35. What of thee, O earth (bhū́mi), I dig out, let that quickly grow over; let me not hit (arpay-) thy vitals nor thy heart, O cleansing one.
'Grow over,' i.e. heal up, like a wound. Ppp. has again bhāume in a; also oṣaṁ for kṣipram in b, and arpitam in d; this time (cf. vs. 29) it agrees with our text in the peculiar epithet vimṛgvari, lit. 'wiping off.' Kāuç. (46. 51) quotes the verse to accompany an act of digging in a prāyaçcitta ceremony; and again similarly at 137. 12.
36. Let thy hot season, O earth (bhū́mi), rainy season, autumn, winter, cool season, spring—let thine arranged seasons, years, let day-and-night, O earth, yield milk (duh) to us.
One would expect in c hāyanā́s 'belonging to or constituting the year'; and Ppp., combining hāyanā ’hor-, favors that reading. Ppp. has also again bhāume in a. The irregularity of the verse (8 + 11: 10 + 11 = 40) indicates corruption; it is a pan̄kti, of course, only by the sum of syllables. It is quoted in Kāuç. 137. 9, as one approaches to measure out the sacrificial hearth. ⌊Cf. 137. 4, note.⌋
37. She who, cleansing one, trembling away the serpent; on whom were the fires that are within the waters, abandoning the god-insulting barbarians, choosing, she the earth, Indra [and] not Vṛitra, kept herself (dhṛ) for the mighty one (çakrá), the virile bull.
The first pāda is extremely obscure; it is here translated mechanically, as closely as possible to the text. Bruce understands at the beginning yā́: ā́pa (instead of the yā́: ápa of the pada-text); and that would be a natural and easy emendation, if only the resulting sense were more acceptable. Ludwig renders as if we read sárpāt ('trembling at the serpent'). The totally different reading of Ppp., ya āpas sarpan yatamānā vimṛgvari, indicates that the text is corrupt. Ppp. further reads in b agnayo ‘psv, and stops the verse at dadatī, then adding our vs. 40. Our verse (12 + 11: 11 + 11: 11 = 56) adds up as a true çakvarī.
38. On whom are the seat and oblation-holder; on whom the sacrificial post (yū́pa) is planted; on whom worshipers (brahmán) praise (arc) with verses, with the chant, knowing the sacrificial formulas; on whom are joined the priests (ṛtvíj), for Indra to drink the soma;—
Ppp. reads in e yujyante ‘syām ṛtyavas s-. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 24. 37 to accompany an oblation ⌊and by Dārila to 24. 24, in the āgrahāyaṇī ceremony⌋. It is also reckoned with vs. 1 among the puṣṭika mantras (see note to Kāuç. 19. i). In Vāit. 15. 4, this verse and the two following are prescribed to accompany the subrahmaṇyā recitation; in 10. 8, it is used at the setting up of the sacrificial post.
39. On whom the former being-making seers sang out (ud-arc) the kine—the seven pious ones (vedhás), by their session, together with sacrifice [and] penance;—
Ppp. reads udānāt for udānṛcus in b; all our mss. accent úd ānṛcús, but the edited text has emended to udān-. Vāit. 22. 1 gives the verse as prescribed by a certain authority to be used instead of iii. 14. 2, in driving out the kine from the place of sacrifice.
