2. The night which the gods rejoice to meet, [as] a milch-cow coming unto [them], which is the spouse (pátnī) of the year—let her be very auspicious to us.
The verse is found also in PGS. (iii. 2. 2), HGS. (ii. 17. 2) ⌊MP. (ii. 20. 27) and MGS. (ii. 8.4c)⌋, and its second half in MB. (ii. 2. 16 c, d); the first four have the better readings janās in a and ivā ”yatīm in b ⌊and MGS. has rātrīm.⌋ Ppp. has in b dhenu rātrim up-, and at the end -galā. For saṁvatsarásya pátnī (cf. vs. 8 a, b) the comm. quotes TS. vii. 4. 81.
3. Thou, O night, whom we worship (upa-ās) as model (pratimā́) of the year-—do thou unite our long-lived progeny with abundance of wealth.
Or, perhaps better (so the comm. and Weber), 'do thou [give] us long-lived progeny; unite [us] with abundance of wealth.' Ppp. has for b ye tvā rātrim upāsate, and in c teṣām for sā nas. ⌊MGS. has the vs. at ii. 8.4d (cf. p. 156), agreeing nearly with Ppp.⌋ The first half-verse is read also in TS. (v. 7. 21), K. (xl. 2), PGS. (iii. 2. 2), and MB. (ii. 2. 18): TS. gives at end of b upā́sate, MB. yajāmahe; PGS. has pratimā yā tāṁ rātrīm upāsmahe. In our edition, restore a lost accent-mark over the sṛ of sṛja in d.
4. This same is she that first shone out; among these other ones (f.) she goes about (car), having entered; great greatnesses [are] within her; the bride (vadhū́), the new-going generatrix, hath conquered.
This verse is repeated below as viii. 9. 11. It occurs, with considerable variants, in a whole series of other texts: TS. (iv. 3. 111), MS. (ii. 13. 10), K. (xxxix. 10), ÇGS. (iii. 12. 3), and MB. (ii. 2. 15). For āsv ítarāsu, TS. and ÇGS. have antár asyā́m; MS., also Ppp., sā́ ’psv àntás; MB., se ’yam apsv antas. All of them, with Ppp., invert the order of c and d; and they have a different version of our c: tráya (but Ppp. trita) enām mahimā́naḥ sacante (ÇGS. -ntām), but MB. viçve hy asyām mahimāno antaḥ; while, for jigāya in d, TS. and ÇGS. give jajāna, and MS. and Ppp. mimāya, ÇGS. following it with navakṛj; and MB. reads prathamā for our navagát. ÇGS., moreover, has in a vyuchat. These variants speak ill for the tradition. The comm. gives four diverse explanations of navagát: going in company with each new or daily rising sun; pervading the new originating kind of living creatures; going to a daily originating new form; or, finally, going to the nine-fold divisions of the day; and the comment to TS. ⌊reported by Weber⌋ adds a fifth, "newly married"; if the last is the meaning, jajāna is better with it than jigāya: "as soon as wedded to the new year, she bears the days that follow." The meter is really redundant by a syllable in a ⌊iyāívá?⌋. ⌊Further, MB. has in a eṣāi ’va sā yā pūrvā vy-; and Ppp. ends d with janitrīm.—BR., v. 1538, give 'erst-gebärend' for navagát.
5. The forest-tree pressing-stones have made their sound, making the oblation of the complete year (parivatsarī́ṇa); O sole áṣṭakā, may we, having good progeny and good heroes, be lords of wealths.
