38. I know the stretched-out string in which these offspring are woven in; the string of the string I know, likewise the great brā́hmaṇa.
39. As between heaven-and-earth Agni went, burning on, all-consuming, where stood beyond they (f.) of one husband—where perchance was Mātariçvan then?
The bṛhatī of the Anukr. ⌊scanning 11 + 9: 11 + 11⌋ the second pāda, read with āit included as a part (the pada-text so marks the division)—which is, of course, artificial and wrong. ⌊Read as 12 + 8: 11 + 11, pronouncing -dāvías and kúe ’vā ”sīn.⌋ Ludwig's 'spouses of the only one' for ékapatnīs is against the accent.
40. Mātariçvan was entered into the waters; the gods were entered into the seas; great stood the traverser of space; the purifying one entered into the green ones.
The third pāda is identical with 3 c above, and the fourth with RV. viii. 90 (101). 14 d. 'The purifying one' is probably here the wind.
41. Higher, as it were, than the gāyatrī́, upon the immortal (amṛ́ta) he strode out; they who know completely chant with chant—where then was seen the goat?
Or, 'the unborn one' (ajá: so Ludwig); the verse is too utterly obscure to let us choose between them.
42. The reposer, the assembler of good things, like god Savitar, of true ordinances (-dhárman), he stood like Indra in the conflict for riches.
The verse corresponds with pādas a, c, d of RV. x. 139. 3 and of VS. xii. 66, TS. iv. 2. 54, MS.ii. 7. 12. RV. reads at the beginning rāyó budhnáḥ (for nivéçanaḥ) the other texts have at the end pathīnā́m. The verse is quoted in Vāit. 28. 28.
43. The lotus-flower of nine doors, covered with three strands (guṇá) — what soulful prodigy (yakṣá) is within it, that the bráhman-knowers know.
The 'nine doors' indicate that the human body with its nine orifices is intended; the three guṇas are probably the three temperaments familiar under that name later. The second half-verse was found above as 2. 32 c, d ⌊cf. vs. 31⌋. ⌊☞ See p. 1045.⌋
44. Free from desire, wise (dhī́ra), immortal, self-existent, satisfied with sap, not deficient in any respect—knowing that wise, unaging, young soul, one is not afraid of death.
⌊See Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 334: "die erste und älteste Stelle, die wir kennen, in der rückhaltlos der Ātman als Weltprincip proklamiert wird, AV. x. 8. 44." Cf. also p. 312, end. Muir, Metrical Translations from Sanskrit Writers, p. 1, gives a metrical paraphrase of the verse.⌋
⌊The quoted Anukr. says caturdaça (i.e. 14 above 30). The fourth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 88 verses, ends here.⌋
