{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/av/av10007.htm","path":"hin/av/av10007.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av10007.htm","text":"Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895]\n1Which of his members is the seat of Fervour: Which is the base\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of Ceremonial Order? p. 21\n \u00a0\u00a0Where in him standeth Faith? Where Holy Duty? Where, in\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0what part of him is truth implanted?\n 2Out of which member glows the light of Agni? Form which\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0proceeds the breath of M\u0101tarisvan?\n \u00a0\u00a0From which doth Chandra measure out his journey, travelling\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0over Skambha's mighty body?\n 3Which of his members is the earth's upholder? Which gives the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0middle air a base to rest on?\n \u00a0\u00a0Where, in which member is the sky established? Where hath\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the space above the sky its dwelling?\n 4Whitherward yearning blazeth Agni upward? Whitherward\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0yearning bloweth M\u0101tarisvan?\n \u00a0\u00a0Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom with long-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ing go the turning pathways?\n 5Whitheward go the half-months, and, accordant with the full\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0year, the months in their procession?\n \u00a0\u00a0Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom go seasons\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the groups of seasons?\n 6Whitherward yearning speed the two young Damsels, accordant,\n \u00a0\u00a0Day and Night, of different colour?\n \u00a0\u00a0Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom the Waters\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0take their way with longing?\n 7Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha,\n \u00a0\u00a0On whom Praj\u0101pati set up and firmly stablished all the worlds?\n 8That universe which Praj\u0101pati created, wearing all forms,, the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0highest, midmost, lowest,\n \u00a0\u00a0How far did Skambha penetrate within it? What portion did\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0he leave unpenetrated?\n 9How far within the past hath Skambha entered? How much of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0him hath reached into the future?\n \u00a0\u00a0That one part which he set in thousand places,\u2014how far did\n \u00a0\u00a0Skambha penetrate within it?\n 10Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha in whom men\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0recognize the Waters, Brahma,\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom they know the worlds and their enclosures, in whom\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0are non-existence and existence?\n 11Declare that. Skambha, who is he of many,\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom, exerting every power, Fervour maintains her loftiest\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0vow; p. 22\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom are comprehended Law, Waters, Devotion and Belief\n 12Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0On whom as their foundation earth and firmament and sky are\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0set;\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom as their appointed place rest Fire and Moon and Sun\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and Wind?\n 13Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0He in whose body are contained all three-and-thirty Deities?\n 14Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha.\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom the Sages earliest born, the Richas, S\u0101man, Yajus,\n \u00a0\u00a0Earth, and the one highest Sage abide?\n 15Who out of many, tell me, is the Skambha.\n \u00a0\u00a0Who comprehendeth, for mankind, both immortality and death,\n \u00a0\u00a0He who containeth for mankind the gathered waters as his\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0veins?\n 16Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha,\n \u00a0\u00a0He whose chief arteries stand there, the sky's four regions, he irk\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0whom Sacrifice putteth forth its might?\n 17They who in Purusha understand Brahma know Him who is.\n \u00a0\u00a0Supreme.\n \u00a0\u00a0He who knows Him who is Supreme, and he who knows the\n \u00a0\u00a0Lord of Life,\n \u00a0\u00a0These know the loftiest Power Divine, and thence know Skam-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0bha thoroughly.\n 18Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0Of whom Vaisv\u0101nara became the head, the Angirases his eye,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and Y\u0101tus his corporeal parts?\n 19Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0Whose mouth they say is Holy Lore, his tongue the Honey-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sweetened Whip, his udder is Vir\u0101j, they say?\n 20Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0From whom they hewed the lichas off, from whom they\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0chipped the Yajus, he\n \u00a0\u00a0Whose hairs are S\u0101ma-verses and his mouth the Atharv\u0101ngi-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0rases?\n 21Men count as 'twere a thing supreme nonentity's conspicuous\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0branch;\n \u00a0\u00a0And lower man who serve thy branch regard it as an entity.\n 22Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha p. 23\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom \u0100dityas dwell, in whom Rudras and Vasus are\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0contained,\n \u00a0\u00a0In whom the future and the past and all the worlds are firmly\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0set;\n 23Whose secret treasure evermore the three-and thirty Gods\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0protect?\n \u00a0\u00a0Who knoweth now the treasure which, O Deities ye watch and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0guard?\n 24Where the Gods, versed in Sacred Lore, worship the loftiest\n \u00a0\u00a0Power Divine\n \u00a0\u00a0The priest who knows them face to face may be a sage who\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0knows the truth.\n 25Great, verily, are those Gods who sprang from non-existence\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0into life.\n \u00a0\u00a0Further, men say that that one part of Skambha is nonentity.\n 26Where Skambha generating gave the Ancient World its shape\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and form,\n \u00a0\u00a0They recognized that single part of Skambha as the Ancient\n \u00a0\u00a0World,\n 27The three-and-thirty Gods within his body were disposed as\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0limbs:\n \u00a0\u00a0Some, deeply versed in Holy Lore, some know those three-and-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0thirty Gods.\n 28Men know Hiranyagarbha as supreme and inexpressible:\n \u00a0\u00a0In the beginning, in the midst of the world, Skambha poured\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that gold.\n 29On Skambha Fervour rests, the worlds and Holy Law repose on\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0him.\n \u00a0\u00a0Skambha, I clearly know that all of thee on Indra is imposed.\n 30On Indra Fervour rests, on him the worlds and Holy Law\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0recline.\n \u00a0\u00a0Indra, I clearly know that all of thee on Skambha findeth rest.\n 31Ere sun and dawn man calls and calls one Deity by the other's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0name.\n \u00a0\u00a0When the Unborn first sprang into existence he reached that\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0independent sovran lordship; than which aught higher never\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0hath arisen.\n 32Be reverence paid to him, that highest Brahma, whose base is\n \u00a0\u00a0Earth, his belly Air, who made the sky to be his head. p. 24\n 33Homage to highest Brahma, him whose eye is S\u016brya and the\n \u00a0\u00a0Moon who groweth young and new again, him who made\n \u00a0\u00a0Agni for his mouth.\n 34Homage to highest Brahma, him whose two life-breathings were\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the Wind,\n \u00a0\u00a0The Angirases his sight: who made the regions be his means of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sense.\n 35Skambha set fast these two, the earth and heaven, Skambha\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0maintained the ample air between them.\n \u00a0\u00a0Skambha established the six spacious regions: this whole world\n \u00a0\u00a0Skambha entered and pervaded.\n 36Homage to highest Brahma, him who, sprung from Fervour and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from toil,\n \u00a0\u00a0Filled all the worlds completely, who made Soma for himself\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0alone.\n 37Why doth the Wind move ceaselessly? Why doth the spirit take\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0no rest?\n \u00a0\u00a0Why do the Waters, seeking truth, never at any time repose?\n 38Absorbed in Fervour, is the mighty Being, in the world's centre,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0on the waters' surface.\n \u00a0\u00a0To him the Deities, one and all betake them. So stand the tree-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0trunk with the branches round it.\n 39Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha.\n \u00a0\u00a0To whom the Deities with hands, with feet, and voice, and ear,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and eye.\n \u00a0\u00a0Present unmeasured tribute in the measured hall of sacrifice?\n 40Darkness is chased away from him: he is exempt from all dist-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ress.\n \u00a0\u00a0In him are all the lights, the three abiding in Praj\u0101pati.\n 41He verily who knows the Reed of Gold that stands amid the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0flood, is the mysterious Lord of Life.\n 42Singly the two young Maids of different colours approach the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0six-pegged warp in turns and weave it.\n \u00a0\u00a0The one draws out the threads, the other lays them: they break\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0them not, they reach no end of labour.\n 43Of these two, dancing round as 'twere, I cannot distinguish\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0whether ranks before the other.\n \u00a0\u00a0A Male in weaves this web, a Male divides it: a Male hath\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0stretched it to the cope of heaven p. 25\n 44These pegs have buttressed up the sky. The S\u0101mans have turned\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0them into shuttles for the weaving.","title":"Atharva Veda: Book 10: Hymn 7: Skambha, the Pillar or Ful...","type":"page"}