tad in nu me acachadan ' mahad yakṣaṃ br̥ had vapuḥ / 8-8
viśvair yad devair nirr̥tis tanā yujā ' *saṃ mr̥ tyor iha jāyate // 12-8 It really seemed to me a great wonder, a lofty miracle that Nirr̥ti in a strong bond with all
the gods is born here from death. [[118]]
a: The red. aor. acachadat is the first textual attestation of this form. Yāska (Nir. IX.8) glossed with mahyam acacchadat the RV 10.34.1 passage máhyam achān (cf. Hoffmann 1965: 175 = 1975: 166).
For the theme, cf. RV 10.32.3ab tád ín me chantsad vápuṣo vápuṣṭaram putró yáj jā́nam pitrór adhī́yati ‘this would seem to me a great miracle when the son remembers the birth of his parents’, RV 6.49.5a sá me vápuś chadayad aśvínor yó rátho virúkmān mánasā yujānáḥ ‘The brilliant chariot of the Aśvins yoked to the mind seems a miracle to me’.
b: ed. yakṣmaṃ (but K. yakṣaṃ). yakṣma- is masculine. Cf. AVŚ 10.7.38a, 8.15c
mahád yakṣáṃ bhúvanasya mádhye ‘a great wonder in the middle of creation’.
c: ed. viśvaṃ yad devī, but K. viśvair devair. The reading of the Or. mss. is syntactically impossible. Nirr̥ti is called ‘the sister of all gods’ in AVP 2.64.2c (devānāṃ
sarveṣāṃ svasā).
For tanā yujā, cf. RV 1.39.4c yuṣmā́kam astu táviṣī tánā yujā́ ‘let the power be yours [O Maruts, who are] in a strong bond’.
d: ed. maṃ (K. maraṃ). The emendation, which has been suggested to me by Leonid Kulikov, also accounts for the instr. in pāda c, since sam-√jani- is construed with an instr.
5.27.2 AVP only
†amamriś cit sāprathovadadahimahirājantam ojasā† / ?-?
āyuṃ *cit kutsam *atithigvam ardaya ' vi nikilbindam ojasā // 12-8
... Shatter Āyu, Kutsa, Atithigva, de[molish] Nikilbinda with power.
ab: ed. amamriś cit sāprathovadadahimahirājantam ojasā (K. aṃmuṃ sr̥ ṣṭitsātpatho vadadahiṃ vāirājantam ojasā). These pādas are clearly corrupt and must be heavily emended. -tp- in K. sātpatho may be the original reading, since the ms. Vā. corrects
sāpra into sātpā. In b, rājantam ojasā may be correct, as (vi-)rāj- ‘to rule’ often occurs with ojasā (cf. Roesler 1997: 182).
c: ed. āyaṃ citrakutsam atitigmam ardaya (K. āyuṃśchati gutsam atigmam andaya). The line evidently contains the names of the three inimical kings, cf. RV 8.53.2a yá āyúṃ
kútsam atithigvám árdayo ‘you who have destroyed Āyu, Kutsa, Atithigva’. The emendation of citra to *cit is of course uncertain, but citrakutsa- is unattested and there is one syllable too many in the line. [[119]]
d: ed. vinikilbindam (K. vṇiklidvirmum). vi evidently takes up ardaya of the preceding pāda (the combination vi ardaya- is found e.g. at RV 2.23.14d bŕ̥haspate ví parirā́po ardaya and RV 1.187.1cd = AVP 6.16.1cd yásya tritó vy ójasā vr̥tráṃ víparvam ardáyat). The name Nikilbinda is otherwise unknown. An emendation to nikilbiṣam
‘without an offense’ does not seem advisable.
5.27.3 ab: AVŚ 4.6.2ab (a: AVP 5.8.1a, 16.78.4a); d: 5c.
yāvatī dyāvāpr̥thivī varimṇā ' 11
yāvad vā sapta sindhavo mahitvā / 11
tāvatī nirr̥tir viśvavārā ' 10
viśvasya yā jāyamānasya *veda // 11
As great as are Heaven and Earth in width, as much as are the seven rivers in greatness, so great is Nirr̥ti, bestowing all treasures, who knows all that is born.
c: nirr̥tir viśvavārā is a standing phrase (AVP 19.5.12, 11.5 nirr̥te viśvavāre).
d: ed. deva. An old, but common mistake (cf. also 5c). The next pāda (4a) no doubt played an important role.
AVŚ 4.6.2ab yā́vatī dyā́vāpr̥thivī́varimṇā́ yā́vat saptá síndhavo vitaṣṭhiré /
5.27.4 AVP only
viśvasya hi jāyamānasya devi ' 11
puṣṭasya vā puṣṭapatir babhūvitha / 12
namo ’stu te nirr̥te mā tuv asmān ' 11
parā bhujo nāparaṃ†hātayāsi† // 11
O goddess of all that is born or is thriving, you have therefore become the lord of prosperity. Homage be to you, O Nirr̥ti. Stop bending us apart. You will not ... [us] in the future.
The whole stanza gives the impression that something went wrong with the text.
b: ed. puṣṭipatir, but all Or. mss. read puṣṭapatir (K. puṣṭipati). This is clearly an original AV reading (also the AVŚ reads puṣṭapáti-), and in other occurrences of this word, Bhattacharya has not changed the text, cf. 1.18.4b *-iryo gopāḥ puṣṭapatir va ājat, 10.5.6b mayi puṣṭam [[120]] puṣṭapatir dadhātu, 10.5.11b tvayi puṣṭaṃ puṣṭapatir jajāna. It is at any rate strange that the goddess Nirr̥ti is called ‘the lord of prosperity’.
c: ed. namas tu te (but K. namo stu te), which is a strange and unattested construction. It seems better to me to adopt the reading of K. (cf. also AVŚ 6.63.2a námo ’stu te nirr̥te, but námaḥ sú te nirr̥te in a variant of this mantra attested at VS 12.63, TS 4.2.5.2, etc.). The Orissa text is probably taken from 6d.
ed. mā +tvam asmān (Vā., Ja. pā(ṭmā)tvasmān, Ma1 pātvasmān, Ma2 mātvasmān, K.
tmam asmān). There is only one example of mā́ followed by tvám in the RV and AV, viz. AVP 3.29.5ab ahaṃ vadāni mā tvaṃ ́ sabhāyāṃ gha tvaṃ vada ‘I shall speak, not you. You speak at the assembly!’ (the parallel passage AVŚ 7.38.4a has nét tváṃ, which is a better reading). Moreover, a construction with two consecutive emphatic pronouns tvam and asmān
seems hardly credible in this context. Therefore I tentatively opt for the Or. reading, although the particle tú is not attested in the RV and AV in the position after mā́ either.
d: parā-√bhuj- is not otherwise attested.
ed. hātayāsi (all mss.). The form can hardly be correct as it stands, but there are too many candidates for an emendation. Barret proposed to emend the text to *ghātayāsi, which is attested since the Br., but ghā́tuka- ‘killer’ is found already in the AV. On the other hand, it is likewise possible to emend to *yātayāsi, *cātayāsi, *śātayāsi, *pātayāsi, or *hāpayāsi. In a context like this, almost every verb with negative semantics would do, but nāparaṃ *hāpayāsi ‘you will not make [us] leave in the future’ seems the best candidate to me.
5.27.5 TS 4.2.5.4, KS 38.13:115.9-10, ĀpŚS 16.16.1; c: see 3d.
devīm ahaṃ nirr̥tiṃ manyamānaḥ ' 11
piteva putraṃ na sace vacobhiḥ / 11
viśvasya yā jāyamānasya *veda ' 11
śiraḥ-śiraḥ prati sūro ’nu tasthe // 11
Paying respect to the goddess Nirr̥ti, I do not follow [her] with [my] words, like a father [does not follow his] son. She, who knows all that is born, has attended to every head [as] the sun (?).
b: The KS version seems to be the best: ‘I subdue [her] with words, like a father [his] son’. TS dasaye ‘I exhaust [her]’ is less meaningful. [[121]]
c: ed. deva, which must be an old mistake of a very frequent type.
d: ed. nu tasthe. sūro (Ma1 sūṭśiro, Ma2 sūṭśaro, K. śoro) does not make much sense in this context. The variant of the TS (and KS) is better: ‘She, the patronness, who knows all that is born, discerns every head’. We may consider to emend the text to *sūrī and keep [’]nu tasthe, but even then the meaning of the verb remains unclear.
TS 4.2.5.4 devī́m aháṃ nírr̥tiṃ vándamānaḥ pitéva putráṃ dasaye vácobhiḥ / víśvasya yā́ jā́yamānasya véda śíraḥ-śiraḥ práti sūrī́ví caṣṭe //
KS 38.13 devī́m aháṃ nírr̥tiṃ bā́dhamānaḥ pitéva putráṃ damaye vácobhiḥ / yā́ jā́yamānasya jāyamānasya śíro devī́práti sūrír ví caṣṭe //
5.27.6 TS 4.2.5.4, VS 12.62, etc.
asunvantam ayajamānam icha ' 11
stenasyetyāṃ taskarasyānu śikṣa / 11
svapantam icha sā ta +ityā ' 9
namas tu te nirr̥te ’haṃ kr̥ ṇomi // 11
Seek him who does not press [Soma], does not sacrifice; try to get the road of the thief, of the robber. Seek him who is sleeping: that is your road. I do homage to you, O Nirr̥ti.
c: ed. sā ta itvā, but K. sā ta yībhyāṃ. Note that bhy resembles ty in Śāradā.
d: ed. (’)haṃ.
TS 4.2.5.4 ásunvantam áyajamānam icha stenásyetyā́ṃ táskarasyā́nv eṣi / anyám asmád icha sā́ ta ityā́ námo devi nirr̥te túbhyam astu //
VS 12.62 ásunvantam áyajamānam iccha stenásyetyā́m ánv ihi táskarasya / anyám asmád iccha sā́ ta ityā́ námo devi nirr̥te túbhyam astu //
5.27.7 AVP only
*asunvakān nirr̥tiḥ saṃjighatsur ' 11
nāsyāḥ pitā vidyate nota mātā / 11
madhyāt *svasrām anu *jaghāna sarvaṃ ' 11
na devānāam *asuryaṃ sam āpa // 11
[[122]] Nirr̥ti is eager to devour the people who do not press [Soma]. She has no father and also no mother. From the midst of the sisters she has slain everything (?). She has not achieved the Asuric power of the gods.
a: ed. asunvakā. asunvaka- is a hapax, clearly built onto the participle asunvant-, attested in the previous stanza (in the RV we find asunvā́- ‘society of people not pressing Soma’ with a similar introduction of the present tense marker onto a noun). At any rate,
asunvaka- must have an active meaning ‘non-presser of Soma’, which means that it can hardly refer to Nirr̥ti (she is not supposed to press Soma). The u-derivatives from future and desiderative stems govern the accusative (Delbrück 1888: 181), so that saṃjighatsu-
demands an accusative.
saṃjighatsu- is a hapax, but jighatsu- ‘hungry’ is common. The preverb sam
probably conveys here the meaning ‘totally, completely’.
c: ed. madhyātsasrām (Vā., Ma. madhyāchasrām; K. madhyāśchasrām).
ed. jighāna (K. jighāsi). The emendation to jaghāna is uncertain because anu-han- is otherwise unattested, although the expected meaning ‘to slay one for one’ suits the context.
d: ed. asūryaṃ (K. sūryaṃ). For the motif cf. RV 5.66.2ab tā́ hí kṣatrám ávihrutaṃ
samyág asuryаm ā́śāte ‘You two (Mitra and Varuṇa) have achieved the unshakable power, the complete Asuric power’.
5.27.8 TS 4.2.5.2, MS 2.7.12:91.4f., KS 16.12:234.1f., etc.
yad asya pāre tamasaḥ ' śukraṃ jyotir ajāyata / 8-8
tan naḥ parṣad ati dviṣo ' ’agne vaiśvānara dyumat // 8-8
Let the bright, shining light that was born on the other side of this darkness convey us beyond the enemies, O Agni Vaiśvānara.
TS 4.2.5.4 yád asya pāré rájasaḥśukráṃ jyótir ájāyata / tán naḥ parṣad áti dvíṣó ’gne vaiśvānara svā́hā //
MS 2.7.12:91.4f yád asya pāré rájaso maháś citráṃ jyótir ájāyata / tán naḥ parṣad áti dvíṣó ’gne vaiśvānara // svā́hā //
KS 16.12:234.1f yad asya pāre rajasaś citraṃ jyotir ajāyata /