55. What of thee the black bird (çakuná) thrust at, the ant, the serpent, or also the beast of prey (çvā́pada), let the all-eating ⌊viçva-ád⌋ Agni make that free from disease, and the soma that hath entered the Brahmans.
The verse is RV. x. 16. 6 without variant. TA. has it also, in vi. 4. 2. TA. reads in c ⌊for viçvā́d ('all-consuming') agadám, the curiously perverted⌋ víçvād ('from every') anṛṇám ⌊which is glossed by sarvasmād upadravād ṛṇarahitam upadravarahitam⌋. In d it has brāhmaṇám (also, in the printed ⌊Calc.⌋ text, āvivíçeṣa; but its comm. ⌊Calc.⌋ explains brāhmaṇe and āviveça); ⌊in the Poona ed. the comm. seems to show an alternative reading, either brāhmaṇe or brāhmaṇam, glossed by etadīye brāhmaṇaçarīre; and it reads of course āviveça⌋. ⌊Our pratīka is cited by Keçava, p. 36810, as yat te kṛṣṇaḥ çakunīty ṛcā: is çakunī a blunder? cf. idáṁ yát kṛṣṇáḥ çakúnis, vii. 64. 1, 2.⌋
In Kāuç. the verse is used (80. 5) in the very introduction of the adhyāya, before the handling of the corpse begins; and Keçava says it is in case the man dies of the bite of a crow or ant or the like; the comm. makes the same condition, and adds that the wounded place is to be burned with fire; this is then probably the meaning of Kāuçika's direction ity avadīpayati. The verse appears again (83. 20) in connection with the strewing and covering of the bone-relics.
56. Rich in milk are the herbs; rich in milk is my milk; what is the milk of the milk of the waters, therewith let one beautify (çubh) me.
⌊The translation implies (instead of the çumbhantu of the Berlin text) the reading çumbhatu, which is read by most of SPP's authorities and some of W's and adopted by SPP. Two or three of SPP's, and W's Op., have çumbhata (a blend of AV. çumbhatu and RV. çundhata?). For the misuse of çumbh for çundh, see note to vi. 115. 3.⌋ The corresponding verse in RV. is x. 17. 14, which has vácas instead of páyas at end of b; for c, the less repetitious apā́m páyasvad ít páyaḥ, and at the end çundhata. TS. (in i. 5. 102) and TB. (in iii. 7. 47) have again a quite different version: namely, for b, páyasvad vīrudhām páyaḥ; for c, our c; for d, téna mā́m indra sáṁ sṛja. Ppp. also has the verse ⌊in xx.⌋ with vacas in b. Its former half appeared above, as iii. 24. 1 a, b, likewise with vácas. In Kāuç. (82. 9), it is used in the ceremonies of the first day after cremation, with strewing tufts of kuça-grass; the comm., however, says instead that it accompanies a bath taken immediately after the cremation of the dead body. The comm. supplies Varuṇa, as god of the waters, for subject of the concluding verb.
57. Let these women, not widows, well-spoused, touch themselves with ointment, with butter; tearless, without disease, with good treasures, let the wives ascend first to the place of union.
This verse (= RV. x. 18. 7; TA. vi. 10. 2) was found above, as xii. 2. 31, where see: it is not used by Kāuç. in the book of funeral and ancestral ceremonies.
58. Unite thyself (sam-gam) with the Fathers, with Yama, with thy sacred and charitable works in the highest firmament; abandoning what is reproachful, come again home;—let him unite himself with a body, very splendid.
