Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/214

ii. 5- 2. O Indra, [thy] belly—like one to be praised—fill thou with the sweet [draught]—like the heavens—with this soma—like the sky (svàr)—; unto thee have gone the well-voiced intoxications.

3. Indra, a swiftly-overcoming friend, who slew Vritra—like moving [streams]—, [who] split Vala—like Bhṛgu—, who overpowered his foes in the intoxication of soma.

4. Let the pressed [somas] enter thee, O Indra; fill thy (two) paunches; help, O mighty one! for our prayer (dhī́) come to us; hear [my] call, enjoy my songs; hither, O Indra, with self-harnessed [steeds]; revel here unto great joy.

This verse is really, as AÇS. plainly shows, made up of two like the preceding three, of five five-syllabled pādas each, but without interpolations. The first half-verse is vs. 5 in AÇS., where it reads thus: ā tvā viçantu kavir na sutāsa indra tvaṣṭā na: pṛṇasva kukṣī somo nā 'viḍhḍhi çūra dhiyā hiyānaḥ. Of the two versions of the last pada, that of AÇS. is doubtless the original, though ours (the pada has dhiyā́ ā́ ihi ā́ naḥ) is ingenious enough to give a fair sense; the reading dhiyéhi is authenticated by the Prāt. comment, which quotes it more than once (to iii. 38; iv. 113-115). The translation implies the restoration of aviḍḍhí, as the only true reading ⌊namely, an aorist imperative from av—see ''Skt. Gram.''$2$ §908⌋; the mss. all read viḍhḍhí, which SPP's