2. Let breath call unto us; we call unto breath; the earth, the atmosphere hath seized (grah) splendor; splendor [also] Soma, Bṛihaspati, the maintainer.
Some mss. (including most of the pada-mss.) begin b with úpa hvayám. In c, one of SPP's mss. and Ppp. combine pṛthivy ānt-. At the end, the pada-mss. have correctly dhartā́; the saṁhitā-mss. vary between this and dhattā́, dhattā́m, and dhattā́t; and the reciter K. gave vidhartā́. The comm's text (SPP.) has vidhattām, but his explanation reads vidhattā (misreading for -arttā?) viçeṣeṇa dhartā ’gniḥ sūryo vā; and SPP. most strangely adopts the senseless vidhattā́ (it is read also by one ms.). Ppp. gives instead bibhartu, which is not bad. Furthermore, Ppp. begins a with apa, but b with upa. The seizing of splendor by these various divinities is, according to the comm., for the purpose of giving it to us. Pādas b and d lack each a syllable. ⌊A similar antithesis with upahū occurred at i. 1. 4, and others were pointed out there.⌋
3. Heaven-and-earth have become joint-seizers of splendor; seizing splendor may we go about upon the earth; with glory the kine, coming, wait upon (upa-sthā) the lord of kine; seizing glory may we go about upon the earth.
⌊The verse is by no means one of 4 pādas, but rather one of 6 (a-f: so designated below): in fact, it is a regular anuṣṭubh, to each half of which is added in prose an ūha-refrain (varco etc., yaço etc.) of 14 syllables.⌋ The mss. read in b babhūváthus, accenting also dyā́vāpṛthivī́; the translation implies the simpler and more probable emendation to -vatus; ⌊and of course the retention of the ms.-accentuation of dyā́vāpṛthivī́: correct the Berlin ed. accordingly;⌋ SPP. leaves both words unchanged, without heeding their irreconcilable character; that the comm. takes dyā́vāpṛthivī́ as vocative is simply in accord with his usual disregard of the accent. In c and f, the mss. vary between ánu-sam ⌊so most⌋, anu-sám, and ánu sám (the pada-mss. have anu॰sáṁcarema: but one has ánu॰saṁcarema!); SPP. adopts ánu sám ⌊cf. note to Prāt. iv. 3⌋, against our anu-sám; there is little choice between the two. In d, the mss. in general begin with yaçásām ⌊some with yáçasām⌋, two or three having yáçasam or yaçásam; SPP. adopts the last, we yáçasā; here, again, there is little to choose; the comm. explains yaçasā, though his text (SPP.) gives yaçasām. The comm. foolishly takes āyatī́s in e as, jointly with yáças, object of gṛhītvā́ in f, supplying dhenūs for it to qualify. The verse counts (16 + 14: 16 + 14 = 60) as a full atiçakvarī; ⌊but see beginning of this paragraph⌋.
4. Make ye a pen (vrajá), for that is men-protecting for you; sew ye coats-of-mail (várman), abundant, broad; make ye strongholds of metal, unattackable (ádhṛṣṭā); let not your bowl leak (sru); make it strong.
