5. Fixed quarter; Vishṇu overlord; the serpent with black-spotted (kalmā́ṣa-) neck defender; the plants arrows: homage to those etc. etc.
Ppp. reads kulmāṣa-; the comm. explains the word by kṛṣṇavarṇa. TS. calls the quarter iyám 'this'; in MS. it is ávācī 'downward'; TS. treats of it after the upward one, and makes Yama the overlord. In our edition, an accent-mark under the -kṣi- of rakṣitā́ has slipped to the right, under -tā.
6. Upward quarter; Brihaspati overlord; the white (çvitrá) [serpent] defender; rain the arrows: homage to those etc. etc.
Ppp. has here the thunderbolt (açani) for arrows. Part of the mss. (including our E.O.K.Kp.) give citrá instead of çvitrá as name of the serpent; TS. reads çvitrá, but MS. (probably by a misreading) citrá. TS. calls the quarter bṛhadī́ 'great.' TS. (after the manner of the AV. mss.) leaves out the repeated part of the imprecation in the intermediate verses (2-5); MS. gives it in full every time. ⌊Reference to this vs. as made by Bergaigne, Rel. véd. iii. 12 (cf. Baunack, KZ. xxxv. 527), is hardly apt.⌋
28. To avert the ill omen of a twinning animal.
[Brahman (paçupoṣaṇāya).—yāminyam. ānuṣṭubham: 1. atiçakvarīgarbhā 4-p. atijagatī; 4. yavamadhyā virāṭkakubh; 5. triṣṭubh; 6. virāḍgarbhā prastārapan̄kti.]
Not found in Pāipp. Used by Kāuç., in the chapter of portents, in the ceremonies of expiation for the birth of twins from kine, mares or asses, and human beings (109. 5; 110. 4; 111. 5).
Translated: Weber, xvii. 297; Griffith, i. 122; Bloomfield, 145, 359.
1. She herself came into being by a one-by-one creation, where the being-makers created the kine of all forms; where the twinning [cow] gives birth, out of season, she destroys the cattle, snarling, angry.
The translation implies emendation of rúçatī at the end to rúṣyatī or ruṣatī́ ⌊rather rúṣyatī, so as to give a jagatī cadence⌋—which, considering the not infrequent confusion of the sibilants, especially the palatal and lingual, in our text and its mss., and the loss of y after a sibilant, is naturally suggested ⌊cf. iv. 16. 6b⌋. The comm. makes a yet easier thing of taking rúçatī from a root ruç 'injure,' but we have no such root. Some of our mss. (P.M.W.E.) read eṣā́m in a, and two (P.O.) have sṛ́ṣṭvā.* The comm. understands sṛṣṭis with eṣā in a, and explains ekāikayā by ekāikavyaktyā. Perhaps we should emend to ékāí ’kayā 'one [creature] by one [act of] creation' ⌊and reject eṣā́?, as the meter demands⌋. See Weber's notes for the comparison of popular views as to the birth of twins, more generally regarded as of good omen. The Anukr. apparently counts 11 ⌊13?⌋ + 15: 12 + 12 = 50 ⌊52?⌋ syllables; either bhūtakṛ́tas or viçvárupās could well enough be spared out of b ⌊better the former; but it is bad meter at best⌋. *⌊Shown by accent to be a blunder for sṛ́ṣṭyā, not sṛṣṭvā.⌋
2. She quite destroys the cattle, becoming a flesh-eater, devourer (? vy-ádvarī); also one should give her to a priest (brahmán); so would she be pleasant, propitious.
