Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/365

195 accent, is reckoned to b in the translation, as it is also by the pada-text); and, against rule, it combines in b ye ‘prath-. The comm., with one of SPP's mss., reads aprathetām; and TS.MS. have the same, followed by ámitebhir ójobhir yé pratiṣṭhé ábhavatāṁ vásūnām: they have of the verse only these two pādas, used as part of a closing verse. The first half-verse is found also in the Nāigeya-kāṇḍa of SV. (i. 623 a, b): this reads mánye for manvé, accents subhójasāu, omits (like Ppp.) sácetasāu, and ends with ámitam abhi yójanam; its second half-verse is our 2 c, d.

2. Since ye became foundations of good things, ye much increased, divine, fortunate, wide-extended ones, O heaven-and-earth, be pleasant to me: do ye free us from distress.

3. I call upon the not-distressing, of excellent penance, wide, profound, to be reverenced by poets: O heaven- etc. etc.

4. Ye who bear the immortal (amṛ́ta), who the oblations; who bear the streams (srotyā́), who human beings (manuṣyà): O heaven- etc. etc.

5. Ye who bear the ruddy [kine], who the forest-trees; ye within whom [are] all beings: O heaven- etc. etc.

6. Ye who gratify with sweet drink (kīlā́la), who with ghee; without whom [men] can [do] nothing whatever: O heaven- etc. etc.

7. This that scorches (abhi-çuc) me, or by whomsoever done, from what is human, not divine—I praise heaven-and-earth, [as] a suppliant I call loudly on [them]: do ye free us from distress.