13. Whenever the black bird, coming hither, hath sat upon the orifice, surprising (tsar) what is resolved (vi-sañj), or when the barbarian woman (dāsī́) with wet hands smears over—cleanse, ye waters, the mortar [and] pestle.
Ppp. combines in a çakune ’ha, and reads in c dāsī vā yad, and in d ⌊cf. vss. 21 and 26 and note to vi. 115. 3⌋ çundhatā ”paḥ. Kāuç. quotes the verse in 8. 14, and the coram, also under 2. 6, but they cast no light on the obscure first half-verse. The verse is a good triṣṭubh, yet the Anukr. attempts to give it some special description, of which the text is corrupt and unintelligible (yad-yat kṛṣṇa ity āthā).
14. Let this pressing-stone, broad-based, vigor-bestowing, purified by purifiers, smite away the demon; mount thou the hide; yield great protection; let not the husband-and-wife fall into evil proceeding from sons (pāútra).
Ppp. has at the end gāthām, with which, of course, dampatī would have to be understood as vocative, unaccented. Expressions like that in d are found in several of the Sūtras: in AGS. i. 13. 7, mā ’ham pāutram aghaṁ ni yām (should be gām, probably); in PGS. i. 5. 11, yathe ’yaṁ strī pāutram aghaṁ na rodāt; and the same in HGS. i. 19. 7, with pāutram ānandam as antithesis to it. The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 61. 18 (in connection with xi. 1. 9), to accompany the setting of mortar, pestle, and winnowing basket, after sprinkling, upon the hide.
15. The forest tree hath come to us together with the gods, forcing off the demon, the piçācás; he shall rise up (ut-çri), shall speak forth his voice; with him may we conquer all worlds.
Ppp. reads and combines sāu ’cchrāyātāi in c, and reads api for abhi in d. According to Kāuç. 61. 21, one sets up the pestle with this verse; in 125. 3 the verse is used with reference to the sacrificial post ⌊in case it puts forth fresh shoots⌋; and similarly in Vāit. 10. 8 ⌊in the paçubandha⌋.
16. Seven sacrifices (médha) the cattle enclosed—which ⌊the relative pronoun⌋ of them was full of light, and which was pining; to them thirty deities attach themselves; do thou (m.) conduct us (pl.) unto the heavenly (svargá) world.
Our Bp. reads tarn in c, and a few of the saṁhitā-mss. (P.M.W.E.) agree with it; tā́m is certainly wrong, but tám would be an acceptable improvement. Ppp. has medhasvān instead of jyotiṣmān (and the latter must be taken as having the sense of the former); also cakarṣa in b, and neṣi in d. ⌊For neṣa, see Gram. § 896.⌋ The verse is quoted in Kāuç. 61. 13, to accompany the handling or stroking of something by the two spouses ⌊with their offspring⌋. Pāda b has a redundant syllable, unnoticed by the Anukr., unless we contract to yāi ’ṣām.
17. Unto the heavenly world shalt thou conduct us (pl.); may we be united with wife, with sons; I grasp [her (?)] hand; let her (?) come here after me; let not destruction pass us, nor the niggard.
The last pāda is nearly the same with vi. 124. 3 d; cf. also ii. 7. 4 c, d. Ppp. ends d with no ‘rātiḥ. The verse is a good triṣṭubh, and its description by the Anukr. is absurd. Kāuç. 61. 14 uses the latter half-verse, not in a way to cast light on its meaning.
