1. Since formerly (? adás), going forth together, ye resounded (nad) when the dragon was slain, thenceforth ye are streams (nadī́) by name: these are your names, O rivers.
The pada-mss. all commit the very gratuitous blunder of writing tā́ḥ instead of tā́ at the beginning of d, as if it belonged to sindhavas instead of to nā́māni; SPP. emends to tā́, and the comm. so understands the word. The comm. takes adás as Vedic substitute for amuṣmin, qualifying áhāu. None of the other texts gives any various reading for this verse. Pāda d sets forth, as it were, the office of the first four verses, in finding punning etymologies for sundry of the names of water.
2. When, sent forth by Varuna, ye thereupon (ā́t) quickly skipped (valg) together, then Indra obtained (āp) you as ye went; therefore are ye waters (ā́p) afterward.
TS. and MS. have in d ā́pas (nomin.), and this is obviously the true reading, and assumed in the translation; both editions follow the mss. (except our Op.) in giving āpas. MS. begins the verse with samprácyutās; for ā́t in b MS. has yát and TS. tā́s. In d, Ppp. elides the a of anu; TS. leaves sthana unlingualized. The comm. reads instead stana.
3. As ye were flowing perversely (apakāmám), since Indra verily hindered (var) you by his powers, you, ye divine ones, therefore the name water (vā́r) is assigned you.
Ppp. has for c indro vas saktabhir devāís. TS. combines in d vā́r ṇā́ma. The comm. apparently takes híkam as a single word (the TS. pada-text so regards it), quoting as his authority Nāighaṇṭuka iii. 12; and again in d, if the manuscript does not do him injustice, he reads hikam for hitam.
4. The one god stood up to you, flowing at [your] will; "the great ones have breathed up (ud-an)," said he; therefore water (udaká) is [so] called.
The name here really had in mind must be, it would seem, udan, but udakám has to be substituted for it in the nominative; none of the other texts offer a different form. TS. improves the meter of a by omitting vas, and TS. and MS. leave the a of api unelided. Ppp. differs more seriously: eko na deva upātiṣṭhat syandamānā upetyaḥ. Yathāvaçam in b might be 'at his will,' opposed to apakāmám in vs. 3. The sense of c is rather obscure; the comm. understands: "saying 'by this respect on the part of Indra we have become great,' they breathed freely (or heaved a sigh of relief: ucchvasitavatyas)"—which is senseless. R. suggests "Indra put himself in their way with the polite address and inquiry: 'their worships have given themselves an airing'; and conducted them on their way again"; Weber understands them to sigh under the burden of the god standing "upon" (ápi) them. The comm. declares api to have the sense of adhi.
5. The waters [are] excellent; the waters verily were ghee; these waters verily bear Agni-and-Soma; may the strong (tīvrá) satisfying savor (rása) of the honey-mixed (-pṛc) come to me along with breath, with splendor.
