________________
VI, 79. COMMENTARY.
499
(and payasa in st. 2) surely alludes to sexual sap (cf. RV. I, 105, 2): some such sense as 'he causes the wife to increase with his semen' is to be expected. But vardhatâm is not causative, and we have given a purely philological rendering. Cf. also RV.X, 174, 1d; AV. I, 29, 1 d. Weber,
das (weib) mög' umwachsen er mit kraft;' Ludwig, die soll er mit dem besten gedeihen machen (vardhatâm);' Grill, für's weib ... nehm er an zeugungskräften zu.'
VI, 79. COMMENTARY TO PAGE 141. The performance which accompanies this charm at Kaus. 21,7 consists in placing a stone upon a grain-bag (cf. st. 2 b), sprinkling it, laying upon it a handful of grain with each of the three stanzas, and letting (another person also) lay on (three hands full). The hymn is also rubricated at Vait. Sa. 31,4; Gop. Br. II, 4, 9, where nábhasaspáti is explained as vayu, 'wind, and deva samsphâna as aditya, “sun.' The Atharvaniya-paddhati (Kaus. 19, 1, note) counts the hymn among the pushtika mantrah, 'hymns that produce prosperity.' The hymn recurs with notable variants at Tait. S. III, 3, 8, 2–3; cf. also III, 3, 8, 6.
Stansa 1. o. The Padapatha does not analyse ásamâtim, either here or at RV. X, 60, 2. 51. The Pet. Lex. renders it by 'incomparable.' Böhtlingk, in the smaller lexicon, emends it to ásamarti, 'exemption from injury;' cf. ásamartyai in the passage cited above from the Tait. S. We with Sayana, måtir mânam parikkhedas tena saha vartata iti samâtih, tadvaiparîtyam asamâtih.
Stanga 3.
c. The Påda is formulaic: Tait. Br. III, 7, 5, 7, tasyàs te bhakshivanah syama ; Maitr. S. I, 4, 3; 5, 3. 10; Åpast.
1 The later tradition regards asamâti as a proper name; cf. Sâyana on RV., and Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 33.
KK 2
Digiized by Google
