Found also in Pāipp. xvii. (excepting vss. 62, 63). Many of the verses are used by the Kāuç., as also the whole hymn (which is also by itself an anuvāka), under the name bhāuma, '[hymn] to earth': so at 38. 12, 16, in a ceremony for giving firmness to buildings; at 98. 3 (with vi. 87, 88), for safety from earthquake; and in 8. 23 it is (with iii. 12, vi. 73, 93) reckoned a vāstoṣpatya hymn. The first 7 verses (Kāuç. 24. 27) and the first 9 (? 24. 31, 35) are used in the āgrahāyaṇī ceremony. ⌊Further, cf. Keç. to 70. 8, 9.⌋ In Vāit., vss. 1, 13, 27, 30, and others are quoted. ⌊The whole hymn is prescribed in Nakṣ. Kalpa, 18, in a mahāçānti called pārthivī: see SPP. iii. 2025.⌋
Translated: by Charles Bruce, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Old Series, xix. 321 ff. (with comparisons from Greek writers); Ludwig, p. 544; Henry, 179, 215; Griffith, ii. 93; Bloomfield, 199, 639.
1. Great (bṛhánt) truth, formidable right, consecration, penance, bráhman, sacrifice sustain the earth; let her for us, mistress of what is and what is to be—let the earth make for us wide room (loká);—
Found also in MS. (iv. 14. 11), which reads yajnā́s in b, and bhúvanasya (for bhávyasya) in c. The Anukr. does not heed that pāda a is jagatī. The verse (unless more of the hymn is meant to be included with it) is, according to Vāit. 12. 6, to be repeated by one who relieves on the ground the needs of nature. It is quoted by Kāuç. 24. 24 in the āgrahāyaṇī ceremony; also in the comm. to 24.35 (cf. above); and it, with vs. 38, is reckoned (see note to Kāuç. 19. 1) among the puṣṭika mantras.
2. Unoppressedness in the midst of men (mānavá). Whose are the ascents (udvát), the advances (pravát), the much plain (samá); who bears the herbs of various virtue (nā́nāvīrya)—let the earth be spread out for us, be prosperous for us.
The mss, vary in a between badhyatás and madhyatás (Bp.P.M.I. have ba-), but only the latter can be right, and the translation adopts it; the former (which Ppp. also has, and mānaveṣu) seems to have come in under the influence of -bādham. ⌊Correct the edition.⌋ As the text stands, pāda a can only be an adjunct to vs. 1, and so Ppp. reckons it, and begins our b with asyās. But MS. (iv. 14. 11) reads asambādhā́ yā́ madhyató mānavébhyo; it also has mahát for bahú at end of b, and nā́nārūpās and bibhárti in c. This time the Anukr. notices that b has 12 syllables. Kāuç. 137. 16 quotes the verse ⌊in the preparation of the vedi⌋.
3. On whom [are] the ocean and the river (síndhu), the waters; on whom food, plowings, came into being; on whom quickens this that breathes, that stirs—let that earth (bhū́mi) set us in first drinking.
That is, doubtless, give us precedence over others (but MS. reads pūrvapéyam: see note to vs. 5). Ppp. reads for b yasyāṁ devā ’mṛtam anvavindan; and for second half-verse it has our 4 c, d, giving our 3 c, d as second half of vs. 5, with the easier reading jīvati, ⌊followed by⌋ viçvam ejāt in c. We should expect kṛṣáyas in b.
4. Whose, the earth's, [are] the four quarters; on whom food, plowings, came into being; who bears manifoldly what breathes, what stirs—let that earth (bhū́mi) set us among kine, also in inexhaustibleness (? ánya).
