Rātí stems to be made a personification here, as in iii. 8. 2 and vii. 17. 4 below; the comm. makes it equal to Mitra or Sūrya. Ppp. has a very different text: sakhe 'va no rātir astu sakhe 'ndras sakhā savitā: sakhā bhagas satyadharmā no 'stu; which is better as regards both sense and meter. The tripadā of the Anukr. is probably a misreading for dvipadā; the mss. agree with it in using no avasāna-sign in the verse, and SPP. very properly follows them; the pada-mss. mark a cesura after rātiḥ. The comm. makes citrarādhās = bahuvidhaṁ dhanaṁ yasya.
3. May ye, issue (nápāt) of the height, sun-skinned Maruts, yield us breadthful protection.
The mss. all read at the end sapráthās, and SPP. retains it in his text; the comm. has saprathas, in accordance with our emendation. ⌊Cf. Lanman, Noun-Inflection, p. 560.⌋ The comm. further has yacchāta in c.
4. Do ye advance [us], be gracious; be thou gracious to our selves
(tanū́), show kindness (máyas) to our offspring (toká).
Ppp. fills up the deficiency of a, reading su mṛḍatā suṣúdatā mṛḍā no aghābhyaḥ stokāya tanve dā (perhaps defective at the end). The mss., supported by the Anukr., make no division of the verse before máyas, and SPP. follows them; the meter, however, is plainly gāyatrī. The name given by the Anukr. is not used by it elsewhere; it doubtless signifies, as in the VS. Anukr., 7 + 7 + 7 = 21 syllables, the resolution -bhi-as being refused in b and c.
27. Against various evils.
[Atharvan (svastyayanakāmaḥ).—cāndramasam ute 'ndrāṇīdāivatam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. pathyāpan̄kti.]
Found in Pāipp. xix. For the use of the hymn with its predecessor by Kāuç., see under 26; it is also reckoned to the svastyayana gaṇa (25. 36, note); and vs. 4 appears by itself near the beginning of the svastyayana ceremonies, in the same rite as hymns 26 and 27.
Translated: Weber, iv. 421; Ludwig, p. 517; Griffith, i. 32.—Griffith says the sloughs are to make the travellers invisible to highway robbers, and cites an old English analogue.
1. Yonder on the further shore are she-adders, thrice seven, out of their sloughs (-jarā́yu); with the sloughs of them do we wrap up (ápi vyā) the (two) eyes of the malignant waylayer.
Jarā́yu in the sense 'cast-off skin of a snake' appears to be quotable only here; the comm. regards the word as so applied by a figure: jarāyuvat çarīrasya veṣṭakās tvacaḥ. Ppp. reads imāṣ pāre in a, and jarjarāyuvaḥ in b; the comm. has instead nirjarā iva, explaining as jarārahita devā iva.
2. Let the cutting one (kṛt) go asunder, she who bears as it were a club (pínăka); asunder [go] the mind of her that returns to life (punarbhú); unsuccessful [are] the malignant ones.
