Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/511

967 In a, the comm. strangely reads and explains jyāyān yaḥ; Ppp. presents jāyāṁyo. For visalpakas (which SPP. reads here also, as in vi. 127 and ix. 8), the comm. gives visarpakas, explaining it as vividhaṁ saraṇaçīlo vraṇaviçeṣaḥ; Ppp. has viçalyakas.

3. The ointment, born on the earth, excellent, giving life to men—let it make [me] unperishing, of chariot-swiftness, free from offense.

4. O breath, rescue thou breath; O life-breath (ásu), be gracious to life-breath; O destruction, free us from the fetters of destruction.

5. Embryo of the river art thou, flower of the lightnings; the wind [thy] breath, the sun [thine] eye, from the sky [thy] milk.

6. O divine ointment, thou from the three-peaked [mountain], do thou protect me all about; the herbs do not surpass (tṛ) thee—those from abroad and those from the mountains.

7. The demon-slayer, disease-expeller, hath crept down over the middle here, expelling all diseases, making portents vanish from here.

The change to masculine here in b is obscure and questionable; emendation to -cā́tanam is desirable; it would allow idám to be understood as 'this [ointment],' which