Atharva Veda 3.11.2: Kanda 3, Anuvaka 2, Sukta 11, Mantra 2

Sukta 11

Sanskrit (Devanagari)

यदि॑ क्षि॒तायु॒र्यदि॑ वा॒ परे॑तो॒ यदि॑ मृ॒त्योर॑न्ति॒कं नी॑त ए॒व। तमा ह॑रामि॒ निरृ॑तेरु॒पस्था॒दस्पा॑र्शमेनं श॒तशा॑रदाय

Recitation with translationAtharva Veda 3.11.2

IAST Transliteration

yádi kṣitā́yur yádi vā parétó yádi mṛtyór ántikaṃ nī́ta evá | tám ā́ harāmi nírṛter upásthād aspā́rśam enaṃ śatáśāradāya ||

English Translation (Griffith/Whitney)

If his life be spent, or if he be departed, if verily he hath been led nigh unto Death—him do I bring back from Nirṛti’s very lap, making him untouched, for a hundred autumns.

Translation

അവന്റെ ആയുസ്സ് ക്ഷയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ടായാലും, അല്ലെങ്കിൽ അവൻ പരേതനായാലും, സത്യമായി അവനെ മരണത്തിന്റെ സമീപത്തേക്ക് കൊണ്ടുപോയിട്ടുണ്ടായാലും—അവനെ ഞാൻ നിർഋതിയുടെ മടിയിൽ നിന്നുതന്നെ തിരികെ കൊണ്ടുവരുന്നു; അവനെ അസ്പർശം (അനാഘാതം) ആക്കി, നൂറു ശരദുകൾ വരെ ജീവിക്കാനായി.

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Word by Word

• यदि: if
• यदि: —
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• क्षितायुः: (one) whose lifespan is diminished
• क्षितायुः: Kartā (understood subject) / predicate adjective
• Type: Adjective
• Root: क्षितायु (प्रातिपदिक: क्षित + आयुस्)

• यदि: if
• यदि: —
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• वा: or
• वा: —
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: वा

• परेतः: departed, gone (as good as dead)
• परेतः: Kartā (understood subject) / predicate adjective
• Type: Adjective
• Root: परेत (कृदन्त/विशेषण: परि-इ √इ → परेत ‘gone away’)

• यदि: if
• यदि: —
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: यदि

• मृत्योः: of death
• मृत्योः: सम्बन्ध (genitival relation) / source-context for ‘near’
• Type: Noun
• Root: मृत्यु (प्रातिपदिक)

• अन्तिकम्: near, in proximity
• अन्तिकम्: Adhikaraṇa (locative sense expressed by acc.)
• Type: Noun/Adjective
• Root: अन्तिक (प्रातिपदिक)

• नीतः: led (away), taken
• नीतः: Kartā (of the state: ‘having been led’) / predicate
• Type: Verb (participial)
• Root: नी (नि + √इ) / √नी (to lead) → नीत (PPP)

• एव: indeed, just
• एव: —
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: एव

• तम्: him
• तम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)

• आ: towards, back (preverb)
• आ: —
• Type: Indeclinable (preverb) / particle
• Root: आ

• हरामि: I bring (back), I take away
• हरामि: Kartā = speaker (I)
• Type: Verb
• Root: √हृ (हरति) with आ- (आहरति)

• निरृतेः: of Nirṛti (goddess/power of dissolution, misfortune)
• निरृतेः: सम्बन्ध (genitival) with ‘उपस्थात्’
• Type: Noun
• Root: निरृति (प्रातिपदिक)

• उपस्थात्: from the lap/embrace (i.e., from the clutches)
• उपस्थात्: Apādāna
• Type: Indeclinable (adverbial) / Noun-derived
• Root: उपस्थ (प्रातिपदिक) + तसिल् (ablatival adverb) / ‘उपस्था’ in pada-text tradition

• अस्पार्शम्: untouched, uncontacted
• अस्पार्शम्: Karma (as object-complement construction) / result-state
• Type: Adjective
• Root: अस्पार्श (प्रातिपदिक: a- + स्पर्श ‘touch’)

• एनम्: this one, him
• एनम्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: एतद्/इदम्-प्रकार (enad-pronoun stem ‘एन्-’)

• शतशारदाय: for (living) a hundred autumns (i.e., a hundred years)
• शतशारदाय: Sampradāna (purpose/benefit) / prayojana-dative
• Type: Adjective (used predicatively) / Noun-like compound
• Root: शतशारद (प्रातिपदिक: शत + शारद ‘autumnal year’)

Attribution

Rishi: Atharvanic healer tradition

Devata: Nirṛti (as adversary locus) and Death (Mṛtyu) as the threshold power; the mantra’s operative authority is the Atharvan’s speech-act

Chandas: Triṣṭubh (probable; requires metrical verification)

Mantra Rasa

Primary: adbhuta

Secondary: shanta