Nearly all our mss. (save Op.R.s.m.) accent pitáras in a; SPP. reports only a single pada-ms. as doing so, and of course reads pitaras, as does our text by emendation. Nearly all the authorities, again, give bhūtám at end of b; ⌊but Whitney's Op. has bhūtā́; and his⌋ K. has bhūtá, as have three of SPP's, who reads bhūtá. ⌊The word itself is lost from the comm., but glossed by bhavatha.⌋ We ought to have emended to bhūtá. Once more, all the authorities without exception accent suvidatrā́s, which SPP. accordingly retains, while we have made the necessary emendation to -dátrās. One is tempted to change arvāṇas in c to arvāñcas. The extra syllable in b suggests corruption; ⌊and so, perhaps, does the fact that in O.R. the avasāna is before bhūtám, not after it⌋.
20. Ye who are Atris, An̄girases, Navagvas, having sacrificed, attached to giving (? rātiṣā́c), bestowers (dádhāna), and who are rich in sacrificial fees, well-doing—do ye revel, sitting on this barhís.
The meaning of some of these epithets is not altogether clear. No use is made of the verse in the sūtras.
21. So then as our distant Fathers, the ancient ones, O Agni, sharpening the rite: they went to the bright, they shone,* ⌊should be shining⌋, praising with song; splitting the ground, they uncovered the ruddy ones.
The verse corresponds to RV. iv. 2. 16, found also in VS. (xix. 69) and TS. (in ii. 6. 124) which read precisely with RV. The variants of our text are no better than corruptions; the others have at end of b āçuṣāṇā́s ⌊p. āçuṣāṇā́ḥ⌋ and in c dī́dhitim. The translation follows our text.* The comm. takes āçaçānā́s (p. ā॰çaç-) from root aç, and glosses it with vyāpnuvantas! The "ruddy ones" are in its opinion the dawns ⌊or else the stolen cows which the An̄girases got back from the Paṇis⌋.—*⌊Whitney's ms. reads "they shone": this is probably an oversight and should be "shining"; his Bp., to be sure, but Bp. alone, has dī́dhyata, not -taḥ.⌋
22. Of good actions, well-shining, pious, heavenly ones (devá), forging the generations as [smiths forge] metal, brightening Agni, increasing Indra, they have made for us a wide conclave (pariṣád), rich in kine.
The corresponding verse in RV. (iv. 2. 17) combines in a-b devayántó ‘yo, has in c vavṛdh-, and for d ūrváṁ gávyam pariṣádanto agman; its pada-text in b reads ⌊jánima like ours⌋. ⌊Weber, Sb. 1896, p. 263-64, takes devā́ (jánimā) as = devā́nām and the whole verse as a parallel to vs. 23, where the phrase devā́nāṁ jánimā occurs in full.⌋
23. As herds at food (kṣúm), the formidable one hath looked over ⌊áti⌋ the cattle, the births of the gods, near by; mortals have lamented the urváçīs, unto the increase of the pious, of the next man.
