II (IV)

F. 154 a, 1.3 bhadrd hi na.s pramatir F. 154 b, 1.5 uta dyauh. F. 154 b, 1.5 kim indrasya parihitam.

155 a, 1.19

XIII. 5 . 1 c . . . =

XIIL 6.6 (-~ + 15 VSS)

XIII. 7.1 . . .

XIII. 9.2

XII. 1 .1c . . . II

1 xII. 1.16 (]-+ 15 vss)

XIII. 14.1 . . . V

XIII. 14.16

*V

at i vigvdh, parist.hd s tena ira vrajam akram~t /

o.sadhayah, p r d c u e y a v u r y a t k i~ ca tanvo rapah. / / .

The last word o f the verse is missing on F. 141 a, 1.8 o f K.

The second part o f the Table is marked as *IV (II). II wi th in brackets means

that it comes as the second part in K, while IV indicates its actual posi t ion in *K.

It begins wi th tam. gae~ vi.sadftsan.am.m. This is, according to Or, the last part o f

AVP. XIII . 3.3. The whole verse is as fol lows in Or:

176 D. BHATTACHARYA

p@aka p@arapaka kim me sakhdyam d tudah. / na mdm apagya dgatam, saffnam, vi.sadOsanam. //.

The portion beginning with-tam gaci visadasanamm (read -tam sat~nam vi.sada.san.am) should have come after what we find in Barret's edition as XIII. 13.5 c but which is actually XIII. 3.3 c, i.e. at the end of *llI in the Table.

As to how the above part could come on K F. 141 a, 1.7, i.e. at the beginning

of IV (II) the clue is given by *II (IV) coming at the end of *III on K F. 153 b,

1.5. Here the word rapah, is found and this word is followed by AVP XI. 7.2 which is read in Or as follows:

yasyau.sadhaya.h prasarpathdhgamahgam, paru.sparuh. / tasmdd yak.smam vi bddhadhvam ugro madhyamagTr iva //.

The subsequent stanzas of XI follow this in K up to F. 154 a, 1.3, covering up to

the end of XI. 8.6. This part of K, noted as *I! (IV) in the Table, the part covering XI. 7.1 d to XI. 8.6 on FF. 153b-154 a was page 7 of *K. This page 7 of *K

somehow exchanged its place with what appears as section *IV (II) of the Table,

F. 141 a, 1.8 to F. 141 b, 1.9, AVP XIII. 3.3 c -d to XIII. 5.1 b and which obviously

was page 31 of *K according to the counting proposed above.

That was the first error of K. Its second error was that the scribe understood

XIII, 5.1, within *K's 31st page shown as *IV (II) in the Table, as the beginning of Kgn.d.a XII. Thus, on F. 141 b, 1.5, at the end of krandendgvasya vdfino hanyantvdhaya (read hanyantdhayah.) prthak, which is actually the end of XI!I. 4.7 and is followed

by XIII, 5.1, K states ity atharvan, i paippaladaydg gdkhdydm, ekddagodhydyas samdptah.; a gap follows, and before the beginning of XIII. 5.1 the manuscript reads

atha dvddago mdrkdnd.a atharvan.adhydyam likhyate :: ~ namo ndrdyandya etc. And again, within *K III, at the end of AVP XI, K F. 144 b, 1.10, (not shown in

Table II) the scribe of K understands that K~n.d.a XII has come to its end. Then AVP K~nd.a XII is presented as Kgn.d.a XIII on F. 144 b, 1.11.

Barret could not note the first error. The second and the third ones were taken by him as correct statements. He did his best by putting together the separated pieces of AVP XIII. 5 which appeared to him as the beginning of K~nd.a XII. The total result was an absolute mess.

As to the nature of the master manuscript *K, it has hypothetically been stated

above that it was written on one side of its leaves. This may explain why only so much material as can be copied on one page o f K (F. 141 a, 1.8 to F. 141 b, 1.9; 20 + lines = *IV (II)) has exchanged its place with the same amount of material 6 on another page (F. 153 b, 1.5 to F. 154a, 1.3; 17 lines = *K II (IV)). If it was of the same size as that of the present K, and at the same time written on both sides, material covering

NEW MATERIAL IN PAIPPAL~,.DA-SAMHIT, g, 177

two pages of the present K would have exchanged its place with the same amount

of material with the displacement of two leaves.

But this supposition may be wrong. It is possible that *K was of half the size of K and also written on both sides of the leaves. That would have given the same

result as has occurred. Could it be a palm-leaf manuscript? K has -+ 19 lines on a

page; -+ 12 lines of K are covered by the biggest Or palm-leaves of the AVP. But

many palm-leaf manuscripts cover far less material on one side of their leaves.

Palm-leaf manuscripts also easily lend themselves to such mishandling, with light

and narrow leaves, if these are not bound with a long, thick thread.

Similar conclusions are to be drawn from another comparison. On p. 279 a

(Kfin.d.a XX) the lower half of the page is blank. At the bottom on left there occurs

a remark: idam. patrdrdham, ndsti. 'This half-leaf does not exist.' On the right

bottom one finds another remark ardhdsaj~rn.am, na labhyate. This is awkward

Sanskrit and may mean ardharn, sujir.nam, na labhyate 'Half, very brittle is not

available'. These may mean that the lower half of the concerned leaf of K is

broken or lost. Then K should have been written on one side of its leaves, Otherwise

there would have occurred a second lacuna in the subsequent hymn. But there is

no further lacuna nearby.

2a. The General Nature o f the New Material and its Presentation

It is needless to point out that like any other major Vedic recension, the AVP brings

to light many unknown words, archaic forms, rare idioms and also solecisms. In

other words it is bound to add significantly to almost all the different types of

variants, formal or stylistic and syntactic, recorded by the authors of the Vedic Variants. Perhaps more important is what has already been pointed out 7 namely,

the existence of a greater amount of hymns about Brahman and cosmogony in the

AVP. It has also been shown elsewhere that many AVP readings are better than

their AVS parallels or at least testify to the independent nature of this recension, s

Also one finds traces of extra-Vedic elements and verses concerning ghora-karman with increased proportion in the AVP.

This qualitative difference cannot be determined with exactness without sustained

enquiries. But on the whole, the AVP and the AVS similarly consist of mantra material

to be applied in such ~hya practices as are prescribed in the Kaugikag.rhyast~tra.

The present paper is more concerned with a preliminary matter, which may

sometime become a matter of historical interest only, namely the quantitatively

new material and their presentation to scholars with indication of the text-critical

problems accompanying them.

Two types of presentation of the material are immediately awaited - the text

178 D. BHATTACHARYA

reconstructed on the basis of K and Or with an average of four manuscripts per Kgn.d.a; secondly, a p~dasfici or index of the quarter verses.

In the existing Vedic Concordance of Bloomfield the AVP was hardly used,

but an index of halfverses was published by Raghu Vira on the basis of K. Or adds

to this bulk in two ways, first by filling up the lacunas of K and then by giving

intelligible forms of many unrecognisable K verses.

K~n. d.as I, XVIII, and XX offer the maximum amount of lacuna material.

Counting the verse as the smallest unit, about 520 units with a total magnitude of

about 500 verses are to be recorded. Some of these are exclusive to the AVP. These

and the Or parallels to the unrecognisable K verses taken together add a bulk of

about 250 verses to K. When these are added to the new Vedic material already

noted in K, we get around 3000 new verses in the AVP. A classified presentation

of this material along with the rest of the AVP requires some attention. The reason for this caution lies in the nature of the sources that are being used.

Compared to the RV, TS, VS or even the AVS, the AVP is based on a small

number of manuscripts. This is a result of the dwindling tradition of the AVP

- a weakness reflected in the relatively corrupt nature of the text which has come

down to us. One may take AVP VI.I (= AVS V. 2, RV X. 120) for example.

Based on three manuscripts, K and two from Orissa, the hymn consists of 9

verses and the critical apparatus of 45 variants. 19 of these are from Or.

The following cases are worth noting

VI. 1.1

VI. 1.6

VI. 1.7

VI. 1.9

AVS RV tve.sdnrmn.ah. , K tveca < tvesa - ;

Or1 tvesa --+ tve.su - , Or= tvesu -

AVS stusvd, RV stu.s@yam, K snu.seyyam. ,

Or snu.sejyam,

AVS (bhvdn.am, RV (bhvam,

K r. tvam, Or1 .rmbhavam, Or2 rgbhavam

AVS figatnitm, RV jigatn~, K jighantv,

Or jigatnu (for figatna).

AVS mdtarfbhvarL RV mdtarfbhvarTr,

K mdtaritvar?r, Orx mdtaridbhavar~r,

Or2 mYtaribhvavar~r

NEW MATERIAL IN PAIPPAL,S, DA-SAMHITA 179

In the cited instances every AVP manuscript gives a wrong reading. The existence

of parallel versions has facilitated the restoration of the correct text. And it also

seems probable that either ancient graphical errors (for snu.seyyam, mataritvar~r etc.) or local modes of pronunciation (for ]igatnu) were responsible for the errors

and that they are not authentic readings of the AVP.

The existence of this problem is far more serious with the AVP than with any

other major Vedic text. The situation becomes particularly difficult when in an

exclusive AVP verse, the different manuscripts offer different readings for an

apparently unrecognisable word.

VI. 8.8

Or yasyd fanitram is.t.argd adrs.tdh, k.rmayah, pul~.sayah. K asydfanis.tam - ari.s.tds krimaya.s puru.sdya

Or tasyai baldsapatnyai namas kr.nomi kuksyai K - balasapatnT namah - kus.tM

ist.drga, of uncertain origin and sense, is found in TS 3.1.7.1. pul~.sayah, most

probably carries the sense ofpurr.sydh. 'growing in rubbish' and derives itself from

purr.sayah, nora. pl. of an irregularly formed purT.si. But kuksyai or kust.hf (read kus.t.hyai) is uncertain. 9

VI. 12.7 ab, (cf., TS V. 7.3.1).

Or asmdsi pratismasah, pdhi rs.ah, pdhi dvi.sah. K asmdsu pratisma$a.s pdhi ri.sa.s pdhi dvi.sa.s

In the reconstructed text only ri.sa.h can be regarded as a selection. For asmdsi/ /asmdsu, agmdsi should be a replacement through an external evidence - KS

37.15 agmdsi tan@dnah, sa ma iha tanvam, pghi. Again TS V. 7.3.1 {ndrasya vd]ro 'si vartraghnas tan@a nah. pratispagdh, would suggest a correction on pratismasah./ pratismagah, of our manuscripts.

The corruptions here perhaps originate in the phonemic environments, the -srnd- or -~md- of the first word being responsible for the -sma- of the second one, and

this in its turn effecting the -gmd ~ -smd change in the first word.

But all this is still conjecture. A correction by the editor is not advisable without

certain evidence for a recent corruption. We do not known ifprati sma (a)sah. is

intended in the verse and so should leave such cases for future exegetes.

VI. 14.10

The text as restored by me reads

vrkasya nyam. ca gahgan, am. tdn ito ndgaydmasi K .. nrca gahgrd.nam. Or1 .. yam. ca Ors .. kahga.nam

180 D. BHATTACHARYA

Since verbal forms of nyJa~c are attested in KS 24.5, one may try to infer a form of this in nyamca/nyaaca, gahganam, appears in at least three more places. V. 34.5 cd atho gvabhyo rdyabhyah prati sma gahganam kuru (K ssa gaganam. kuru); XVI. 145.5 (AVS XII. 5.49) [k.sipram vai] tasya vdstu.su gahgan.am kurvate vrk~h. (K gahganam kurvate pa vrsdt); XVII. 15.5 ydsdm, gho.sa.h sahgatdndm vrkdn.dm iva gahganah. ( K . . . gho.sa sahgatd vrkdn api gahgan.a).

Since AVS XII. 5.49, parallel to AVP XVI. 145.5, has ailabdm 'roaring' for

gahgan.am, the latter one seems to be of onomatopoetic origin and correct, x~

But with nyamca one is less sure.

VI. 23.5 cd.

Or vibhramgam (var. vibhram, sam) asyai krn.mo viddhamsamdsakundume K bibhram, gam.. krn.mo viddham, samdmakun.d.ase

A comparison with vibhramgam occuring in verses 1,3 and the present verse indicates

that viddham, sam stands for vidhvam, sam. In dsakundume -kundume or K's -kun.d.ase < kun.d.ame may stand anywhere between kun.d.a, kut.t.ima 'ground covered with lime'

noted by Patafijali on P~n 4.4.20 and kumd.amoya - 'an earthen vessel of the shape

of an elephant's foot'. 11

Most of the variants cited above leave the problems unsolved. The numerous

occurrences of such cases only indicates that text-critical problems should for some time lie in forefront for a reader of the AVP critical edition or a user of an alphabetically arranged concordance of verse quarters, too.

Now, going through Barret's and Raghu Vira's edition one may find that the

editors were more successful with non-exclusive AVP material than with exclusive

ones. This is plausible, because the more material one gets for a word, phrase or

verse, the easier it is to arrive at the authentic reading. For this reason a vertical

division of the verse quarters into exclusive and non-exclusive ones is advisable. This

principle has been followed in Raghu Vira's index of half verses by way of printing

the new AVP verses in bold type. But the principle which justifies the above division

also calls for some device to indicate the lacuna material in which a major internal evidence, the K reading, is wanting.

Three examples from the lacuna material will clarify my standpoint. I. 69.3 ab cak.sur asya satrarn ds[t takma grotrarn utdbharat. The hymn is exclusive

and concerns an amulet. The verse is found only in Or. The first half means 'Its thread

became an eye, takma brought it an ear'. Renou 12 suggests utYbhavat for utdbharat. The main problem is takma - an unknown word. dma and kma are similar ligatures

in Oriya. It is quite possible that takma stands for tadma. The last word, again, could be a corruption of tardma, nom. sg. of tardman - 'perforation', 'hole'. With Renou's suggestion of utdbhavat one may translate the second p~da: '(its) perforation became an ear'.

NEW MATERIAL IN PAIPPALADA-SAI~IHITA 181

But there is nothing in K to check the correctness or otherwise of my observation.

Similarly in I. 85.2 ab (exclusive and K lacuna)yo bhartdka.h paridhdya mrgesv apidhdvati bhartdk@ is unknown. Renou 13 hints at the possibility of bhartdkh~.h (= bhartd + dkh~.h). It is more probable that bhartdk~ is a real word.

VII. 7.7 ab

divo m~lam avatatam, p.rthivydm ota dhita.h

'The root is spread downward from heaven and is widely established on the earth'.

The last word is found in only one of the two Or manuscripts while in the other it

in wormeaten. In K the halfverse is absent. In the absence of anything to check

only a sign of doubt can be added to the reading.

All these readings show the compulsory uncertainty of the present exploration

and the advisability of bringing this point emphatically to the reader in any reference

work which presents the material for further use. These words are said taking into

account mainly the text critical problem of the AVP. Since no comprehensive

discussion of the various philological problems of the AVP can be done here, some

interesting cases from K~nd.a VII are discussed below. This may give some idea of

what the whole Sam. hit~ may offer to us.

2b. Some New Material in Kd.n.da VII." 6 Instances o f Lacuna

(i) v i i . 1.2 The second half of the verse is found in more or less correct form in K and only

the first half is missing. The verse is not exclusive to the AVP. The AVS parallel

verse is V. 14.2 with variants in each of the first two quarters.

Or. prati daha ydtudhdndn prati k.rtydk.rto daha / atho yo +asmdn 14 dipsatT" tam u tram jahy o.sadhe //

AVS V. 14.2 reads ftvajahiydtudhdndn ava krtydk.ftam, jahi etc. The AVP variant

prati (AVS ~va) is not without significance. The hymn is used in counter witchcraft

(Kaugikasfltra 39), so that prati daha 'burn by counter-witchcraft' is more appropriate than dvajahi of AVg. A variation between jahi and daha also occurs between AVS VIII. 3.23 prfzti sma rak.sfzsojahi and RV X. 87.23 prftti .sma rak.sfzso daha. One may translate:

"Burn the sorcerers by counter witchcraft, burn the witchcraft-performer by counter witchcraft; then whoever desires to hurt us, him do thou kill, O herb".

182 D. BHATTACHARYA

(ii) AVP VII. 7.6-7.

A large part of the two verses is missing in K which fuses these into one verse.

The lost part is put within square brackets.

K girau ]dtas svardsi sdkam, somena babhru.nd / ma pdpak.rtvanag gikho md pdka.s puru.so rinas pdtu vidvata.h

Or girau jdtah, svar ahdsu sdkam, somena babhrund / md pdpakrtvanah, giso md pdkah, puruso [risat // divo mOlam avatatam, p.rthivydm ota dhita.h / darbha.h sahasravTrya.h pa]ri .na.h pdtu vi~vata.h //

Vs 6 is exclusive to the AVP, vs. 7 appears with major variants as AVS II. 7.3.

div6 mulam dvatatam prthivya ddhy fittatam / t~na sahdsrakdnd, ena pdri nah. pdhi vi~vdtah. //

In view of K's svardsi the Or reading in 6 a may be taken as standing for svar ahdsi; understanding pdpakr, tvana.h as with a coalesced initial a, one may translate

these two verses in praise of darbha grass as follows:

6. Grown in the mountain you are indeed the sun along with the Soma of tawny

colour. May you not injure the non-evildoer, may not the innocent person

be harmed.

7. The root is spread downward from heaven and widely established on the

earth; may the grass of thousand valiance protect us on all sides.

(iii) VII. 9.9. cf., AVS V. 7.4.

K

Or

sa vaddni devdndm, devah~ti.su /

savitdram anumatim, bhagam, yanto havdmahe / vdcam. ]ustdm. madhumatfm, vaddni devdndm, devahftti.su //

'We call on Savitr, Anumati and Bhaga while going; let me utter pleasant and sweet

speech in the divine-invocations (= sacrificial invocations) for the gods.' The singular

ending in vaddni against the plural havdmahe of the first half is found also in the

AVS which has avddisam, for vaddni.

(iv) VII. 11.6-7. AVP 6 cd 7 ab are missing in K which fuses the remaining halves into a single verse.

K yas tvd svapnena tamasd mohayitvd nipadyate / rdyam kan.vam papmanam tam ito ndgaydmasi //

NEW MATERIAL IN PAIPPALADA-SAMHIT,g, 183

Or yas tvd svapnena tamasd mohayitvd nipadyate / prajdm, yas te jighatsati tam ito ndgaydmasi // yas tvd patyuh, pratir@o /dro bh~tvd nipadyate / ardyam krnvam papmanam tam ito ndgaydmasi //

Vs. 6 - 7 ab appear as AVS XX. 96.16, 15 ab and RV X. 162.6, 5 ab. The latter texts

read ]ighdmsati for ]ighatsati of 6 c.

Vs. 7 appears in the non-AVP texts as:

yas tvd bhratd pdtir bh~tva /dr6 bh~tva nipddyate / prajam, yds te ]{ghdm. sati tdm it6 ndgaydmasi //

'Who approaches you having become (like your) brother, (like your) husband,

having become a paramour, who desires to kill your offspring, I make him disappear from here'.

For AVP VII. 11.6 prafdm, yas te ]ighatsati 'who desires to devour your offspring'

instead of AVS-RV 'who desires to kill your offspring', cf. AVP IV. 13.6 = AVS

II. 25.3 garbhddi~m, k~.nvam ndgaya 'make the embryo-eating Kanva disappear' and AVP VII. 11.7 where the evil being has been mentioned as Ka.nva (Or Kr.nva) is

In vs. 7 AVP shows independence offering variants and a different second half:

'he who approaches you having assumed the exact form of your husband, having

become a paramour, from here do I make him disappear, the evil, sinful Kanva

(Kr.n.va)'.

(v) AVP VII. 13.5 ab

Or yds talpdn anunrtyanty antarik.se hiranyaydn / (tdsdm. gmanmat?ndm indro api krtat girah. //)

This is a new verse according to my knowledge. However, the second half being a

refrain is presented only in the first and the final stanza. Consequently any trace of the verse is lost in K. The second half appears as follows in K

tdsdm sanvandm (sunvat~m in the final verse) indra apa krtag chirah. /

Although gvanvat~ndm is the apparent reconstruction (also AVP 1.89.2; AVS XI. 9.15, 19.36.6 = AVP II. 27.6), two m's in Or arouse suspicion about some unknown gmanvat~ndm. 16 With tdsdm gvanvatTndrn indro api krtac chirah, the verse may mean

"They who dance in the air behind the golden couches, of those Svantvatrs Indra may cut up the head".

184 D. BHATTACHARYA

(vi)VII. 18.5 6

K atimrtdtisardv indrasyojasd hata / avim vrk~va satnYca tato vo ffvam md mocih. punar d k.rdhi yathYmantrin.aham janam. //

Or atisrtydtisarg indrasyaujasd hata / avim vr. ka iva mathnTta (var. madhnTta) taro vo

ffvan ma moci (var. meci) / prdnam asydpi nahyata // ydn asau pratisardn akag cakdra (mss. rkdra) k.r.navac ca

(var. ~n.avareca)ydn / tvam tdn indra vrtrahan pratTcah, punar d krdhi yathdmum, t.r.naham, janam //

K misses from prdn.am asydpi nahyata of 5 to pratTcah.. The AVE paraliel is

dti dhdvatdtisard (ndrasya vdcasg hata / avim v(ka ira mathMta sd vo ffvan ma moci prdn.dtm asyapi nahyata // (V. 8.4)

yan asav atisaram, g cakara kr.ndvac ca ydn / tvdm tdn indra vrtrahan prat{ca.h pfinar d k.rdhi

ydthdm~m, trn.dhdm ]dnam // (V. 8.7)

The Or verses are, rendered into English, as follows: "Having overrun, O overrunners, kill by the might of Indra; stir him as a wolf does a sheep; then let him not be released alive from you; shut up even his breath.

The counter-runners which he has made, (which) he had made and (which) he may make, you O Indra, turn them back again so that they kill that person".

Among the lacunas here Or 6 b offers interesting variants in that there are three forms of the verb x/~.r viz., aor., pft. and subj. instead of pft. and subj. of the AVE.

It may be noted that AVE V. 8.4 is a contraction of AVP VII. 18.4-5. AVP VII. 18.5 was noted above. AVP VII. 18.4, found in both Or and K, runs as follows:

K ati dhtivatdtisurd vigvasyeMng ojasd / v.rgcatYmu.sya ]Tvati indre~a saha medhing //

Or ati dhdvatdtisarY (var. dhdva atisard = scribal error)

vrgcyatYmu.sya ]~vitam indrena saha medind // vigvasyegdnd o]asah. /

NEW MATERIAL IN PAIPPAL,~DA-SAIVIHIT, g.

AVP VII 8.4 a occurs as AVg. V, 8.4 a while AVP. VII. 18.5 b - e occurs as AVS.

V. 8.4 b - e with minor variants,

185

Some Other Instances of New Material in Kd.nd. a VII

VII. 3 is almost entirely exclusive to the AVP. The hymn consists of 11 verses.

But the final form, as with many other such hymns, is not satisfactory. At least

6 of the 11 verses offer problems which cannot be solved on the basis of manuscript

readings alone.

Vs. 1 Or. tigmebhir agne 'rceibhih. gukrena deva gocisd / dmddo ni vaha tvam anyam dsani krnvatdm //

K a agnir arcibhig d dsuni

Read arcibhih in a. With nir for ni c will mean 'Do thou send aWay the raw-eaters'.

dsani krn. vatdm in d poses some difficulty, krnvatdm cannot be in genitive plural.

As a verb, imperat. 3/pl., it lacks a subject. With an understood pronoun te meaning

dmddah., the syntax is acceptable, x7 But dsani krnvatYm in the sense of 'let them

take in the mouth ' sounds odd. One may wonder if~hnatdm is intended. AVS

V. 17.10 has rdfdna.h satyilm gr.hndndh, for ~nvdndh. of RV X. 109.6 (AVP IX.

15.9 krnvanto). However, to hold by the mouth or, to place in the mouth is

expressed with a different root in AVP I. 42.1 and 3 trims te agne 'pi dadh~fny dsani. Also RV X. 53.11 ddadhur vatsdm dsdni.

2. Or goci.sdgne 'reisd ca nir daheto 'ghdyatah. / sakhyam dram krn. mahe tram cdmdda upagam, bhuvam. / /

K a arcisd b aghdyava.h c dsam d camdmdd

In the first half read arcisd and +aghdyatah.. Quite a few problems still remain. dvam has a verb in plural - tff.n, mahe for kr.n. vahe. The m of krn. mahe could have resulted from the phonemic surrounding of labial nasals.

But in the fourth p~da tram. is without a finite verb and gambhuvam is not attested. Any ' improvement' on this will be mere conjecture. Most probably c

186 D. BHATTACHARYA

and d form a single sentence with an understood aham after tram. ts But till the

verb-form in the final word is recognised one cannot be certain.

5. Or ya dmesv aramanta na pakvam upadddi.su / te yantu sarve sambhaydnyatreto 'ghdyavah. / /

K. ydmesv aramamta ma pakvam uta dadr.s.u / * * * sasambhOyd...

In both Or upadddi.su and K uta dddrs.u, the final h. of a perfect 3rd person plural

form is lost. The cause seems to be the word dmesu in p~da a. Nothing better than

Barret's conjecture of dddhrs.uh, can be suggested. With this the first half would

mean: 'They who delighted in raw foods only, (they who) could not venture with

cooked one.'

6. Or ya enasv[ du.skrtakrt kilbisakrt sddhyah. / punas tdn yaj~iyd devd nayantu yata dgatdh. //

Or1 a du.sk.rtam, k.rt c t~na

K yenas~duskrtakrtakilvisakrta sddhya / punas tvdn yaj~iyd devd yantu yata Ygatdh. //

For sgdhyah I have no firm suggestion. Could it be an adjective referring to

the subduable character of the evildoer? The word is not found in the Vedas

in this sense.

7. Or ava renum ava rajo neni/e hastiyam malam / dMtd no bhadrayd ne.sat sa no gopgyatu prajdm //.

Or1 b neniye

K ab ava renas ** nenajam hastim balam /

In d a correction nesat~ ca is noted in K.

hastiyam/hastim, stands for hastyam, a9 Otherwise the Or version is acceptable.

9. Or yad asurdndm ahany asmdn pdpd upethana / devimam payai ca daivyam dpah. iundhantu mdm imdh. / /

Or1 a aham. ny

K b * pdpd tamedhina.h.

NEW M A T E R I A L IN PAIPPALJtDA-SAIVlHIT~, 187

The c o n c e p t o f t he day o f Asuras (asurd.~m ahany) is no t me t w i t h in the

Vedas. 2~ In the Brahman.as days have b e e n iden t i f i ed w i th gods (SB 2.1 .3 .1) , or

t h e y be long to the gods whi le n ights be long to the Asuras (AB 4.5, GB II. 5.1

etc.) . In ou r verse the sense o f ahani m a y be m o r e general - t h a t o f the whole

day. Wha tever the day o f the Asuras m a y mean , this is the p r o p e r t ime for sin

to a p p r o a c h man .

W i t h o u t th is or a s imilar i n t e r p r e t a t i o n we wou ld again be faced w i t h the

p r o b l e m of a c o r r u p a t i o n in t he t ex t . This c a n n o t be ruled ou t ; bu t again, in te rna l

ev idence is no t a suff ic ient guide here .

Santiniketan

NOTES

1 Some material of this paper was presented at the All India Oriental Conference, Santiniketan, 1980. I am deeply thankful to Prof. F. B. J. Kuiper for many valuable suggestions regarding this paper during my ZWO Fellowship, 1981-82 at Leiden. 2 The text of the AVP (K) was edited by L. Barret (F. Edgerton Kanda VI only) over several years beginning from 1905 in the JAOS (Kandas I -XV, XVIII) and partly as separate volumes. Barret's introductions to these as well as his surveys of the material in K are the best source of information on K, Raghu Vira produced an edition in the Devanagari script in 3 volumes (Lahore, 1936-41). Also see C. R. Lanman, HOS. VII, LXXIX ff for his views on the originality of the AVP. 3 For the Orissa MSS see Durgamohan Bhattacharya's Introduction to the first volume of the new edition and Dipak Bhattacharya's Introduction to the second volume. 4 JAOS46, p. 8. s The given main number of the AVS hymns is based on Whitney-Lanman's translation. 6 Though 17 lines have changed place with 20 lines, the material covered by one part is almost equal to the material covered by the other. 7 Durgamohan Bhattacharya, Ibid, XXXII ff. 8 Ibid passim. Also Dipak Bhattacharya in Vishveshvaranand Indological Journal, Hoshiarpur, 1971, p. 297; Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1981, Vol. xxx, p. 157. 9 K often shows influence of local modes of pronunciation by changingya, va and ai, au to i, u and r, ~ and vice versa. lO Also see K. Hoffmann, Aufs//tze zur Indo-iranistik, Wiesbaden 1975, p. 37. 11 Dasavaikilikastitra, 6.50. 12 Journal Asiatique, 1965, p. 17. x3 lbicl, p. 27. 14 K. smdn. Or 1 asmdm., Or2 'smdm. is For krnva/kanva see K. Hoffmann, op. cit, 26 ft. 16 Nir. III. 5 understands groan as the body. Perhaps it will be pure conjecture to think of agmanvatf behind the word. In AVP I. 89.2 one MS has @andat~nd.m. 17 Cf. RV I. 140.7 sk samstiro vi.s.tira.h shm grbhdyati fdn~nn evb fdnat{r nitya a gaye/ptlnar vardhante dpi yanti devyhm anydd vdrpah, pitrdh, krnvate sdcd / / 18 dram of c could mean these two. Cf. RV VII. 97.10 b./haspate yuvdm fndra~ ca vdsvo

188 D. B H A T T A C H A R Y A

divydsyegdthe ' 0 Brhaspati ihr beide, n/imlich du und Indra, verftiget fiber das himlische Gut', Delbrtick, Altind. Synt., p. 84. 19 See Note 9 above. 20 dsurT veld - 'the time of the day belonging to the Asuras' is a late concept. See Bh~gavata X. 28.2.