22. Together the bones (kapā́la) of thy head, and the discusser (vidhú) of thy heart—arising, O Āditya, thou with thy rays hast made disappear the disease of the head, hast pacified the limb-splitter.
The first two pādas seem independent; an unfinished construction. The pada-text reads vi॰dhúḥ in b, as if it recognized in the word the root dhū + vi; this is not implausible, and the translation follows it (the simple "beat" of the Pet. Lexx. seems quite unacceptable; it might be 'palpitation'). But Ppp. reads instead vidus, and so do a part of our mss., namely, W.O.s.m.D.Kp. ⌊W. interlines a query over "discusser," which word he coins and uses in the sense 'shaker asunder.' "Discuss" in this sense is "obsolete except in surgical use."⌋ Ppp. further has, for our c etc.: udyat sūryādityo an̄gāni roma nakhāni sarvāṇi sadanāni nīnaçat.
⌊The fourth anuvāka, with 2 hymns and 48 verses, ends here. The quoted Anukr. says navadaçā ’pare ca.⌋
9. Mystic.
[Brahman.—dvāviṅçakam. vāmīyam ādityadevatyam adhyātmakaram. trāiṣṭubham: 12, 14, 16, 18. jagatī.]
This hymn and the following (except a few verses of the latter) are one Rig-Veda hymn, namely, i. 164, and but a small part of them occur in any other Vedic text. Both are found in Pāipp. xvi., in somewhat changed verse-order, as will be noted under the different verses below. Vāit. takes no notice of this hymn; in Kāuç. it (vs. 1) is quoted in 18. 25, with various others, in a ceremony for prosperity; and the gaṇamālā (see note to Kāuç. 18. 25) reckons it as belonging to the salila gaṇa.
Translated: as RV. hymn, by Ludwig, no. 951; and Grassmann, ii. p. 456-460; also by M. Haug, under the tide, Vedische Räthselfragen und Räthselsprüche, Sb. der philos.-philol. Classe der k. bairischen Ak. der Wiss., Bd. II., Heft 3, für 1875, München, 1876 (the essay, says Whitney, "casts extremely little light upon its labored obscurities"); further, with an elaborate comment touching the significance of its philosophic content, by Deussen, Geschichte, i. 1. 105-119; parts also by Muir, v. (see Index, p. 484), and Hillebrandt, Ved. Mythol., i. (see Index, p. 542); and under the title, Zwei Sprüche über Leib und Seele, ZDMG. xlvi. 759 f., Roth explains two verses answering to our ix. 10. 8 and 16. Under the title. Das Räthsel vom Jahre, ZDMG. xlviii. 353, E. Windisch discusses the RV. verse answering to our vs. 12.
Translated, moreover, as AV. hymn, by Henry, 107, 143; Griffith, i. 458. The critical remarks of Oldenberg, IFA. vi. 180-183, may also be consulted.—Further, von Schroeder, Der Rigveda bei den Kaṭhas, WZKM. xii. 282, reports variants for certain vss. of the RV. hymn which correspond to our vss. ix. 9. 9, 12, 17, 22 and ix. 10. 16.—Finally, A. Wünsche's essay. Das Rätsel vom Jahr und seinen Zeitabschnitten in der Weltlitteratur, may be cited in this connection; it is found in Zeitschrift für vergl. Litteraturgeschichte, N.F., ix. 425-456.
1. Of this pleasant (vāmá) hoary invoker—of him the brother is the midmost stone (? áçna); his third brother [is] ghee-backed; there I saw the lord of the people who hath seven sons.
The three brothers are explained as the three forms of Agni, in heaven, in the atmosphere (lightning), and on earth (sacrificial fire): the 'seven sons' are most probably his many flames. ⌊The collocation of madhyamó with bhrā́tā would seem more natural, considering the phrase tṛtī́yo bhrā́tā.
