Bhávantas in c would be a desirable emendation. Upa-sad may be rather 'wait upon' (so Grill), only then we should expect rather sadāma (comm., upagacchema). ⌊W's implied difference between sadema and sadāma is not clear to me.⌋ Ppp. reads in a gopatyā, and its b is mayi vo goṣṭha iha poṣayāti. ⌊The epithet ārṣī seems to be as meaningless here as at iii. 12. 7—see note, end.⌋
15. For success in trade.
[Atharvan (paṇyakāmaḥ).—aṣṭarcam. vāiçvadevam utāi ”ndrāgnam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. bhurij; 4. 3-av. 6-p. bṛhatīgarbhā virāḑatyaṣṭi; 5. virāḑjagatī; 7. anuṣṭubh; 8. nicṛt.]
Four of the verses are found in Pāipp. xix. (1, 4, 6, 2, in this order). The hymn is used by Kāuç. in a rite for good-fortune in trading (50. 12), and again (59. 6) for a similar purpose; also (or vs. 1) in the indramahotsava ceremony (140. 16); also vss. 7 and 8 in the appeasing of the flesh-eating fire (70. 13, 14). In Vāit. (6. 9), vs. 7 is employed in the ceremony of establishing the sacrificial fire. The usual statement of these various uses appears to be lacking in the manuscript of the comm., and is supplied, only in part, by its editor.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 215; Zimmer, p. 258 (except vss. 7, 8); Weber, xvii. 247; Grill (vss. 1-6), 69, 113; Griffith, i. 102; Bloomfield, 148, 352.—Cf. Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 38.
1. I stir up (cud) the trader Indra; let him come to us, be our forerunner; thrusting [away] the niggard, the waylaying wild animal, let him, having the power (īç), be giver of riches to me.
Or paripanthínam and mṛgám in c may be independent of one another (so comm., and translators except Weber and Zimmer). Ppp. has, for a, b, indraṁ vayaṁ vaṇijaṁ havāmahe sa nas trātā pura etu prajānan. The Anukr. notices c as jagatī pāda. ⌊"Indra, the trader": cf. Bergaigne, Rel. véd., ii. 480.—Many Jātaka tales (e.g. no's 1, 2) give vivid pictures of the life of the trading caravans.⌋
2. The many roads, travelled by the gods, that go about (sam-car) between heaven-and-earth—let them enjoy me with milk, with ghee, that dealing (krī) I may get (ā-hṛ) riches.
Ppp's version is very different: ihāi ’vaṣ panthā bahavo devayānām anu dyāvāpṛthivī supraṇītiḥ: teṣām ahnāṁ varcasy ā dadhāmi yathā klītvā dhanatn āvahāni. The comm. allows us alternatively to understand deva- in a as "by traders"; he renders juṣantām in c by sevantām, as if it were causative. His text has at the beginning ye te panth-. The emendation, suggested by Weber, of mā in c to me would help the sense. The first half-verse is found again below as vi. 55. 1 a, b. To make a regular triṣṭubh, we must contract to -pṛthvī́ in b, and expand to krī-tu-ā́ in d; the Anukr. perhaps regards the two irregularities as balancing one another.
3. With fuel, O Agni, with ghee, I, desiring, offer the oblation, in order to energy (táras), to strength;—revering with worship (bráhman), so far as I am able—this divine prayer (dhī́), in order to hundred-fold winning.
