Postscript on Vedic jangahe.

• Author: GRIFFITHS, ARLO

In an earlier volume of this journal, one of the present authors (Lubotsky 1997, 562f.) argued that Vedic jangahe is an intensive of the root gandh- 'to smell, be fragrant'. This form is attested only three times: at RV 1.126.6, AVS 5.19.4 (= AVP 9.19.1), and, finally, AVP 19.34.7. Although the meaning could be conjectured on the basis of the first two passages, the presently available Orissa manuscripts of the Paippalada recension of the Atharva Veda provide the definitive proof.

Arlo Griffiths is currently preparing an edition of the nineteenth book of this text, and we have decided to present the relevant passage to the scholarly community, as it clearly shows that jangahe indeed means 'smells'.

The hymns of book 19 of the AVP mostly consist of so-called trcas, i.e., originally separate groupings of three stanzas which at some point were placed together by redactors of the text. The word jangahe occurs in the trca AVP 19.34.7--9, the preliminary edition of which is given below. [1]

AVP 19.34.7--9 (TO A FRAGRANT PLANT)

7. Only AVP

   tvam uttamam surabhisam ' madhyaman vahator asi /

   (8-8)

   tvaya [vadhur.sup.+] vi jangahe ' tam tva varcasa a dade //

   (8-8)

   You are the most supreme of the fragrant ones. You are the center of the bridal procession. The bride smells of you. I take you for splendor.

   surabhisam * This is a hapax of the simplex surabhis-'fragrant', otherwise only attested in surabhistamam (RV 1.186.7). Frequent is the i-stem surabhi-'id.'

   uttaman. Pa [Gu.sub.c] -- atvamam K * Note the related error tantur in stanza 9: syllables involving u/v+C or C+u/v are very unstable in K (due to Kashmirian pronunciation).

   vahator. [Gu.sub.c] -- rvahator Pa, havator K * Metathesis of aksaras occurs frequently in K.

   tvaya. Pa [Gu.sub.c] -- taya K.

   [vadhur.sup.+] vi. vathur vi Pa [Gu.sub.c], vidur vi K * Barret (1940) reads, probably mistakenly: vidur dhi. -rv- and -rdh- are very similar graphemes in Sarada. Confusion of voiced and unvoiced consonants is rather common in the Orissa manuscripts, as is confusion of short and long vowels.

   tam tva. Pa [Gu.sub.c] -- datva K.

   varcasa a. varccasa a Pa [Gu.sub.c], varcasa K * Double sandhi is very common in K. Cf. also sirsata in stanza 8.

8. Only AVP

   murdhnas te [murdhanyebh.sub.i]yo ' agruvah [pativatyah.sup.+] /

   (8-7)

   auksam sirsata a dade //

   (8)

   From your top for the top-parts of the unmarried woman who has [now found] a husband; I take the auksa fragrance from [your] head.

   * It is remarkable that the...