18. The seizure (grā́hi), evil (pāpmán)—may we go beyond them (pl.); dissipate thou the darkness; mayest thou speak forth what is agreeable; made of forest tree, uplifted, do not injure; do not crush to pieces ⌊vi-çṛ⌋ the god-loving rice-grain.
Jihiṅsīr in c is a misprint fox jíhiṅsīr, which all the ⌊i.e. W's⌋ mss. read. ⌊So read 9 of SPP's authorities: and 4 have jáhiṅsīs; but SPP. prints jihiṅsīs, accentless, with 3 of his mss. Perhaps the accent is to be regarded as antithetical.⌋ A part of our mss. (O.T.K.D.R.p.m.) read çarīs in d; Ppp. has çarāis ⌊see the references under vi. 32. 2⌋. The verse (with xi. 1. 9 b) accompanies in Kāuç. 61. 22 the pounding with the pestle.
19. About to become all-expanded, ghee-backed, go thou, of like origin (sáyoni), unto that world; hand thou (upa-yam) the rain-increased sieve; let that winnow away the husk, the chaff.
The first half-verse is identical with 53 c, d below. Some mss. (I.O.D.K.: also half of the Kāuç. mss.) read palā́vām in d. Ppp. has vidvān instead of etam in b. With c, according to Kāuç. 61. 23, the çūrpa is grasped; with a (or the whole verse?), according to 24, it is raised; with d, according to 25, the sifting is done. The third pāda lacks a syllable, unless we may resolve çu-úrpam. ⌊For "sieve," here and in vs. 20, read rather "winnowing-basket"?⌋
20. The three worlds are commensurate with the brā́hmaṇa: yon heaven, namely, earth, atmosphere; having seized the [soma-] stalks, take ye (du.) hold after; let them swell up (ā-pyā); let them come again to the sieve.
All our mss. (except D.) read asāu, unaccented, in b; emendation to asāú was plainly necessary. All the saṁhitā-mss. (except E.) separate in c gṛbhītvā́ anv-, which, accordingly, might perhaps as well have been left, though the Prāt. does not recognize the case of irregular hiatus. Ppp. seems to combine the two words in the usual fashion; but it has -rabhetām; also, in b, pṛthivyām ant-. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 61. 27 in connection with touching the winnowed grains (?); and, in 28, the last words of d (punar etc.), with scattering them, apparently, again on the sieve.
21. Manifoldly separate [are] the forms of cattle; thou becomest one-formed together with success; that red skin—that thrust thou [away]; the pressing-stone shall cleanse like a fuller (? malagá) the garments.
Or b may be 'thou comest into being one-formed with success.' Malagá occurs nowhere else; its use with iva makes it impossible to tell whether the pada-text would divide mala॰gaḥ. Ppp. reads bhavati in b and malagāi ’va in d. ⌊Again, as in vss. 13 and 26, it reads çundhāti for çumbhāti: cf. note to vi. 115. 3.⌋ The quotation in Kāuç. 61. 26 casts no light on the meaning. Our text ought to read sámṛddhyā at end of b. The verse is very ill named jagatī by the Anukr.; the treatment of iva in d as only one syllable makes a regular triṣṭubh of it.
22. Thee that art earth I make enter into earth; this like body of thee [is] separated; whatever of thee is burnt (? dyuttá), [or] scratched by driving (árpaṇa); with that do not leak; I cover that over by a spell (bráhman).
