18. Of thy rush-work (íṭa) I unfasten what was tied on, uncovering; [thee] pressed together by Varuṇa let Mitra in the morning open out.
The verse in Kāuç. 66. 24 accompanies the letting down (ava-sṛ) of the door. ⌊Bergaigne has a note on the vs., Rel. Véd. iii. 122.⌋
19. The dwelling fixed with worship (bráhman), fixed, built by the poets—let Indra-and-Agni, immortal, defend the dwelling, the seat for soma (somyá).
P. reads nírmitām in b, and sāumyám in d. Ppp. has a quite different version: catussraktiṁ paricakrāṁ for a; viçvāna bibhratī çālām (cf. our 16 c) amṛto sāumyaṁ sadaḥ for c, d.
20. A nest (kulā́ya) upon a nest, a vessel (kóça) pressed together in a vessel—there a mortal is born (vi-jā), from whom all is generated
(pra-jā).
Ppp. has martyas in c.
21. [The dwelling] which is fixed with two sides, with four sides, which with six sides—the eight-sided, the ten-sided dwelling, the mistress of the building, Agni lies in like an embryo.
The pada-text reads aṣṭā॰pakṣām in c, by Prāt. iii. 2; iv. 94. ⌊As to pakṣa, cf. iii. 7. 3.⌋ The verse is a good pan̄kti, involving only the resolution mā́nasi-a in d, but the Anukr. absurdly treats it as of four pādas; and, in accordance with this, the pada-mss. mark a pāda division after çā́lām.
22. I go forward, O dwelling, turned toward thee, uninjuring, that art turned toward me; for within [are] fire and waters, the first door of right (ṛtá).
Ppp. reads at the end prathamobhā. The mss. all have ca rtásya in c-d. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 66. 25, accompanying the action of 'going forward with (ādāya) water-pot [and] fire.'
23. I bring forward these waters, free from yákṣma, dispellers of yákṣma; I set forth unto the houses, together with immortal fire.
We had this verse above, as iii. 12. 9. Ppp. (which omitted it as part of that hymn) reads in a harāmi, and in c abhi (for upa).
24. Fasten thou not on us the fetter; a heavy burden, become thou light; like a woman (vadhū́), O dwelling, we carry thee where we will.
Quoted in Kāuç. 66. 30. ⌊Cf. again Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 179.—Over "woman" W. interlines "bride?"⌋
25. From the eastern quarter, homage to the greatness of the dwelling! hail to the gods that are to be hailed!
⌊Ppp. puts svāhā devebhyaḥ svāhyebhyaḥ before prācyaḥ: and has a similar order in the following vss.⌋
