Atharva Veda 9.6.8: Kanda 9, Anuvaka 1, Sukta 6, Mantra 8

Sukta 6

Sanskrit (Devanagari)

यदु॑पस्तृ॒णन्ति॑ ब॒र्हिरे॒व तत्

IAST Transliteration

yád upastṛṇánti barhír evá tát

English Translation (Griffith/Whitney)

What they spread beneath—this, in very truth, is the Barhis.

Translation

ما يَبسطونه تحتَهم—فذلك، حقًّا، هو البَرْهِس (Barhis).

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Word by Word

• यत्: that which / what
• यत्: Karma (यत् = ‘that which/what’ as object-correlative)
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)

• उपस्तृणन्ति: they spread/lay down (as a covering)
• उपस्तृणन्ति: Kriyā (मुख्य क्रिया)
• Type: Verb
• Root: स्तृ (धातु) उप- (उपसर्ग)

• बर्हिः: sacrificial grass (barhis)
• बर्हिः: Karma (what is spread)
• Type: Noun
• Root: बर्हिस् (प्रातिपदिक)

• एव: indeed / just
• एव: — (emphatic particle)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव (निपात)

• तत्: that
• तत्: Karma/Pratyavamarśa (correlative ‘that’ referring back to यत्)
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)

Attribution

Rishi: Uncertain from the excerpt alone (requires Anukramaṇī for AVŚ 9.6).

Devata: Ritual bandhu (sacrificial implements/acts as correlates of cosmic entities).

Chandas: Prose-like yajus-style formulation (not a regular ṛc-meter); often treated as anustubh-deficient/ritual prose in AV ritual sections.

Mantra Rasa

Primary: shanta