Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/601

431 has kṛṇute in d. Ppp. has in c pṛthivyā(s), which is better. The new version of our text so decidedly calls for an accus. in a that the translation implies vṛddhávṛṣnyān, or else the understanding of -vṛṣṇas as accus. pl. of -ṣan, which is perhaps not impossible, though against usage in composition. The comm. reads -ṇyas, also patnīm in b (having to labor hard to make out a sense for the latter). The mss. vary between patnī́n and pattī́n (our Bp.P.M.W.E.I, have the former). The first pāda is triṣṭubh.

 

1. The fight-conquering, overpowering Agni do we call with songs from the highest station; may he pass us across all difficult things; may divine Agni stride (?) across arduous things.

 

1. What here the black bird, flying out upon [it], has made fall—let the waters protect me from all that difficulty, from distress.

2. What here the black bird hath stroked down with thy mouth, O perdition—let the householder's fire release me from that sin.

Ppp. has instead: yadi vā ’mṛkṣata kṛṣṇaçakunir mukhena nirṛte tava: agniṣ tat sarvaṁ çundhatu havyavān̄ ghṛtasúdanaḥ, which is the same with ĀpÇS. ix. 17. 4 (only this begins yad apā ’mṛkṣac chakunir, rectifying the meter, and has -vāḍ in d).