Atharvaveda, Book 9

¹The Asvins' Honey-whip was born from heaven and earth, from middle air, and ocean, and from fire and wind. All living creatures welcome it with joyful hearts, fraught with the store of Amrit it hath gathered up.

²They call thee earth's great strength in every form, they call thee too the ocean's genial seed. Whence comes the Honey-whip bestowing bounty, there Vital Spirit is, and Amrit treasured.

³In sundry spots, repeatedly reflecting, men view upon the earth: her course and action; For she, the first-born daughter of the Maruts, derives her origin from Wind and Agni.

⁴Daughter of Vasus, mother of Adityas, centre of Amrit breath of living creatures. The Honey-whip, gold-coloured, dropping fatness, moves as a mighty embryo 'mid mortals.

⁵The deities begat the Whip of Honey: her embryo assumed all forms and fashions. The mother nourishes that tender infant which at its birth looks on all worlds and beings.

⁶Who understandeth well, who hath perceived it, her heart's un- injured Soma-holding beaker? Let the wise Brahman priest therein be joyful.

⁷He understandeth them, he hath perceived them, her breasts that pour a thousand streams, uninjured. They unreluctantly yield strength and vigour.

⁸She who with voice upraised in constant clamour, mighty, life- giving, goes unto her function, Bellowing to the heated three libations, suckles with streams of milk, and still is lowing.

⁹On whom, well-fed, the Waters wait in worship, and steers and self-refulgent bulls attend her. For thee, for one like thee down pour the Waters, and cause desire and strength to rain upon thee.

¹⁰The thunder is thy voice, O Lord of Creatures: a Bull, thou castest on the earth thy vigour. The Honey-whip, the Manus' first-born daughter, derives her origin from Wind and Agni.

¹¹As at the morning sacrifice the Asvins twain love Soma well, Even so may both the Asvins lay splendour and strength within my soul.

¹²As at the second sacrifice Indra and Agni love him well, Let the pair, Indra Agni, lay splendour and strength within my soul.

¹³As at third sacrifice Soma is the Ribhus' well-beloved one, Even so may they, the Ribhus, store splendour and strength within my soul.

¹⁴Fain would I bring forth sweetness, fain would make it mine. Bringing milk, Agni! have I come: splendour and strength bestow on me!

¹⁵Grant me, O Agni, splendid strength, and progeny, and length- ened life. May the Gods know me as I am, may Indra with the Rishis know.

¹⁶As honey-bees collect and add fresh honey to their honey store, Even so may both the Asvins lay splendour and strength within my soul.

¹⁷As over honey flies besmear this honey which the bees have made, So may both Asvins lay in me splendour and strength and power and might.

¹⁸May all the sweetness that is found in hills and mountains, steeds and kine, And wine that floweth from the cup,--may all that sweetness be in me.

¹⁹May both the Asvins, Lords of Light, balm me with honey of the bees, That I may speak among the folk words full of splendour and of strength.

²⁰The thunder is thy voice, O Lord of Creatures: a Bull, thou castest strength on earth and heaven. To that all cattle look for their existence: with this she nourishes their force and vigour.

²¹The Whip itself is Heaven, Earth is the handle, the point of juncture is the Air's mid-region. The lash is lightning, and the tip is golden.

²²Whoever knows the Whip's seven kinds of honey, becomes himself a man endowed with sweetness. Brahman and King, the draught-ox and the milch-cow, barley and rice, and honey is the seventh.

²³Sweet is the man, sweet are his goods and chattels: he who knows this conquers the worlds of sweetness.

²⁴The thundering of Prajapati in heaven is verily manifest to living creatures. Therefore I stand from right to left invested, and, O Prajapati, I cry, regard me! The man who hath this knowledge is regarded by living beings and the Lord of Creatures.

¹Kama the Bull, slayer of foes, I worship with molten butter, sacrifice, oblation. Beneath my feet cast down mine adversaries with thy great manly power, when I have praised thee.

²That which is hateful to mine eye and spirit, that harasses and robs me of enjoyment, The evil dream I loose upon my foemen. May I rend him when I have lauded Kama.

³Kama, do thou, a mighty Lord and Ruler, let loose ill dream, misfortune, want of children, Homelessness, Kama! utter destitution, upon the sinner who designs my ruin.

⁴Drive them away, drive them afar, O Kama; indigence fall on those who are my foemen! When they have been cast down to deepest darkness, consume their dwellings with thy fire, O Agni.

⁵She, Kama! she is called the Cow, thy daughter, she who is named Vak and Viraj by sages. By her drive thou my foemen to a distance. May cattle, vital breath, and life forsake them.

⁶By Kama's might, King Varuna's and Indra's, by Vishnu's strength, and Savitar's instigation, I chase my foes with sacrifice to Agni, as a deft steersman drives his boat through waters.

⁷May Kama, mighty one, my potent warder, give me full free- dom from mine adversaries. May all the Deities be my protection, all Gods come nigh to this mine invocation.

⁸Accepting this oblation rich with fatness, be joyful here, ye Gods whose chief is Kama, Giving me freedom from mine adversaries.

⁹Ye, Indra, Agni, Kama! come together and cast mine adver- saries down beneath me. When they have sunk into the deepest darkness, O Agni, with thy fire consume their dwellings.

¹⁰Slay those who are mine enemies, O Kama: headlong to depth of blinding darkness hurl them. Reft be they all of manly strength and vigour! Let them not have a single day's existence.

¹¹Kama hath slain those who were mine opponents, and given me ample room to grow and prosper. Let the four regions bow them down before me, and let the six expanses bring me fatness.

¹²Let them drift downward like a boat torn from the rope that held it fast. There is no turning back for those whom our keen arrows have repelled.

¹³Agni averts, Indra averts, and Soma: may the averting Gods avert this foeman.

¹⁴To be avoided by his friends, detested, repelled, with few men round him, let him wander. Yea, on the earth descend the lightning-flashes: may the strong God destroy your adversaries.

¹⁵This potent lightning nourishes things shaken, and things un- shaken yet, and all the thunders. May the Sun, rising with his wealth and splendour, drive in victorious might my foemen downward.

¹⁶Thy firm and triply-barred protection, Kama! thy spell, made weapon-proof extended armour With that drive thou my foemen to a distance. May cattle, vital breath, and life forsake them.

¹⁷Far from the world wherein we live, O Kama, drive thou my foemen with that selfsame weapon Wherewith the Gods repelled the fiends, and Indra cast down the Dasyus into deepest darkness.

¹⁸As Gods repelled the Asuras, and Indra down to the lowest darkness drove the demons, So, Kama, from this world, to distant places, drive thou the men who are mine adversaries.

¹⁹First before all sprang Kama into being. Gods, Fathers, mortal men have never matched him. Stronger than these art thou, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²⁰Wide as the space which heaven and earth encompass, far as the flow of waters, far as Agni, Stronger than these art thou, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²¹Vast as the quarters of the sky and regions that lie between them spread in all directions, vast as celestial tracts and views of heaven, Stronger than these art thou, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²²Many as are the bees, and bats, and reptiles, and female serpents of the trees, and beetles, Stronger art thou than these, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²³Stronger art thou than aught that stands or twinkles, stronger art thou than ocean, Kama! Manyu! Stronger than these art thou, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²⁴Not even Vata is the peer of Kama, not Agni, Chandramas the Moon, nor Surya. Stronger than these art thou, and great for ever. Kama, to thee, to thee I offer worship.

²⁵Thy lovely and auspicious forms, O Kama, whereby the thing thou wilt becometh real, With these come thou and make thy home among us, and make malignant thoughts inhabit elsewhere.

¹We loose the ties and fastenings of the house that holds all precious things, The bands of pillars and of stays, the ties of beams that form the roof.

²All-wealthy House! each knot and band, each cord that is attached to thee I with my spell untie, as erst Brihaspati disclosed the cave.

³He drew them close, he pressed them fast, he made thy knotted. bands secure: With Indra's help we loose them as a skilful Slaughterer severs joints.

⁴We loose the bands of thy bamboos, of bolts, of fastening, of thatch, We loose the ties of thy side-posts, O House that holdest all we prize.

⁵We loosen here the ties and bands of straw in bundles, and of clamps, Of all that compasses and binds the Lady Genius of the Home.

⁶We loose the loops which men have bound within thee, loops to tie and hold. Be gracious, when erected, to our bodies, Lady of the Home.

⁷Store-house of Soma, Agni's hall, the ladies' bower, the resi- dence, The seat of Gods art thou, O Goddess House.

⁸We with our incantation loose the net that hath a thousand. eyes. The diadem, securely tied and laid upon the central beam.

⁹The man who takes thee as his own, and he who was thy builder,. House! Both these, O Lady of the Home, shall live to long-extended' years.

¹⁰There let her come to meet this man. Firm, strongly fastened,. and prepared Art thou whose several limbs and joints we part and loosen one by one.

¹¹He who collected timber for the work and built thee up, O House, Made thee for coming progeny, Prajapati, the Lord Supreme.

¹²Homage to him! We worship too the giver and the Mansion's lord: Homage to Agni! to the man who serves at holy rites for thee.

¹³Homage to kine and steeds! to all that shall be born within the house We loose the bonds that fasten thee, mother of multitudes to come!

¹⁴Agni thou shelterest within, and people with domestic beasts. We loose the bonds that fasten thee, mother of multitudes to come!

¹⁵All space that lies between the earth and heaven, therewith I take this house for thy possession, And all that measures out the air's mid-region I make a hollow to contain thy treasures. Therewith I take the house for his possession.

¹⁶Rich in prosperity, rich in milk, founded and built upon the earth, Injure not thy receivers, House who holdest food of every sort!'

¹⁷Grass-covered, clad with straw, the house, like Night, gives rest to man and beast. Thou standest, built upon the earth, like a she-elephant, borne on feet.

¹⁸I loosen and remove from thee thy covering formed by mats of reed. What Varuna hath firmly closed Mitra shall ope at early morn.

¹⁹May Indra, Agni, deathless Gods, protect the house where Soma dwells, House that was founded with the prayer, built and erected by the wise.

²⁰Nest upon nest hath been imposed, compartment on compart- ment laid: There man shall propagate his kind, and there shall everything born.

²¹Within the house constructed with two side-posts, or with four, or six. Built with eight side-posts, or with ten, lies Agni like a babe unborn.

²²Turned to thee, House! I come to thee, innocent, turned to welcome me: For Fire and Water are within, the first chief door of sacrifice.

²³Water that kills Consumption, free from all Consumption, here I bring. With Agni, the immortal one, I enter and possess the house.

²⁴Lay thou no cord or noose on us: a weighty burthen, still be light! Withersoever be our will, O House, we bear thee like a bride.

²⁵Now from the east side of the house to the Great Power be homage paid! Hail to the Gods whose due is Hail!

²⁶Now from the south side of the house, etc.

²⁷Now from the west side of the house, etc.

²⁸Now from the north side of the house, etc.

²⁹So from the mansion's every side to the Great Power be homage paid! Hail to the Gods whose due is Hail!

¹The Bull, fierce, thousandfold, filled full of vigour, bearing within his flanks all forms and natures, Brihaspati's Steer, hath stretched the thread, bestowing bliss on the worshipper, the liberal giver.

²He who at first became the Waters' model, a match for everyone, like Earth the Goddess; The husband of the cows, the young calves' father, may be secure us thousandfold abundance.

³Masculine, pregnant, stedfast. full of vigour, the Bull sustains a trunk of goodly treasure. May Agni Jatavedas bear him offered, on pathways traversed by the Gods, to Indra.

⁴The husband of the cows, the young calves' father, father is he of mighty water-eddies. Calf, after-birth, new milk drawn hot, and biestings, curds, butter, that is his best genial humour.

⁵He is the Gods' allotted share and bundle, essence of waters, and of plants, and butter. Sakra elected him, the draught of Soma. What was his body was a lofty mountain.

⁶6. A beaker filled with Soma juice thou bearest. framer of forms, begetter of the cattle. Kindly to us be these thy wombs here present, and stay for us, O Axe, those that are yonder.

⁷He bears oblation, and his seed is butter. Thousand-fold plenty; sacrifice they call him. May he, the Bull, wearing the shape of Indra, come unto us, O Gods, bestowed, with blessing.

⁸Both arms of Varuna, and Indra's vigour, the Maruts' hump is he, the Asvins' shoulders. They who are sages, bards endowed with wisdom, call him Brihaspati compact and heightened.

⁹Thou, vigorous, reachest to the tribes of heaven. Thee they call Indra, thee they call Sarasvan. Turned to one aim, that Brahman gives a thousand who offers up the Bull as his oblation.

¹⁰Brihaspati, Savitar gave thee vital vigour: thy breath was brought from Tvashtar and from Vayu. In thought I offer thee in air's mid-region. Thy sacrificial grass be Earth and Heaven!

¹¹Let the priest joyfully extol the limbs and members of the Bull Who moved and roared among the kine as Indra moves among the Gods.

¹²The sides must be Anumati's, and both rib-pieces Bhaga's share, Of the knee-bones hath Mitra said, Both these are mine, and only mine.

¹³The Adityas claim the hinder parts, the loins must be Brihas- pati's. Vata, the God, receives the tail: he stirs the plants and herbs therewith,

¹⁴To Surya they assigned the skin, to Sinivali inward parts. The Slaughterer hath the feet, they said, when they distributed the Bull.

¹⁵They made a jest of kindred's curse: a jar of Soma juice was set, What time the deities, convened, assigned the Bull's divided parts.

¹⁶They gave the hooves to tortoises, to Sarama scraps of the feet: His undigested food they gave to worms and things that creep and crawl.

¹⁷That Bull, the husband of the kine, pierces the demons with his horns, Banishes famine with his eye, and hears good tidings with his ears.

¹⁸With hundred sacrifices he worships: the fires consume him not: All Gods promote the Braman who offers the Bull in sacrifice.

¹⁹He who hath given away the Bull to Brahmans frees and cheers his soul. In his own cattle-pen he sees the growth and increase of his cows.

²⁰Let there be cattle, let there be bodily strength and progeny: All this may the Gods kindly grant to him who gives away the Bull.

²¹Indra here verily hath rejoiced: let him bestow conspicuous wealth. May he draw forth at will from yonder side of heaven a deft cow, good to milk, whose calf is never wanting.

²²With close connexion mingle with the cows in this our cattle- pen: Mingle, the Bull's prolific flow, and, Indra! thine heroic strength!

²³Here we restore this Bull, your youthful leader: sporting with him, go, wander at your pleasure. Ne'er, wealthy ones! may he be reft of offspring; and do ye favour us with growth of riches.

¹Seize him and bring him hither. Let him travel. foreknowing, to the regions of the pious. Crossing in many a place the mighty darkness, let the Goat mount to the third heaven above us.

²I bring thee hither as a share for Indra; prince, at this sacrifice,. for him who worships. Grasp firmly from behind all those who hate us: so let the sacri- ficer's men be sinless.

³Wash from his feet all trace of evil-doing: foreknowing, with cleansed hooves let him go upward. Gazing on many a spot, crossing the darkness, let the Goat mount to the third heaven above us.

⁴Cut up this skin with the grey knife, Dissector! dividing joint from joint, and mangle nothing Do him no injury: limb by limb arrange him, and send him up to the third cope of heaven.

⁵With verse upon the fire I set the caldron: pour in the water; lay him down within it! Encompass him with fire, ye Immolators. Cooked, let him reach the world where dwell the righteous.

⁶Hence come thou forth, vexed by no pain or torment. Mount to the third heaven from the heated vessel. As fire out of the fire hast thou arisen. Conquer and win this lucid world of splendour.

⁷The Goat is Agni: light they call him, saying that living man must give him to the Brahman. Given in this world by a devout believer, the Goat dispels and drives afar the darkness.

⁸Let the Panchaudana Goat, about to visit the three lights, pass away in five divisions. Go midst the pious who have paid their worship, and parted, dwell on the third cope of heaven.

⁹Rise to that world, O Goat, where dwell the righteous: pass, like a Sarabha veiled, all difficult places. The Goat Panchaudana, given to a Brahman, shall with all ful- ness satisfy the giver.

¹⁰The Goat Panchaudana, given to a Brahman, sets the bestower on the pitch of heaven, In the third vault, third sky, third ridge. One only Cow omni- form art thou, that yields all wishes.

¹¹That is the third light that is yours, ye Fathers. He gives the Goat Panchaudana to the Brahman. Given in this world by the devout believer, the Goat dispels and drives afar the darkness.

¹²Seeking the world of good men who have worshipped, he gives the Goat Panchaudana to the Brahman. Win thou this world as thy complete possession. Auspicious unto us be he, accepted!

¹³Truly the Goat sprang from the glow of Agni, inspired as sage with all a sage's power. Sacrifice, filled, filled full, offered with Vashat--this let the Gods arrange.at proper seasons.

¹⁴Home-woven raiment let him give, and gold as guerdon to the priests. So he obtains completely all celestial and terrestrial worlds.

¹⁵Near to thee, Goat! approach these streams of Soma, divine, distilling meath, bedecked with butter! Stay thou the earth and sky and fix them firmly up on the seven- rayed pitch and height of heaven.

¹⁶Unborn art thou, O Goat: to heaven thou goest. Though thee Angirases knew that radiant region. So may I know that holy world.

¹⁷Convey our sacrifice to heaven, that it may reach the Gods, with that Whereby thou, Agni, bearest wealth in thousands, and all pre- cious things.

¹⁸The Goat Panchaudana, when cooked, transporteth, repelling Nirriti, to the world of Svarga. By him may we win worlds which Surya brightens.

¹⁹The droppings of the Odanas attending the Goat which I have lodged with priest or people May all this know us in the world of virtue, O Agni, at the meeting of the pathways.

²⁰This Unborn cleft apart in the beginning: his breast became the earth, his back was heaven. His middle was the air, his sides the regions; the hollows of his belly formed both oceans.

²¹His eyes were Truth and Right. The whole together was Truth: Viraj his head and Faith his breathing. This Goat Panchaudana was indeed a sacrifice unlimited.

²²A boundless sacrifice he performs, he wins himself a boundless world: Who gives the Goat Panchaudana illumined with a priestly fee.

²³Let him not break the victim's bones, let him not suck the marrow out. Let the man, taking him entire, here, even here deposit him.

²⁴This, even this is his true form: the man uniteth him therewith. Food, greatness, strength he bringeth him who giveth the Goat Panchaudana illumed with guerdon.

²⁵The five gold pieces, and the five new garments, and the five milch-kine yield him all his wishes. Who gives the Goat Panchaudana illumined with a priestly fee.

²⁶The five gold pieces, area light to light him, robes become armour to defend his body; He winneth Svarga as his home who giveth the Goat Panchaud- ana illumed with bountry.

²⁷When she who hath been wedded finds a second husband after- ward, The twain shall not be parted if they give the Goat Panchaud- ana.

²⁸One world with the re-wedded wife becomes the second hus- band's home. Who gives the Goat Panchaudana illumined with the priestly fee.

²⁹They who have given a cow who drops a calf each season, or an ox, A coverlet, a robe, or gold, go to the loftiest sphere of heaven.

³⁰Himself, the father and the son, the grandson, and the father's sire, Mother, wife, her who bore his babes, all the beloved ones I call.

³¹The man who knows the season named the Scorching--the Goat Pafichaudana is this scorching season He lives himself, he verily burns up his hated rival's fame, Who gives the Goat Panchaudana illumined with the priestly fee.

³²The man who knows the season called the Working takes to himself the active fame, his hated rival's active fame. The Goat Panchaudana is this Working season. He lives himself, etc.

³³The man who knows the season called the Meeting takes to him- self the gathering fame, his hated rival's gathering fame. The Goat Panchaudana is this Meeting season.

³⁴The man who knows the called the Swelling takes to himself the swelling fame, his hated rival's swelling fame. The Goat Panchaudana is this Swelling season. He lives himself, etc.

³⁵The man who knows the season called the Rising takes to him- self the rising fame, his hated rival's rising fame. The Goat Panchaudana in this Rising season.

³⁶The man who knows the season called Surpassing takes to him- self the conquering fame, his hated rival's conquering fame. The Goat Panchaudana is this Conquering season. He lives himself, he verily burns up his hated rival's fame Who gives the Goat Panchaudana illumined with a priestly fee.

³⁷He cooks the Goat and the five boiled rice messes. May the uni- ted Quarters, all accordant, and intermediate points, accept him from thee.

³⁸May these preserve him for thee. Here I offer t o these the molten butter as oblation.

¹Whoso will know Prayer with immediate knowledge, whose mem- bers are the stuff, whose spine the verses:

²Whose hairs are psalms, whose heart is called the Yajus, whose coverlet is verily oblation--

³Verily when a host looks at his guests he looks at the place of sacrifice to the Gods.

⁴When he salutes them reverently he undergoes preparation for a religious ceremony: when he calls for water, he solemnly brings sacrificial water.

⁵The water that is solemnly brought at a sacrifice is this same water.

⁶The libation which they bring; the sacrificial victim dedicated to Agni and Soma which is tied to the post, that, verily, is this man.

⁷When they arrange dwelling-rooms they arrange the sacred chamber and the shed for housing the Soma cars.

⁸What they spread upon the floor is just Sacrificial Grass.

⁹With the couch that the men bring, he wins for himself the world of Svarga.

¹⁰The pillow-coverings that they bring are the green sticks that surround the sacrificial altar.

¹¹The ointment that they bring for injunction is just clarified liquid butter.

¹²The food they bring before the general distribution represents the two sacrificial cakes of rice meal.

¹³When they call the man who prepares food they summon the preparer of oblation.

¹⁴The grains of rice and barley that are selected are just filaments of the Soma plant.

¹⁵The pestle and mortar are really the stones of the Soma press.

¹⁶The winnowing-basket is the filter, the chaff the Soma dregs, the water, the pressing-gear.

¹⁷Spoon, ladle, fork, stirring-prong are the wooden Soma tubs; the earthen cooking-pots are the mortar-shaped Soma vessels; this earth is just the black-antelope's skin.

¹⁸Or the host acts in this way to a Yajamana's Brahman: when he looks at the furniture and utensils he says, More here t yet more here.

¹⁹When he says, Bring out more, he lengthens his life thereby.

²⁰He brings oblations: he makes the men sit down.

²¹As the guest of the seated company he himself offers up sacrifice.

²²With ladle, with hand, in life, at the sacrificial post, with cry of Ladle! with exclamation of Vashat!

²³Now these guests, as priests beloved or not beloved, bring one to the world of Svarga.

²⁴He who hath this knowledge should not eat hating, should not eat the food of one who hates him, nor of one who is doubt- ful, nor of one who is undecided.

²⁵This man whose food they eat hath all his wickedness blotted out.

²⁶All that man's sin whose food they do not eat remains unblot- ted out.

²⁷The man who supplies food hath always pressing stones adjusted, a wet Soma filter, well prepared religious rites, and mental power to complete the arranged sacrifice.

²⁸The arranged sacrifice of the man who offers food is a sacrifice to Prajapati.

²⁹The man who offers food follows the steps of Prajapati.

³⁰The fire of the guests is the Ahavaniya, the fire in the dwelling is the Garhapatya, that whereon they cook food is the South- ern Sacrificial Fire.

³¹Now that man who eats before the guest eats up the sacrifice and the merit of the house.

³²He devours the milk and the sap:

³³And the vigour and prosperity.

³⁴And the progeny and the cattle:

³⁵And the fame and reputation.

³⁶The man who eats before the guest eats up the glory and the understanding of the house.

³⁷The man should not eat before the guest who is a Brahman versed in holy lore.

³⁸When the guest hath eaten he should eat. This is the rule for the animation of the sacrifice and the preservation of its continuity.

³⁹Now the sweetest portion, the produce of the cow, milk, or flesh, that verily he should not eat.

⁴⁰The man who having this knowledge pours out milk and offers it wins for himself as much thereby as he gains by the perfor- mance of a very successful Agnishtoma sacrifice.

⁴¹The man who having this knowledge pours out clarified butter and offers it wins for himself thereby as much as he gains by the performance of a very successful Atiratra sacrifice.

⁴²He who pours out mead and offers it wins for himself thereby as much as he gains by the performance of a very successful Sattrasadya sacrifice.

⁴³He who having this knowledge besprinkles flesh and offers it wins for himself thereby as much as he gains by the perfor- mance of a very successful Twelve-Day sacrifice.

⁴⁴The man who having this knowledge pours out water and offers it obtains a resting-place for the procreation of living beings and becomes dear to living beings, even the man who having this knowledge pours out water and offers it.

⁴⁵For him Dawn murmurs, and Savitar sings the prelude; Brihas- pati chants with vigour, and Tvashtar joins in with increase; the Visve Devah take up conclusion. He who hath this know- ledge is the abiding-place of welfare, of progeny, and of cattle.

⁴⁶For him the rising Sun murmurs, and Early Morning sings the prelude; Noon chants the psalm, Afternoon joins in; the setting Sun takes up the conclusion. He who hath this know- ledge is the abiding place of welfare, of progeny, and of cattle.

⁴⁷For him the Rain-cloud murmurs when present, sings the pre- lude when thundering, joins in when lightening, chants the psalm when raining, and takes up the conclusion when it stays the downpour. He who hath this knowledge is the abiding- place of welfare, of progeny, and of cattle.

⁴⁸He looks at the guests, he utters a gentle sound; he speaks, he signs the prelude; he calls for water, he chants the psalm; he offers the residue of the sacrifice, he takes up the conclusion.

⁴⁹When he summons the door-keeper he gives instruction.

⁵⁰He (the door-keeper) pronounces the sacrificial formula in his answer to what he hears.

⁵¹When the attendants with vessels in their hands, foremost and hindmost, come in, they are just the priests who manage the Soma cups.

⁵²Not one of them is incompetent to sacrifice.

⁵³Or if the host, having offered food to his guest, goes up to the house, he virtually enters the bath of purification.

⁵⁴When he distributes food he distributes priestly fees; what he performs he asks as favour.

⁵⁵He having been invited on earth, regales, invited in that, which wears all various forms on earth.

⁵⁶He, having been invited in air, regales, invited, in that which wears all various forms in air.

⁵⁷He having been invited in the sky, regales, invited, in that which wears all various forms in the sky.

⁵⁸He, having been invited among the gods, regales, invited in that which wears all various forms among the Gods.

⁵⁹He, having been invited in the worlds, regales, invited, in that which wears all various forms in the worlds.

⁶⁰He, having been invited hath been invited.

⁶¹He gains this world and the world yonder.

⁶²He who hath this knowledge wins the luminous spheres.

¹Prajapati and Parameshthin are the two horns, Indra is the head, Agni the forehead, Yama the joint of the neck.

²King Soma is the brain, Sky is the upper jaw, Earth is the lower jaw.

³Lightning is the tongue, the Maruts are the teeth, Revati is the neck, the Krittikas are the shoulders, the Gharma s the shoulder-bar.

⁴His universe is Vayu, Svarga is his world, Krishpadram is the tendons and Vertebrae.

⁵The Syena ceremony is the breast, Air is the region of the belly,. Brihaspati is the hump, Brihati the breast-bone and cartilages of the ribs.

⁶The consorts of the Gods are the ribs, the attendants are ribs.

⁷Mitra and Varuna are the shoulder-blades. Tvashtar and Arya- man the fore-arms, Mahadeva is the arms.

⁸Indrani is the hinder parts, Vayu the tail, Pavamana the hair.

⁹Priestly rank and princely power are the hips, and strength is. the thigh.

¹⁰Dhatar and Savitar are the two knee-bones, the Gandharvas are the legs the Apsarases are bits of the feet, Aditi is the hooves.

¹¹Thought is the heart, intelligence is the liver, law the pericar- dium.

¹²Hunger is the belly, refreshing drink is the rectum, mountains. are the inward parts.

¹³Wrath is the kidneys, anger the testes, offspring the generative organ.

¹⁴The river is the womb, the Lords of the Rain are the breasts,. the thunder is the udder.

¹⁵The All-embracing (Aditi) is the hide, the herbs are her hair,. and the Lunar Mansions her form.

¹⁶The hosts of Gods are her entrails, man are her bowels, and demons her abdomen.

¹⁷Rakshasas are the blood, the Other Folk are the contents of the Stomach.

¹⁸The rain-cloud is her fat, her resting-place her marrow.

¹⁹Sitting he is Agni, when he hath stood up he is the Asvins.

²⁰Standing east-wards he is Indra, standing southwards, Yama.

²¹Standing westwards he is Dhatar, standing northwards Savitar.

²²When he hath got his grass he is King Soma.

²³He is Mitra when he looks about him, and when he hath turned round he is joy.

²⁴When he is yoking he belongs to the All-Gods, when yoked he is Prajapati, when unyoked he is All.

²⁵This verily is omniform, wearing all forms, bovine-formed.

²⁶Upon him wait omniform beasts, wearing every shape, each one who hath this knowledge.

¹Each pain and ache that racks the head, earache, and erysipelas,. All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our spell.

²From both thine ears, from parts thereof, thine earache, and the throbbing pain, All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our spell.

³So that Consumption may depart forth from thine ears and from. thy mouth, All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our spell.

⁴The malady that makes one deaf, the malady that makes one blind, All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our spell.

⁵The throbbing pain in all thy limbs that rends thy frame with fever-throes, All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our spell.

⁶The malady whose awful look makes a man quiver with alarm, Fever whom every Autumn brings we charm away with this our spell.

⁷Disease that creeps about the thighs and, after, reaches both the groins, Consumption from thine inward parts we charm away with this our spell.

⁸If the disease originates from love, from hatred, from the heart, Forth from the heart and from the limbs we charm the wasting malady.

⁹The yellow Jaundice from thy limbs, and Colic from the parts within, And Phthisis from thine inward soul we charm away with this our spell.

¹⁰Let wasting malady turn to dust, become the water of disease. I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.

¹¹Forth from the hollow let it run, and rumbling sounds from thine inside. I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.

¹²Forth from thy belly and thy lungs, forth from thy navel and thy heart. I have evoked the poison taint of all Consumptions out of thee.

¹³The penetrating stabs of pain which rend asunder crown and head, Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁴The pangs that stab the heart and reach the breast-bone and connected parts, Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁵The stabs that penetrate the sides and pierce their way along the ribs, Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁶The penetrating pangs that pierce thy stomach as they shoot across, Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁷The pains that through the bowels creep, disordering the inward parts, Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁸The pains that suck the marrow out, and rend and tear the bones apart, May they speed forth and pass away, free from disease and harming not.

¹⁹Consumptions with their Colic pains which make thy limbs insensible I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.

²⁰Of piercing pain, of abscesses, rheumatic ache, ophthalmia-- I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.

²¹I have dispelled the piercing pains from feet, knees, hips, and hinder parts, And spine, and from the neck and nape the malady that racked the head.

²²Sound are the skull-bones of thy head and thy heart's beat is regular. Thou, Sun, arising with thy beams hast chased away the head's disease, hast stilled the pain that racked the limbs.

¹The second brother of this lovely Hotar, hoary with eld, is the voracious Lightning. The third is he whose back is balmed with butter. Here have I seen the King with seven male children.

²The seven make the one-wheeled chariot ready: bearing seven names the single Courser draws it. The wheel, three-naved, is sound and undecaying: thereon these worlds of life are all dependent.

³The seven who on this seven-wheeled car are mounted have horses, seven in tale, who draw them onward. Seven sisters utter songs of praise together, in whom the Cows' seven names are held and treasured.

⁴Who hath beheld at birth the Primal Being, when She who hath no bone supports the bony? Where is the blood of earth, the life, the spirit? Who may ap- proach the man who knows, to ask it?

⁵Let him who knoweth presently declare it, this lovely Bird's securely-founded station. Forth from his head the Cows draw milk, and wearing his ves- ture with their foot have drunk the water.

⁶Unripe in mind, in spirit undiscerning, I ask of these the Gods' established places. High up above the yearling Calf the sages, to form a web, their own seven threads have woven.

⁷Here, ignorant, I ask the wise who know it, as one who knows not, for the sake of knowledge, What is That One, who in the Unborn's image hath stablished and fixed firm this world's six regions.

⁸The Mother gave the Sire his share of Order. With thought at first she wedded him in spirit. She, coyly loth, was filled with dew prolific. With adoration men approached to praise her.

⁹Yoked was the Mother to the boon Cow's car-pole; in humid folds of cloud the infant rested. Then the Calf lowed and looked upon the Mother, the Cow who wears all shapes in three directions.

¹⁰Bearing three mothers and three fathers, single he stood erect: they never made him weary. On yonder heaven's high ridge they speak together in speech not known to all, themselves all-knowing.

¹¹Upon the five-spoked wheel revolving ever, whereon all crea- tures rest and are dependent, The axle, heavy-laden, is not heated: the nave from ancient time remains unheated.

¹²They call him in the farther half of heaven the Sire five-footed, of twelve forms, wealthy in watery store. These others, later still, say that he takes his stand upon a seven- wheeled car, six-spoked, whose sight is clear.

¹³Formed with twelve spokes, too strong for age to weaken, this wheel of during Order rolls round heaven. Herein established, joined in pairs together, seven hundred sons and twenty stand, O Agni.

¹⁴The wheel revolves, unwasting, with its felly: ten draw it, yoked to the far-stretching car-pole. Girt by the region moves the eye of Surya, on whom dependent rest all living creatures.

¹⁵They told me these were males, though truly females. He who hath eyes sees this, the blind discerns not. The son who is a sage hath comprehended: who knows this rightly is his father's father.

¹⁶Of the co-born they call the seventh single-born: the six twin, pairs are called the Rishis, sons of Gods. Their good gifts sought of men are ranged in order due, and, various, form by form, move for their guiding Lord.

¹⁷Beneath the upper realm, above this lower, bearing her Calf at foot, the Cow hath risen. Whitherward, to what place hath she departed? Where doth she calve? Not in this herd of cattle.

¹⁸Who, that the father of this Calf discerneth beneath the upper realm, above the lower, Showing himself a sage, may here declare him? Whence hath the godlike spirit had its rising?

¹⁹Those that come hitherward they call departing, those that depart they call directed hither. Whatever ye have made, Indra and Soma! steeds draw, as' twere, yoked to the region's car-pole.

²⁰Two Birds with fair wings, knit with bonds of friendship, in the same sheltering tree have found a refuge, One of the twain eats the sweet Fig-tree's berry: the other, eat- ing not, regardeth only.

²¹The tree whereon the fine Birds eat the sweetness, where they all rest and procreate their offspring Upon the top, they say the fruit is luscious: none gaineth it who knoweth not the Father.

²²Where the fine birds hymn ceaselessly their portion of life eter- nal, and the sacred synods. There is the Universe's Guard and Keeper who, wise hath entered into me the simple.

¹How on the Gayatri the Gayatri was based; how from the Trishtup they fashioned the Trishtup forth: How on the Jagati was based the Jagati--they who know this have won themselves immortal life.

²With Gayatri he measures out the praise-song, Saman with praise-song, triplet with the Trishtup, The triplet with the two or four-foot measure, and with the syllable they form seven metres.

³With Jagati the flood in heaven he stablished, and saw the Sun in the Rathantara Saman. Gayatri hath, they say, three logs for burning: hence it excels in majesty and vigour.

⁴I invocate this Milch-cow good at milking, so that the Milker, deft of hand, may milk her. May "Savitar give goodliest stimulation. The caldron is made hot: he will proclaim it.

⁵She, Lady of all treasures, hath come hither, yearning in spirit for her calf, and lowing. May this Cow yield her milk for both the Asvins, and may she prosper to our high advantage.

⁶The Cow hath lowed after her blinking youngling: she licks his forehead as she lows, to form it. His mouth she fondly calls to her warm udder, and suckles him with milk while gently lowing.

⁷He also snorts, by whom encompassed round the Cow lows as she closely clings to him who sheds the rain. She with her shrilling cries hath humbled mortal men, and turn- ed to lightning, hath stripped off her covering robe.

⁸That which hath breath and life and speed and motion lies firmly stablished in the midst of houses. The living moves by powers of the departed: the immortal is the brother of the mortal.

⁹The old hath waked the young Moon from his slumber, who runs his circling course with many round him. Behold the God's high wisdom in its greatness: he who died yesterday to-day is living.

¹⁰He who hath made him doth not comprehend him: from him who saw him surely he is hidden. He, yet enveloped in his mother's bosom, source of much life, hath sunk into destruction.

¹¹I saw the Herdsman, him who never stumbles, approaching by his pathways and departing. He clothed with gathered and diffusive splendours, within the worlds continually travels.

¹²Dyaus is our father, our begetter: kinship is here. This great Earth is our kin and mother. Between the wide-spread world-halves is the birth-place. The Father laid the Daughter's germ within it.

¹³I bid thee tell me earth's extremest limit, about the Stallion's genial flow I ask thee; I ask about the universe's centre, and touching highest heaven where Speech abideth.

¹⁴The earth's most distant limit is this altar: this Soma is the Stallion's genial humour; This sacrifice the universe's centre: this Brahman highest heaven where Speech abideth.

¹⁵What thing I truly am I know not clearly: mysterious, fettered in my mind I wander. When the first-born of holy Law approached me, then of this Speech I first obtain a portion.

¹⁶Back, forward goes he, grasped by power inherent, immortal born the brother of the mortal. Ceaseless they move in opposite directions: men mark the one and fail to mark the other.

¹⁷Seven germs unripened yet are Heaven's prolific seed: their functions they maintain by Vishnu's ordinance. Endued with wisdom through intelligence and thought, present on every side they compass us about.

¹⁸Upon what syllable of holy praise-hymn, as 'twere their highest heaven, the Gods repose them Who knows not this, what will he do with praise-hymn? But they who know it well sit here assembled.

¹⁹They, ordering the verse's foot by measure, with the half-verse arranged each thing that moveth. Prayer was diffused in many forms three-footed thereby the world's four regions have their being

²⁰Fortunate mayst thou be with goodly pasture, and may we also be exceeding wealthy. Feed on the grass, O Cow, through all the seasons, and coming hitherward drink limpid water.

²¹Forming the water-floods the Cow herself hath lowed, one-foot- ed or two-footed or four-footed, she, Who hath become eight-footed or acquired nine feet, the uni- verse's thousand-syllabled Pankti. From her descend in streams the seas of water.

²²Dark the descent: the birds are golden-coloured. Robed in the floods they fly aloft to heaven. Again from Order's seat have they descended, and inundated all the earth with fatness.

²³The footless Maid precedeth footed creatures. Who marketh, Mitra Varuna! this your doing? The Babe unborn supporteth this world's burthen, supporteth Right and watcheth Wrong and Falsehood.

²⁴Viraj is Speech, and Earth, and Air's mid-region. He is Praja- pati, and he is Mrityu. He is the Lord Imperial of the Sadhyas. He rules what is and what shall be hereafter. May he make me lord of what is and shall be.

²⁵1 saw from far away the smoke of fuel with spires that rose on high o'er that beneath it. The heroes cooked and dressed the spotted bullock. These were the customs in the days aforetime.

²⁶Three with long tresses show in ordered season. One of them sheareth when the year is ended. One with his powers the universe regardeth. Of one the sweep is seen, but not the figure.

²⁷Speech hath been measured out in four divisions: the Brahmans who have wisdom comprehend them. Three, kept in close concealment, cause no motion. Of Speech men speak the fourth division only.

²⁸They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutman. That which is One bards call by many a title: they call It Agni, Yama, Matariswan.