Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/478

xix. 23- svā́hāṁ. 33. Our 29 then follows, in the form tulibrahmáṇe svā́hā, and our 30 as given in all the mss.: bráhmajyeṣṭé ’ty ékā. ⌊The foregoing are the readings of the Collation Book: apart from the accents, they require correction, I suppose, to ān̄girasa- and saṁhitā-.⌋

29. To the bráhman, hail!

30. Heroisms were gathered with the bráhman as chief; the bráhman as chief in the beginning stretched the sky; the Brahmán was born as first of creatures; therefore who is fit to contend with the Brahmán?

1. With what [garment] the gods caused to wrap god Savitar, with that, O Brahmaṇaspati, do ye wrap this man in order to royalty.

2. Wrap ye this man [as] Indra in order to life-time, to great dominion, that [it] may conduct him unto old age; may he long watch over dominion.

All the mss., both here and in the next verse, read at end of c nayā́m, which SPP. therefore accepts, although both form and accent are indefensible; the comm. has both times naya; the translation implies our emendation to náyāt, the propriety of which can hardly be questioned, especially as it is supported by a corresponding verse three times repeated, with variations, in HGS. i. 4. 8: parī ’mam indra brahmaṇe mahe çrotrāya (or rāṣṭrāya, or poṣāya) dadhmasi: athāi ’naṁ jarimā ṇayej jyok çrotre (or rāṣṭre, or poṣe) adhi jāgarat: of these three forms, the first is intended for a Brahman, the second for a Kṣatriya, the third for a Vāiçya: compare our next verse. The comm., ⌊in 2 a and 3 a, appears to have had before him indramāyuṣe and somamāyuṣe, whatever his accentuation and pada-text may have been: this he understands as indra mā