All the mss. read bhávas at beginning of c; our edition emends to bhavás. The common construction bhaváç ca...çárva...hatam (cf. the next verse) is much disturbed by the addition of pṛ́çnibāhus, which the second ca forbids to take as a mere epithet. Ppp. reads sahasraçaḥ and hatām at the end of the two lines respectively.
18. Let them go unto death's burning (?), unto hunger, debility, the deadly weapon, fear; by snare (ákṣu) and net, O Çarva, [do thou] and Indra slay yonder army.
Only P. and R.s.m. have óṣam, all the rest ā́ṣam, which must accordingly be regarded as the traditional text, though unintelligible. Fusther emendation to oṣám 'quickly' is hardly advisable. Ppp. has oṣam. Ppp. also differs much in c, d: indrasyā ’ksamālābhyāṁ sarva senām amūṁ hatām. Part of our mss. also (W.O.D.T.) read sárva in d. ⌊Geldner discusses ákṣu, Ved. Stud. i. 136.⌋
19. Flee (tras) forth, O enemies, being conquered; run, ⌊being⌋ thrust by the charm (bráhman); of them yonder, thrust forth by Brihaspati, let none soever be freed.
The second half-verse is nearly repeated as xi. 10. 19 c, d, below. The pada-mss. absurdly read nuttā́ (not nuttā́ḥ) in b. Amitrās is metrically redundant in a. ⌊Rather 11 + 8: 8 + 8.⌋ The pada-reading of bṝhaspáti॰pranuttānām ⌊cf. iii. 6. 7⌋ is by Prāt. iii. 76, iv. 77, the commentary quoting it under each rule.
20. Let their weapons (ā́yudha) fall down; let them not be able to fit the arrow; then, of them fearing much let arrows strike in the vitals.
Ppp. reads çiṣaṁ for çakan in d.
21. Together let heaven-and-earth yell at them; together let the atmosphere, along with the deities; let them not find a knower, nor a foundation; mutually destroying one another let them go unto death.
The second half-verse is identical with vi. 32. 3 c, d, above. Ppp. puts enāṅ before kroçatām, and adds ubhe at the end of a.
22. The four quarters [are] the she-mules of the god-chariot; the sacrificial cakes [are] the hoofs, the atmosphere the seat (? uddhí), heaven-and-earth the two sides, the seasons the reins, the intermediate directions the attendants, speech the rim (? párirathya).
Ppp. reads çaphā ’ntarikṣa buddhiḥ and omits the clause antardeçāḥ kiṁkarāḥ. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 15. 11 ⌊see introd.⌋.
23. The year (saṁvatsará) is the chariot, the complete year (parivatsará) the chariot-lap, virā́j the pole (īṣá), Agni the chariot-mouth, Indra the left-stander, the moon the charioteer.
Ppp. reads, for the first part of the paragraph, ahorātre cakre māma ārāt saṁvatsaro adhiṣṭhānam: virāḍ etc. Savyaṣṭhā́s (p. savya॰sthā́ḥ) is a subject of Prāt. ii. 95. ⌊As for the "years," see n. to vi. 55. 3.⌋
24. On this side conquer thou; on this side conquer away, conquer completely, conquer; hail! let these here conquer, let those yonder be
