The verse is a RV. one, from a mystic and obscure hymn (x. 5. 6); RV. puts íd after ékām in b, and in c accents upamásya nīḍé, which alone is acceptable; all our mss. give úpamasya, which our edition follows; and all save one (D.) read nīḍe without accent, which we emended to nīḍé. Ppp. gives in b tāsām anekām, and omits, probably by an oversight, the second half-verse. "The life of mankind is compared to a racetrack, on which the gods have marked many (seven) stations; each generation (yuga) reaches only one such goal, getting as far as the place where the next begins; there its road terminates." R.
7. Also, of immortal spirit, vowed (? vráta), I go performing; spirit, soul, of the body then (? tát) with kine (? sumádgu); and either the mighty one (çakrá) assigns treasure, or as the oblation-giver pursues (? sac) with refreshment.
This verse and vs. 5 ⌊4?⌋ are the most utterly hopeless of the hymn; even the conjectures of the comm. respecting them would be welcome. Ludwig renders sumádgu by "erfreut gegangen." For b, Ppp. reads asurāṣ pūtas svadhayā samadgu; in c, vā jyeṣṭho ratnā. Vā́ in c in our text is a misprint for vā. The verse lacks only one syllable of being a full triṣṭubh, and that deficiency might be made up by reading either çakrás or rátnam as trisyllabic. ⌊A barytone vráta is unknown elsewhere.⌋
8. Also son prays (? īḍ) father for dominion; they called for well-being him of the chief bourn (?); may they see now, O Varuṇa, those that are thy shapes (viṣṭhā́); mayest thou make wondrous forms of the one much rolling hither.
The translation implies emendation in b to the compound jyeṣṭhámaryādam,* i.e. 'him who has received the best domain.' In d our āvárvṛtatas is for the -rvrat- of all the mss.; it can hardly be that the text of this pāda is not further corrupt. The verbs in c, d are augmentless forms, and may, of course, be rendered indicatively. Ppp- begins the verse with putro vā yat pit-, and ends b with svasti. The Kāuç. use of this verse and the next is apparently founded on the occurrence in them of "son" and "father" and "half." The second pāda is properly jagatī. *⌊No ms. has -dām.⌋
9. Half with half milk thou mixest (? pṛç); with half, O Asura (?), thou increasest [thy] vehemence (?). We have increased the helpful (çagmíya) companion, Varuṇa, lively (iṣirá) son of Aditi; poet-praised wondrous forms have we spoken for him—the (two) firmaments (ródasī) of true speech.
This translation implies several emendations (or, at least, alterations): in b, çúṣmam, which Ppp. has, instead of the vocative çuṣma, and asura, again with Ppp. (perhaps better amūra* 'not foolish'? cf. 11. 5, below); in c, ávīvṛdhāma, which also Ppp. gives, while one or two of our mss. offer ávi॰vṛdhāma (D.) and avivṛdhāma (Kp.). In f ought to be accented ávocāma; the pada-mss., as elsewhere in such cases, mark the pāda-division after the word, thus reckoning it to e, which is obviously wrong. Some of our mss. (O.D.K.) accent in a pṛṇákṣi, which is the better reading, the case being one of antithetical accent. Ppp. further has çavasā for payasā in a, vardhayase ‘sura in b, aditer in d, and -vācāu at the end. The verse (11 + 11: 11 + 11: 10 (9?) + 11 = 65 [64?]) is more nearly an aṣṭi than an atyaṣṭi. *⌊This is given by some of SPP's authorities.⌋
