12. Stirring (cyu) the unstirred, going oftenest into contests, conquering scorners, going in front, unsubduable, made safe by Indra, noting counsels (? vidátha), burning the hearts of our adversaries, go thou quickly.
The abbreviated combination hṛdyo- for hṛddyo- has led here, as at i. 22. 1, to the pada-reading hṛ॰dyótanaḥ in d. The defective meter of a (which is not to be honestly removed by resolving cy into ci) makes the reading suspicious (perhaps samádane?). Ppp. has pṛtanāṣāt for puraetā in b, and kḷptas for guptas in c. Vidáthā in c, perhaps 'the gatherings of our enemies'; ⌊see Geldner, ZDMG. lii. 746⌋.
21. To the war-drum.
[Brahman.—dvādaçakam. vānaspatyaṁ dundubhidevatyam (10-12. ādityādin devān aprārthayat).* ānuṣṭubham: 1, 4, 5. pathyāpan̄kti; 6. jagatī; 11. bṛhatīgarbhā triṣṭubh; 12. 3-p, yavamadhyā gāyatrī.]
⌊Pādas 11 c, d and 12 a, b appear to be prose.⌋ Not found in Pāipp. Not noticed in Vāit.; quoted by Kāuç. (16. 2), in a battle-rite (next after the preceding hymn). *⌊Cf. extracts from Anukr. under h. 20.⌋
Translated: Ludwig, p. 374; Griffith, i. 222; Bloomfield, 131, 439; Weber, xviii. 249.
1. Division of hearts, division of minds speak thou among our enemies, O drum; mutual hate, confusion, fear, we put into our enemies: smite them down, O drum.
Pāda a might also be understood as 'heartlessness, mindlessness.' Káçmaça (in c) occurs here only, and is very possibly only a misreading for kaçmala, as equivalent to which it is here translated.
2. Quaking with mind, with sight, and with heart, let our enemies run fearing with alarm (pratrāsá) when the sacrificial butter is offered.
The pada-mss. unaccountably read ut॰vépamānā (instead of -nāḥ) in a.
3. Made of forest-tree, brought together with the ruddy [kine], belonging to all the families (-gotrá-), speak thou alarm for our enemies, being smeared with sacrificial butter.
The metrical structure is very irregular, though the right number of syllables can be forced out, if the divisions of pādas be overridden; the Anukr. takes no heed. The first three words constituted 20. 1 b. ⌊The usual sign of pāda-division to be expected after sáṁbhṛta is lacking in Bp. In c, we may pronounce pratrāsā́mít-.⌋
4. As the wild beasts of the forest are all in a tremble at man, so do thou, O drum, roar at [and] alarm our enemies, then confound their intents.
Read in c ‘mítrān in our text (an accent-sign lost over trā).
5. As the goats-and-sheep run greatly fearing the wolf, so do thou, O drum etc. etc.
Or 'run from the wolf, greatly fearing.' A sign of punctuation is omitted in our text after bíbhyatīḥ.
