3. The many have not been able together; the few have not ventured on [it]; like the sprouts (? ádga) of a bamboo (veṇú) round about, unsuccessful [are] the malignant ones.
The first half-verse in Ppp. is defaced, but apparently its text agreed with ours, except that at the end stands abhi dhṛṣṇuvam. As the second half is wanting, these two pādas probably form one verse with the two reported above, under vs. 2. The comm. reads dādṛçus at end of b, and has udgā iva paritas in c, explaining udga etymologically as = çākhā. The comment to Prāt. iii. 13 quotes dādhṛṣus, and that to ii. 38 gives adgās among its examples; neither adga nor udga appears to be quotable from elsewhere.
4. Go forward, ye (two) feet; kick (sphur) forward; carry to the houses of the bestower (pṛ); let Indrāṇī go first, unscathed, unrobbed, in front.
Ppp. has gṛham and vahantu (yet pādāu) in b, and, for d, jihitvā muktvā pathā. The comm. reads ajitā in d; he ingeniously quotes from TS. (ii. 2. 81) "Indrāṇī is deity of the army" in explanation of her introduction here. ⌊Cf. Bergaigne, Religion Védique, iii. 155 n.⌋
28. Against sorcerers and witches.
[Cātana.—svastyayanam . ānuṣṭubham: 3. virāṭpathyābṛhatī; 4. pathyāpan̄kti.]
The hymn is not found in Pāipp. Though not mentioned as one of the cātanāni by the text of Kāuç., it is added to them by the schol. (8. 25, note). It is once used by itself in a witchcraft ceremony (ābhicārika) for the relief of one frightened, accompanying the tying on of an amulet (26. 26).
Translated: Weber, iv. 423; Griffith, i. 33.
1. Hither hath come forth god Agni, demon-slayer, disease-expeller, burning away deceivers, sorcerers, kimīdíns.
In our text, upá is a misprint for úpa (an accent-sign slipped out of place to the left). The comment on Prāt. iv. 3 quotes the first three words as exemplifying the disconnection of prefixes from a verb.
2. Burn against the sorcerers, against the kimīdíns, O god; burn up the sorceresses that meet thee, O black-tracked one.
In c the comm., with two or three of SPP's authorities that follow him, reads kṛṣṇavartmane (treating it as a vocative).
3. She that hath cursed with cursing, that hath taken malignity as her root (? mū́ra), that hath seized on [our] young to take its sap—let her eat [her own] offspring.
