9. He that, being born, made firm the earth, that propped (stabh) the atmosphere and the sky, whose wearer evil hath not found out—that darbhá here [is] our supporter [and] blessing.
Or, 'be our supporter.' Here at the end, the translation follows the very acceptable reading of Ppp., dharuṇo ‘dhivākaḥ. All the mss. give váruṇo ⌊one, váruṇó!⌋ divā́ kaḥ (the comm. divā ’kaḥ), which was plainly corrupt, but which SPP. (justifiably, from his point of view) retains without question. Roth's emendation, as read in our text, to váraṇo ‘dhivākáḥ hit very near the mark. All the mss. (except, doubtless by accident, one of ours) have in c viveda, without accent, and this SPP. admits in his text, though emendation (to vivéda, as made in our edition) is as obviously necessary as in vs. 8. All the mss. ⌊but O. tanú⌋, and Ppp., read in c nanú; ⌊and so does SPP.;⌋ our emendation to nā́ ’nu is acceptable, but not necessary. The comm. explains quite prosaically the plant's 'making firm the earth'; its roots keep the ground from being dissolved by water! The last words he understands thus: varuṇa (as coming from vṛ) means a keeper off (nivāraka) of darkness; and divā ’kaḥ signifies prakāçaṁ karotu. ⌊Ppp. begins b with so ‘stabh-.⌋
10. Rival-slaying, hundred-jointed, powerful, came into being the first of plants; let that darbhá here protect us all about; by it may I overpower fighters, them that fight [against me].
In a-b the mss. read sáhasvanāú ’ṣadh- (p. -svanā: óṣ-), but SPP. emends, as we had done, to -vān óṣadh-, as is read ⌊by one of his pada-mss., p.m.,⌋ by the comm., and also by Ppp. It is a naturally suggested conjecture that at some time -āno- as written in the Bengālī fashion may have been misread into -anāu-, and SPP. puts this forward; the lateness and unscholarly character of the pada-text to this book make the assumption of such an error far from implausible; we are surprised only at finding the comm's text antecedent to it. In d a few of the mss. accent pṛtanyátas. The verse is jagatī only in its second half. ⌊Pāda c is identical with 33. 1 c.⌋
33. For various blessings: with an amulet of darbhá.
[As 32.—pañcakam. 1. jagatī ; 2, 5. triṣṭubh; 3. ārṣī pan̄kti; 4. āstārapan̄kti.]
Found in Pāipp. xii., following our hymn 32. Used with the latter in the same ceremony, according to the comm. ⌊For citations by Kāuç., see under vs. 3.⌋
Translated: Griffith, ii. 290.
1. Of thousand-fold worth, hundred-jointed, rich in milk, fire of the waters, consecration (rājasū́ya) of plants—let this darbhá here protect us all about; may the divine amulet unite us with [prolonged] life-time.
SPP. accents in a sahasrārghás, with the minority of mss.; Ppp. has -ghyas. The comm. reads sahasvān (for pay-), and renders sahasrārghas by bahumūlyas. Ppp. reads in d dāivas and sṛjātu.* The verse is a jagatī only in the second half. ⌊Pāda c is identical with 32. 10 c.⌋ *⌊Other forms like sṛjātu under 7. 4.⌋
2. Snatched out of ghee, rich in honey, rich in milk, earth-establishing, unstirred, stirring [other things], thrusting away and putting down rivals—ascend thou, O darbhá, with the energy (indriyá) of the great ones.
