1. By whose ⌊du.⌋ force were established the spaces (rájas), who by heroisms are most heroic, most mighty, who by their powers lord it unopposed—to Vishṇu, to Varuṇa hath gone the first invocation.
The verse is found also in a number of other texts: VS. (viii. 59), TB. (ii. 8. 45), MS. (iv. 14. 6), SB. (i. 5), AÇS. (v. 20. 6), ÇÇS. (iii. 20. 4); all of them agree nearly in their variations from our text: thus, vīryèbhir (but MS. vīrébhir) for yāú vīryāìr in b; yā́ and ápratītā (but TB. -tīttā) in c; and víṣṇū, váruṇā, and pūrváhūtāu (but MS. -tim) in d; TB. further çáciṣṭhā in b. Ppp. has stabhitā in a, and çacībhiḥ (for çaviṣṭhā) in b.
2. In whose (sing.) direction is whatever shines out here, [whatever] both breathes forth and looks abroad mightily (çácībhis), of old, by the god's ordinance, with powers (sáhas)—to Vishṇu, to Varuṇa hath gone the first invocation.
The first pāda is found above as iv. 23. 7 a, and nearly as iv. 28. 1 b; also in TS. iii. 3. 114. Ppp. reads, for c, maho* ṛtasya dharmaṇā yuvānā, and begins with yayos. The comm., in b, seems to give prā ’niti ca. The first pāda is rather jagatī. *⌊So Roth's collation: his notes give mahā.⌋
26 (27). Praise and prayer to Vishṇu.
[Medhātithi.—aṣṭarcam. vāiṣṇavam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. 3-p. virāḍgāyatrī; 3. 3-av. 6-p. virāṭçakvarī; 4-7. gāyatrī; 8. triṣṭubh.]
Only vss. 1-3, and those not complete, are found in Ppp. (xx.). Most of the material of the hymn is found in RV. ⌊i. 154 and 22⌋ and elsewhere: see under the different verses. The hymn is found in Kāuç. (59. 19) only in connection with hymn 17 etc. (see 17). But in Vāit. the different verses appear many times. Verse 1 is used (13. 14) in the entertainment of Vishṇu, in the agniṣṭoma (next after hymn 5, above), and later in the same ceremony (15. 12), with setting up the support of the havirdhānas. Verse 3, in parvan ceremonies, accompanies (4. 20) the sacrificer's approach to the āhavanīya fire; and again, in the agniṣṭoma (13. 5), his exit from the sacrificial hut; while its second part (c-f) goes with the offering of an oblation to Vishṇu at the beginning of the paçubandha (10. 1). Verses 4 and 5 accompany (15. 10) offerings to the two wheel-tracks of the havirdhāna-carts in the agniṣṭoma. With verse 6, in the agnicayana (29. 2), mortar and pestle are set down; and with 6 and 7, in the paçubandha (10. 10), the sacrificial post is set upright; and the comm. regards vs. 4 as intended by the "verse to Vishṇu" in 2. 3 and 23. 14. The comm., moreover, quotes the hymn as used by the Nakṣatra Kalpa (18) in a mahāçānti ceremony named vāiṣṇavī; and vs. 3 c-f by the same (14) with an offering to Vishṇu in the adbhutaçānti; and vs. 4 by the same (19), in the rite called tvāṣṭrī, with tying on of a triple amulet.
Translated: Muir, iv2. 68, 63 (nearly all); Henry, 10, 63; Griffith, i. 339.
1. Of Vishnu now I would speak forth the heroisms, who traversed (vi-mā) the spaces of the earth, who established the upper station, striding out triply, he the wide-going one.
