10. Whom the Açvins measured; on whom Vishṇu strode out; whom Indra, lord of might (çacī-), made free from enemies for himself—let that earth (bhū́mi) to us, a mother to a son, release (vi-sṛj) milk ⌊to me⌋.
Some of the mss. read in d -trā́ṅ chácī-, and Bp. has accordingly -trā́n. Ppp. also has cakrā ”tmane ‘namitrāṅ cchacī-; and, at the end, naṣ payaḥ. ⌊Ppp's repetition of nas is more tolerable than the harsh change from pl. to sing, which W. seems to have overlooked.⌋
11. Let thy hills (girí) [and] snowy mountains (párvata), let thy forest-land (áraṇya), O earth, be pleasant (syoná); upon the brown, black, red, all-formed, fixed (dhruvá) earth (bhū́mi), the earth guarded by Indra—I, unharassed, unsmitten, unwounded, have stood upon the earth.
Ppp. reads in b āraṇyaṁ corrected to ar-, and naḥ after astu; also in c lohinīṁ, and in f adhi ṣṭhāṁ, which is better. ⌊Roth's Collation has in fact addhi.⌋ The verse (11 + 11: 11 + 11: 8 + 8 = 60) should be called atiçakvarī rather than virāḍ aṣṭi. Verses 11 and 12 are reckoned to the svastyayana gaṇa (see note to Kāuç. 25. 36).
12. What is thy middle, O earth, and what thy navel, what refreshments (ū́rj) arose (sam-bhū) out of thy body—in them do thou set us; be purifying (pū) toward us; earth (bhū́mi) is mother, I am earth's son; Parjanya is father—let him save (fill? pṛ) us.
Ppp. reads at end of a yaç ca nādyā.
13. On what earth (bhū́mi) they enclose the sacrificial hearth; on what [earth] men of all works extend the sacrifice; on what earth are set up (mi) the sacrificial posts, erect, bright, before the oblation—let that earth (bhū́mi), increasing, make us increase.
Ppp. reads in b viçvakarmaṇaḥ, and in d reads and combines çukrā ”hutyā pur-. All the mss. accent at the end vardhamānā́. In Vāit. 15. 8, the verse is used to accompany the enclosing of the sacrificial hearth. In virtue of one jagatī pāda (b), the verse is a full çakvarī (56 syll.).
14. Whoso shall hate us, O earth; whoso shall fight [us]; whoso shall vex [us] with mind, who with deadly weapon—him, O prior-acting earth
(bhū́mi), do thou put in our power.
'Prior-acting,' i.e., apparently, 'getting the start of him'; we should expect a nom. rather than a vocative case. Ppp. reads instead pūrvakṛtvane; also, in b, ‘bhimanyā tāindanamā dhanena. Read in our text pṛtanyā́d yò (an accent-sign omitted); one of our mss. ⌊and five of SPP's authorities, and his text!⌋, however, read yó. According to the usual nomenclature of the Anukr., the verse is a virāḍ gāyatrī (11 + 11: 12 = 34, hence bhurij). ⌊Dr. Ryder suggests that the mahābṛhatī here intended is one of 3 jāgata pādas (see Ind. Stud. viii. 243-4). Both this vs. and 17 may be scanned as 12 + 12: 12—cf. under vs. 17.⌋
15. Born from thee, mortals go about upon thee; thou bearest bipeds, thou quadrupeds; thine, O earth, are these five [races] of men, for whom, mortals, the rising sun extends with his rays immortal light.
Ppp. reads in b ca instead of the second tvam.
