25. Let not the tree oppress thee, nor the great divine earth; having found a place (loká) among the Fathers, thrive (edh) thou among those whose king is Yama.
Only about half the mss. have at the end the true reading yamárājasu (which both editions give, as was proper); some of our saṁhitā-nss. (P.M.T.) accent yamarā́jasu, and most of the pada-mss. have correspondingly, as two independent words, yama: rā́ja॰su (namely Bp.D.Kp., and two of SPP's); one (I.) has yamárā́j-. One or two (including our O.) give bādhiṣṭhe in a. TA. (in vi. 7. 2) has two corresponding verses: mā́ tvā vṛkṣāú sám bādhiṣṭām mā́ mātā́ pṛthivi tvám: pitṝ́n hy átra gácchāsy édhāsaṁ yamarā́jye, and mā́ tvā vṛkṣāú sám bādhethām mā́ mātā́ pṛthivī́ mahī́: vāivasvatáṁ hí gácchāsi yamarā́jye ví rājasi: both are partly corrupt. According to Kāuç. (82. 32), the verse accompanies the deposit of the collected bone-relics "at the root of a tree." ⌊Baunack, ZDMG. l. 281, 284, understands vánaspáti at RV. v. 78. 5 and AV. xviii. 3. 70, as meaning, like vṛkṣá here, a tree used after the manner of a coffin. Curiously enough, peṭikā (Sāyaṇa's gloss for vanaspati) usually means κόφινος.⌋ ⌊For consistency, the Berlin ed. should read vittvāí-.⌋
26. What limb of thine is put over at a distance, and what expiration [or] breath has gone forth upon the wind (?), let the associated (sánīḍa) Fathers, assembling, make that enter thee again, bit (ghāsá) from bit.
With the first half-verse is to be compared vii. 53. 3 a, b. All the saṁhitā-mss. in b accent vā́te, save one of SPP's, sec. manu; and all our pada-mss. divide vā́: te, as if, after all, they thought vā: te intended. SPP's pada-mss. also divide vā́: te (only one of them is accented); he adopts vā te, on the authority of the one altered ms. ⌊[and the comm.⌋. To me vā́te seems rather the preferable reading, though there is not much to choose between the two. Our O. and two or three of SPP's authorities give páretāḥ ⌊plural: but no pada-ms. has yé to correspond⌋. Several of our mss., and the decided majority of SPP's authorities (except the pada-authorities: which, as he fails to report them, presumably have -ḍāḥ) read sánīḍād gh-; but of our pada-mss., all but one ⌊Op.s.m.⌋ give sá॰nīḍāḥ, and this SPP. adopts in his text, as do we. The comm. has sanīlās; in b, he reads ye...paretāḥ. The use of the verse with vs. 24 in Kāuç. was stated under vs. 24.
27. The living have excluded this man from their houses; carry ye him out, forth from this village; death was the kindly messenger of Yama; he made his life-breaths (ásu) go to the Fathers.
The verse is used in Kāuç. (80. 18) with an oblation to the fires, when preparing the body of the deceased for cremation. ⌊Note that the "messengers" or "men" of death or of Yama play a rôle in the Buddhist literature: see An̄guttara Nikāya, iii. 4 (35: p. 138), Devadūta Vagga; Jātaka, i., p. 13824, and scholion; Journal of the Pāli Text Society, 1885, p. 62.⌋
28. What barbarians (dásyu), having entered among the Fathers, having faces of acquaintances, go about, eating what is not sacrificed, who bear parāpúr [and] nipúr—Agni shall blast (dham) them forth from this sacrifice.
