14. The crushing ⌊sáṁkasuka⌋, the bursting (víkasuka), the destroying (nirṛthá) and the noiseless (? nisvará)—they, of like possessions (? sávedas), have made from far thy yákṣma to disappear afar.
The translation implies emendation at the end to anīnaçan, which seems altogether necessary. Yet MS. (iv. 14. 17) and TA. (ii. 45) strangely have instead of it acīcatam (not -tan). ⌊But see Kaṭha-hss., p. 72, where the Berlin ms. is reported as reading cīcatan. The TA. comm. renders acīcatam by cātayantu.⌋ In b, TA. reads nisvanáḥ, and MS. nírṛto and nísvanaḥ; in c, MS. has ‘smad (not ‘smád!) for te, and TA. té ye ‘smád (but the ye perhaps a blunder of the edition*); both ánāgasas instead of sávedasas (which looks like a mere blunder, intended to have the sense of saṁvidānā́s). Then TA. has sáṁhus-, víkus-, in a, and with it agrees Āp. (ix. 3. 22, a and b only, with vikiro yaç ca viṣkiraḥ for b). Moreover, both MS. and TA. accent yakṣmám.* Some of our mss. (Bp.I.K.) read nirrathás in b, but this is only an example of the frequent confusion of ṛ and ra. Ppp. has ⌊vikasukas in a, like our text⌋, savedhasas in c, and ucidyavo (for anīnaçam) at the end. *⌊The Poona ed., p. 126, gives té ‘smád, but notes one ms. as having te ye ‘smad; and it accents yákṣmam.⌋
15. The flesh-eating one that is in our horses, heroes, that is in our kine, goats-and-sheep, do we thrust out—the fire that obstructs the people.
Ppp. combines in a no ‘çv-, and reads for b yo goṣu yo ‘jāviṣu; ⌊and puts the verse after 16⌋. This verse and the one following are quoted with others (see note to vs. 1) in Kāuç. 71. 8.
16. Thee from inexhaustible (? ánya) men, kine, horses, thee the flesh-eating one do we thrust out—the fire that obstructs life.
Ludwig gets rid of the difficulty of ánya by taking it as anyá and the nouns in a, b as datives. Ppp. reads ajñānā for anyebhyas tvā; in c it puts nis after kravyādam. Some of our mss. (Bs.I.) combine niṣ kr- (níḥ and kr- should be separated in our edition). The Anukr. very unnecessarily scans the verse as 8 + 6: 8 + 9, while it is easily read into a regular anuṣṭubh.
17. On what the gods wiped off, on what human beings (manuṣyà) also—on that having wiped off the drops of ghee (?), O Agni, do thou mount the sky.
All our mss. have amṛjata unaccented save one (E.), which has ásṛjata. ⌊All of SPP's have amṛjata save his J., which has, s.m., ámṛjala. Ghṛtastā́vas in c is translated after the Pet. Lexx., but the rendering is in the highest degree doubtful, on account both of form and of sense. Probably the reading is corrupt. Ppp. gives no help, as most of vss. 17, 18 is lost out of the ms.; ⌊but their order appears to be inverted⌋. Our mss. seem to read -stā́- very plainly ⌊and SPP. reports no variant⌋, but that need not prevent our understanding instead -snā́-, if more acceptable.
18. Being kindled, O Agni, thou to whom oblations are made, go (kram) thou not away against us; shine just here by day, and that [we] long see the sun.
