Atharva Veda · 453 of 724

HYMN VII

Skambha, the Pillar or Fulcrum of all existence 1. Which of his members is the seat of Fervour: Which is the base    of Ceremonial Order? p. 21   Where in him standeth Faith? Where Holy Duty? Where, in    what part of him is truth implanted? 2. Out of which member glows the light of Agni? Form which    proceeds the breath of Mātarisvan?   From which doth Chandra measure out his journey, travelling    over Skambha's mighty body? 3. Which of his members is the earth's upholder? Which gives the    middle air a base to rest on?   Where, in which member is the sky established? Where hath    the space above the sky its dwelling? 4. Whitherward yearning blazeth Agni upward? Whitherward    yearning bloweth Mātarisvan?   Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom with long-    ing go the turning pathways? 5. Whitheward go the half-months, and, accordant with the full    year, the months in their procession?   Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom go seasons    and the groups of seasons? 6. Whitherward yearning speed the two young Damsels, accordant,   Day and Night, of different colour?   Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha to whom the Waters    take their way with longing? 7. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha,   On whom Prajāpati set up and firmly stablished all the worlds? 8. That universe which Prajāpati created, wearing all forms,, the    highest, midmost, lowest,   How far did Skambha penetrate within it? What portion did    he leave unpenetrated? 9. How far within the past hath Skambha entered? How much of    him hath reached into the future?   That one part which he set in thousand places,—how far did   Skambha penetrate within it? 10. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha in whom men    recognize the Waters, Brahma,   In whom they know the worlds and their enclosures, in whom    are non-existence and existence? 11. Declare that. Skambha, who is he of many,   In whom, exerting every power, Fervour maintains her loftiest    vow; p. 22   In whom are comprehended Law, Waters, Devotion and Belief 12. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha   On whom as their foundation earth and firmament and sky are    set;   In whom as their appointed place rest Fire and Moon and Sun    and Wind? 13. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha   He in whose body are contained all three-and-thirty Deities? 14. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha.   In whom the Sages earliest born, the Richas, Sāman, Yajus,   Earth, and the one highest Sage abide? 15. Who out of many, tell me, is the Skambha.   Who comprehendeth, for mankind, both immortality and death,   He who containeth for mankind the gathered waters as his    veins? 16. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha,   He whose chief arteries stand there, the sky's four regions, he irk    whom Sacrifice putteth forth its might? 17. They who in Purusha understand Brahma know Him who is.   Supreme.   He who knows Him who is Supreme, and he who knows the   Lord of Life,   These know the loftiest Power Divine, and thence know Skam-    bha thoroughly. 18. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha   Of whom Vaisvānara became the head, the Angirases his eye,    and Yātus his corporeal parts? 19. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha   Whose mouth they say is Holy Lore, his tongue the Honey-    sweetened Whip, his udder is Virāj, they say? 20. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha   From whom they hewed the lichas off, from whom they    chipped the Yajus, he   Whose hairs are Sāma-verses and his mouth the Atharvāngi-    rases? 21. Men count as 'twere a thing supreme nonentity's conspicuous    branch;   And lower man who serve thy branch regard it as an entity. 22. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha In whom Ādityas dwell, in whom Rudras and Vasus are    contained,   In whom the future and the past and all the worlds are firmly    set; 23. Whose secret treasure evermore the three-and thirty Gods    protect?   Who knoweth now the treasure which, O Deities ye watch and    guard? 24. Where the Gods, versed in Sacred Lore, worship the loftiest   Power Divine   The priest who knows them face to face may be a sage who    knows the truth. 25. Great, verily, are those Gods who sprang from non-existence    into life.   Further, men say that that one part of Skambha is nonentity. 26. Where Skambha generating gave the Ancient World its shape    and form,   They recognized that single part of Skambha as the Ancient   World, 27. The three-and-thirty Gods within his body were disposed as    limbs:   Some, deeply versed in Holy Lore, some know those three-and-    thirty Gods. 28. Men know Hiranyagarbha as supreme and inexpressible:   In the beginning, in the midst of the world, Skambha poured    that gold. 29. On Skambha Fervour rests, the worlds and Holy Law repose on    him.   Skambha, I clearly know that all of thee on Indra is imposed. 30. On Indra Fervour rests, on him the worlds and Holy Law    recline.   Indra, I clearly know that all of thee on Skambha findeth rest. 31. Ere sun and dawn man calls and calls one Deity by the other's    name.   When the Unborn first sprang into existence he reached that    independent sovran lordship; than which aught higher never    hath arisen. 32. Be reverence paid to him, that highest Brahma, whose base is   Earth, his belly Air, who made the sky to be his head. 33. Homage to highest Brahma, him whose eye is Sūrya and the   Moon who groweth young and new again, him who made   Agni for his mouth. 34. Homage to highest Brahma, him whose two life-breathings were    the Wind,   The Angirases his sight: who made the regions be his means of    sense. 35. Skambha set fast these two, the earth and heaven, Skambha    maintained the ample air between them.   Skambha established the six spacious regions: this whole world   Skambha entered and pervaded. 36. Homage to highest Brahma, him who, sprung from Fervour and    from toil,   Filled all the worlds completely, who made Soma for himself    alone. 37. Why doth the Wind move ceaselessly? Why doth the spirit take    no rest?   Why do the Waters, seeking truth, never at any time repose? 38. Absorbed in Fervour, is the mighty Being, in the world's centre,    on the waters' surface.   To him the Deities, one and all betake them. So stand the tree-    trunk with the branches round it. 39. Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha.   To whom the Deities with hands, with feet, and voice, and ear,    and eye.   Present unmeasured tribute in the measured hall of sacrifice? 40. Darkness is chased away from him: he is exempt from all dist-    ress.   In him are all the lights, the three abiding in Prajāpati. 41. He verily who knows the Reed of Gold that stands amid the    flood, is the mysterious Lord of Life. 42. Singly the two young Maids of different colours approach the    six-pegged warp in turns and weave it.   The one draws out the threads, the other lays them: they break    them not, they reach no end of labour. 43. Of these two, dancing round as 'twere, I cannot distinguish    whether ranks before the other.   A Male in weaves this web, a Male divides it: a Male hath    stretched it to the cope of heaven 44. These pegs have buttressed up the sky. The Sāmans have turned    them into shuttles for the weaving.

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