Atharvaveda, Book 5

¹He who with special plans and deathless spirit, waxing, well- born, hath come unto his birth-place, As he who shines upholds the days, thus Trita, of pure life, bears the Three as their supporter.

²He who, the first, approached the holy statutes makes, after, many beauteous forms and figures. Eager to drink, his birth-place first he entered who understands the word when yet unspoken.

³He who--the fluid gold, with radiant kinsmen--to fervent glow delivered up thy body, On him both set names, that shall live for ever: to him the regions shall send robes to clothe him,

⁴As these have gone to their primeval station, each gaining an imperishable dwelling, May kissing mothers of the bards' beloved bring the pole-draw- ing husband to the sister.

⁵By holy wisdom I a sage, Far-Strider! offer to thee this lofty adoration. This worship both the mighty eddying rivers, coming together to this station, heighten.

⁶Seven are the pathways which the wise have fashioned: to one of these may come the troubled mortal. On sure ground where the ways are parted standeth Life's Pillar in the dwelling of the Highest.

⁷Working, I go my way with deathless spirit: life, spirit, bodies have gone gladly thither. Aye, Sakra also gives his gift of treasure as when the sacrificer meets with power.

⁸Yea, the son asks dominion of his father: this they declared the noblest path to welfare. Varuna, let them see thy revelations: display the wondrous shapes of times to follow.

⁹Halt with the milk, its other half, thou minglest and with that half, strong! unbeguiled! increasest. Let us exalt the gracious friend, the mighty, Varuna son of- Aditi, strength-giver. We have told him the marvels sung by poets. The utterance of Heaven and Earth is truthful.

¹In all the worlds That was the best and highest whence sprang the Mighty One of splendid valour. As soon as born he overcomes his foemen, when those rejoice in him who bring him succour.

²Grown mighty in his strength, with ample vigour, he as a foe strikes fear into the Dasa, Eager to win the breathing and the breathless: All sang thy praise at banquet and oblation.

³All concentrate on thee their mental vigour what time these, twice or thrice, are thine assistants, Blend what is sweeter than the sweet with sweetness win quickly with our meath that meath in battle.

⁴If verily in every war the sages joy and exult in thee who win- nest treasures, With mightier power, strong God, extend thy firmness: let not malevolent Kaokas harm thee.

⁵Proudly we put our trust in thee in battles, when we behold great wealth the prize of combat. I with my words impel thy weapons onward, and sharpen with my prayer thy vital vigour.

⁶Thou in that house, the highest or the lowest, which thy protec- tion guards, bestowest riches. Establish ye the ever-wandering mother, and bring full many deeds to their completion.

⁷Praise in the height Him who hath many pathways, courageous, strongest, Aptya of the Aptyas Through strength he shows himself of ample power: pattern of Prithivi, he fights and conquers.

⁸Brihaddiva, the foremost of light-winners, hath made these holy prayers, this strength for Indra. Free Lord, he rules the mighty fold of cattle, winning, aglow, even all the billowy waters.

⁹Thus hath Brihaddiva, the great Atharvan, spoken to Indra as himself in person. Two sisters free from stain, the Matarivans, with power impel him onward and exalt him.

¹Let strength be mine while I invoke thee, Agni! enkindling thee may we support our bodies. May the four regions bend and bow before me: with thee for guardian may we win the combat.

²Baffling the range of our opponents, Agni! guard us as our protector round about us. Down the steep slope go they who hate us, backward, and let their thought who watch at home be ruined.

³May all the Gods be on my side in battle, the Maruts led by Indra, Vishnu, Agni. Mine be the middle air's extended region, and may the Wind blow favouring these my wishes.

⁴For me let them present all mine oblations, and let my mind's intention be accomplished. May I be guiltless of the least transgression: may all the Gods come hither and protect me.

⁵May the Gods grant me riches, may the blessing and invocation of the Gods assist me. This boon shall the celestial Hotars win us: may we, unwound- ed, have brave heroes round us.

⁶Ye six divine Expanses, give us freedom. Here, all ye Gods, acquit yourselves like heroes. Let not calamity or curse o'ertake us, nor deeds of wickedness that merit hatred.

⁷Do ye three Goddesses give ample shelter and all success to us ourselves and children. Let us not lose our children or our bodies: let us not benefit the foe, King Soma!

⁸Foodful and much-invoked, at this our calling may the far- reaching Bull grant us wide shelter. Lord of bay coursers, Indra, bless our children: harm us not, give us not as prey to others.

⁹Lord of the world, Creator and Disposer, may the God Savitar who quells assailants, May the Adityas, Rudras, both the Asvins, Gods, guard the sacrificer from destruction.

¹⁰Let those who are our foemen stay afar from us: with Indra and with Agni we will drive them off. The Adityas and the Rudras, over us on high, have made me strong, a thinker, and a sovran lord.

¹¹Yea, we call Indra hitherward, the winner of wealth in battle and of kine and horses. May he mark this our worship when we call him, Lord of bay steeds, thou art our friend and comrade.

¹Thou who wast born on mountains, thou most mighty of all plants that grow. Thou Banisher of Fever, come, Kushtha! make Fever pass away.

²Brought from the Snowy Mountain, born on the high hill where eagles breed, Men seek to buy thee when they hear: for Fever's Banisher they know.

³In the third heaven above us stands the Asvattha tree, the seat of Gods. There the Gods sought the Kushtha Plant, embodiment of end- less life.

⁴There moved through heaven a golden ship, a ship with cordage wrought of Gold. There the Gods won the Kushtha Plant, the blossom of eternal life.

⁵They sailed on pathways paved with gold, the oars they piled were wrought of gold: All golden were the ships wherein they carried Kushtha down to earth.

⁶O Kushtha, bring thou hitherward this man of mine, restore his health, Yes, free him from disease for me.

⁷Thou art descended from thee Gods, Soma's benignant friend art thou, Befriend my breath and vital air be gracious unto this mine eye.

⁸Sprung, northward, from the Snowy Hill thou art conveyed to eastern men. There they deal out among themselves Kushtha's most noble qualities.

⁹Most excellent, indeed, art thou, Kushtha! most noble is thy sire. Make all Consumption pass away and render Fever powerless.

¹⁰Malady that affects the head, eye-weakness, bodily defect-- All this let Kushtha heal and cure: aye, godlike is the vigorous power.

¹Aryaman is thy grandsire, Night thy mother, and the Cloud thy sire. Thy name is called Silachi. Thou, thyself, art sister of the Gods.

²Whoever drinketh thee hath life: thou savest and protectest man. As nursing mother of mankind, thou takest all upon thy lap.

³Thou clingest close to every tree, as a fond damsel clasps her love. Thy name is called The Conqueror, She who Stands Fast, The Rescuer.

⁴Whatever wound the arrow, or the staff, or violence inflicts, Thereof thou art the remedy: as such restore this man to health.

⁵Thou springest from blest Plaxa, or Asvattha, Dhava, Khadira, Parna, or blest Nyagrodha, so come thou to use, Arundhati!

⁶Gold-coloured, bringing happy fate, most lovely, brilliant as the Sun, Mayst thou, O Healing! come unto the fracture: Healing is thy name.

⁷Gold-coloured, bringing happy fate, odorous, hairy-bodied one, The sister of the Waters art thou, Laksha! and thy soul is Wind.

⁸Silachi is thy name: thy sire, O goat-brown! is a damsel's son. Thou hast been sprinkled by the mouth of Yama's tawny- coloured horse.

⁹Issuing from the horse's blood away she glided to the trees. Become a winged water-brook, and come to us, Arundhati!

¹Eastward at first the prayer was generated: Vena disclosed bright flashes from the summit, Disclosed his deepest nearest revelations, womb of the non- existent and existent.

²None have attained to those of old, those who wrought holy acts for you, Let them not harm our heroes here. Therefore I set before you this.

³Sweet-tongued, exhaustless, they have sent their voices down together in heaven's vault that pours a thousand streams. His wildly-restless warders never close an eye: in every place the snarers stand to bind men fast.

⁴Speed forward, conquering all foes, to win the spoil, Thou comest on thy haters with a surging sea. Thy name is Fragile. The thirteenth month is Indra's home.

⁵Through this now hast thou sent thy gifts. All hail! With sharpened arms and missiles, kind and friendly, be gracious unto us, Soma and Rudra!

⁶Through this hast thou been left in want. All hail! With sharpened arms and missiles, kind and friendly, be gracious unto us, Soma and Rudra!

⁷Through this hast thou committed faults. All hail! With sharpened arms and missiles, kind and friendly, be gracious unto us, Soma and Rudra!

⁸Free us from trouble, free us from dishonour, accept our wor- ship, give us life immortal.

⁹O missile of the eye, missile of spirit, thou missile of devotion and of fervour! Thou art the weapon shot against the weapon. Let those be weaponless who sin against us.

¹⁰Make with thy weapon weaponless, O Agni, all wicked men who deal with us as foemen with eye, with thought, with spirit, or intention.

¹¹Thou art the house of Indra. I betake me to thee, I enter thee with all my cattle, With all my people and with all my body, with all my soul, with mine entire possessions.

¹²Thou art the guard of Indra. I betake me to thee, etc.

¹³Thou art the shield of Indra. I betake me to thee, etc.

¹⁴Indra's protection art thou. I betake me to thee, I enter thee with all my cattle. With all my people and with all my body, with all my soul, with mine entire possessions.

¹Bring thou to us, bar not the way, Arati! Stay not the guerdon that is being brought us. Homage be paid to Failure, to Misfortune, and Malignity.

²The man whom thou preferrest, O Arati, he who prates to us-- This man of thine, we reverence. Baffle not thou my heart's desire,

³May our desire which Gods have roused fulfil itself by day and night. We seek to win Arati: to Arati be our homage paid.

⁴We, suppliant, call on Bhaga, on Sarasvati, Anumati, Pleasant words have I spoken, sweet as honey is, at invocations of the Gods.

⁵The portion that I crave with speech intelligent and full of power, May faith, presented with the gift of tawny Soma, find to-day.

⁶Do not thou make our words or wishes fruitless. Let the twain Indra Agni, bring us treasures. All, fain to-day to give us gifts, welcome Arati with your love.

⁷Misfortune! go thou far away: we turn thy harmful dart aside. I know thee well, Arati! as oppressor, one who penetrates.

⁸Oft, coming as a naked girl thou hauntest people in their sleep, Baffling the thought, Arati! and the firm intention of a man.

⁹To her the mighty vast in size, who penetrates all points of space, To her mine homage have I paid, Nirriti with her golden hair.

¹⁰Auspicious, with her golden hue, pillowed on gold, the mighty one To this Arati clad in robes of gold mine homage have I paid.

¹With fuel of Vikankata bring molten butter to the Gods. O Agni, make them joyful here: let them all come unto my call.

²O Indra, come unto my call, This will I do. So hear it thou. Let these exertions for the sake of Indra guide my wish aright. Therewith, O Jatavedas, Lord of Bodies! may we win us strength.

³Whatever plot from yonder, O ye Gods, that godless man would frame, Let not the Gods come to his call, nor Agni bear his offering up. Come, ye, come hither to my call.

⁴Run, ye Fxertions, farther on By Indra's order smite and slay. As a wolf worrieth a sheep, so let not him escape from you while life remains. Stop fast his breath.

⁵The Brahman whom those yonder have appointed priest, for injury, He, Indra! is beneath thy feet. I cast him to the God of Death.

⁶If they have issued forth, strongholds of Gods, and made their shield of prayer, Gaining protection for their lives, protection round about, make all their instigation powerless.

⁷Exertions which that man hath made, Exertions which he yet will make Turn them, O Indra, back again, O Vritra-slayer, back again on him that they may kill that man.

⁸As Indra, having seized him, set his foot upon Udvachana, Even so for all the coming years I cast those men beneath my feet.

⁹Here, Indra Vritra-slayer, in thy strength pierce thou their vital. parts. Here, even here, attack them, O Indra. Thine own dear friend am I. Indra, we closely cling to thee. May we be in thy favouring grace.

¹All hail to Heaven!

²All hail to Earth!

³All hail to Air!

⁴All hail to Air!

⁵All hail to Heaven!

⁶All hail to Eartht!

⁷Mine eye is Siirya and my breath is Vata, Air is my soul and Prithivi my body. I verily who never have been conquered give up my life toe Heaven and Earth for keeping.

⁸Exalt my life, my strength, my deed and action; increase my understanding and my vigour. Be ye my powerful keepers, watch and guard me, ye mistresses of life and life's creators! Dwell ye within me, and forbear to harm me.

¹Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the eastern quarter. May he encounter it!

²Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the southern quarter. May he encounter it!

³Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the western quarter. May he encounter it!

⁴Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from northern quarter. May he encounter it!

⁵Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the stedfast region. May he encounter it! r 6.Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against Lme from the lofty region! M iy he encounter it!

⁶Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who from points intermediate fights against me. May he encounter it!

⁷With Brihat I invoke the mind, with Matarisvan both the breaths, The eye from Surya, and the ear from Air, the body from the Earth. We, with Sarasvati who suits the mind, call Speech to come to us.

¹How, terrible in might, hast thou here spoken to the great God, how to the gold-hued Father! Thy mind watched, greedy Varuna! to recover the brindled cow thou hadst bestowed as guerdon.

²Not through desire do I revoke my present: I bring this brind- led cow to contemplate her. Now by what lore, by what inherent nature, knowest thou all things that exist, Atharvan?

³Truly I am profound in wisdom, truly I know by nature all existing creatures. No Dasa by his greatness, not an Arya, may violate the law that I will stablish.

⁴None, self-dependent Varuna! existeth wiser than thou or sager by his wisdom. Thou knowest well all these created beings: even the man of wondrous powers fears thee.

⁵O self-dependent Varuna, wise director, thou knowest verily all generations. What is, unerring one! beyond this region? What more remote than that which is most distant?

⁶One thing there is beyond this air, and something beyond that one, most hard to reach, remotest. I, Varuna, who know, to thee declare it. Let churls be mighty in the lower regions. Let Dasas sink into the earth beneath them.

⁷Many reproaches, Varuna, dost thou utter against the misers. who revoke their presents. Be not thou added to that crowd of niggards: let not men call thee an illiberal giver.

⁸Let not men call me an illiberal giver. I give thee back the brindled cow, O singer. Attend in every place where men inhabit, with all thy powers, the hymn that tells my praises.

⁹Let hymns of praise ascend to thee, uplifted in every place of human habitation. But give me now the gift thou hast not given. Thou art my friend for ever firm and faithful.

¹⁰One origin, Varuna! one bond unites us I know the nature of that common kinship. I give thee now the gift that I retracted. I am thy friend for ever firm and faithful.

¹¹God, giving life unto the god who lauds me, Sage strengthener of the sage who sings my praises. Thou, self-dependent Varuna! hast begotten the kinsman of the Gods, our sire Atharvan. On him bestow most highly-lauded riches. Thou art our friend, high over all, our kinsman.

¹Thou in the house of man this day enkindled worshippest Gods as God, O Jatavedas. Observant, bright as Mitra, bring them hither. Thou art a sapient and foreknowing envoy.

²Tanunapat, fair-tongued! with sweet meath balming the baths and ways of Order, make them pleasant. Bear to the Gods our sacrifice, exalting with holy thoughts our hymns of praise and worship.

³Invoked, deserving prayer and adoration, O Agni, come accor dant with the Vasus. Thou art, O youthful Lord, the Gods' Invoker, so, best of sacri- ficers, bring them quickly.

⁴By rule the Sacred Grass is scattered eastward, a robe to clothe this earth when dawns are breaking. Widely it spreads around and far extended, fair for the Gods and bringing peace and freedom,

⁵Let the expansive Doors be widely opened, like wives who deck their beauty for their husbands. Lofty, celestial, all-impelling Portals, admit the Gods and give them easy entrance!

⁶Pouring sweet dews let holy Night and Morning, each close to each, be seated at their station,-- Lofty, celestial Dames with gold to deck them, assuming all their fair and radiant beauty.

⁷Come the first two celestial sweet-voiced Hotars, arranging sacrifice for man to worship, As singers who inspire us in assemblies, showing the eastern light with their direction!

⁸Let Bharati come quickly to our worship and Ila showing like a human being. So let Sarasvati and both her fellows, deft Goddesses, on this fair grass be seated.

⁹Hotar more skilled in sacrifice, bring hither with speed to-day God Tvashar, thou who knowest, Even him who formed these two, the Earth and Heaven, the Parents, with their forms, and every creature.

¹⁰Bring thou to our oblations which thou balmest the companies of Gods in ordered season. Agni, Vanaspati, the Immolator sweeten our offered gifts with meath and butter!

¹¹Agni as soon as he was born made ready the sacrifice and was the Gods' preceder. May the Gods eat our offering consecrated according to this true Priest's voice and guidance.

¹Varuna, Sage of heaven, hath given me the gift: with spells of mighty power I draw thy poison out. Dug up, not dug, adherent, I have seized it fast: low hath thy venom sunk like water in the sands.

²All the non-fluid portion of thy venom, I receive in these. I take thy middlemost, thy highest, lowest juice: may it be spent and lest by reason of thy fear.

³Strong is my cry like thunder with the rainy cloud: with power- ful incantation let thy strength be stayed. I, with the men to aid, have seized that juice of his; as light from out the gloom, let Surya rise on high

⁴I with this eye destroy thine eye, and with this poison conquer thine. Live not, O Snake, but die the death: back go thy venom on thyself.

⁵Listen to me, Black Snakes and hateful creatures, Lurker-in- Grass, Karait, and Brown, and Spotty, Approach not near the house my friend inhabits: give warning, and rest quiet with your poison.

⁶Even as the cord that strings the bow, I slacken, as it were, the cars. Of the All-conquering serpent's wrath, of the fierce rage of Black, and Brown, Taimata, and Apodaka.

⁷And Aligi and Viligi, their father and the mother too,-- What will ye do? Your venomed sap, we know, is utterly powerless.

⁸Daughter of Urugula, she-fiend whom the black, skinned mother bare-- All female serpents poison who crept swiftly near is impotent.

⁹Dwelling beside the mountain's slope, the quick-eared porcupine exclaimed: Of all these she-snakes homed in earth the poison is most powerless.

¹⁰Tabuva or not Tabuva, thou verily art not Tabuva: poison is killed by Tabuva. Tastuva or not Tastuva, thou verily art not Tastuva: poison is killed by Tastuva.

¹An eagle found thee: with his snout a wild boar dug thee from the earth. Harm thou, O Plant, the mischievous, and drive the sorcerer away.

²Beat thou the Yatudhanas back, drive thou away the sorcerer; And chase afar, O Plant, the man who fain would do us injury.

³As 'twere a strip cut round from skin of a white-footed an- telope, Bind, like a golden chain, O God, his witchcraft on the sorcerer.

⁴Take thou his sorcery by the hand, and to the sorcerer lead it back. Lay it before him, face to face, that it may kill the sorcerer.

⁵Back on the wizard fall his craft, upon the curser light his curse! Let witchcraft, like a well-naved car, roll back upon the sorcerer.

⁶Whoso, for other's harm hath dealt-woman or man-in magic arts, To him we lead the sorcery back, even as a courser with a rope.

⁷Now whether thou hast been prepared by Gods or been pre- pared by men, We, with our Indra at our side to aid us, lead thee back again.

⁸Agni, victorious in fight, subdue the armies of our foes! Back on the sorcerer we cast his sorcery, and beat it home.

⁹Thou who hast piercing weapons, pierce him who hath wrought it; conquer him. We do not sharpen thee to slay the man who hath not practised it.

¹⁰Go as a son goes to his sire: bite as a trampled viper bites. As one who flies from bonds, go back, O Witchcraft, to the sorcerer.

¹¹Even as the timid antelope or hind from her assailant flees, So swiftly let the sorcery o'ertake and reach the sorcerer.

¹²Straighter than any arrow let it fly against him, Heaven and Earth. So let that witchcraft seize again the wizard like a beast of chase.

¹³Let it go contrary like flame, like water following its course. Let witchcraft, like a well-naved car, roll back upon the sorcerer.

¹Plant! I have those who shall avert the threatened danger, ten and one. O sacred Plant, produced aright! make sweetness, sweet thy self, for me.

²Twenty and two, O Plant, have I who shall avert the threatened ill. O sacred Plant, produced aright! make sweetness, sweet thyself, for me.

¹Bull! if thou art the single bull, beget. Thou hast no vital sap.

¹These first, the boundless Sea, and Matarisvan, fierce glowing Fire, the Strong, the Bliss-bestower, And heavenly Floods, first-born by holy Order, exclaimed against the outrage on a Brahman.

²King Soma first of all, without reluctance, made restitution of the Brahman's consort. Mitra and Varuna were the inviters: Agni as Hotar took her hand and led her.

³The man, her pledge, must by the hand be taken when he hath cried, She is a Brahman's consort. She stayed not for a herald to conduct her: thus is the kingdom of a ruler guarded.

⁴She whom they call the star with loosened tresses, descending as. misfortune on the village, The Brahman's consort, she disturbs the kingdom where hath appeared the hare with fiery flashing.

⁵Active in duty serves the Brahmachari: he is a member of the Gods' own body. Through him Brihaspati obtained his consort, as the Gods gained the ladle brought by Soma.

⁶Thus spake of her those Gods of old, Seven Rishis, who sate them down to their austere devotion: Dire is a Brahman's wife led home by others: in the supremest heaven she plants confusion.

⁷When infants die, untimely born, when herds of cattle waste away, When heroes strike each other dead, the Brahman's wife destroyeth them.

⁸Even if ten former husbands--none a Brahman--had espoused a dame, And then a Brahman took her hand, he is her husband, only he,

⁹Not Vaisya, not Rajanya, no, the Brahman is indeed her lord: This Surya in his course proclaims to the Five Races of man- kind.

¹⁰So then the Gods restored her, so men gave the woman back again. Princes who kept their promises restored the Brahman's wedded wife.

¹¹Having restored the Brahman's wife, and freed them, with Gods' aid, from sin, They shared the fulness of the earth and worn themselves ex- tended sway.

¹²No lovely wife who brings her dower in hundreds rests upon his bed, Within whose kingdom is detained, through want of sense, a Brahman's dame.

¹³No broad-browed calf with wide-set ears is ever in his homestead born. Within whose kingdom is detained, through want of sense, a Brahman's dame.

¹⁴No steward, golden-necklaced, goes before the meat-trays of the man. Within whose kingdom is detained, through want of sense, a Brahman's dame.

¹⁵No black-eared courser, white of hue, moves proudly, harnessed to his car, In whose dominion is detained, through want of sense, a Brahman's dame.

¹⁶No lily grows with oval bulbs, no lotus-pool is in his field, In whose dominion is detained, through senseless love, a Brahman's dame.

¹⁷The men whose task it is to milk drain not the brindled cow for him, In whose dominion is detained, through senseless love, a Brahman's dame.

¹⁸His milch-cow doth not profit one, his draught-ox masters not the yoke, Wherever, severed from his wife, a Brahman spends the mourn- ful night.

¹The Gods, O Prince, have not bestowed this cow on thee to eat thereof. Seek not, Rajanya, to devour the Brahman's cow which none may eat.

²A base Rajanya, spoiled at dice, and ruined by himself, may eat. The Brahman's cow and think, To-day and not tomorrow, let me live!

³The Brahman's cow is like a snake, charged with due poison, clothed with skin. Rajanya! bitter to the taste is she, and none may eat of her.

⁴She takes away his strength, she mars his splendour, she ruins everything like fire enkindled. That man drinks poison of the deadly serpent who counts the Brahman as mere food to feed him.

⁵Whoever smites him, deeming him a weakling-blasphemer, coveting his wealth through folly Indra sets fire alight within his bosom. He who acts thus is loathed by Earth and Heaven.

⁶No Brahman must be injured, safe as fire from him who loves himself. For Soma is akin to him and Indra guards him from the curse.

⁷The fool who eats the Brahmans' food and thinks it pleasant to the taste, Eats, but can ne'er digest, the cow that bristles with a hundred barbs,

⁸His voice an arrow's neck, his tongue a bowstring, his windpipes fire-enveloped heads of arrows, With these the Brahman pierces through blasphemers, with God-sped bows that quell the hearts within them.

⁹Keen arrows have the Brahmans, armed with missiles: the shaft, when they discharge it, never faileth. Pursuing him with fiery zeal and anger, they pierce the foeman even from a distance.

¹⁰They who, themselves ten hundred, were the rulers of a thousand men, The Vaitahavyas, were destroyed for that they ate a Brahman's cow.

¹¹The cow, indeed, when she was slain o'erthrew those Vaitahavyas, who Cooked the last she-goat that remained of Kesaraprabandha's flock.

¹²One and a hundred were the folk, those whom the earth shook off from her: When they had wronged the Brahman race they perished incon- ceivably.

¹³Among mankind the Gods' despiser moveth: he hath drunk poison, naught but bone is left him. Who wrongs the kinsman of the Gods, the Brahman, gains not the sphere to which the Fathers travelled.

¹⁴Agni, in sooth, is called our guide, Soma is called our next of kin. Indra quells him who curses us. Sages know well that this is so.

¹⁵Prince! like a poisoned arrow, like a deadly snake, O lord of kine! Dire is the Brahman's arrow: he pierces his enemies therewith.

¹The sons of Vitahavya, the Srinjayas, waxed exceeding strong. They well-nigh touched the heavens, but they wronged Bhrigu and were overthrown.

²When men pierced Brihatsaman through, the Brahman, son of Angiras, The ram with teeth in both his jaws, the sheep, devoured their progeny.

³If men have spat upon, or shot their rheum upon a Brahman, they. Sit in the middle of a stream running with blood, devouring hair.

⁴While yet the Brahman's cow which men are dressing quivers in her throe: She mars the kingdom's splendour: there no vigorous hero springs to life.

⁵Terrible is her cutting-up: her bitter flesh is cast away, And it is counted sin among the Fathers if her milk is drunk.

⁶If any King who deems himself mighty would eat a Brahman up, Rent and disrupted is that realm wherein a Brahman is oppres- sed.

⁷She grows eight-footed, and four-eyed, four-eared, four-jawed, two-faced, two-tongued, And shatters down the kingdom of the man who doth the Brahman wrong.

⁸As water swamps a leaky ship so ruin overflows that realm. Misfortune smites the realm wherein a Brahman suffers scath and harm.

⁹The very trees repel the man, and drive him from their sheltering shade, Whoever claims, O Narada, the treasure that a Brahman owns.

¹⁰That wealth, King Varuna hath said, is poison by the Gods prepared. None hath kept watch to guard his realm who hath devoured a Brahman's cow.

¹¹Those nine-and-ninety people whom Earth shook and cast away from her, When they had wronged the Brahman race were ruined incon- ceivably.

¹²Oppressor of the Brahmans! thus the Gods have spoken and declared, The step-effacing wisp they bind upon the dead shall be thy couch.

¹³Oppressor of the Brahmans! tears wept by the man who suffers wrong, These are the share of water which the Gods have destined to be thine.

¹⁴The share of water which the Gods have destined to be thine, is that, Oppressor of the priest! wherewith men lave the corpse and wet the beard.

¹⁵The rain of Mitra-Varuna falls not on him who wrongs the priest. To him no counsel brings success: he wins, no friend to do his will.

¹Formed out of wood, compact with straps of leather, loud is the: War-drum as he plays the hero. Whetting thy voice and vanquishing opponents, roar at them like a lion fain to conquer!

²The fastened frame hath roared as 'twere a lion, like a bull bel- lowing to meet the heifer. Thou art a bull, thine enemies are weaklings: thine is the foe- subduing strength of Indra.

³Like a bull marked by strength among the cattle, roar seeking kine and gathering up the booty. Pierce through our adversaries' heart with sorrow, and let our routed foes desert their hamlets.

⁴Victorious in the battle, loudly roaring, seizing what may be seized, look all around thee. Utter, O Drum, thy heavenly voice with triumph. Bring, as a priest, our enemies' possessions.

⁵Hearing the Drum's far-reaching voice resounding, let the foe's dame, waked by the roar, afflicted, Grasping her son, run forward in her terror amid the conflict of the deadly weapons.

⁶Thou, first of all, O Drum, thy voice shalt utter: over the ridge of earth speak forth exultant. Crunching with might the army of the foemen, declare thy message pleasantly and clearly.

⁷Loud be thy roar between the earth and heaven. Swift let thy sounds go forth in all directions. Neigh at them, thunder, set in opposition, song-maker, good ally that friends may conquer.

⁸He shall send forth his voice whom art hath fashioned. Make thou the weapons of our warriors bristle. With Indra for ally call out our heroes, and with thy friends scatter and chase the foemen

⁹Resonant, roaring, with thy powerful weapons, warning, and heard by troops in many places, Knowing all rules and winning us advantage, deal fame to many where two kings are fighting.

¹⁰Bent on advantage, mightier, gaining treasures, victor in war, the spell hath made thee keener. As, in the press, the stone to stalks of Soma, thus, Drum! go dancing to our foes' possessions.

¹¹Foe-conqueror, victor, vanquishing opponents, seeker of booty, mastering, destroying. Speak out as a skilled speaker tells his counsel, speak strength to us that we may win the battle.

¹²Shaker of things unshaken, readiest corner to battles; conquer- ing foes, resistless leader, Guarded by Indra, watching our assemblies, go quickly, breaker of their hearts who hate us.

¹Speak to our enemies, O Drum, discouragement and wild dismay. We bring upon our foemen fear and discord and discomfiture. Drum! drive these enemies away.

²When sacrificial butter hath been offered, let our foemen flee. Through consternation, terrified, trembling in mind and eye and heart.

³Wrought out of wood, compact with straps of leather, dear to all the clan, Bedewed with sacrificial oil, speak terror to our enemies.

⁴As the wild creatures of the wood flee in their terror from a man, Even so do thou, O Drum, roar out against our foes to frighten them, and then bewilder thou their thoughts.

⁵As, when the wolf approaches, goats and sheep run sorely terrified, Even so do thou, O Drum, roar out against our foes to frighten them, and then bewilder thou their thoughts.

⁶As birds of air, day after day, fly in wild terror from the hawk, as from a roaring lion's voice, Even so do thou, O Drum, roar out against our foes to frighten them, and then bewilder thou their thoughts.

⁷May all the deities whose might controls the fortune of the fray Frighten away our enemies with Drum and skin of antelope.

⁸Let those our enemies who go yonder in their battalions shake. In fear at shadows and the sounds of feet which Indra sporteth with.

⁹To all the quarters of the sky let clang of bowstrings and our Drums. Cry out to hosts of foes that go discomfited in serried ranks.

¹⁰Aditya, take their sight away! Follow them close, ye motes of light. Let them cleave fast to foot-bound hosts when strength of arm hath past away.

¹¹Do ye, O mighty Maruts, sons of Prisni, crush down, with Indra for ally, our foemen. King Soma. Varuna, great God and sovran, Indra too, aye, Death,--

¹²May these embattled Gods, brilliant as Surya--All hail!--one- minded conquer those who hate us.

¹Hence, filled with holy strength let Agni, Soma, and Varuna, the Press-stone, and the Altar. And Grass, and glowing Fuel banish Fever. Let hateful things stay at a distance yonder.

²And thou thyself who makest all men yellow, consuming them with burning heat like Agni, Thou, Fever! then be weak and ineffective. Pass hence into the realms below or vanish.

³Endowed with universal power! send Fever down-ward, far away, The spotty, like red-coloured dust, sprung from a spotty ancestor.

⁴When I have paid obeisance to Fever I send him downward forth. So let Sakambhara's boxer go again to the Mahavrishas.

⁵His mansions are the Mujavans, and the Mahavrishas his home, Thou, Fever, ever since thy birth hast lived among the Bahlikas.

⁶Fever, snake, limbless one, speak out! Keep thyself far away fi om us. Seek thou a wanton Dast girl and strike her with thy thunder- bolt.

⁷Go, Fever, to the Mujavans, or, farther, to the Bahlikas. Seek a lascivious Sara girl and seem to shake her through and through.

⁸Go hence and eat thy kinsmen the Mahavrishas and Mujavans. These or those foreign regions we proclaim to Fever for his home.

⁹In a strange land thou joyest not; subdued, thou wilt be kind to us. Fever is eager to depart, and to the Bahlikas will go,

¹⁰Since thou now cold, now burning hot, with cough besides, hast made us shake, Terrible, Fever, are thy darts: forbear to injure us with these.

¹¹Take none of these to be thy friends, Cough, or Consumption or Decline: Never come thence again to us! O Fever, thus I counsel thee.

¹²Go, Fever, with Consumption, thy brother, and with thy sister, Cough. And with thy nephew Herpes, go away unto that alien folk.

¹³Chase Fever whether cold or hot, brought by the summer or the rains, Tertian, intermittent, or autumnal, or continual.

¹⁴We to Gandharis, Mujavans, to Angas and to Magadhas. Hand over Fever as it were a servant and a thing of price.

¹I have called Heaven and Earth to aid, have called divine Sarasvati, Indra and Agni have I called: Let these destroy the worm, I prayed.

²O Indra, Lord of Treasures, kill the worms that prey upon this boy. All the malignant spirits have been smitten by my potent spell. We utterly destroy the worm, the worm that creeps around the eyes. The worm that crawls about the nose, the worm that gets bet- ween the teeth.

³Two of like colour, two unlike, two coloured black, two coloured red. The tawny and the tawny-eared, Vulture and Wolf, all these are killed.

⁴Worms that are white about the sides, those that are black with black-hued arms, All that show various tints and hues, these worms we utterly destroy.

⁵Eastward the Sun is mounting, seen of all, destroying thing unseen, Crushing and killing all the worms invisible and visible.

⁶Let the Yevashas, Kaskashas, Ejatkas, Sipavitnukas, Let both the worm that we can see, and that we see not, be destroyed.

⁷Slain the Yevasha of the worms, slain too is the Nadaniman. I have reduced them all to dust like vetches with the pounding- stone.

⁸The worm Saranga, white of hue, three-headed, with a triple hump, I split and tear his ribs away, I wrench off every head he has.

⁹I kill you, worms, as Atri, as Kanva and Jamadagni killed. I crush the worms to pieces with a spell that erst Agastya used.

¹⁰The King of worms hath been destroyed, he who was lord of these is slain. Slain is the worm whose mother, whose brother and sister have been slain.

¹¹Destroyed are his dependants, who those dwell around him are destroyed, And all the worms that seem to be the little ones are done to death

¹²Of every worm and insect, of the female and the male alike, I crush the head to pieces with a stone and burn the face with fire.

¹Savitar, Lord of furthering aids, protect me, in this my prayer, in this mine act, in this my sacerdotal charge, in this perfor- mance, in this thought, in this my plan and wish, in this my calling on the Gods! All hail!

²May Agni, Lord of forest trees, protect, me, in, etc.

³May Heaven and Earth, the Queens of bounties, save me.

⁴May Varuna, the Lord of waters, save me.

⁵May Mitra-Varuna, Lords of rain, preserve me.

⁶Lords of the mountains, may the Maruts save me.

⁷May, Soma, Lord of plants and herbs, protect me.

⁸May Vayu, Lord of middle air, protect me.

⁹May Surya, sovran Lord of eyes, protect me.

¹⁰May the Moon, Lord of constellations, save me.

¹¹May Indra who is Lord of heaven protect me.

¹²The Maruts' father, Lord of cattle, save me.

¹³May Mrityu, Lord of living creatures, save me.

¹⁴May Yama, Regent of the Fathers, save me.

¹⁵May the Forefathers of old time protect me.

¹⁶May Fathers of succeeding ages save me.

¹⁷Next may the Fathers of our fathers save me, in this my prayer,. in this mine act, in this my sacerdotal charge, in this perfor- mance, in this thought, in this my plan and wish, in this my calling on the Gods! All hail!

¹Let the man, sower of the germ, lay, as a feather on a shaft. Limb drawn from limb, whate'er is culled from cloud and from the womb of heaven.

²Even as this broad earth received the germ of all the things that be, Thus within thee I lay the germ. I call thee, Earth, to strengthen it.

³O Sinivali, set the germ, set thou the germ, Sarasvati! In thee let both the Asvins, crowned with lotuses, bestow the germ.

⁴Let Mitra-Varuna and God Brihaspati lay the germ in thee. Indra and Agni lay the germ, Dhatar bestow the germ in thee.

⁵Let Vishnu form and mould the womb, let Tvashtar duly shape the forms, Prajapati infuse the stream, and Dhatar lay for thee the germ.

⁶Drink thou the procreative draught well-known to Varuna the King, Known to divine Sarasvati, and Indra slayer of the foe.

⁷Thou art the germ of plants and herbs, thou art the germ of forest trees, The germ of each existing thing, so here, O Agni, lay the germ.

⁸Rise up, put forth thy manly strength, and lay thy germ within the womb. A bull art thou with vigorous strength: for progeny we bring thee near.

⁹Prepare thee, Barhatsama, let the germ be laid within thy side. The Soma-drinking Gods have given a son to thee, thy son and mine.

¹⁰O Dhatar, thou Disposer, lay within the body of this dame. A male germ with the noblest form, for her, in the tenth month, to bear.

¹¹Tvashtar, celestial artist, lay within the body of this dame. A male germ with the noblest form for her in the tenth month to bear.

¹²Savitar, vivifier, lay within the body of this dame A male germ with the noblest form for her in the tenth month to bear.

¹³O Lord of Life, Prajapati, within this woman's body lay A male germ with the noblest form for her in the tenth month to bear.

¹In sacrifice for you may sapient Agni--All hail!--use Yajus texts and fuel.

²May Savitar the God--All hail!--foreknowing, chief in this sacrifice, employ them.

³In this great rite--All hail!--may sapient Indra use lauds, rejoicings, well-yoked coursers.

⁴Bring Praishas in the rite--All hail!--and Nivids, learned, con- nected, with the Consorts.

⁵As a dame brings her son--All hail! O Maruts, connected, in the rite bring measures.

⁶Here Aditi is come--All hail!--preparing the rite with grass and lustral waters.

⁷Let Vishnu in this rite in varied manner--All hail! use well- yoked steeds, his fervours.

⁸Let Tvashtar in this rite in varied manner--All hail!--use forms, his well-yoked coursers.

⁹Let Bhaga in this rite use prayers, foreknowing--All hail! for this use well-yoked coursers.

¹⁰Let Soma in this rite in varied manner--All hail!--use milk- streams, well-yoked coursers.

¹¹Let Indra in this rite in varied manner--All hail!--use powers,. his well-yoked coursers.

¹²Hitherward come ye with the prayer, O Asvins, exalting sacrifice with cry of Vashat! Brihaspati!--All hail!--with prayer come hither. Here is the rite, here heaven for him who worships.

¹Uplifted be this sacrificer's fuel: lofty and brilliant be the flames of Agni! Splendidly bright, fair-faced, with all his offspring, Tanunapat the Asura, many-handed.

²God among Gods, the God bedews the paths with fatness and' with mead.

³With store of mead to sacrifice comes Agni, comes Narasansa Agni, friendly-minded, comes Savitar, righteous God who brings all blessings.

⁴Hither he comes with power and fatness also, the luminous,. implored with adoration.

⁵At holy rites and offerings Agni loveth the scoops: let this man worship Agni's greatness.

⁶He is the furtherer at glad oblations: there stood the Vasus and the treasure-givers.

⁷Ever the Doors divine, and all protect this worshipper's holy work.

⁸Far-reaching, ruling by the Law of Agni, May Dawn and Night, the holy, speeding near us, aid this our sacrificial ceremony.

⁹Celestial Hotars, with the tongues of Agni praise and extol our lofty ceremony, so that our sacrifice be well conducted!

¹⁰Three Goddesses upon this grass, be seated, Ida, Sarasvati, Mahi, and Bharati adored with praise.

¹¹This our nutritious genial flow, God Tvashtar! and growth of wealth, pour down on this man's kindred.

¹²Vanaspati, rejoicing, of thyself send God-ward! Let Agni, Im- molator, sweeten our libation.

¹³Pay sacrifice to Indra, Jatavedas Agni, with Hail! Let all the Gods accept the gifts we offer.

¹For lengthened life, to last through hundred autumns, they equalize with nine the nine aspirations. Three in gold, three in silver, three in iron by heat are stablished in their several places.

²May Agni, Sun, and Moon, and Earth, and Waters, Sky, Air, the Quarters and the Points between them, And Parts of Years accordant with the Seasons by this three- threaded Amulet preserve me.

³In three-threaded Charm rest triple fulness! Let Pushan cover it with milk and butter. Here rest abundant store of food and people, may ample store of cattle rest within it.

⁴Enrich this charm, Adityas, with your treasure; magnify this, when magnified, O Agni. Endow it with heroic strength, O Indra: therein be lodged a triple power of increase.

⁵With gold let Earth protect thee, and with iron, accordant, all- sustaining Agni save thee! And in accordance with the plants may silver, regarding thee with favour, grant thee vigour.

⁶This gold, born threefold at its first production, grew the one thing that Agni loved most dearly: it fell away, one part of injured Soma. One part they call seed of the sapient Waters. This gold bring thee long life when triply threaded!

⁷Three lives of Jamadagni, thrice the vital force of Kasyapa, Three sights of immortality, three lives have I prepared for thee.

⁸When with the three-stringed charm came three strong eagles, sharing the Sacred Syllable and mighty, With immortality they drove off Mrityu, obscuring and conceal- ing all distresses.

⁹The golden guard thee from the sky, the silvern guard thee from the air, The iron guard thee from the earth! This man hath reached the forts of Gods.

¹⁰May these three castles of the Gods keep thee secure on every side. Endowed with strength, possessing these, be thou the master of thy foes,

¹¹The God who first bound on in the beginning the deities' im- mortal golden castle,-- Him I salute with ten extended fingers. Blest be the three- stringed charm I bind upon thee.

¹²Aryaman be thy binder-on, and Pushan and Brihaspati: Whatever name the brood of day possess, therewith we fasten thee.

¹³With Seasons and with Lengths of Time, for vigour and exten- ded life, With all the splendour of the Sun we fasten thee about the neck.

¹⁴Drawn forth from butter and with meath besprinkled, firm as the earth, unshakable, triumphant. Breaking down foes and casting them beneath me, be fastened on me for exalted fortune!

¹Made ready in the east drive forth, take notice of what is hap- pening here, omniscient Agni! Thou bringest medicine and healest sickness: through thee may we win horses, kine, and people.

²Accordant with all Gods, O Jatavedas Agni, perform this work as we beseech thee, That this defence of his may fall, whoever hath caused us pain, whoever hath consumed us.

³Unanimous, with all the Gods together, so do this thing O Agni Jatavedas, that this defence of his may fall and fail him.

⁴Pierce both his eyes, pierce thou the heart within him, crush thou his teeth and cleave his tongue asunder. Rend thou, most youthful Agni, that Pisacha whoso amid them all of this hath eaten.

⁵Whatever of his body hath been taken, plundered, borne off, or eaten by Pisachas, This, Agni, knowing it, again bring hither! We give back flesh and spirit to his body.

⁶If some Pisacha in my food raw, ready, thoroughly cooked, or, spotty, hath deceived me, Let the Pisachas with their lives and offspring atone for this, and let this man be healthy.

⁷If one hath cheated me in milk or porridge, in food from grain or plants that need no culture. Let the Pisachas, etc.

⁸If one, flesh eater, in a draught of water have wronged me lying in the bed of goblins, Let the Pisachas, etc.

⁹If one, flesh-eater, in the day or night-time have wronged me lying in the bed of goblins, Let the Pisachas, etc.

¹⁰O Agni Jatavedas, slay the bloody Pisacha, flesh-devourer, mind- destroyer, Strong Indra strike him with his bolt of thunder, courageous Soma cut his head to pieces!

¹¹Thou, Agni, ever slayest Yatudhanas, the fiends have never con- quered thee in battles. Consume thou from the root the flesh-devourers, let none of them escape thy heavenly weapon

¹²Collect, O Jatavedas, what hath been removed and borne away. Let this man's members grow, let him swell like the tendril of a plant.

¹³Like as the Soma's tendril, thus, O Jatavedas let him swell, Let him live, Agni I Make him fat, free from consumption, full of sap.

¹⁴Here, Agni, is the fuel, here are logs that crush Pisachas down. O Jatavedas, willingly accept them and be pleased therewith.

¹⁵Accept, O Agni, with thy flame the billets of Tarshtagha wood. Let the flesh-eater who would take the flesh of this man lose his form.

¹From thy vicinity I call, from near, from far, from night at hand. Stay here: depart not: follow not the Fathers of the olden time. I bind thy vital spirit fast.

²If any man, a stranger or akin, hath cast a spell on thee, I with my voice to thee declare thy freedom and release there- from.

³If in thy folly thou hast lied or cursed a woman or a man, I with my voice declare to thee thy freedom and release there- from.

⁴If thou art lying there because of mother's or of father's sin, I with my voice declare to thee thy freedom and release there- from.

⁵Accept the healing medicine, the balm thy mother and thy sire, Thy sister and thy brother bring. I make thee live through lengthened years. [050306]O man, stay here among us; stay with all thy spirit: follow not Yama's two messengers. Approach the castles where the living dwell.

⁶Come back as thou art called to come, knowing the outlet of the path, And the Approach and its ascent, the way of every living man.

⁷Be not alarmed: thou wilt not die. I give thee lengthened years of life. Forth from thy members have I charmed Decline that caused the fever there.

⁸Gone is the pain that racked thee, gone thy fever, gone thy heart's disease. Consumption, conquered by my voice, hath, like a hawk, fled far away.

⁹Two sages, Sense and Vigilance, the sleepless and the watchful one, These, the protectors of thy life, shall be awake both day and night.

¹⁰This Agni must be waited on. Here let the Sun mount up for thee. Rise from deep death and come away, yea, from black darkness rise thou up!

¹¹Homage be paid to Yama, to Mrityu, and to the Fathers, and to those who guide us! I honour first, for this man's preservation, that Agni who well knoweth how to save him.

¹²Let breath and mind return to him, let sight and vigour come again Let all his body be restored and firmly stand upon its feet.

¹³Provide this man with breath and sight, O Agni, and with his body and his strength unite him. Thou knowest Amrit: let him not go hence, nor dwell in house of clay.

¹⁴Let not thine inward breathing fail, let not thine outward breath be lost. Let Surya who is Lord Supreme raise thee from death with beams of light.

¹⁵Tied, tremulously moving, here the tongue is speaking in the mouth. With thee I charmed Decline away and Fever's hundred ago- nies.

¹⁶This living world, unconquered of the Gods, is most beloved of all. To whatsoever death thou wast destined when thou wast born,. O man, This death and we call after thee. Die not before decrepit age!

¹The spell that they have cast for thee on unbaked dish or ming- led meal, The witchcraft wrought on undressed meat, this I strike back again on them.

²The spell that they have cast for thee on jungle-cock, goat, horned ram, The witchcraft wrought upon thy ewe, this I strike back again on them.

³The spell that they have cast upon thy beast that hath uncloven hooves, The ass with teeth in both his jaws, this I strike back again on them.

⁴The secret spell upon thy plants Amula or Narachi, spell That they have cast upon thy field, this I strike back again on them.

⁵The spell that wicked men have cast on thine original household- fire, And on thy sacrificial hall, this I strike back again on them.

⁶The spell that they have cast upon thy public room thy gambl- ing-board, Spell they have cast upon thy dice, this I strike back again on them.

⁷The spell that they have cast upon thine army or thy shafts and arms, Spell they have cast upon the drum, this I throw back again on them.

⁸Charm they have laid within thy well or buried in the burning- ground, Charm they have laid within thy home, this I throw back again on them.

⁹The spell that they have wrought for thee in flickering fire of human bones,-- Mroka, consuming, cannibal, this I throw back again on them.

¹⁰He brought this by no proper path, by the right path we drive it back. The fool in folly brought it to those who observe established bounds.

¹¹No power had he who wrought the spell: he hurt his foot, he broke his toe. Unlucky for his wealthy lords, he hath wrought happiness for us.

¹²May Indra slay with mighty bolt, may Agni with his missible pierce. The sorcerer who brings the curse, who deals with roots and secret spells.