16. Let the sorcerers bear [off] poison of the kine; let them of evil courses fall under the wrath of Aditi; let god Savitar abandon them; let them lose their share of the herbs.
'Lose': lit. 'have it conquered from them.' RV. (vs. 18: RV. inverts the order of our vss. 16 and 17) reads pibantu for bharantām (with Ppp.) in a, has the proper passive form vṛçcyantām in b (Ppp. has mṛddhyantām), and leaves enān unlingualized in c; the lingualization in our text is by Prāt. iii. 80, where the commentary quotes this passage.
17. Yearly [is] the milk of the ruddy [cow]; of that let not the sorcerer partake (aç), O men-watcher; whatever one [of them], O Agni, would fain enjoy (tṛp) the beestings, him do thou pierce back in the vitals with thy burning (arcís).
Our pada-text divides wrongly mā́: āçīt in b; RV. has the true reading, mā́: açīt. RV. also has márman at the end, making the triṣṭubh verse regular. Ppp. once more reads vidhi (not viddhi this time) for vidhya in d, and marman after it.
18. From of old, O Agni, thou killest the sorcerers; the demons have not conquered thee in fights; burn up the flesh-eaters together with their dupes (? mūrá); let them not be freed from thy heavenly missile.
We had this verse above, as v. 29. 11. The only variant in the version of RV. (vs. 19) is that, in c, sahámūrān is put after ánu daha; ⌊so also SV. i. 80, which has besides kayā́das for kravyā́das. The comm. regards -mūrān as for -mūlān, and renders it mūlasahitān 'together with their roots,' and it is perhaps one of the cases contemplated by Prāt. i. 66—at least, the commentary there quotes this passage as one of the instances of substitution of r for l; and it is very likely that the tradition is right.
19. Do thou, O Agni, from below, from above, do thou defend us from behind and from in front; let those [flames] of thine, unaging, extremely hot, greatly paining, burn against the evil-plotter.
RV. (vs. 20) reads údaktāt at end of a, and té for tyé in c; in the latter case, the comm. does the same; he supplies sphulin̄gas as the missing noun in c, d. An accent-mark has dropped out in our edition under the -du- of paçcā́d utá in b.
20. From behind, in front, below, and above, do thou, O Agni, a poet, protect us about with poesy; [as] friend a friend, [as] unaging in order to old age, [as] an immortal mortals, do thou [protect] us, O Agni.
RV. (vs. 21) reads again údaktāt for utó ’ttarā́t in a, also rājan for agne at end of b, and sákhe at beginning of c; and it combines -mṇé ‘gne between c and d. The comm. has martyān in d.
21. Set thou in the reciter, O Agni, that eye with which thou seest the hoof-breaking sorcerers; Atharvan-like, with brightness of the gods, scorch (uṣ) down the truth-damaging fool (acít).
