15. They who of old were won by right, born of right, increasers of right—to the seers rich in fervor (tápas-), born of fervor, O Yama, do thou go.
The corresponding RV. verse (x. 154. 4) reads in a, b pū́rva ṛtasā́pa ṛtā́vānaḥ in c pitṝ́n, in d tā́ṅç cid evá (as in our vss. 14, 16, 17). The comm. explains yama here to mean yamavan niyata, or yamena nīyamāna preta, which is probably not far from correct; it is the deceased person who is addressed.
16. They who by fervor are unassailable, who by fervor have gone to heaven (svàr), who made fervor their greatness, unto them do thou go.
The corresponding RV. verse (x. 154. 2) has no variant; in TA. (vi. 3. 2), however, we find gatā́s for yayús in b, and mahát for máhas in c: this latter reading the comm. appears to have in mind when he explains mahas as signifying mahat.
17. They who fight in the contests (pradhána), who are self-sacrificing
(tanūtyáj) heroes, or who give thousand-fold sacrificial gifts, unto them do thou go.
The corresponding RV. verse (x. 154. 3) has no variant; TA. (in vi. 3. 2) has tanuty in b. Ppp. has the verse, in book xx., and reads for c, tās tvaṁ sahasradakṣiṇāḥ, and in d gachatām.
18. Poets (kaví) of a thousand lays (-nīthá), who guard the sun—to the seers rich in fervor, born of fervor, O Yama, do thou go.
The verse is RV. x. 154. 5, without variant. The comm. adds this time to its explanation of yama (cf. under vs. 15) niyata çakaṭe baddha vā.
19. Be pleasant to him, O earth, a thornless resting-place; furnish him broad refuge.
RV. has a corresponding verse (i. 22. 15), but reads for a syonā́ pṛthivi bhava; and in c it reads nas for asmāi, and sapráthas for -thās ⌊see my Noun-Inflection, p. 560⌋; VS. (xxxv. 21) has nearly the same, but inserts nas after pṛthivi, and ends with -thās, like our text; MB. (ii. 2. 7) agrees with VS. except in having -thas, like RV.; it also adds a fourth pāda. ⌊MP. ii. 15. 2 agrees with RV. save that it combines naç çárma and ends with -thās. Cf. the pratīka in MGS. i. 10. 5, and the Index, p. 158.⌋ The comm. explains anṛkṣarā by anādhikā. In Kāuç. (80. 3) this verse (according to the comm., vss. 19-21) is to be used when the man threatened with death is laid on the floor on darbha-grass; and again (80. 38), when the dead body is taken down from the cart at the funeral pile; and once more (82. 33), when the jar containing the bones is deposited in (or on) the earth. In Vāit. 37. 25, vss. 19 and 20 accompany the knocking-down of the animal-victim in the puruṣamedha sacrifice.
