Nirṛ́tya is a difficult and doubtful expression here. Ppp. reads nirṛtijan̄ghe ni dadhuḥ; also, in d, saṁdhīm ū ca jānā. In b it has again pāuruṣasya.
3. There is joined, fourfold (cátuṣṭaya), with closed (sáṁhita-) ends, above the two knees, the pliant (çithirá) trunk; what the hips are, the thighs—who indeed produced (jan) that, by which the body (kúsindha) became very firm?
Ppp. reads saṁhatantaṁ in a, and sudhṛtam in d.
4. How many gods [and] which were they, who gathered (ci) the breast, the neck-bones of man? how many disposed the two teats? who the two collar-bones (? kaphoḍá)? how many gathered the shoulder-bones (pl.)? how many the ribs?
Ppp. has again pāuruṣasya in b. In c it reads ni dadhuṣ kaṣ kapolāu. The mss. are extremely discordant as to the form of the word which our edition gives as kaphāuḍāú; that is the reading of Bp.W.D.; P.M.R.s.m. have kapheḍāú, I. kaphāujhāú, E.O.R.p.m.T.K. kaphoḍāú (which accordingly has the most authority in its favor ⌊all SPP's mss. read so⌋); several saṁhitā-mss. (P.M.T.O.p.m.R.s.m.) have káṣ before it. The meaning given is, of course, conjectural only; 'collar-bone' is Ludwig's guess, and seems to suit the connection (though that is a rather weak ground of preference) better than the 'perhaps elbow' of the Pet. Lexx. The Anukr. takes no notice of the lacking syllable in a.
5. Who brought together his two arms, saying "he must perform heroism"? what god then set on his two shoulders upon the body (kúsindha)?
⌊Ppp. has kṛṇavān for karavāt in b, and, for d, kvasindhād adhādadhi.⌋
6. Who bored out the seven apertures in his head—these ears, the nostrils, the eyes, the mouth? in the might of whose conquest (vijayá) in many places quadrupeds [and] bipeds go their way.
Bp. reads at the end yā́man. Ppp. puts nāsike after cakṣaṇī, and reads in c vijāyasya mahamani, and at the end yomūn. The Anukr. does not heed that d is a triṣṭubh pāda.
7. Since in his jaws he put his ample (purūcī́) tongue, then attached (adhi-çri) [to it] great voice; he rolls greatly on among existences, clothing himself in the waters: who indeed understands that?
With c is to be compared ix. 10. 11 d; the irregularity of the pāda is not noticed by the Anukr. Ppp. reads instead of c: sa ā varīvarti mahinā vyomaṁ: avasānaṣ kata cit pra veda. Our text ought to read varīvartti.
8. Which was that god who [produced] his brain, his forehead, his hindhead (? kakā́ṭikā), who first his skull, who, having gathered a gathering in man's jaws, ascended to heaven?
D. reads cityám in c; all the mss. agree in ruroha, although ruróha is obviously required. ⌊Otherwise Henry.⌋ The verse, as noted above, is wanting in Ppp.
