39. Thou goest over the earth as a stegá over the ground; let winds blow here on the great earth (bhū́mi) for us; Mitra for us there (átra), Varuṇa, being joined, hath let loose heat (çóka), as fire does in the forest.
RV. x. 31. 9 corresponds, but has very considerable differences of reading: in a, eti pṛthvī́m; for b, míhaṁ ná vā́to ví ha vāti bhū́ma; in c, yátra (for no átra) and ajyámānas (for yuj-); in d, ‘gnír v-. Part of the AV. mss. also have ‘gnír v- (our O.R., and nearly half of SPP's), which accordingly might well be adopted in the text; but SPP., like our edition, reads agnír v-. One or two of our mss. (Op.R.s.m.) read in d asṛṣṭa (vyàs-), and so do a minority of SPP's; and the latter gives in his saṁhitā-text vyásṛṣṭa, but (apparently by an oversight) in his pada-text ví: asṛṣṭa; one sees no reason at all for the accentuation of the verb ⌊the AV. text, with its átra⌋.* Our text is plainly an unintelligent corruption of an unintelligible verse. The RV. comm. guesses raçmisaṁghāty ādityaḥ to be the meaning of the ⌊very rare⌋ stegá, but only on the ground of a worthless etymology. Our comm. is defective here, but the lacuna is filled up by the editor, who makes it signify "a frog "! ⌊a meaning possibly suggested by the passage at TS. v. 7. 11 (which is parallel to VS. xxv. 1)⌋. Ludwig conjectures "a plowshare" ⌊and Weber follows him⌋. Our pada-text reads in b mahī́ íti, and the case is quoted under Prāt. i. 74 as that of a locative in ī; our comm. renders it ⌊alternatively⌋ by mahatīm; he also renders vyásṛṣṭa by nāçayatu! The ṁ of pṛthivī́ṁ is ⌊almost or quite illegible⌋ in our text. The Anukr. takes no notice of the metrical irregularities of the verse (10 + 11: 12 + 11 = 44).
*⌊The RV. reads vy ásṛṣṭa, and has the difficult pada-reading ví: ásṛṣṭa: here the RV's accentuation of ásṛṣṭa is accounted for by the RV's yátra; and the accent of ví is to be put with the remarkable cases (some thirty) mentioned by W., Gram. § 1084 a, whether we regard it as a blunder helped by the wavering tradition as to átra, yátra, or not. (Cf. what is said about "blend-readings" under xiv. 2. 18 and, just below, under xviii. 1. 42.) Whitney's Bp. follows the RV. in giving ví: ásṛṣṭa and his Bs. has vyásṛṣṭa; cf. the ví: ádadhus of xix. 6. 5 a.⌋
40. Praise thou the famed sitter on the hollow of men (jána), the terrible king, formidable assailant (? upahatnú); being praised, O Rudra, be gracious to the singer; let thine army (? sénya) lay low (ni-vap) another than us.
