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III, 7. COMMENTARY,
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attempting to explain obscurum per obscurius. Perhaps the swiftness of the animal (st. 1) symbolises the rapid removal of the disease. The skin of the antelope is used for an amulet at Kaus. 16, 3, the horn at Sat. Br. III, 2, 2, 20; Apast. Sr. X, 9, 17; Santikalpa 17, and 19. We must not forget, of course, that vishana, 'horn,' suggests ví shyati, 'loosen,' and that the entire employment of the horn may therefore be in its capacity as a 'loosener' of disease (cf. the introduction to VI, 44). The hymn puns freely upon these words; cf. sts. I, 2. In general there are many points of contact between Kausika's practices and the stanzas. The first two stanzas occur (with variants) at Åpast. Sr. XIII, 7, 16; the second ib. X, 10, 3. The hymn has been translated by Weber, Ind. Stud. XVII, 208 ff.; Grill", pp. 8, 105 ff. The Anukramani has, saptarkam yakshmanâsanadevatam uta bahudevatyam, anushtubham, bhrigvangirà adyabhis tisribhir harinam astaut, parayà (st. 4) târake, parayå (st. 5)-pah, parabhyâm (sts. 6, 7) yakshmanâsanam.
Stanza 1. 4. At Åpast. Sr. XIII, 7, 16 most MSS. read raghushyato, genitive of the participle raghushyant, but two MSS. report the reading of our text.
0, d. vishanaya vishûknam are in punning alliteration with one another and with vi shyati, 'loosen' (understood; cf. vishane vi shya in st. 2).
Stanza 2. b. For padbhís the Åpast. Sr., ib., reads padbhis; see our Contributions, Second Series, Amer. Journ. Phil. XI, 350 ff. (cf. also Sat. Br. XIII, 2, 7,6), and especially pp. 352–3, where we have endeavoured to prove that the expression with (four) feet' has come to have the general value of quickly, nimbly, briskly.' The fact that human beings have but two feet, the swifter animals four, is of far greater salience to the Hindu mind than to ours; cf. Maitr. S. I, 5, 10 (p. 78, l. 12), Ait. Br. III, 31, 13, and especially Tait. S. V, 4, 12, 1.
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