out of the ocean—by the shell having slain the demons, we overpower the devourers.
Ppp. combines in a yo ‘grato r-. Grill takes agratas as "first"; and the comm. as = agre, and not qualifying jajñiṣe: "at the top or front of shining things, such as stars."
3. By the shell [we overpower] disease, misery; by the shell also the sadā́nvās; let the all-healing shell, of pearl, protect us from distress.
Ppp. has in a avadyam instead of ámatim. The comm. takes ámatim from root man ⌊see BR's note, s.v. 3 ámati⌋: "ignorance, the root of all mishap (anartha); and, forgetting his explanation of only two verses ago, he this time declares kṛçana a "name of gold."
4. Born in the sky, ocean-born, brought hither out of the river, this gold-born shell [is] for us a life-prolonging amulet.
Ppp. has samudratas at end of a, and in c again (as in 1 c) hiraṇyadās. Nearly all our mss. (except O.K.), and some of SPP's, with the comm., read in d āyuḥpr- ⌊cf. Prāt, ii. 62 n.⌋; but the point is one in regard to which each ms. is wont to follow its own course, regardless of rule, and both editions very properly give āyuṣpr-, as required by the Prāt.
5. The amulet born from the ocean, born from Vṛtra, making day—let it protect us on all sides from the missile of gods and Asuras.
The comm. makes Vṛtra here signify either the demon Vṛtra or the cloud; doubtless the latter is intended; then he explains divākara as the sun, and jāta as "released," and renders "as brilliant as the sun freed from the clouds," which is extremely artificial; divākara need mean no more than 'flashing with light.' The comm. also foolishly understands in d hetyā instead of -ās (p. hetyā́ḥ). ⌊Dev-, ablative by attraction, from gen.—cf. Skt. Gram. §982 a.⌋ The first pāda is deficient by a syllable, unless we resolve samudrā́t into four syllables.
6. One of the golds art thou; out of soma wast thou born; thou art conspicuous on the chariot, lustrous (rocaná) on the quiver thou. May it prolong our lives!
The last pāda, which occurs in four other places (ii. 4. 6 etc.), looks like a late addition here; as elsewhere, some of the mss. (five of SPP's) read tārṣat. Except our Op., all the pada-mss. blunderingly resolve sómātvám (as it would be permissibly and customarily read by abbreviation: see Whitney, Skt. Gr. §232) into sómā: tvám instead of sómāt: tvám; the comm. understands sómāt, and both editions give the full reading. Here one is strongly tempted to translate soma by "moon," and the comm. takes it so (amṛtamayāt somamaṇḍalāt); but Ppp. discourages it by reading sa hoṣād (for -mād?) adhi. The comm. glosses rocana by rocamāna dīpyamāna. For c, Ppp. has ratheṣu darçatam.
7. The gods' bone became pearl; that goes about within the waters, possessing soul; that do I bind on thee in order to life-time, splendor, strength, to length of life for a hundred autumns: let [the amulet] of pearl defend thee.
