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32
Neelima Mone
“O wife of Māna (?), you are the protection, comfortable, fixed down (i.e. made firm ) here by the gods in past. Wearing grass, be you of good mind and give us the wealth with ( i.e. accompanied by) horoes. Sā reads * nirmità in place of Nimitā. Following him, we have to change the meaning thus -'O Wife of the honourable protector of the construction, 5 protector, pleasant, being a goddess, you are created by the gods of the beginning of this creation 6 ---, In the AV, V mi with ni 'to fix down' is always used with the word śālā and/or sthúna. Our hymn also uses it in the 1st verse - ihaiva dhruvām ni minomi salām 'here only I fix down (make firm) a house', and in the 4th verse also, imăm șālám savitā váyür indro bịhaspatir ni minotu prājānan 'Itt Savits, Vāyu, Indra, Bphaspati fix down this dwelling, knowing our thoughts).' It seems to be a belief of Vedic times that gods fix down ile house. It is so expressed in many othej verses as in this verse; cf. AVS 9.3.19.7 Therefore it is too much advance over the seers of the AV to say that gods have 'created' the houses. Moreover while doing so, Sā goes against the Pp which everywhere reads nimita. AVP text also reads, devi devebhir nimitāsi (AVP text does not have accents). No ms is reported to read nirmita. So we find no solid reason to accept nirmita. 3.3 In verse 6 :
ऋतेन स्थणामधि रोह वंशोयो विराजन्नपबृक्ष्व शत्रून् ।
मा ते रिषैन्नुपसत्तारो गृहाणां शाले शत जीवेत शरदः सर्ववीराः ।, "Ascend the post, o beam, following the primordial order; shining pre-eminent, destroy the enemies. Let not the dwellers of the house be injured, O house; may we live, with all our heroes, hundred years. Following, Sā, who reads mārşan in place of mä rișan, the meaning of the line shall be 'may the dwellers not go (away), as Vrş. has a sense of 'going'. But Sā says mārşan ārtā himsitā mā bhū van 'may (they) not get killed', which is altogether a different sense of root Vrs. The Pp supports the reading as mā/rişan AVP 3.33.2 again has the same reading as AVŚ. AVŠ 2.6.2 mā te rişaan upasatāro agne (О Agni, may not your attendants - who sit by the side of you-be harmed') and AVŚ 11.1.25 (ārşeyás) te mã riran prāsitāraḥ (ʻlet not them-your partakers-suffer harm) have the phrase má rişan and not mārşan. Sā, both on AVŚ 2.6.2 and AVS 11.1.25 comments mā rişan mä vinaśyantu (may (they) not parish).
Then the problem is : why he reads here a different verb. With this grammatical form, the phrase means they should not injure' which Sā also gives as every wherę.
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