34. Of whom the wind [was] breath-and-expiration, [of whom] the An̄girases were the eye; who made the quarters fore-knowing (? prajñā́na)—to that chief bráhman be homage.
Ppp. gets rid of the obscure prajñānīs by reading for c divaṁ yaç cakre mūrdhānaṁ. The Anukr. describes correctly vss. 34 and 36.
35. The skambhá sustains both heaven-and-earth here; the skambhá sustains the wide atmosphere; the skambhá sustains the six wide directions; into the skambhá hath entered this whole existence (bhúvana).
The pada-text has (as translated) skambhé in d. Ppp. puts the verse after our 36, and reads in a pṛthivīṁ dyām utā ’mūṁ, and in d combines skambhāi ’daṁ. The Anukr. takes no notice of the irregularity of the verse (14 + 11: 11 + 13 = 49). ⌊Bergaigne, Rel. Véd., ii. 122, would separate pradiças from urvīs.⌋
36. Who, born from toil, from penance, completely attained all worlds; who made soma all his own—to that chief bráhman be homage.
The sense of 'own' in c is given by the middle verb-form.
37. How does the wind not cease (il)? how does the mind not rest (ram)? why (kím) do the waters, seeking to attain truth, at no time soever cease?
Ppp. reads for d pra cakramati sarvadā. ⌊Scherman, p. 54: 'warum kommen fúrwahr die strebenden Wasser niemals zur Ruhe?'⌋
38. A great monster (yakṣá) in the midst of the creation (bhúvana), strode (? krāntá) in penance on the back of the sea—in it are set (çri) whatever gods there are, like the branches of a tree roundabout the trunk.
The first pāda is repeated below, as 8. 15 c. Ppp. combines in d to paritāi ’va. Notwithstanding the lack of a syllable in a, the Anukr. ⌊balancing a with redundant d?⌋ calls the verse simply a triṣṭubh; the hymn is so long that it has apparently been forgotten that the whole was called trāiṣṭubha, and that therefore no triṣṭubh needs a further specification. Since there are more regular anuṣṭubh-verses than triṣṭubh also, we should expect rather the designation ānuṣṭubham for the hymn. Read at end of a mádhye (an accent-sign dropped out). ⌊With regard to Brahm as a "wonder" (yakṣá), see introduction.⌋
39. Unto which with the two hands, with the two feet, with speech, with hearing, with sight; unto which the gods continually render (pra-yam) tribute, unmeasured in the measured out—that skambhá tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Notwithstanding the discordance of case, vímite is perhaps coordinate with yásmāi. Ppp. omits the first two pādas. The dual and the repetition of yásmāi make it probable that we have to supply in them 'one renders tribute,' or the like. The Anukr. takes no notice of the redundant syllable in d.
40. Smitten away is his darkness; he is separated from evil; in him. are all the three lights that are in Prājapati.
