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Book VII.

⌊The seventh book is made up mostly of hymns of one verse or of two verses. No other one of the books i.-xviii. contains such hymns. Book vii. is thus distinguished from all the others of the three grand divisions (to wit, books i.-vii., books viii.-xii., and books xiii.-xviii.) of the Atharvan collection, and constitutes the close of the first of those divisions. If we consider the facts set forth in the paragraphs introductory to the foregoing books (see pages 1, 37, 84, 142, 220, 281, and especially 142), it appears that this division is made up of those seven books in which the number—normal or prevalent—of verses to a hymn runs from one to eight. Or, in tabular form, division one consists of

In the Berlin edition, the book contains one hundred and eighteen hymns: of these, fifty-six are of 1 verse each, and twenty-six are of 2 verses each; while of the remaining thirty-six

The 11-versed hymn is 73; the 9-versed is 50; the 8-versed are 26, 56, 97; the 7-versed are 53, 60, 109; the 6-versed are 20, 76, 81, 82. The whole book has been translated by Victor Henry, Le livre VII de l’Atharva-Véda traduit et commenté, Paris, 1892.⌋

⌊As the Major Anukramaṇī speak.s of book vi. as the tṛca-sūkta-kāṇḍa, tṛca-prakṛti, so it speaks of book vii. as the eka-rca-sūkta-kāṇḍa. Presumably, therefore, we are to regard the 1-versed hymn as the “norm” of the book, although the 2-versed hymn is undeniably “prevalent."⌋

⌊See p. cxlix.⌋

⌊The book is divided into ten anuvāka-groups. These, with the number of hymns in each group and the number of verses in each group, are here given:

The Old Anukramaṇī seems to take 20 verses as the norm of the anuvāka. The Paris codex, P., in this book numbers the verses through each anuvāka without separating the hymns. The commentator divides the anuvākas into hymns (from two to four in each anuvāka), which “hymns,” however, are nothing more than mechanical decads of verses with an overplus or shortage in the last “decad” when the total is not a multiple of ten: thus, anuvāka 1 has three hymns, of 10 + 10 + 8 = 28 verses; 2 has two hymns, of 10 + 13 = 23 verses; 3 has three hymns, of 9

• 10 + 11 = 30 verses; 4 has three hymns, of 10 + 10 + 10 = 30 verses; and so on. His anuvāka endings coincide throughout with those of the Berlin edition, save that vii. 23 is reckoned by him (and P.) to anuvāka 2 instead of 3, thus making for 2 and 3 his verse-totals 23 and 30 instead of 22 and 31 (as the Old Anukramaṇī gives them) and spoiling the count of his first “decad” in 3. (Note that vii. 23 is a galita-verse.) His “decad”-divisions cut in two our hymns 26, 45, 54, 68, 72, 76, 79, 97, and 109.⌋ ⌊It should here be mentioned that the Bombay edition, following the Major Anukramaṇī, counts hymns 6, 45, 68, 72, and 76 each as two hymns. From vii. 6. 3 to the end of the book, accordingly, Whitney gives a double numeration of the hymns: first the numeration of the Berlin edition, and then, in parenthesis, the numeration of the Bombay edition. As against the former, the latter involves a plus of one from vii. 6. 3 to vii. 45. i; a plus of two from vii. 45. 2 to vii. 68. 2; a plus of three from vii. 68. 3 to vii. 72. 2; a plus of four from vii. 72. 3 to vii. 76. 4; and a plus of five from vii. 76. 5 to the end. Finally it may be noted that vii. 54. 2 is reckoned (forwards) to vii. 55, but that this does not affect the hymn-numbers save for the verse concerned.⌋ ⌊Respecting book vii. in general, see pages cli, clii.⌋