there be lightnings; let the wind blow; let them extend the sacrifice, being manifoldly let loose; let the herbs become full of delight.
Ppp. reads mahantam at beginning of a, and visṛṣṭam at end of c. The first pāda is nearly RV. v. 83. 8 a, which, however, reads úd acā ní ṣiñca. Our P.M.W. read tanvántām in c. The comm., doubtless correctly, understands the waters as the "them" of c; úd aca he explains as samudrād udakapūrṇam uddhara; he supplies antarikṣam to savidyutam; the expression is better understood as an impersonal one. ⌊With b, d, cf. RV. v. 83. 4 a, b.⌋
Here ends the third anuvāka, having 5 hymns and 51 verses; the quoted Anukr. says ekaviṅçatiḥ.
16. The power of the gods.
[Brahman.—navarcam. satyānṛtānvīkṣaṇasūktam. vāruṇam. trāiṣṭubham: 1. anuṣṭubh; 5. bhurij; 7. jagatī; 8. 3-p. mahābṛhatī; 9. virāṇnāmatripādgāyatr.]
Five verses of this hymn (in the verse-order 3, 2, 5, 8, 7) are found together in Pāipp. v., and parts of vss. 4 and 6 elsewhere in the same book. It is used by Kāuç. (48. 7) in a rite of sorcery against an enemy who "comes cursing"; and vs. 3 also in the portent-ceremony of the seven seers (127. 3), with praise to Varuṇa.
By reason of the exceptional character of this hymn as expression of the unrestricted presence and influence of superhuman powers, it has been a favorite subject of translation and discussion. Translated: Roth, Ueber den AV., p. 29; Max Müller, Chips from a German Workshop, i. 41 (1867); Muir, OST. v. 63; Ludwig, p. 388; Muir, Metrical Translations, p. 163; Kaegi, Der Rigveda2, p 89 f. (or p. 65 f. of R. Arrowsmith's translation of Kaegi), with abundant parallels from the Old Testament; Grill, 32, 126; Griffith, i. 153; Bloomfield, 88, 389; Weber, xviii. 66. Some of the above do not cover the entire hymn.—See also Hillebrandt, Veda-chrestomathie, p. 38; Bergaigne-Henry, Manuel, p. 146; further, Grohmann, Ind. Stud. ix. 406; Hermann Brunnhofer, Iran und Turan (1889), p. 188-196; Weber, Berliner Sb., 1894, p. 782 f.
⌊Weber entitles the hymn "Betheuerung der Unschuld, Eidesleistung"; see his instructive note, Ind. Stud. xviii. 66, note 2. "Comes cursing" hardly takes account of the voice of çapyamānam as used by Kāuç. 48. 7.⌋
1. The great superintendent of them sees, as it were, from close by; whoever thinks to be going on in secret, all this the gods know.
The verse is altogether wanting in Ppp. All the mss. read in a-b -tā́ ant- (p. -tā́: ant-), with irregular absence of combination across the cesura; the case might be one of those contemplated by Prāt. iii. 34, although not quoted in the comment on that rule; SPP. reads with the mss., and our edition might perhaps better have done the same (it is emended to -tā́ ’nt-). But SPP. also reads in c yás tāyát, instead of yá (i.e. yáḥ) stāyát*, while nearly all his pada-mss. (with all of ours) require the latter; his wholly insufficient reason seems to be that the comm. adopts tāyat; the comm. also has, as part of the same version, carat, and views the two words as contrasted, "stable" (sāṁtatyena vartamānaṁ sthiravastu) and "transient" (caraṇaçīlaṁ naçvaraṁ ca vastu), which is absurd: "he is great, because he knows (manyate=jānāti!) all varieties of being." The comm. understands eṣām as meaning "of our evil-minded enemies," and keeps up the implication throughout, showing no manner of comprehension of the meaning of the hymn. *⌊See Prāt. ii. 40, note, p. 426 near end.⌋
