Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/468

xix. 16- third verse; ⌊a like contradiction obtains as between the Anukr. and the comm. in the repeated passage, below, 27. 14, 15 (see the note); here, moreover, as noted above, the mss. of the Anukr. are at variance as to whether the hymn is to be reckoned as of 2 vss. or of 3⌋. The addition of bṛhatīgarbhā to the metrical definition is quite uncalled-for; ⌊doubtless because pāda b scans better as 8 syllables than as 9: no less uncalled-for is the addition of saptapadā, unless, dividing what follows the second avasāna into 3 pādas, we begin the seventh with an enclitic⌋.

⌊I suspect that our text consists of 6 pādas (8 + 8: ll + 11: 11 + 11 = 60, "atiçakvarī"), call them 1 vs. or 2, as you will. Pādas c and e and f have good triṣṭubh cadences; c is good triṣṭubh if we resolve indraagnī; so is e, with W's tiryák cā ’gnī́ r-; the presence of me in f is all that spoils f; and the absence of me after yachatām is all that spoils the cadence of d, if, substituting the grammatical equivalent, we pronounce açvínā ’bhítaḥ at the beginning.⌋

1. Let Agni with the Vasus protect me on the east: in him I step, in him I take refuge (çri), to that stronghold I go forward; let him defend me, let him guard me; to him I commit myself: hail!

2. Let Vāyu with the atmosphere protect me from that quarter: in him I etc. etc.

3. Let Soma with the Rudras protect me from the southern quarter: in him I etc. etc.

4. Let Varuṇa with the Ādityas protect me from that quarter: in him I etc. etc.

5. Let the sun with heaven-and-earth protect me from the western quarter: in him I etc. etc.

6. Let the waters with (-mant) the herbs protect me from that quarter: in them I...; let them defend...; to them I etc. etc.