Here I should also prefer to place VII, 20, 4, if we might read mimikshe or mimyáksha, for it is impossible to take mímikshan for anything but a participle of the desiderative of mih, which does not yield an appropriate meaning.

ní vágram índrah mímikshan.

Grasping firmly the thunderbolt. (Sây. satrushu prâpayan.)

VI, 29, 3. sriyé te pâ´dâ dûvah â´ mimikshuh.

Thy servants embrace thy feet for their happiness. (Sây. âsiñkanti, samarpayanti.)

Like other verbs which mean to join, myaksh, if accompanied by prepositions expressive of separation, means to separate. (Cf. vi-yukta, se-junctus.)

II, 28, 6. ápo (íti) sú myaksha varuna bhiyásam mát.

Remove well from me, O Varuna, terror. (Sây. apagamaya.)

Quite distinct from this is the desiderative or inchoative verb mimiksh, from mih, in the sense of to sprinkle, or to shower, chiefly used with reference to the gods who are asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with rain. Thus we read:

I, 142, 3. mádhvâ yagñám mimikshati.

(Narâsamsa) sprinkles the sacrifice with rain.

IX, 107, 6. mádhvâ yagñám mimiksha nah.

Sprinkle (O Soma) our sacrifice with rain.

I, 34, 3. tríh adyá yagñám mádhunâ mimikshatam.

O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain thrice to-day!

I, 47, 4. mádhvâ yagñám mimikshatam.

O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain!

5. Without mádhu:

I, 22, 13. mahî´ dyaûh prithivî´ ka nah imám yagñám mimikshatâm.

May the great heaven and earth sprinkle this our sacrifice.

6. With mádhu in the accusative:

VI, 70, 5. mádhu nah dyâ´vâprithivî´ (íti) mimikshatâm.

May heaven and earth shower down rain for us.

Very frequently the Asvins are asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with their whip. This whip seems originally, like the whip of the Maruts, to have been intended for the cracking noise of the storm, preceding the rain. Then as whips had possibly some similarity to the instruments used for sprinkling butter on the sacrificial viands, the Asvins are

asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with their whip, i. e. to give rain:

I, 157, 4. mádhu-matyâ nah kasayâ mimikshatam.

O Asvins, sprinkle us with your rain-giving whip.

I, 22, 3. táyâ yagñám mimikshatam.

O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with it (your whip).

7. Lastly, we find such phrases as,

I, 48, 16. sám nah râyâ´—mimikshvá.

Sprinkle us with wealth, i. e. shower wealth down upon us. Here mih is really treated as a Hu-verb in the Âtmanepada, though others take it for mimikshasva.

As an adjective, mimikshú is applied to Indra (III, 50, 3), and mimikshá to Soma (VI, 34, 4).