45. They (f.) who spun, wove, and who stretched [the web], what divine ones (f.) gave the ends about, let them wrap thee in order to old age; [as] one long-lived put about thee this garment.
Ppp. combines in a yā ’kṛntan. The verse is found also in PCS. (i. 4. 13), HGS. (i. 4. 2), MB. (i. 1. 5). All end a with yā atanvata; in b, all insert ca after yās; and PGS. reads tantūn abhito* tatantha, and MB. devyo antān abhito tatantha; for c, they have tās tvā devīr (MB. devyo) jarasā (PGS. -se) saṁvyayantv (PGS. -yasva); in d, only HGS. has āyuṣmān. ⌊Cf. MP. ii. 2. 5, and Wint., p. 47, and MGS. i. 10. 8 and p. 154.⌋ The verse has an extra syllable in a which the Anukr. does not notice. In Kāuç. 76. 4, this and vs. 53 accompany the putting of a hitherto unused garment upon the bride. ⌊The same two vss. are referred to by the name paridhāpanīye at 79. 13: so the schol.⌋ *⌊This sandhi is of course not to be laid at the door of the accurate Stenzler: it is doubtless the true reading of PGS., and occurs (not only in MB., but also) in Bhavadeva's Paddhati, as Stenzler observes in his Transl., p. 12.⌋
⌊The corruption of abhito ‘dadanta (so AV.) to abhito tatantha (PGS. MB. Bhavadeva) is of peculiar text-critical interest, not merely because it is a senseless and unintelligent perversion, but because it is revealed as a corruption by the ignorant failure of the persons responsible for it to change their sandhi in such a way (abhitas tatantha) as to fit their blunder.—This interest is heightened by the fact that we can see the probable occasion of the perversion, to wit, the occurrence in the preceding pāda of the words for 'spun,' 'wove,' 'stretched web' (root tan). These technical terms of clothmaking lend a semblance of appropriateness to the introduction of tantūn tan 'stretch the warp' in pāda b.—Roth had already booked tatantha among the cases of exchange between sonants and surds at ZDMG. xlviii. 108.⌋
46. They bewail the living one (m.); they lead away the sacrifice (adhvará); the men sent their thoughts after ⌊root dhī...ánu⌋ a long reach (prásiti); what is lovely (vāmá) for the Fathers who came together here; joy to the husbands for embracing the wife.
This is a literal version of this extremely obscure verse. RV. (x. 40. 10) reads in a ví mayante adhvaré; in b, the equivalent dīdhiyus ⌊so also Ppp.⌋; in c, the equivalent sameriré; in d, jánayas (for our janáye, which might better have been emended in the edition to jánaye); ⌊Ppp. reads and combines janayaṣ⌋. The Āpast. text (Wint., p. 42 ⌊MP. i. 1. 6⌋) reads at the beginning jīvām. The verse is used, with 2. 59, in Kāuç. 79. 30, simply to accompany a libation, at the very close of the marriage rites. In two Sūtras (AGS. ⌊i. 8. 4⌋ and ÇGS. ⌊i. 15. 2⌋) it is directed to be used when the bride, on the journey to her new home, wails or cries; this is plainly only on account of the word 'bewail' (rudanti) at the beginning. ⌊Cf. Lanman's Skt. Reader, p. 387; Winternitz, p. 42; and Bloomfield, who devotes 9 pages to the stanza in AJP. xxi. 411-9.⌋
47. I maintain for thee, in order to progeny, a pleasant, firm (dhruvá) stone in the lap of the divine earth; stand thou on that, one to be exulted after, of excellent glory; let Savitar make for thee a long life-time.
