Raudra-slant

The occurrence of “gandharva” in this śloka of the Vāyupurāṇa may not be a textual corruption, in light of this mantra & its brãhmaṇa from the Kaṭhāraṇyakam, which identifies Rudra as the Gandharva-Bhuvanapati.

The lost parts of the kaTha tradition, which was once practiced kashmIra, pA~nchanada & gandhAra also had distinctive rudrian material, e.g., Yajus incantations for the worship of Rudra from the Kāṭhaka

The above cited brAhmaNa comes just before the famous brAhmaNa section on the arrival of rudra in svarga and the deva-s pacifying him. The frame of this brAhmaNa was later used in the atharvashiras. That kaTha-s used the AV-like rudra (linked in first twt) to their shatarudrIya is suggested by this AraNyaka in the pravargya context: it has a brAhmaNa on the ending of the shatarudrIya combined with the AV-rudra-like mantra-s: “namo rudrAya diviShade yasaya varSham iShavaH”

In the shatarudrIya in plural:

namo astu rudrebhyo ye divi
yeShAM varSham iShavas
tebhyo dasha prAchIr
dasha dakShiNA
dasha pratIchIr
dashodIchIr
dashordhvAs
tebhyo namo astu
te no mR^iDayantu
te yaM dviShmo yash cha no dveShTi
tam eShAM jambhe dadhAmi |

Regarding the above it states:

varShaM vA eSha iShUH kR^itvA
prajA hinasti
yadograM varShati |
tasmai nama iti
varSham eva shivaM karoti |
tena mA sam ara iti
mA sambAdhe samAgamAmetye+++(=??-)+++ vai tad Aha |

the “tena mA sam ara..” correspond to the AV-like mantra:

rudreNAdhvaghAtinA
tena mA sam arAmahi |

The kaTha-s also have a peculiar identification of rudra & puShan keeping with their functional overlap seen in terms like puShTipati & pashupat; thus it says:

puShNa AghR^iNaye svAhA+ iti pa~nchAhutIr juhoti |
pUShA vai rudro
rudra AghR^iNir
etAni vai rudrasya ugrANi nAmAni ||