46. What stinging (vṛ́çcika) harsh-biting serpent of thine lies in secret, winter-harmed, torpid (? bhṛmalá); whatever worm, O earth, becoming lively, stirs in the early rainy season—let that, crawling, not crawl upon us; be thou gracious to us with that which is propitious.
Ppp. reads in a vṛçcakas, and for b ff. hemantalabdho bhramalo (!) kṛmir lisaṁ pṛthivyāi prāvṛṣī yad ejati. The treatment of krímis in c as neuter is very strange. ⌊Is it a collective neuter like Gewürm? cf. Noun-Inflection, JAOS. x. 570.⌋ In the description of the verse (11 + 12: 7 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 54) by the Anukr. there is perhaps something omitted (or we are to read virāṭ çakvarī for parāç-). The verse is used according to Kāuç. 50. 17 (with ⌊iii. 26 (see introduction thereto) and 27 and⌋ vi. 56. 1) in the removal of vermin; also, according to 139. 8, with a number of other verses about serpents and the like; and it is reckoned to the rāudra gaṇa (note to Kāuç. 50. 13). In Vāit. 29. 10 it accompanies a libation to Rudra.
47. What many roads thou hast, for people to go upon, a track (vártman) for the chariot, and for the going of the cart, by which (pl.) men of both kinds, excellent and evil, go about—that road, free from enemies, free from robbers, may we conquer; be thou gracious to us with that which is propitious.
Ppp. reads bahudhā (for bahavas) in a, yebhiç car- at beginning of c, and panthām in d; and it omits the last pāda ⌊repeated from vs. 46⌋. The pratīka (ye te panthānaḥ), quoted in Kāuç. 50. 1, might refer either to this verse or to vii. 55. 1; the comm. to vii. 55 declares the latter to be intended.
48. Bearing the fool, bearer of what is heavy, enduring (titikṣú) the death (? nidhána) of the excellent and of the evil, the earth, in concord with the boar, opens itself to the wild (mṛgá) hog.
Ludwig understands gurubhṛ́t in a as 'bearer of the wise' (guru as antithesis of malva); the Pet. Lexx. translate nidhána as 'residence' (and so Bruce, 'abode'). Ppp. has at the beginning a very different text: sarpaṁ bibhratī surabhir; and it reads sūkareṇa in c and varāhāya in d.
49. What forest animals of thine, wild beasts set in the woods, lions, tigers, go about man-eating—the jackal (? ulá), the wolf, O earth, misfortune, the ṛkṣī́kā, the demon, do thou force (bādh) away from us here.
The translation here given agrees with its predecessors in assuming emendation of té in a to te. Some of our mss. read in c-d itá rakṣī́kām; and Bp. has after it ṛ́kṣaḥ. Ppp. gives eta rakṣīkāṁ rakṣo ‘pa bādhā mat; and, at the beginning, yatārṇyāṣ paç-; ⌊and ulaṁ in c like our text⌋. With a compare the nearly identical xi. 2. 24 a; in spite of their agreement, one can hardly help regarding mṛgās as an intruded word. The Anukr. apparently accepts the two redundant syllables as making up for the deficiency in b and d, since 14 + 11: 12 11 = 48 syllables. ⌊As to the "man-eaters," cf. note to xv. 5. 7.⌋
50. What Gandharvas, Apsarases [there are], and what arā́yas, kimīdíns: the piçācás, all demons—them do thou keep away from us, O earth (bhū́mi).
Ppp. combines in a gandharvā ’ps-, and has at the end bhāume yāvayaḥ.
