16. What enveloping (paridhā́na) garment thou hast, what inner wrap (nīví) thou makest for thyself, that we make propitious unto thy body; be it not harsh to thy touch.
SPP. reads, "with all his authorities," ádrūkṣṇam in d. Our mss. might doubtless all be understood in the same way, but some of them look more like -ḍū- or -dū-; -rū-, which our text unfortunately gives, is not found in any; neither rūkṣṇa nor drūkṣṇa appears to be met with elsewhere; the comm. glosses with arūkṣam; he also reads açnute for astu te at the end. Ppp. has ‘dukṣaṇam. ⌊Vāit. (10. 6) employs the vs. in the paçubandha on draping the sacrificial post.⌋
17. In that with a dangerous (? marcáyant) very sharp (sutejás) razor thou, a hair-dresser, shearest hair and beard, adorning the face, do not thou steal away our life-time.
The translation given implies in c the reading çúmbhan, which, it can hardly be questioned, is the true one, although it is read by only one ms. (our W.) and by Ppp.; the rest of our mss. all have, and our edition with them, çúmbham. SPP. accepts the unintelligible çúbham, with the comm., and with, as he reports, the majority of his authorities, the rest reading, like ours, çúmbhaṁ; the comm. explains çúbham with dīptaṁ tejasvi and has to supply after it kuru to make any sense. Ppp. further reads -çmaçrū in b, and māi ’nam for mā nas in c. According to the distinct direction of the Prāt. (ii. 76), we ought to read ā́yuṣ prá in d, and its authority is sufficient to establish that as the true text, against both the editions; half SPP's authorities give it, though only one of ours (R.); on such a point the mss. are often at odds, and their evidence of little weight. The verse occurs also in several Gṛhya-Sūtras, AGS. (i. 17. 16); PCS. (ii. 1. 19), and HGS. (i. 9. 16); all read supeçasā in a; in b, HGS. has vaptar, PGS. vapati, AGS. and PGS. keçān; in c, the two latter have çunddhi çiras, HGS. varcayā mukham; in d, AGS. and PGS. give asya for nas; all have āyuḥ pra. ⌊Found also MP. ii. 1. 7: see also MGS. i. 21. 7 and p. 153.⌋ ⌊Cf. Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 184.⌋
18. Propitious to thee be rice and barley, free from balā́sa, causing no burning (?); these drive off the yákṣma; these free from distress.
Compare Grohmann in Ind. Stud. ix. 399. The comm. does not connect abalāsāú with balā́sa, but regards it as a-bala-asa, and glosses it with çārīrabalasyā ’kṣeptārāu. Adomadhāú (cf. adomadám, vi. 63. 1, and note) is very obscure; Ppp. reads instead adhomadhāu; the comm. adomadhū, glossing it with upayogānantaram madhurāu. Ppp. reads yatas for etāu in both c and d, and follows it in d by muñcata mā ’ṅhasaḥ.
19. What thou eatest (aç), what thou drinkest, of grain, milk of the plowing—what should be eaten, what should not be eaten—all food I make for thee poisonless.
The comm. reads strangely kṛchrāt instead of kṣsyās in b.
20. Both to day and to night, to them both we commit thee. Defend ye this man for me from the arā́yas that seek to devour [him].
Some of SPP's authorities, also the comm. and Ppp., read dadhmasi at end of b. Ppp. further has rāyebhyas at beginning of c, and nas (for me) in d. The comm. explains arāyebhyas as = adhanebhyo dhanāpahartṛbhyo vā.
