Note [1:58:1:1]1. I believe that Professor Aufrecht (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXV, 435) is right in reading nu' kit sahah-ga'h amritah nu tandate. Comp. as to nu' kit nu, I, 120, 2; VI, 37, 3; VII, 22, 8. Agni is frequently called atandrah dutah or similarly. Possibly we might read, instead of nu tandate, ni tandate, though parallel passages for the combination of this root with ni are not known.--Prof. Max

[paragraph continues] Muller's opinion is different. He writes: We say, der Funke schlagt oder fangt. Why should not the Hindu have said that Agni strikes out. That would be vi tundate, Agni schlagt aus im Augenblick. But even ni tundate may have been used in the sense of the spark striking down on the tinder--the atasas, mentioned in verse 2--which he ignites. I should translate: 'The strength-begotten immortal strikes down or breaks forth (vi) quickly, whenever the Hotri (Agni) becomes the messenger of the sacrificer (?).'

Note [1:58:1:2]2. I cannot follow Aufrecht in his translation 'zum boten des opfernden.' Comp. on Agni as the messenger of Vivasvat, Bergaigne, Rel. Vedique, I, 87; H. O., Religion des Veda, 122, 275.

Verse 2.

Note [1:58:2:1]1. Literally, his back shines like a racer. On this kind of comparison, see Bergaigne, Melanges Renier, 86; Pischel, Vedische Studien, I, 107.

Verse 3.

Note [1:58:3:1]1. Krana': comp. von Bradke, Dyaus Asura, Ahura Mazda und die Asuras, p. 36; Pischel, Vedische Studien, I, 70.

Note [1:58:3:2]2. Bergaigne, Rel. Vedique, I, 59 seq.

Verse 4.

Note [1:58:4:1]1. On vritha, see Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, 116; Neisser, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XIX, 148 seq.

Note [1:58:4:2]2. The meaning is: with his flames which are sharp like a sickle. Srini is written here as a paroxytonon; in several other passages it is an oxytonon. Such differences are not quite rare, and there is no reason for taking on this account srinya as an instr. plur. fem. of the adjective srinya, 'mit verkurzter Endung' (Geldner, loc. cit.). 'His sickle is the sharp edge of Agni.' M. M.--On guhu'bhih, comp. Pischel, Vedische Studien, II, 111.

Note [1:58:4:3]3. As to vrishayase with the accusative, comp. Gaedicke, 74. RV. X, 44, 4. urgah skambham ... vrishayase.

Note [1:58:4:4]4. With the last Pada comp. IV, 7, 9. krishnam te ema rusatah purah bha'h.

Verse 5.

Note [1:58:5:1]1. That is, among the fuel.

Note [1:58:5:2]2. I think that we have here probably--(though, of course, this explanation can be avoided)--an anacoluthon. The poet began with the nominative (abhivragan), and then he changed the construction and went on as if he had begun with the ablative, taking sthatuh karatham (comp. Lanman, 422) as the subject instead of Agni.--Patatrinah seems to be nom. pl.; comp. I, 94, 11 (see below).

Verse 7.