Ppp. reads in a yasyām and pṛthivyām, and in b gṛṣṭayas ⌊cf. note to ii. 13. 3⌋. As second half-verse it has our 5 c, d, giving our 4 c, d as 3 c, d, reading (after bahudhā) prāṇine jan̄gano bhūmir goṣv açveṣu pinve kṛṇotu, thus relieving us of the difficult ánye. Kāuç. (137. 17) uses the verse next after vs. 2, in connection with making the sacrificial hearth four-cornered. The description given by the Anukr. of this and the two following verses is so wholly wrong that we cannot help suspecting a corrupt text. This verse is, if we make no resolutions in d, a regular triṣṭubh.
5. On whom the people of eld (pūrvajaná) formerly spread themselves (? vi-kṛ); on whom the gods overcame the Asuras; the station
(? viṣṭhā́) of kine, of horses, of birds (váyas)—let the earth assign us fortune (bhága), splendor.
Ppp. reads in a nicakrire, and in b atyavartayan; also in c (found as ⌊its⌋ 4 c) vayasayya ⌊?⌋. MS. has a verse made up of our 5 a, b (without variant), 4 c (accenting bibhárti), and 3 d (with pūrvapéyam). The verse is mixed triṣṭubh and jagatī. ⌊In Ppp. this verse precedes our 4.—The sequence of the half-verses of the Vulgate as they stand in Ppp. seems therefore to be as follows: 3 a, b, 4 c, d, 5 a, b, 3 c, d, 4 a, b, 5 c, d.⌋
6. All-bearing, good-holding, firm-standing, gold-backed (-vákṣas), reposer of moving things (jágat), bearing the universal (vāiçvānará) fire, let the earth (bhū́mi), whose bull is Indra, set us in property.
The verse is found also in MS. (iv. 14. 11), which reads, in a-b, purukṣúd dhíraṇyavarṇā jágataḥ pratiṣṭhā́; and in d dráviṇam (the editor also admits in his text the bad reading índra ṛṣabhā́). It is quoted in Kāuç. 137. 28. ⌊I do not see why W. has preferred 'gold-backed' to 'gold-breasted' here and in vs. 26.⌋ ⌊By 'reposer' he means 'bringer-to-rest.'⌋
7. She the earth (bhū́mi pṛthivī́), whom the gods, sleepless, defend all the time without failure—let her yield (duh) to us honey, what is dear; then let her sprinkle us with splendor.
The verse is found also in MS. (iv. 14. 11), which reads in c ghṛtám instead of priyám.
8. She who in the beginning was sea (salilá) upon the ocean (arṇavá); whom the skilful (manīṣín) moved after with their devices (māyā́); the earth whose immortal heart covered with truth is in the highest firmament (vyòman)—let that earth (bhū́mi) assign to us brilliancy, strength, in highest royalty.
The verse is properly 11 + 12: 11 + 11; 8 + 8 = 61 syllables, and not very well described by the Anukr. The last two clauses perhaps have independent construction: '[assign] to us brilliancy [and] strength, [and] set [us] in highest royalty.'
9. On whom the circulating waters flow the same, night and day, without failure—let that earth (bhū́mi), of many streams (-dhā́rā) yield (duh) us milk; then let her sprinkle [us] with splendor.
The Anukr. does not heed that c is jagatī pāda. ⌊In Ppp., this verse precedes our 7.⌋
