p. 214. Especially important are the nakṣatra-passages, TS. iv. 4. 10 and TB. i. 5. 2 and iii. 1. 1-2: cf. references to asterisms in AV. vi. 110 and notes, ii. 8, xiv. i. 13, etc.—Note, on the one hand, that our series begins, as does that in TS., with the old beginning in Taurus, to wit, with the Kṛttikās or Pleiades, and not (as later: see Whitney, O. and L.S., ii. 421), two asterisms further to the west, in Aries, with açvayujāu or açvinī (β and γ Arietis). Note also, on the other hand, that our series, unlike the series in TS., by including abhijit or Vega, far to the north of the ecliptic, comprises 28 asterisms, as is expressly stated below, at 8. 2 a: but whether 28 or 27 is the original Hindu number is a moot point carefully discussed by Whitney, l.c., pages 409-411.—The names of the asterisms in our hymn differ from those in TS. in a number of minor and major points: most notable among the latter is the TS. name tiṣyà for the 6th (or 8th) asterism, our puṣyá; and TS. has çroṇā́ for the 21st (or 23d), our çrávaṇa.—Bloomfield, in his part of the Grundriss, p. 35, observes that this hymn and the next are repeated in full in Nakṣatra Kalpa 10 and 26; and he infers that the date of the incorporation of these hymns into the text of the Vulgata is posterior to the time of the Nakṣatra Kalpa, because, in the contrary case, they would have been quoted by their pratīkas.⌋ *⌊See especially the second essay, pages 300, 303, 315: at p. 300, Weber gives the deities of the several asterisms.⌋
Translated: Griffith, ii. 265.
1. Seeking favor of the twenty-eight-fold (?) wondrous ones, shining in the sky together, ever-moving, hasting in the creation (bhúvana), I worship (sapary) with songs the days, the firmament (nā́ka).
The translation implies our conjectural emendation of turmíçam ⌊two of W's mss., -mich-⌋ in c to aṣṭāviṅçám (or -çā́). ⌊This is supported by the textually unimpeachable aṣṭaviṅçā́ni of 8. 2 a, and the fact that the series in this hymn is actually of 28 members, as noted in the introduction.⌋ The comm. has turmiçām, and gives for it a double etymology and explanation: either it is turmi + çā, or it is tur + miçā; in the former case, turmi is from root turv, and means "injuring" (hiṅsaka), and çā is the root çā 'sharpen,' hence "make thin"; in the latter case, tur is ⌊a root-stem from⌋ root turv, and miçā is by Vedic license for miṣā, from root miṣ "contend" (spardhāyām); in either case, the compound means "putting down oppressors," and is adjective qualifying sumatim! All the mss. accent saparyā́mi, and SPP. admits it in his text; the accent is defensible, and would be required by Brāhmaṇa usage. Our emendation in c helps the meter as well as the sense; but no stress can be laid upon the circumstance that the Anukr. appears to regard the verse as a full triṣṭubh.
2. Easy of invocation for me [be] the Kṛittikās and Rohiṇī; be Mṛigaçiras excellent, [and] Ārdrā healthful (çám) be the two Punarvasus pleasantness, Pushya what is agreeable, the Āçleshās light (bhānú), the Maghās progress (áyana) ⌊for me⌋.
