Abstract
Abstract This article presents a critical edition, translation and commentary of a tr̥ca found in book 19 of the Paippalādasaṃhitā of the Atharvaveda. The hymn, which consists in a spell against wrinkles, pronounced by a woman who tries to ward off the signs of aging with the help of the goddess Indrāṇī, is remarkable both in term of content and from a linguistic point of view: it is the only hymn directed against wrinkles in the Vedic corpus and the role of the goddess Indrāṇī in the ritual confirms and broadens her sphere of influence related to female charm. Besides providing the earliest attestation of the word for ‘wrinkle’ váli-, the hymn contains two hapaxes, previously unattested forms of the perfect subjunctive and features of women’s speech. The article also includes a stylistic analysis that aims at illuminating the structure and poetics of the hymn.
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