22. She that is ruddy (róhiṇī) is submissive to the ruddy one, being liberal (sūrí), of beautiful color, vast (bṛhatī́), very splendid; by her may we conquer booty (? vā́jān) of all forms; by her may we overcome all fighters.
Róhiṇī, doubtless the dawn. Our pada-mss. read in c -rūpām, by a blundering misapprehension of the assimilated nasal in the combination -pāṅ ja- ⌊Prāt. ii. 11⌋. M.p.m. ⌊and SPP's C.⌋ read at end syāma; the passage is quoted as an instance of ṣy- in the comm. to Prāt. ii. 107. Ppp. reads sūryas suv- in b, and combines pṛtanā ’bhi in d. In the Anukr. (by an exceptional usage hardly met with elsewhere) this verse and the next, and a little later vs. 27, are specified as prākṛta ⌊mss. prakṛta⌋: i.e., as following the established norm of the hymn, which is triṣṭubh.
23. Here the seat (sádas), she that is ruddy, of the ruddy one; yonder the road by which the spotted one (f.) goes; her the Gandharvas, the Kaçyapas, lead up; her the poets defend unremittingly.
All the mss. except O.D. (and these differ perhaps only by accident) read in c gandharvāḥ, as if vocative.
24. The sun's yellow (hári) bright (ketumánt) horses, immortal, constantly draw the easy-running chariot; the ghee-drinking ruddy one, shining (bhrāj), the god, entered the spotted sky.
Bs.E. combine in b amṛ́tās su-. The Anukr. does not heed the jagatī pāda b.
25. The ruddy one, the sharp-horned bull, who encompassed Agni, the sun, who props asunder (vi-stabh) the earth and the heaven—out of him do the gods create creations.
Ppp. begins with ayaṁ roh-. The curious reading of O. in c, ṣṭab-h-nāti (the b and h two different letters), was noted above, under xii. 4. 4. ⌊"Encompassed": Bloomfield, "became superior to," AJP. xii. 443.⌋ Kāuç. 18. 25 gives the verse, in company with several others, as to be used in the so-called citrākarman (ceremony concerning the asterism citrā) to accompany the partaking of a milk rice-dish; and the Paddhati includes both it and the following verse in the salila gaṇa.
26. The ruddy one mounted the sky, out of the great sea (arṇavá); the ruddy one ascended all ascents.
That the verse is reckoned as belonging to the salila gaṇa was noted under the preceding verse.
27. Measure thou out (vi-mā) the milk-giving, ghee-dripping (ghṛtā́ñc) [cow]; this is the unresisting milch-cow of the gods. Let Indra drink the soma; let there be comfort (kṣéma); let Agni commence praising; do thou thrust away the scorners.
Ppp. reads eṣām at end of b. With the verse is to be compared Āp. xi. 4. 14: vi mime tvā payasvatīṁ devānāṁ dhenuṁ sudughām anapasphurantīm: indraḥ somam pibatu kṣemo astu naḥ, which accompanies the measuring out of a vedi in shape of a cow. In Vāit. 15. 7; 28. 23, it is used in a like manner; and so also in Kāuç. 137. 10, in preparing for the ājyatantra; ⌊cf. also note to 137. 4⌋.
