Hymns of
the Atharva Veda (continued..)
VII.
CHARMS TO SECURE PROSPERITY IN
HOUSE, FIELD, CATTLE, BUSINESS, GAMBLING, AND KINDRED MATTERS.
{03012}
III, 12. Prayer at the building
of a house.
1. Right here do I erect a firm
house: may it stand upon a (good) foundation, dripping with ghee! Thee may we
inhabit, O house, with heroes all, with strong heroes, with uninjured heroes!
2. Right here, do thou, O house, stand firmly, full of horses, full of cattle,
full of abundance! Full of sap, ful.] of ghee, full of milk, elevate thyself
unto great happiness!
3. A supporter art thou, O house, with broad roof, containing purified grain! To
thee may the calf come, to thee the child, to thee the milch-cows, when they
return in the evening!
4. May Savitar, Vāyu, Indra, Brihaspati cunningly erect this house! Alay the
Alaruts sprinkle it with moisture and with ghee; may king Bhaga let our
ploughing take root!
5. O mistress of dwelling, as a sheltering and kindly goddess thou wast erected
by the gods in the bealrinina; clothed in grass, be thou kindly disposed; give
us, moreover, wealth along with heroes!
6. Do thou, O cross-beam, according to regulation ascend the post, do thou,
mightily ruling, hold off the enemies! May they that approach thee reverently, O
house, not suffer injury, may we with all our heroes live a hundred autumns!
7. Hither to this (house) hath come the tender child, hither the calf along with
(the other) domestic animals; hither the vessel (full) of liquor, together with
bowls of sour milk!
8. Carry forth, O woman, this full jar, a stream of ghee mixed with ambrosia! Do
thou these drinkers supply with ambrosia; the sacrifice and the gifts (to the
Brahmans) shall it (the house) protect!
9. These waters, free from disease, destructive of disease, do I carry forth.
The chambers do I enter in upon together with the immortal Agni (fire).
{06142}
VI, 142. Blessing during the
sowing of seed.
1. Raise thyself up, grow thick by
thy own might, O grain! Burst every vessel! The lightning in the heavens shall
not destroy thee!
2. When we invoke thee, god grain, and thou dost listen, then do thou raise
thyself up like the sky, be inexhaustible as the sea!
3. Inexhaustible shall be those that attend to thee, inexhaustible thy heaps!
Theywhogivethee as a present shall be inexhaustible, they who eat thee shall be
inexhaustible!
{06079}
VI, 79. Charm for procuring
increase of grain.
1. May this bounteous Nabhasaspati
(the lord of the cloud) preserve for us (possessions) without measure in our
house!
2. Do thou, O Nabhasaspati, keep strengthening food in our house, may prosperity
and goods come hither!
3. O bounteous god, thou dost command thousandfold prosperity: of that do thou
bestow upon iis, of that do thou give us, in that may we share with thee!
{06050}
VI, 50. Exorcism of vermin
infesting grain in the field.
1. Slay ye the tarda ('borer'),
the samanka ('hook'), and the mole, O Asvins; cut off their heads, and crush
their ribs! Shut their mouths, that they shall not eat the barley; free ye,
moreover, the grain from danger!
2. Ho tarda ('borer'), ho locust, ho gabhya ('snapper'), upakvasa! As a Brahman
(eats not) an uncompleted sacrifice, do ye, not eating this barley, without
working injury, get out!
3. O husband of the tardā (-female), O husband Of the vaghā (-female), ye of
the sharp teeth, listen to me! The vyadvaras (' rodents') of the forest, and
whatever other vyadvaras (there are), all these we do crush.
{07011}
VII, 11. Charm to protect grain
from lightning.
1. With thy broad thunder,with the
beacon, elevated by tile gods that pervade this all, with the lightning do thou
not destroy our grain, O god; nor do thou destroy it with the rays of the sun!
{02026}
II, 26. Charm for the prosperity
of cattle.
1. Hither shall come the cattle
which have strayed to a distance, whose companionship Vāyu (the wind) enjoys!
(The cattle) whose structure of form Tvashtar knows, Savitar shall hold in place
in this stable!
2. To this stable the cattle shall flow together, Brihaspati skilfully shall
conduct them hither! Sīnīvālī shall conduct hither their van: do thou, O
Anumati, hold them in place after they have arrived!
3. May the cattle, may the horses, and may the domestics flow together; may the
increase of the grain flow together! I sacrifice with an oblation that causeth
to flow together!
4. I pour together the milk of the cows, I pour together strength and sap with
the ghee. Poured together shall be our heroes, constant shall be the cows with
me the owner of the cows!
5. I bring hither the milk of the cows, I have brought hither the sap of the
grain. Brought hither are our heroes, brought hither to this house are our
wives.
{03014}
III, 14. Charm for the prosperity
of cattle.
1. With a firmly founded stable,
with wealth, with well-being, with the name of that which is born on a lucky day
do we unite you (O cattle)!
2. May Aryaman unite you, may Pūshan, Brihaspati, and Indra, the conqueror of
booty, unite you! Do ye prosper my possessions!
Flocking together without fear, making ordure in this stable, holding honey fit
for soma, free from disease, ye shall come hither!
4. Right here come, ye cows, and prosper here like the sakā-bird! And right
here do ye beget (your youn(y)! May ye be in accord with me!
5. May your stable be auspicious to you, prosper ye like the sāri-birds and
parrots! And right here do ye beget (your young)! With us do we unite you.
6. Attach yourselves, O cows, to me as your possessor; may this stable here
cause you to prosper! Upon you, growing numerous, and living, may we, increasing
in wealth, alive, attend!
{06059}
VI, 59. Prayer to the plant
arundhatī for protection to cattle.
1. Thy foremost protection, O
Arundhatī, do thou bestow upon steer and milch-kine, upon (cattle of) the age
when weaned from their mother, upon (all) four-footed creatures!
2. May Arundhatī, the herb, bestow protection along with the gods, render full
of sap the stable, free from disease our men!
3. The variegated, lovely, life-giving (plant) do I invoke. May she carry away
for us, far from the cattle, the missile hurled by Rudra!
{06070}
VI, 70. Charm to secure the
attachment of a cow to her calf.
1. As meat, and liquor, and dice
(abound) at the gambling-place, as the heart of thf. lusty male hankers after
the woman, thus shall thy heart, O cow, hanker after the calf!
2. As the elephant directs his steps after the steps of the female, as the heart
of the lusty male hankers after the woman, thus shall thy heart, O cow, hanker
after the calf!
3. As the felloe, and as the spokes, and as the nave (of the wheel is joined) to
the felloe, as the heart of the lusty male hankers after the woman, thus shall
thy heart, O cow, hanker after the calf!
{03028}
III, 28. Formula in expiation of
the birth of twin-calves
1. Through one creation at a time
this (cow) was born, when the fashioners of the beings did create the cows of
many colours. (Therefore), when a cow doth beget twins portentously, growling
and cross she injureth the cattle.
2. This (cow) doth injure our cattle: a flesh-eater, devourer, she hath become.
Hence to a Brahman he shall give her; in this way she may be kindly and
auspicious!
3. Auspicious be to (our) men, auspicious to (our) cows and horses, auspicious
to this entire field, auspicious be to us right here!
4. Here be prosperity, licre be sap! Be thou here one that especially gives a
thousandfold! Make the cattle prosper, thou mother of twins!
5. Where our pious friends live joyously, having left behind the ailments of
their bodies, to that world the mother of twins did attain: may she not injure
our men and our cattle!
6. Where is the world of our pious friends, where the world of thern that
sacrifice with the agnihotra, to that world the mother of twins did attain: may
she not injure our imen and our cattle!
{06092}
VI, 92. Charm to endow a horse
with swiftness.
1. Swift as the wind be thou, O
steed, when joined (to the chariot); at Indra's urging go, fleet as the mind!
The Maruts, the all-possessing, shall harness thee,Tvashtar shall put fleetness
into thy feet!
2. With the fleetness, O runner, that has been deposited in thee in a secret
place, (with the fleetness) that has been made over to the eagle, the wind, and
moves in them, with that, O steed, strong with strength, do thou win the. race,
reaching the goal in the contest!
3. Thy body, O steed, leading (our) body, shall run, a pleasure to ourselves,
delight to thyself! A god, not stumbling, for the support of the great, he
shall, as if upon the heaven, found his own light!
{03013}
III, 13. Charm for conducting a
river into a new channel.
1. Because of yore, when the
(cloud-) serpent was slain (by Indra), ye did rush forth and shout (anadatā),
therefore is your name 'shouters' (nadyah rivers'): that is your designation, ye
streams!
2. Because, when sent forth by Varuna, ye then quickly did bubble up; then Indra
met (āpnot) you, as ye went, therefore anon are ye 'meeters' (āpah waters')!
3. When reluctantly ye flowed, Indra, forsooth, did with might choose (avīvarata)
you as his own, ye goddesses! Therefore 'choice' (vār 'water') has been given
you as your name!
4. One god stood upon you, as ye flowed according to will. Up breathed (ud ānishuh)
they who are known as 'the great' (mahīh). Therefore 'upbreather' (udakam
'water') are they called!
5. The waters are kindly, the waters in truth were ghee. These waters, truly, do
support Agni and Soma. May the readily flowing, strong sap of the honey-dripping
(waters) come to me, together with life's breath and lustre!
6. Then do I see them and also do I hear them; their sound, their voice doth
come to me. When, ye golden-coloured, I have refreshed myself with you, then I
ween, ambrosia (amrita) am I tasting!
7. Here, ye waters, is your heart, here is your calf, ye righteous ones! Come
ye, mighty ones, by this way here, by which I am conducting you here!
{06106}
VI, 106. Charm to ward off danger
from fire.
1. Where thou comest, (O fire),
and where thou goest away, the blooming dūrvā-plant shall grow: a well-spring
there shall rise up, or a lotus-laden pool!
2. Here (shall be) the gathering place of the waters, here the dwelling-place of
the sea! In the midst of a pond our house shall be: turn, (O fire), away thy
jaws!
With a covering of coolness do we envelop thee, O house; cool as a pond be thou
for us! Agni shall furnish the remedy!
{04003}
IV, 3. Shepherd's charm against
wild beasts and robbers.
1. Three have gone away from here,
the tiger, man, and wolf. Out of sight, forsooth, cm the rivers, out of siaht
(grows the divine tree (the banyan-tree?): out of sight the enemies shall
retreat!
2. The wolf shall tlead a distant path, and the robber one still more distant!
On a distant path shall move the biting rope (the serpent), on a distant path
the plotter of evil!
3. Thy eyes and thy jaw we crush, O tiger, and also all thy twenty claws.
4. We crush the tiger, the foremost of animals, armed with teeth. Next, too, the
thief, and then the serpent, the wizard, and also the wolf.
5. The thief that approacheth to-day, crushed to pieces he goeth away. Where the
paths are precipitate he shall go, Indra shall slay him with his bolt!
6. The teeth of the wild beast are dulled, and broken are his ribs. Out of thy
sight the dragon shall go, down shall tumble the hare-hunting beast!
7. The (jaw, O beast,) that thou shuttest together, thou shalt not open up; that
which thou openest up, thou shalt not shut together!--Born of Indra, born of
Soma, thou, (my charm), art Atharvan's crusher of tigers.
{03015}
III, 15. A merchant's prayer.
1. Indra, the merchant, do I
summon: may he come to us, may he be our van; driving away the demon of grudge,
the waylayers, and wild beasts, may he, the possessor, bestow wealth upon me!
2. May the many paths, the roads of the gods, which come together between heaven
and earth, c,ladden me with milk and ghee, so that I may gather in wealth from
my purchases!
3. Desirous do I, O Agni, with firewood and ghee offer oblations (to thee), for
success and strength; according to ability praising (thee) with my prayer, do I
sing this divine song, that I may gain a hundredfold!
4. (Pardon, O Agni, this sin of ours [incurred upon] the far road which we have
travelled!) May our purchases and our sales be successful for us; may what I get
in barter render me a gainer! May ye two (Indra and Agni) in accord take
pleasure in this oblation! May our transactions and the accruing gain be
auspicious to us!
5. The wealth with which I go to purchase, desiring, ye gods, to gain wealth
through wealth, may that grow more, not less! Drive away, O Agni, in return for
the oblation, the gods who shut off gain!
6. The wealth with which I go to purchase, desiring, ye gods, to gain wealth
through wealth, may Indra, Pragāpati, Savitar, Soma, Agni, place lustre into it
for me!
7. We praise with reverence thee, O priest (Agni) Vaisvdnara. Do thou over our
children, selves, cattle, and life's breath watch!
8. Daily, never failing, shall we bring (oblations to thee), O Gātavedas, (as
if fodder) to a horse standing (in the stable). In growth of wealth and
nutriment rejoicing, may we, O Agni, thy neighbours, not take harm!
{04038}
IV, 38. A. Prayer for success in
gambling.
1. The successful, victorious,
skilfully gaming Apsarā, that Apsarā who makes the winnings in the game of
dice, do I call hither.
2. The skilfully gaming Apsarā who sweeps and heaps up (the stakes), that Apsarā
who takes the winnings in the game of dice, do I call hither.
May she, who dances about with the dice, when she takes the stakes from the game
of dice, when she desires to win for us, obtain the advantage by (her) magic!
May she come to us full of abundance! Let them not win this wealth of ours!
4. The (Apsarās) who rejoice in dice, who carry grief and wrath-tbat joyful and
exulting Apsarā, do I call hither.
B. Prayer to secure the return of
calves that have strayed to a distance.
5. They (the cattle) who wander
along the rays of the sun, or they who wander along the flood of light) they
whose bull (the. sun), full of strength, from afar protecting, with the day
wanders about all the worlds-may he (the bull), full of strength, delighting in
this offering, come to us together with the atmosphere!
6. Together with the atmosphere, O thou who art full of strength, protect the
white (karkī) calf, O thou swift steed (the sun)! Here are many drops (of ghee)
for thee; come hither! May this white calf (karkī) of thine, may thy mind, be
here!
7. Together with the atmosphere, O thou who art full of strength, protect the
white (karkī) calf, O thou swift steed (the sun)! Here is the fodder, here the
stall, here do we tie down the calf. Whatever (are your) names, we own you.
Hail!
{07050}
VII, 50. Prayer for success at
dice.
1. As the lightning at all times
smites irresistibly the tree, thus would I to-day irresistibly beat the
gamesters with my dice!
2. Whether they be alert, or not alert, the fortune of (these) folks,
unresisting, shall assemble from all sides, the gain (collect) within my hands!
3. I invoke with reverence Agni, who has his own riches; here attached he shall
beap up gain for us! I procure (wealth) for myself, as if with chariots that win
the race. May I accomplish auspiciously the song of praise to the Maruts!
4. May we by thy aid conquer the (adversary s) troop; help us (to obtain) our
share in every contest! Make for us, O Indra, a good and ample road; crush, O
Maghavan, the lusty power of our enemies!
5. I have conquered and cleaned thee out (?); I have also gained thy reserve. As
the wolf plucks to pieces the sheep, thus do I pluck thy winnings.
6. Even the strong hand the bold player conquers, as the skilled gambler heaps
up his winnings at the proper time. Upon him that loves the game (the god), and
does not spare his money, (the game, the god) verily bestows the delights of
wealth.
7. Through (the possession of) cattle we all would suppress (our) wretched
poverty, or with grain our hunger, O thou oft implored (god)! May we foremost
among rulers, unharmed, gain wealth by our cunning devices!
8. Gain is deposited in my right hand, victory in my left. Let me become a
conqueror of cattle, horses, wealth, and gold!
9. O dice, yield play, profitable as a cow that is rich in milk! Bind me to a
streak of gain, as the bow (is bound) with the string!
{06056}
VI, 56. Exorcism of serpents from
the premises.
1. May the serpent, ye gods, not
slay us along with our children and our men! The closed (jaw) shall not snap
open, the open one not close! Reverence (be) to the divine folk!
2. Reverence be to the black serpent, reverence to the one that is striped
across! To the brown svaga reverence; reverence to the divine folk!
3. I clap thy teeth upon thy teeth, and also thy jaw upon thy jaw; I press thy
tongue against thy tongue, and close up, O serpent, thy mouth.
{10004}
X, 4. Charm against serpents,
invoking the horse of Pedu that slays serpents.
1. To Indra belongs the first
chariot, to the gods the second chariot, to Varuna, forsooth, the third. The
serpents' chariot is the last: it shall hit a post, and come to grief!
2. The young darbha-grass burns (the serpents?), the tail of the horse, the tail
of the shaggy one, the seat of the wagon (burns the serpents?).
3. Strike down, O white (horse), with thy forefoot and thy hind-foot! As timber
floating in water, the poison of the serpents, the fierce fluid, is devoid of
strength.
4. Neighing loudly he dived down, and, again diving up, said: 'As timber
floating in water, the poison of the serpents, the fierce fluid, is devoid of
strength.'
5. The horse of Pedu slays the kasarnīla, the horse of Pedu slays the white
(serpent), and also the black. The horse of Pedu cleaves the head of the ratharvī,
the adder.
6. O horse of Pedu, go thou first: we come after thee! Thou shalt cast out the
serpents from the road upon which we come!
7. Here the horse of Pedu was born; from here is his departure. Here are the
tracks of the serpent-killing, powerful steed!
8. May the closed (serpent's jaw) not snap open, may the open one not close! The
two serpents in this field, man and wife, they are both bereft of strength.
9. Without strength here are the serpents, those that are near, and those that
are far. With a club do I slay the vriskika (scorpion), with a staff the serpent
that has approached.
10. Here is the remedy for both the aghāsva and the svaga! Indra (and) Pedu's
horse have put to naught the evil-planning (aghāyantam) serpent.
11. The horse of Pedu do we remember, the strong, with strong footing: behind
he, staring forth, these adders.
12. Deprived are they of life's spirit, deprived of poison, slain by Indra with
his bolt. Indra hath slain them: we have slain them.
13. Slain are they that are striped across, crushed are the adders! Slay thou
the one that produces a hood, (slay) the white and the black in the darbha-grass!
14. The maiden of the Kirāta-tribe, the little one digs up the remedy, with
golden spades, on the mountain's back.
15. Hither has come a youthful physician: he slays the speckled (serpent), is
irresistible. He, forsooth, crushes the svaga and the vriskika both.
16. Indra did set at naught for me the serpent, (and so did) Mitra and Varuna, Vāta
and Parganya both.
17. Indra did set at naught for me the serpent, the adder, male and female, the
svaga, (the serpent) that is striped across, the kasarnīla, and the dasonasi.
18. Indra slew thy first ancestor, O serpent, and since they are crushed, what
strength, forsooth, can be theirs?
19. I have gathered up their heads, as the fisherman the karvara (fish). I have
gone off into the river's midst, and washed out the serpent's poison.
20. The poison of all serpents the rivers shall carry off! Slain are they that
are striped across, crushed are the adders!
21. As skilfully I cull the fibre of the plants, as I guide the mares, (thus), O
serpent, shall thy poison go away!
22. The poison that is in the fire, in the sun, in the earth, and in the plants,
the kāndā-poison, the kanaknaka, thy poison shall go forth, and come!
23. The serpents that are sprung from the fire, that are sprung from the plants,
that are sprung from the water, and originate from the lightning; they from whom
great brood has sprung in many ways, those serpents do we revere with obeisance.
24. Thou art, (O plant), a maiden, Taudī by name.; Ghritākī, forsooth, is thy
name. Underfoot is thy place: I take in hand what destroys the poison.
25. From every limb make the poison start; shut it out from the heart! Now the
force that is in thy poison shall go down below!
26. The poison has gone to a distance: he has shut it out; he has fused the
poison with poison. Agni has put away the poison of the serpent, Soma has led it
out. The poison has gone back to the biter. The serpent is dead!
{11002}
XI, 2. Prayer to Bhava and Sarva
for protection from dangers.
1. O Bhava and Sarva, be merciful,
do not attack (us); ye lords of beings, lords of cattle, reverence be to you
twain! Discharge not your arrow even after it has been laid on (the bow), and
has been drawn! Destroy not our bipeds and our quadrupeds!
2. Prepare not our bodies for the dog, or the jackal; for the aliklavas, the
vultures, and the black birds! Thy greedy insects, O lord of cattle (pasupate),
and thy birds shall not get us to devour!
3. Reverence we offer, O Bhava, to thy roaring, to thy breath, and to thy
injurious qualities; reverence to thee, O Rudra, thousand-eyed, immortal!
4. We offer reverence to thee from the east, from the north, and from the
-south; from (every) domain, and from heaven. Reverence be to thy atmosphere!
5. To thy face, O lord of cattle, to thy eyes, O Bhava, to thy skin, to thy
form, thy appearance, (and to thy aspect) from behind, reverence be!
6. To thy limbs, to thy belly, to thy tongue, to thy mouth, to thy teeth, to thy
smell (nose), reverence be!
7. May we not conflict with Rudra, the archer with the dark crest, the
thousand-eyed, powerful one, the slayer of Ardhaka!
8. Bhava shall steer clear from us on all sides, Bhava shall steer clear from
us, as fire from water! May he not bear malice towards us: reverence be to him!
9. Four times, eight times, be reverence to Bhava, ten times be reverence to
thee, O lord of cattle! To thy (charge) have been assigned these five (kinds of)
cattle: cows, horses, men, goats and sheep.
10. Thine, O strong god (ugra), are the four regions, thine the sky, thine the
earth, and thine this broad atmosphere; thine is this all that has a spirit and
has breath upon the earth.
11. Thine is this broad, treasure-holding receptacle within which all worlds are
contained. Do thou spare us, O lord of cattle: reverence be to thee! Far from us
shall go the jackals, evil omens, dogs; far shall go (the mourning women) who
bewail rnisfortune with dishevelled hair!
12. Thou, O crested (god), carriest in (thy hand), that smites thousands, a
yellow, golden bow that slays hundreds; Rudra's arrow, the missile of the gods,
flies abroad: reverence be to it, in whatever direction from here (it flies)!
13. The adversary who lurks and seeks to overcome thee, O Rudra, upon him thou
dost fasten thyself from behind, as (the hunter) that follows the trail of a
wounded (animal).
14. Bhava and Rudra, united and concordant, both strong (ugrau), ye advance to
deeds of heroism: reverence be to both of them, in whatever direction (they are)
from here!
15. Reverence be to thee coming, reverence to thee going; reverence, O Rudra, be
to thee standing, and reverence, also, to thee sitting!
16. Reverence in the evening, reverence in the morning, reverence by
night,reverence byday! I have offered reverence to Bhava and to Sarva, both.
17. Let us not with our tongue offend Rudra, who rushes on, thousand-eyed,
overseeing all, who hurls (his shafts) forward, who is manifoldly wise!
18. We approach first the (god) that has dark horses, is black, sable,
destructive, terrible, who casts down the car of Kesin: reverence be to him!
19. Do not hurl at us thy club, thy divine bolt; be not incensed at us, O lord
of cattle! Shake over some other than us the celestial branch!
20. Injure us not, interpose for us, spare us, be not angry with us! Let us not
contend with thee!
21. Do not covet our cattle, our men, our goats and sheep! Bend thy course
elsewhere, O strong god (ugra), slay the offspring of the blasphemers!
22. He whose missile, fever and cough, assails the single (victim), as the
snorting of a stallion, who snatches away (his victims) one by one, to him be
reverence!
23. He who dwells fixed in the atmosphere, smiting the blasphemers of the god
that do not sacrifice, to him be reverence with ten sakvarī-stanzas!
24. For thee the wild beasts of the forest have been placed in the forest:
flamingoes, eagles, birds of prey, and fowls. Thy spirit, O lord of cattle, is
within the waters, to strengthen thee the heavenly waters flow.
25. The dolphins, great serpents (boas), purīkayas (water-animals),
sea-monsters, fishes, ragasas at which thou shootest-there exists for thee, O
Bhava, no distance, and no barrier. At a glance thou lookest around the entire
earth; from the eastern thou slayest in the northern ocean.
26. Do not, O Rudra, contaminate us with fever, or with poison, or with heavenly
fire: cause this lightning to descend elsewhere than upon us!
27. Bhava rules the sky, Bhava rules the earth; Bhava has filled the broad:
atmosphere. Reverence be to him in whatever direction from here (he abides)!
28. O king Bhava, be merciful to thy worshipper, for thou art the lord of living
beasts! He who believes the gods exist, to his quadruped and biped be merciful!
29. Slay neither our great nor our small; neither those of us that are riding,
nor those that shall ride; neither our father, nor our mother. Cause no injury,
O Rudra, to our own persons!
30. To Rudra's howling dogs, who swallow their food without blessing, who have
wide jaws, I have made this obeisance.
31. Reverence, O god, be to thy shouting hosts, reverence to thy long-haired,
reverence to thy reverenced, reverence to thy devouring hosts! May well-being
and security be to us!
{04028}
IV, 28. Prayer to Bhava and Sarva
for protection from calamities.
1. O Bhava and Sarva, I am devoted
to you. Take note of that, ye under whose control, is all this which shines (the
visible universe)! Ye who rule all these two-footed and four-footed creatures,
deliver us from calamity!
2. Ye to whom belongs all that is near by, yea, all that is far; ye who are
known as the most skilful archers among bowmen; ye who rule all these two-footed
and four-footed creatures, deliver us from calamity!
3. The thousand-eyed slayers of Vritra both do I invoke. I go praising the two
strong gods (ugrau) whose pastures extend far. Ye who rule all these two-footed
and four-footed creatures, deliver us from calamity!
4. Ye who, united, did undertake many (deeds) of old, and, moreover, did visit
portents upon the. people; ye who rule all these two-footed and fourfooted
creatures, deliver us from calamity!
5. Ye from whose blows no one either among gods or men escapes; ye who rule all
these twofooted and four-footed creatures, deliver us from calamity!
6. The sorcerer who prepares a spell, or manipulates the roots (of plants)
against us, against him, ye strong gods, launch your thunderbolt! Ye who rule
all these two-footed and four-footed creatures, deliver us from calamity.
7. Ye strong gods, favour us in battles, bring into contact with your
thunderbolt the Kimīdin! I praise you, O Bhava and Sarva, call fervently upon
you in distress: deliver us from calamity!
{07009}
VII, 9. Charm for finding lost
property.
1. On the distant path of the
paths Pūshan was born, on the distant path of heaven, on the distant path of
the earth. Upon the two most lovely places both he walks hither and away,
knowing (the way).
2. Pūshan knows these regions all; he shall lead us by the most dangerless
(way). Bestowing well-being, of radiant glow, keeping our heroes undiminished,
he shall, alert and skilful, go before us!
3. O Pūshan, under thy law may we never suffer harm: as praisers of thee are we
here!
4. Pūshan shall from the east place his right hand about us, shall bring again
to us what has been lost: we shall come upon what has been lost!
{06128}
VI, 128. Propitiation of the
weather-prophet.
1. When the stars made Sakadhūma
their king they bestowed good weather upon him: 'This shall be his dominion,'
they said.
2. Let us have good weather at noon, good weather at eve, good weather in the
early morning, good weather in the niyht
3. For day and night, for the stars, for sun and moon, and for us prepare good
weather, O king Sakadhūma!
4. To thee, O Sakadhūma, ruler of the stars, that gavest us good weather in the
evening in the night, and by day, let there ever be obeisance!
{11006}
XI, 6. Prayer for deliverance
from calamity, addressed to the entire pantheon.
1. To Agni we speak and to the
trees, to the plants and to the herbs; to Indra, Brihaspati, and Sūya: they
shall deliver us from calamity!
2. We speak to king Varuna, to Mitra, Vishnu and Bhaga. To Amsa and Vivasvant do
we speak: they shall deliver us from calamity!
3. We speak to Savitar, the god, to Dhātar, and to Pūshan; to first-born
Tvashtar do we speak: they shall deliver us from calamity!
4. We speak to the Gandharvas and the Apsaras, to the Asvins and to
Brahmanaspati, to the god whose name is Aryaman: they shall deliver us from
calamity!
5. Now do we speak to day and night, to Sūrya (sun) and to Kandramas (moon),
the twain; to all the Ādityas we speak: they shall deliver us from calamity!
6. We speak to Vāta (wind) and Parganya, to the atmosphere and the directions
of space. And to all the regions do we speak: they shall deliver us from
calamity!
7. Day and night, and Ushas (dawn), too, shall deliver thee from curses! Soma
the god, whom they call Kandramas (moon), shall deliver me!
8. To the animals of the earth and those of heaven, to the wild beasts of the
forest, to the winged birds, do we speak: they shall deliver us from calamity!
9. Now do we speak to Bhava and Sarva, to Rudra and Pasupati; their arrows do we
know well: these (arrows) shall be ever propitious to us!
10. We speak to the heavens, and the stars, to earth, the Yakshas, and the
mountains; to the seas.. the rivers, and the lakes: they shall deliver us from
calamity!
11. To the seven Rishis now do we speak, to the divine waters and Pragāpati. To
the Fathers with Yama at their head: they shall deliver us from calamity!
12. The gods that dwell in heaven, and those that dwell in the atmosphere; the
mighty (gods) that are fixed upon the earth, they shall deliver us from
calamity!
13. The Ādityas, Rudras, Vasus, the divine Atharvans in heaven, and the wise
Angiras: they shall deliver us from calamity!
14. We speak to the sacrifice and the sacrificer, to the riks, the sāmans, and
the healing (Atharvan) charms; we speak to the yagus-formulas and the
invocations (to the gods): they shall deliver us from calamity!
15. We speak to the five kingdoms of the plants with soma the most excellent
among them. The darbha-grass, hemp, and mighty barley: they shall deliver us
from calamity!
16. We speak to the Arāyas (demons of grudge), Rakshas, serpents, pious men,
and Fathers; to the one and a hundred deaths: they shall deliver us from
calamity!
17. To the seasons we speak, to the lords of the seasons, and to the sections of
the year; to the halfyears, years, and months: they shall deliver us from
calamity!
18. Come, ye gods, from the south and the west; ye gods in the east come forth!
From the east, from the north the mighty gods, all the gods assembled: they
shall deliver us from calamity!
19, 20. We speak here to all the gods that hold to their agreements, promote the
order (of the universe), together with all their wives: they shall deliver us
from calamity!
21. We speak to being, to the lord of being, and also to him that controls the
beings; to the beings all assembled: they shall deliver us from calamity!
22. The five divine regions, the twelve divine seasons, the teeth of the year,
they shall ever be propitious, to us!
23. The amrita (ambrosia), bought for the price of a chariot, which Mātalī
knows as a remedy, that Indra stored away in the waters: that, O ye waters,
furnish ye as a remedy!
VIII.
CHARMS IN EXPIATION OF SIN AND
DEFILEMENT.
{06045}
VI, 45. Prayer against mental
delinquency.
1. Pass far away, O sin of the
mind! Why dost thou utter things not to be uttered? Pass away, I love thee not!
To the trees, the forests go on! With the house, the cattle, is my mind.
2. What wrongs we have committed through imprecation, calumny, and false speech,
either awake, or asleep--Agni shall put far away from us all offensive evil
deeds!
3. What, O Indra Brahmanaspati, we do falselymay Praketas ('care-taker') Āngirasa
protect us from misfortune, and from evil!
{06026}
VI, 26. Charm to avert evil.
1. Let me go, O evil; being
powerful, take thou pity on us! Set me, O evil, unharmed, into the world of
happiness!
2. If, O evil, thou dost not abandon us, then do we abandon thee at the fork of
the road. May evil follow after another (man)!
3. Away from us may thousand-eyed, immortal (evil) dwell! Him whom we hate may
it strike, and him whom we hate do thou surely smite!
{06114}
VI, 114. Expiatory formula for
imperfections in the sacrifice.
1. The god-angering (deed), O ye
gods, that we, the (Brahman) gods, have committed, from that do ye, O Ādityas,
release us, by virtue of the order of the universe!
2. By virtue of the order of the universe do ye, O reverend Ādityas, release us
here, if, O ye carriers of the sacrifice, though desirous of accomplishing (the
sacrifice), we did not accomplish (it)!--
3. (If), when sacrificing with the fat (animal), when offering oblations of ghee
with the spoon, when desiring to benefit you, O all ye gods, we have contrary to
desire, not succeeded!
{06115}
VI, 115. Expiatory formulas for
sins.
1. From the sins which knowingly
or unknowingly we have committed, do ye, all gods, of one accord, release us!
2. If awake, or if asleep, to sin inclined, I have committed a sin, may what has
been, and what shall be, as if from a wooden post, release me!
3. As one released from a wooden post, as one in a sweat by bathing (is
cleansed) of filth, as ghee is clarified by the sieve, may all (the gods) clear
me from sin!
{06112}
VI, 112. Expiation for the
precedence of a younger brother over an older.
1. May this (younger brother) not
slay the oldest one of them, O Agni; protect him that he be not torn out by the
root! Do thou here cunningly loosen the fetter of Grāhi (attack of disease);
may all the gods give thee leave!
2. Free these three, O Agni, from the three fetters with which they have been
shackled! Do thou cunningly loosen the fetters of Grāhi; release them all,
father, sons, and mother!
3. The fetters with which the older brother, whose younger brother has married
before him, has been bound, with which he has been encumbered and shackled limb
by limb, may they be loosened; since fit for loosening they are! Wipe off, O Pūshan,
the misdeeds upon him that practiseth abortion!
{06113}
VI, 113. Expiation for certain
heinous crimes.
1. On Trita the gods wiped off
this sin, Trita wiped it off on human beings; hence if Grāhi (attack of
disease) has seized thee, may these gods remove her by means of their charm!
2. Enter into the rays, into smoke, O sin; go into the vapours, and into the
fog! Lose thyself on the foam of the river! 'Wipet off, O Pūshan, the misdeeds
upon him that practiseth abortion!
3. Deposited in twelve places is that which has been wiped off Trita, the sins
belonging to humanity. Hence if Grāhi has seized thee, may these gods remove
her by means of their charm!
{06120}
VI, 120. Prayer for heaven after
remission of sins.
1. If air, or earth and heaven, if
mother or father, we have injured, may this Agni Gārhapatya (household fire)
without fail lead us out from this (crime)
to the world of well-doing!
2. The earth is our mother, Aditi (the universe) our kin, the air our protector
from hostile schemes. May father sky bring prosperity to us from the world of
the Fathers; may I come to my (departed) kin, and not lose heaven!
3. In that bright world where our pious friends live in joy, having cast aside
the ailments of their own bodies, free from lameness, not deformed in limb,
there may we behold our parents and our children!
{06027}
VI, 27. Charm against pigeons
regarded as ominous birds.
1. O ye gods, if the pigeon,
despatched as the messenger of Nirriti (the goddess of destruction), hath come
here seeking (us out), we shall sing his praises, and prepare (our) ransom. May
our two-footed and four-footed creatures be prosperous!
2. Auspicious to us shall be the pigeon that has been despatched; harmless, ye
gods, the bird shall be to our house! The sage Agni shall verily take pleasure
in our oblation; the winged missile shall avoid us!
3. The winged missile shall not do us injury: upon our hearth, our fireplace he
(the pigeon) takes his steps! Propitious he shall be to our cattle and
our domestics; may not, ye gods, the pigeon here do harm to us!
{06029}
VI, 29. Charm against ominous
pigeons and owls.
1. Upon those persons yonder the
winged missile shall fall! If the owl shrieks, futile shall this be, or if the
pigeon takes his steps upon the fire!
2. To thy two messengers, O Nirriti, who come here, despatched or not despatched,
to our house, to the pigeon and to the owl, this shall be no place to step upon!
3. He shall not fly hither to slaughter (our) men; to keep (our) men sound he
shall settle here! Charm .him very far away unto a distant region, that (people)
shall behold you (i.e. him) in Yama's house devoid of strength, that they shall
behold you bereft of power!
{07064}
VII, 64. Expiation when one is
defiled by a black bird of omen.
1. What this black bird flying
forth towards (me) has dropped here--may the waters protect me from all that
misfortune and evil!
2. What this black bird has brushed here with thy mouth, O Nirtiti (goddess of
misfortune)-may Agni Gārhapatya (the god of the household fire) free me from
this sin!
{06046}
VI, 46. Exorcism of evil dreams.
1. Thou who art neither alive nor
dead, the immortal child of the gods art thou, O Sleep! Varunānī is thy
mother, Yama (death) thy father, Araru is thy name.
2. We know, O Sleep, thy birth, thou art the son of the divine women-folk, the
instrument of Yama (death)! Thou art the ender, thou art death! Thus do we know
thee, O Sleep: do thou, O Sleep, protect us from evil dreams!
3. As one pays off a sixteenth, an eighth, or an (entire) debt, thus do we
transfer every evil dream upon our enemy.
{07115}
VII, 115. Charm for the removal
of evil characteristics, and the acquisition of auspicious ones.
1. Fly forth from here, O evil
mark, vanish from here, fly forth to yonder place! Upon him that hates us do we
fasten thee with a brazen hook.
2. The unsavoury mark which flying has alighted upon me, as a creeper upon a
tree, that mayest thou put away from us, away from here, O golden-handed
(golden-rayed) Savitar (the sun), bestowing goods upon us!
3. Together with the body of the mortal, from his birth, one and a hundred marks
are born. Those that are most foul do we drive away from here; the auspicious
ones, O Gātavedas (Agni), do thou hold fast for us!
4. These (marks) here I have separated, as cows scattered upon the heather. The
pure marks shall remain, the foul ones I have made to disappear!
IX.
PRAYERS AND IMPRECATIONS IN THE
INTEREST OF THE BRAHMANS.
{05018}
V, 18. Imprecation against the
oppressors of Brahmans.
1. The gods, O king, did not give
to thee this (Cow) to eat. Do not, O prince, seek to devour the cow of the Brāhmana,
which is unfit to be eaten!
2. The prince, beguiled by dice, the wretched one who has lost as a stake his
own person, he may, perchance, eat the cow of the Brāhmana, (thinking), 'let me
live to-day (if) not to-morrow'!
3. Enveloped (is she) in her skin, as an adder with evil poison; do not, O
prince, (eat the cow) of the Brāhmana: sapless, unfit to be eaten, is that cow!
4. Away does (the Brāhmana) take regal power, destroys vigour; like fire which
has caught does he burn away everything. He that regards the Brāhmana as fit
food drinks of the poison of the taimāta-serpent.
5. He who thinks him (the Brahman) mild, and slays him, he who reviles the gods,
lusts after wealth, without thought, in his heart Indra kindles a fire; him both
heaven and earth hate while he lives.
6. The Brāhmana must not be encroached upon, any more than fire, by him that
regards his own body! For Soma is his (the Brāhmana's) heir, Indra protects him
from hostile plots.
7. He swallows her (the cow), bristling with a hundred hooks, (but) is unable to
digest her, he, the fool who, devouring the food of the Brahmans, thinks, 'I am
eating a luscious (morsel).'
8. (The Brahman's) tongue turns into a bow. string, his voice into the neck of
an arrow; his windpipe, his teeth are bedaubed with holy fire: with these the
Brahman strikes those who revile the gods, by means of bows that have the
strength to reach the heart, discharged by the gods.
9. The Brāhmanas have sharp arrows, are armed with missiles, the arrow whi ch
they hurl goes not in vain; pursuing him with their holy fire and their wrath,
even from afar, do they pierce him.
10. They who ruled over a thousand, and were themselves ten hundred, the
Vaitahavya, when they devoured the cow of the Brāhmana, perished.
11. The cow herself, when slaughtered, came down upon the Vaitahavyas. who had
roasted for themselves the last she-goat of Kesaraprābandhā.
12. The one hundred and one persons whom the earth did cast off, because they
had injured the offspring of a Brāhmana, were ruined irretrievably.
13. As a reviler of the gods does he live among mortals, having swallowed
poison, he becomes more bone (than flesh). He that injureth a Brāhmana, whose
kin are the gods, does not reach heaven by the road of the Fathers.
14. Agni is called our guide, Soma our heir, Indra slays those who curse (us):
that the strong (sages) know.
15. Like a poisoned arrow, O king, like -an adder, O lord of cattle, is the
terrible arrow of the Brāhmana: with that he smites those who revile (the
gods).
{05019}
V, 19. Imprecation against the
oppressors of Brahmans.
1. Beyond measure they waxed
strong, just fell short of touching the heavens. When they infringed upon Bhrigu
they perished, the Srińgaya Vaitahavyas.
2. The persons who pierced Brihatsāman, the descendant of Angiras, the Brāhmana--a
ram with two rows of teeth, a sheep devoured their offspring.
3. They who spat upon the Brāhmana, who desired tribute from him, they sit in
the middle of a pool of blood, chewing hair.
4. The cow of the Brahman, when roasted, as far as she reaches does she destroy
the lustre of the kingdom; no lusty hero is born (there).
5. A cruel (sacrilegious) deed is her slaughter, her meat, when eaten, is
sapless; when her milk is drunk, that surely is accounted a crime against the
Fathers.
6. When the king, weening himself mighty, desires to destroy the Brāhmana, then
royal power is dissipated, where the Brāhmana is oppressed.
7. Becoming eight-footed, four-eyed, four-eared, four-jawed, two-mouthed,
two-tongued, she dispels the rule of the oppressor of the Brahman.
8. That (kingdom) surely she swamps, as water a leaking ship; misfortune strikes
that kingdom, in which they injure a Brāhmana.
9. The trees chase away with the words: 'do not come within our shade,' him who
covets the wealth that belongs to a Brāhmana, O Nārada!
10. King Varuna pronounced this (to be) poison, prepared by the gods: no one who
has devoured the cow of a Brāhmana retains the charge of a kingdom.
11. Those full nine and ninety whom the earth did cast off, because they had
injured the offspring of a Brāhmana, were ruined irretrievably.
12. The kūdī-plant (Christ's thorn) that wipes away the track (of death),
which they fasten to the dead, that very one, O oppressor of Brahmans, the gods
did declare (to be) thy couch.
13. The tears which have rolled from (the eyes of) the oppressed (Brahman), as
he laments, these very ones, O oppressor of Brahmans, the gods did assign to
thee as thy share of water.
14. The water with which they bathe the dead, with which they moisten his beard,
that very one, O oppressor of Brahmans, the gods did assign to thee as thy share
of water.
15. The rain of Mitra and Varuna does not moisten the oppressor of Brahmans; the
assembly is not complacent for him, he does not guide his friend according to
his will.
{05007}
V, 7. Prayer to appease Arāti,
the demon of grudge and avarice.
1. Bring (wealth) to us, do not
stand in our way, O Arāti; do not keep from us the sacrificial reward as it is
being taken (to us)! Adoration be to the power of grudge, the power of failure,
adoration to Arāti!
2. To thy advising minister, whom thou, Arāti, didst make thy agent, do we make
obeisance. Do not bring failure to my wish!
3. May our wish, instilled by the gods, be fulfilled by day and night! We go in
quest of Arāti. Adoration be to Arāti!
4. Sarasvatī (speech), Anumati (favour), and Bhaga (fortune) we go to invoke.
Pleasant, honied, words I have spoken on the occasions when the gods were
invoked.
5. Him whom I implore with Vāk Sarasvatī (the goddess-of speech), the
yoke-fellow of thought, faith shall find to-day, bestowed by the brown soma!
6. Neither our wish nor our speech do thou frustrate! May Indra and Agni both
bring us wealth! Do ye all who to-day desire to make gifts to us gain favour
with Arāti!
7. Go far away, failure! Thy missile do we avert. I know thee (to be) oppressive
and piercing, O Arāti!
8. Thou dost even transform thyself into a naked woman, and attach thyself to
people in their sleep, frustrating, O Arāti, the thought, and intention of man.
9. To her who, great, and of great dimension, did penetrate all the regions, to
this golden-locked Nirriti (goddess of misfortune), I have rendered obeisance.
10. To the gold-complexioned, lovely one, who rests upon golden cushions, to the
great one, to that Arāti who wears golden robes, I have rendered obeisance.
{12004}
XII, 4. The necessity of giving
away sterile cows to the Brahmans.
1. 'I give,' he shall surely
say,'the sterile cow to the begging Brahmans'--and they have noted her--that
brings progeny and offspring!
2. With his offspring does he trade, of his cattle is he deprived, that refuses
to give the cow of the gods to the begging descendants of the Rishis.
3. Through (the gift of) a cow with broken horns his (cattle) breaks down,
through a lame one he tumbles into a pit, through a mutilated one his house is
burned, through a one-eyed one his property is given away.
4. Flow of blood attacks the cattle-owner from the spot where her dung is
deposited: this understanding there is about the vasā (the sterile cow); for
thou (sterile cow) art said to be very difficult to deceive!
5. From the resting-place of her feet the (disease) called viklindu overtakes
(the owner, or the cattle). Without sickness breaks down (the cattle) which she
sniffs upon with her nose.
6. He that pierces her ears is estranged from the gods. He thinks: 'I am making
a mark (upon her),' (but) he diminishes his own property.
7. If any one for whatsoever purpose cuts her tail then do his colts die, and
the wolf tears his calves.
8. If a crow has injured her hair, as long as she is with her owner then do his
children die: decline overtakes them without (noticeable) sickness.
9. If the serving-maid sweeps together her dung, that bites as lye, there arises
from this sin disfigurement that passeth not away.
10. The sterile cow in her very birth is born for the gods and Brāhmanas. Hence
to the Brahmans she is to be given: that, they say, guarantees the security of
one's own property.
11. For those that come requesting her the cow has been created by the gods.
Oppression of Brahmans it is called, if he keeps her for himself.
12. He that refuses to give the cow of the gods to the descendants of the Rishis
who ask for it, infringes upon the gods, and the wrath of the Brāhmanas.
13. Though he derives benefit from this sterile cow, another (cow) then shall he
seek! When kept she injures (his) folk, if he refuses to give her after she has
been asked for!
14. The sterile cow is as a treasure deposited for die Brāhmanas: they come
here for her, with whomsoever she is born.
15. The Brāhmanas come here for their own, when they come for the sterile cow.
The refusal of her is, as though he were oppressing them in other concerns.
I& If she herds up to her third year, and no disease is discovered in her,
and he finds her to be a sterile cow, O Nārada, then must he look for the Brāhmanas.
17. If he denies that she is sterile, a treasure deposited for the gods, then
Bhava and Sarva, both, come upon him, and hurl their arrow upon him.
18. Though he does not perceive upon her either udder, or tits, yet both yield
him milk, if he has prevailed upon himself to give away the sterile cow.
19. Hard to cheat, she oppresses him, if, when asked for, he refuses to give
her. His desires are not fulfilled, if he aims to accomplish them without giving
her away.
20. The gods did ask for the sterile cow, making the Brāhmana their mouthpiece.
The man that does not give (her) enters into the wrath of all of these.
21. Into the wrath of the cattle enters he that gives not the sterile cow to the
Brāhmanas; if he, the mortal, appropriates the share deposited for the gods.
22. Even if a hundred other Brāhmanas beg the owner for the sterile cow, yet
the gods did say anent her: 'The cow belongs to him that knoweth thus.'
23. He that refuses the sterile cow to him that knoweth thus, and gives her to
others, difficult to dwell upon is for him the earth with her divinities.
24. The gods did beg the sterile cow of him wilh whom she was born at first.
That very one Nārada recognised and drove forth in company with the gods.
25. The sterile cow renders childless, and poor in cattle, him that yet
appropriates her, when she has been begged for by the Brāhmanas.
26. For Agni and Soma, for Kāma, for Mitra, and for Varuna, for these do the Brāhmanas
beg her: upon these he infringes, if he gl ves her not.
27. As long as the owner does not himself hear the stanzas referring to (the
giving away of) her, she may herd among his cattle; (only) if he has not heard
(them) may she pass the night in his house.
28. He that has listened to the stanzas, yet has permitted her to herd among the
cattle, his life and prosperity the angry gods destroy.
29. The sterile cow, even when she rambles freely, is a treasure deposited for
the gods. Make evident thy true nature when thou desirest to go to thy (proper)
stable!
30. She makes evident her nature when she desires to go to her (proper) stable.
Then indeed the sterile cow puts it into the minds of the Brahmans to beg (for
her).
31. She evolves it in her mind, that (thought) reaches the gods. Then do the
Brahmans come to beg for the sterile cow.
32. The call svadhā befriends him with the Fathers, the sacrifice with the
gods. Through the gift of the sterile cow the man of royal caste incurs not the
anger of (her), his mother.
33. The sterile cow is the mother of the man of royal caste: thus was it from
the beginning. It is said to be no (real) deprivation if she is given to the
Brahmans.
34. As if he were to rob the ghee ladled up for Agni (the fire) from the (very)
spoon, thus, if he gives not the sterile cow to the Brahmans, does he infringe
upon Agni.
35. The sterile cow has the purodasa (sacrificial cake) for her calf, she yields
plentiful milk, helps in this world, and fulfils all wishes for him that gives
her (to the Brahmans).
36. The sterile cow fulfils all wishes in the kingdom of Yama for him that gives
her. But they say that hell falls to the lot of him that withholds her, when she
has been begged for.
37. The sterile cow, even if she should become fruitful, lives in anger at her
owner: 'since he did regard me as sterile (without giving me to the Brahmans),
he shall be bound in the fetters of death!'
38, He who thinks that the cow is sterile, and (yet) roasts her at home, even
his children qnd grandchildren Brihaspati causes to be importuned (for her).
39. Fiercely does the (supposed) sterile cow burn when she herds with the
cattle, though she be a (fruitful) cow. She verily, too, milks poison for the
owner that does not present her.
40. It pleases the cattle when she is given to the Brahmans; moreover, the
sterile cow is pleased, when she is made an offering to the gods (Brahmans).
41. From the sterile cows which the gods, returning from the sacrifice, created,
Nārada picked out as (most) terrible the viliptī.
42. In reference to her the gods reflected: 'Is she a sterile cow, or not?' And
Nārada in reference to her said: 'Of sterile cows she is the most sterile!'
43. 'How many sterile cows (are there), O Nārada, which thou knowest to be born
among men?' About these do I ask thee, that knowest: 'Of which may the non-Brāhmana
not eat?'
44. Of the viliptī, of her that has born a sterile cow, and of the sterile cow
(herself), the non-Brāhmana, that hopes for prosperity, shall not eat!
45. Reverence be to thee, O Nārada, that knowest thoroughly which sterile cow
is the most terrible, by withholding which (from the Brahmans) destruction
is.incurred.
46. The viliptī, O Brihaspati, her that has, begotten a sterile cow, and the
sterile cow (herself), the non-Brāhmana, that hopes for prosperity, shall not
eat!
47. Three kinds, forsooth, of sterile cows are there: the viliptī, she that has
begotten a sterile cow, and the sterile cow (herself). These he shall give to
the Brahmans; (then) does he not estrange himself from Pragāpati.
48. 'This is your oblation, O Brāhmanas,' thus shall he reflect, if he is
supplicated, if they ask him for the sterile cow, terrible in the house of him
that refuses to give her.
49. The gods animadverted in reference to Bheda and the sterile cow, angry
because he had not given her, in these verses-and therefore he (Bheda) perished.
50. Bheda did not present the sterile cow, though requested by Indra: for this
sin the gods crushed him in battle.
51. The counsellors that advise the withholding (of the sterile cow), they, the
rogues, in their folly, conflict with the wrath of Indra.
52. They who lead the owner of cattle aside, then say to him: 'do not give,' in
their folly they run into the missile hurled by Rudra.
53. And if he roasts the sterile cow at home, whether he makes a sacrifice of
her, or not, he sins against the gods and Brāhmanas, and as a cheat falls from
heaven.
{11001}
XI, 1. The preparation of the
brahmaudana, the porridge given as a fee to the Brahmans.
1. O Agni, come into being! Aditi
here in her throes, longing for sons, is cooking the porridge for the Brahmans,
The seven Rishis, that did create the beings, shall here churn thee, along with
progeny!
2. Produce the smoke, ye lusty friends; unharmed by wiles go ye into the
contest! Here is the Agni (fire) who gains battles, and commands powerful
warriors, with whom the gods did conquer the demons.
3. O Agni, to a great heroic deed thou wast aroused, to cook the Brahman's
porridge, O Gātavedas! The seven Rishis, that did create the beings, have
produced thee. Grant her (the wife) wealth together with undiminished heroes!
4. Burn, O Agni, after having been kindled by the firewood, bring skilfully
hither the gods that are to be revered! Causing the oblation to cook for these
(Brahmans), do thou raise this (sacrificer) to the highest firmament!
5. The, threefold share which was of yore assigned to you (belongs) to the gods,
the (departed) Fathers, and to the mortals (the priests). Know your shares! I
divide them for you: the (share) of the gods shall protect this (woman)!
6. O Agni, possessed of might, superior, thou dost without fail prevail! Bend
down to the ground our hateful rivals!--This measure, that is being measured,
and has been measured, may constitute thy kin into (people) that render thee
tribute!
7. Mayest thou together with thy kin be endowed with sap! Elevate her (the wife)
to great heroism! Ascend on high to the base of the firmament, which they call
'the world of brightness'!
8. This great goddess earth, kindly disposed, shall receive the (sacrificial)
skin! Then may we go to the world of well-doing (heaven)!
9. Lay these two press-stones, well coupled, upon the skin; crush skilfully the
(soma-) shoots for the sacrificer! Crush down, (O earth), and beat down, those
who are hostile to her (the wife); lift up high, and elevate her offspring!
10. Take into thy hands, O man, the press-stones that work together: the gods
that are to be revered have come to thy sacrifice! Whatever three wishes thou
dost choose, I shall here procure for thee unto fulfilment.
11. This, (O winnowing-basket), is thy purpose, and this thy nature: may Aditi,
mother of heroes, take hold of thee! Winnow out those who are hostile to this
(woman); afford her wealth and undiminished heroes!
12. Do ye, (O grains), remain in the (winnowing-) basket, while (the wind) blows
over you; be separated, ye who are fit for the sacrifice, from the chaff! May we
in happiness be superior to all our equals! I bend down under our feet those
that hate us.
13. Retire, O woman, and return promptly! The stable of the waters
(water-vessel) has settled upon thee, that thou mayest carry it: of these (the
waters) thou shalt take such as are fit for sacrifice; having intelligently
divided them off, thou shalt leave the rest behind!
14. These bright women, (the waters), have come hither. Arise, thou woman, and
gather strength! To thee, that art rendered by thy husband a true wife, (and) by
thy children rich in offspring, the sacrifice has come: receive the (water-)
vessel!
15. The share of food that belongs to you of yore has been set aside for you.
Instructed by the Rishis bring thou (woman) hither this water! May this
sacrifice win advancement for you, win prAection, win offspring for you; may it
be mighty, win cattle, and heroes for you!
16. O Agni, the sacrificial pot has settled upon thee: do thou shining, brightly
glowing, heat it with thy glow! May the divine descendants of the Rishis,
assembled about their share (of the porridge), full of fervour, heat this (pot)
at the proper time!
17. Pure and clear may these sacrificial women, the waters bright, flow into the
pot! The), have given us abundant offspring and cattle. May he that cooks the
porridge go to the world of the pious (heaven)!
18. Purified by (our) prayer, and clarified by the ghee are the soma-shoots,
(and) these sacrificial grains. Enter the water; may the pot receive you! When
ye have cookect this (porridge) go ye to the world of the pious (heaven)!
19. Spread out far unto great extent, with a thousand surfaces, in the world of
the pious! Grandfathers, fathers, children, grandchildren--I am the fifteenth
one that did cook thee.
20. The porridge has a thousand surfaces, a hundred streams, and is
indestructible; it is the road of the gods, leads to heaven. Yonder (enemies) do
I place upon thee: injure them and their offspring; (but) to me that brings
gifts thou shalt be merciful!
21. Step upon the altar (vedi); make this woman thrive in her progeny; repel the
demons.; advance her! May we in happiness be superior to all our equals! I bend
down under our feet all those that hate us.
22. Turn towards her with cattle, (thou pot), face towards her, together with
the divine powers! Neither curses nor hostile magic shall reach thee; rule in
thy dwelling free from disease!
23. Properly built, placed with care, this altar (vedi) has been arranged of
yore for the Brahmans porridge. Put it, O woman, upon the purified amsadhrl;
place there the porridge for the divine (Brāhmanas)!
24. May this sacrificial ladle (sruk), the second hand of Aditi, which the seven
Rishis, the creators of the beings, did fashion, may this spoon, knowing the
limbs of the porridge, heap it upon the altar!
25. The divine (Brāhmanas) shall sit down to thee, the cooked saerfice: do thou
again descending from the fire, approach them! Clarified by soma settle in the
belly of the Brāhmanas; the descendants of the Rishis who eat thee shall not
take harm!
26. O king Soma, infuse harmony into the good Brāhmanas who shall sit about
thee! Eagerly do I invite to the porridge the Rishis, descended from Rishis,
that are born of religious fervour, and gladly obey the call.
27. These pure and clear sacrificial women (the waters) I put into the hands of
the Brāhmanas severally. With whatever wish I pour this upon you, may Indra.
accompanied by the Maruts grant this to me!
28. This gold is my immortal light, this ripe fruit of the field is my
wish-granting cow. This treasure I present to the Brāhmanas: I prepare for
myself a road that leads. to the Fathers in the heavens.
29. Scatter the spelt into Agni Gātavedas (the fire), sweep away to a far
distance the chaff! This (chaff) we have heard, is the share of the ruler of the
house (Agni), and we know, too, what belonos to Nirriti (destruction) as her
share.
30. Note, (O porridge), him that takes pains, and cooks and presses the soma;
lift him up to the heavenly road, upon which, after he has reached the fullest
age, he shall ascend to the highest firmament, the supreme heavens!
31. Anoint (with ghee), O adhvaryu (priest), the surface of this sustaining
(porridge), make skilfully a place for the melted butter; with ghee do thou
anoint all its limbs! I prepare for myself a road that leads to the Fathers in
the heavens.
32. O sustaining (porridge), cast destruction and strife among such as are
sitting about thee, and are not Brāhmanas! (But) the descendants of the -Rishis,
that eat thee, being full of substance, spreading forth, shall not take harm!
33. To the descendants of the Rishis I make thee over, O porridge; those who are
not descended from Rishis have no share in it! May Agni as my guardian, may all
the Maruts, and all the gods watch over the cooked food!
34. Thee (the porridge) that milkest the sacrifice, art evermore abundant, the
male milch-cow, the seat of wealth, we beseech for immortality of off-spring and
long life with abundance of wealth.
35. Thou art a lusty male, penetratest heaven: go thou to the Rishis, descended
from Rishis! Dwell in the world of the pious: there is a well-prepared (place)
for us two!
36. Pack thyself up, go forth! O Agni, prepare the roads, that lead to the gods!
By these: well-prepared (roads) may we reach the sacrifice, standing upon the
firmament (that shines) with seven rays!
37. With the light with which the gods, having cooked the porridge for the Brāmanas,
ascended to heaven, to the world of the pious, with that would we go to the
world of the pious, ascending to the light, to the highest firmament!
{07003}
XII, 3. The preparation of the
brahmaudana, the porridge given as a fee to the Brahmans.
1. (Thyself) a male, step thou
upon the hide of the male (steer): go, call thither all that is dear to thee! At
whatever age ye two formerly did first unite (in marriage), may that age be your
common lot in Yama's kingdom!
2. Your sight shall be as clear (as formerly), your strength as abundant, your
lustre as great, your vitality as manifold! When Agni, the (funeral-) pyre,
fastens himself upon the corpse, then as a pair ye.shall rise from the (cooked)
porridge!
3. Come ye together in this world, upon the road to the gods, and in Yama's
realms! By purifications purified call ye together the offspring that has sprung
from you!
4. Around the water united, sit ye down, O children; around this living (father)
and the waters that refresh the living! Partake of these (waters), and of that
porridge which the mother of you two cooks, and which is called amrita
(ambrosia)!
5. The porridge which the father of you two, and which the mother cooks, unto
freedom from defilement and foulness of speech, that porridge with a hundred
streams (of ghee), leading to heaven, has penetrated with might both the
hemispheres of the world.
6. In that one of the two hemispheres and the two heavenly worlds, conquered by
the pious, which especially abounds in light, and is rich in honey, in that do
ye in the fulness of time come together with your children!
7. Keep ever on in an easterly direction: this is the region that the faithful
cling to! When your cooked porridge has been prepared on the fire, hold
together, O man and wife, that ye may guard it!
8. When ye shall have reached the southerly direction, turn ye to this vessel!
In that Yama, associated with the fathers, shall give abundant protection to
your cooked porridge!
9. This westerly direction is especially favoured: in it Soma is ruler and
consoler. To this hold, attach yourselves to the pious: then as a pair ye shall
rise from the cooked porridge!
10. The northerly direction shall make our realm the very uppermost, in
offspring, uppermost! The purusha is the metre pahkti: with all (our kin),
endowed with all their limbs, may we be united!
11. This 'firm' direction (nadir) is Virāg (brilliancy): reverence be to her;
may she be kind to my children and to me! Mayest thou, O goddess Aditi, who
boldest all treasures, as an alert guardian guard the cooked porridge!
12. As a father his children do thou, (O earth), embrace us; may gentle winds
blow upon us here on earth! Then the porridge which the two divinities (the
sacrificer and his wife) are here preparing for us shall take note of our
religious fer~our and our truth!
13. Whatever the black bird, that has come hither stealthily, has touched of
that ahich has stuck to the rim, or whatever the wet-banded slavegirl does
pollute-may ye, O waters, purify (that) mortar and pestle!
14. May this sturdy press-stone, with broad bottom, purified by the purifiers,
beat away the Rakshas! Settle upon the skin, afford firm protection; may man and
wife not come to grief in their children!
15. The (pestle of) wood has come to us together with the gods: it drives away
the Rakshas and Pisākas. Up it shall rise, shall let its voice resound
through it let us conquer all the worlds!
16. The cattle clothed itself in sevenfold strength, those among them that are
sleek and those that are poor. The thirty-three gods attend them mayest thou, (O
cattle), guide us to the heavenly world!
17. To the bright world of heaven thou shalt lead us; (there) let us be united
with wife and children! I take her hand, may she follow me there; neither
Nirriti (destruction), nor Arāti (grudge), shall gain mastery over us!
18. May we get past the evil Grāhi (seizure)! Casting aside darkness do thou,
(O pestle), let thy lovely voice resound; do not, O wooden tool, when raised, do
injury; do not mutilate the grain devoted to the gods!
19. All-embracing, about to be covered with ghee, enter, (O pot), as a
co-dweller this space!--Take hold of the winnowing-basket, that has been grown
by the rain: the spelt and the chaff it shall sift out!
20. Three regions are constructed after the pattern of the Brāhmana: yonder
heaven, the earth, and the atmosphere.--Take the (soma-) shoots, and hold one
another, (O man and wife)! They (the shoots) shall swell (with moisture), and
again go back into the winnowing-basket!
21. Of manifold variegated colours are the animals, one colour hast thou, (O
porridge), when successfully prepared.--Push these (soma-) Shoots upon this red
skin; the press-stone shall purify them as the washer-man his clothes!
22. Thee, the (pot of) earth, I place upon the earth: your substance is the
same, though thine, (O pot), is modified. Even though a blow has cracked or
scratched thee, do not therefore burst: with this verse do I cover that up!
23. Gently as a mother embrace the son: I unite thee, (pot of) earth, with the
earth! Mayest thou, the hollow pot, not totter upon the altar, when thou art
pressed by the tools of sacrifice and the ghee!
24. May Agni who cooks thee protect thee on the east, Indra with the Maruts
protect thee on the south! May Varuna on the west support thee upon thy
foundation, may Soma on the north hold thee together!
25. Purified by the purifiers, the (waters) flow pure from the clouds, they
reach to the spaces of heaven, and of the earth. They are alive, refresh the
livino, and are firmly rooted: may Agni heat them, after they have been poured
into the vessel!
26. From heaven they come, into the earth they penetrate; from the earth they
penetrate into the atmosphere. May they, now pure, yet purify themselves
further; may they conduct us to the heavenly world!
27. Whether ye are over-abundant or just sufficient, ye are surely clear, pure,
and immortal: cook, ye waters, instructed by the husband and wife, obliging and
helpful, the porridge!
28. Counted drops penetrate into the earth, commensurate with the breaths of
life and the plants. The uncounted golden (drops), that are poured into (the
porridge), have, (themselves) pure, established complete purity.
29. The boiling waters rise and sputter, cast up foam and many bubbles. Unite,
ye waters, with this grain, as a woman who beholds her husband in the proper
season!
30. Stir up (the grains) as they settle at the bottom: let them mingle their
inmost parts with the waters! The water here I have measured with cups; measured
was the grain, so as to be according to these regulations.
31. Hand over the sickle, with haste bring promptly (the grass for the barhis);
without giving pain let them cut the plants at the joints! They whose kingdom
Soma rules, the plants, shall not harbour anger against us!
32. Strew a new barhis for the porridge: pleasing to its heart, and lovely to
its sight it shall be! Upon it the gods together with the goddesses shall enter;
settle down to this (porridge) in proper order, and cat it!
33. O (instrument of) wood, settle down upon the strewn barhis, in keeping with
the divinities and the agnishloma rites! Well shaped, as if by a carpenter (Tvashtar)
with his axe, is thy form. Longing for this (porridge) the (gods) shall be seen
about the vessel!
34. In sixty autumns the treasurer (of the porridge) shall fetch it, by the
cooked grain he shall obtain heaven; the parents and the children shall live
upon it. Bring thou this (man) to heaven, into the presence of Agni!
35. (Thyself) a holder, (O pot), hold on to the foundation of the earth: thee,
that art immoveable the gods (alone) shall move! Man and wife, alive, with
living children, shall remove thee from the hearth of the fire!
36. Thou hast conquered and reached all worlds; as many as are our wishes, thou
hast satisfied them. Dip ye in, stirring stick and spoon! Place it (the por idge)
upon a single dish!
37. Lay (ghee) upon it, let it spread forth, anoint this dish with ghee! As the
lowing cow her young that craves the breast, ye gods shall greet with sounds of
satisfaction this (porridge)!
38. With ghee thou hast covered it, hast made this place (for the porridge): may
it, peerless, spread afar to heaven! Upon it shall rest the mighty eagle; gods
shall offer it to the divinities!
39. Whatever the wife cooks aside from thee, (O husband), or the husband (cooks)
unbeknown of thee, O wife, mix that together: to both of you it shall belong;
bring it together into a single place!
40. As many of her children as dwell upon the earth, and the sons that have been
begotten by him, all those ye shall call up to the dish: on shall come the young
knowing their nest!
41. The goodly streams, swelling with honey, mixed with ghee, the seats of
ambrosia, all these does he obtain, ascends to heaven. In sixty autumns the
treasurer (of the porridge) shall fetch it!
42. The treasurer shall fetch this treasure: all outsiders round about shall not
control it! The heaven-directed porridge, that has been presented and deposited
by us, in three divisions has reached the thrte heavens.
43. May Agni burn the ungodly Rakshas; the flesh-devouring Pisāka shall have
nothing here to partake of! We drive him away, hold him afar from us: the Ādityas
and Angiras shall stay near it!
44. To the Ādityas and the Angiras do I offer this (food of) honey, mixed with
ghee. Do ye two, (man and wife), with clean hands, without having injured a Brāhmana,
performing pious deeds, go to that heavenly world!
45. I would obtain this highest part of it (the porridge), the place from which
the highest lord permeates (the all). Pour butter upon it, anoint it witb
plentiful ghee: this here is our share, fit for the Angiras!
46. For the sake of truth and holy strength do we make over this porridge as a
hoarded treasure to the gods: it shall not be lost to us in gaming or in the
assembly; do not let it go to any other person before me!
47. I cook, and I give (to the Brahmans), and so, too, my wife, at my religious
rite and practice.--With the birth of a son the world of children has arisen
(for you): do ye two hold on to a life that extends beyond (your years)!
48. In that place exists no guilt, and no duplicity, not even if he goes
conspiring with his friends. This full dish of ours has here been deposited: the
cooked (porridge) shall come back again to him that cooks it!
49. kind deeds we shall perform for our friends: all that hate us shall go to
darkness (hell)!--As (fruitful) cow, and (strong) steer, they (man and wife)
shall during, every successive period of their lives drive away man-besetting
death!
50. The fires (all) know one another, that which lives in plants, and lives in
the waters, and all the (light-) gods that glow upon the heaven. The gold (here)
becomes the light of him that cooks (the porridge).
51. This (naked skin) among the hides is born upon man (alone), all other
animals are riot naked. Clothe yourselves, (ye Brahmans), in sheltering
garments: (even) the face of the porridge is a homespun garment!
52. What falsehood thou shalt speak at play and in the assembly, or the
falsehood that thou shalt speak through lust for gain--put on together, (O man
and wife), this same garment, deposit upon it every blemish!
53. Produce rain, go to the gods, let smoke arise from (thy) surface;
all-embracing, about to be covered with ghee, enter as a co-dweller this place!
54. In many ways heaven assumes within itself a different form, according to
circumstances. It (the heaven) has laid aside its black form, purifying itself
to a bright (form); the red form do I sacrifice fot thee into the fire.
55. Thee here we hand over to the eastern direction, to Agni as sovereign lord,
to the black serpent as guardian, to Āditya as bowman: do ye guard it for us,
until we arrive! To the goal here he shall lead us, to old age; old age shall
hand us over to death: then shall we be united with the cooked (porridge)!
56. Thee here we hand over to the southern direction, to Indra as sovereign
lord, to the serpent that is striped across as guardian, to Yama as bowman: do
ye guard it for us, until we arrive! To the goal here, &c.
57. Thee here we hand over to the western direction, to Varuna as sovereign
lord, to the pridāku-serpent as guardian, to food as bowman: do ye guard it for
us, until we arrive. To the goal here, &c.
58. Thee here we hand over to the northern direction, to Soma as sovereign lord,
to the svaga-serpent as guardian, to the lightning as bowman: do ye guard it for
us, until we arrive. To the goal here, &c.
59. Thee here we hand over to the direction of the nadir, to Vishnu as sovereign
lord, to the serpent with black-spotted neck as guardian, to the plants as
bowmen: do ye guard it for us, until we arrive. To the goal here, &c.
60. Thee here we hand over to the direction of the zenith, to Brihaspati as
sovereign lord, to the light-coloured serpent as guardian, to the rain as
bowman: do ye guard it for us, until we arrive. To the goal here, &c.
{09003}
IX, 3. Removal of a house that
has been presented to a priest as sacrificial reward.
1. The fastenings of the
buttresses, the supports, and also of the connectinc, beams of the house, that
abounds in treasures, do we loosen.
2. O (house) rich in all treasures! the fetter which has been bound about thee,
and the knot which has been fastened upon thee, that with my charm do I undo, as
Brihaspati (undid) Vala.
3. (The builder) has drawn thee to,,ether, pressed thee together, placed firm
knots upon thee. Skilfully, as the priest who butchers (the sacrificial animal),
do we with Indra's aid disjoint thy limbs.
4. From thy beams, thy bolts, thy frame, and thy thatch; from thy sides, (O
house) abounding in treasures, do we loosen the fastenings.
5. The fastenings of the dove-tailed (joints), of the reed (-covering), of the
frame-work, do we loosen here from the 'mistress of dwelling.'
6. The ropes which they have tied within thee for comfort, these do we loosen
from thee; be thou propitious to our persons, O mistress of dwelling, after thou
hast (again) been erected!
7. A receptacle for Soma, a house for Agni, a seat for the mistresses (of the
house), a seat (for the priests), a seat for the gods art thou, O goddess house!
8. Thy covering of wicker-work, with thousand eyes, stretched out upon thy
crown, fastened down and laid on, do we loosen with (this) charm.
9. He who receives thee as a gift, O house, and he by whom thou hast been built,
both these, O mistress of dwelling, shall live attaining old age!
10. Return to him in the other world, firmly bound, ornamented, (thou house),
which we loosen limb by limb, and joint by joint!
11. He who built thee, O house, brought together (thy) timbers, he, a Pragāpati
on high, did construct thee, O house, for his progeny (pragāyai).
12. We render obeisance to him (the builder); obeisance to the giver, the lord
of the house; obeisance to Agni who serves (the sacrifice); and obeisance to thy
(attendant) man!
13. Reverence to the cattle and the horses, and to that which is born in the
house! Thou that hast produced, art rich in offspring, thy fetters do we loosen.
14. Thou dost shelter Agni within, (and) the domestics together with the cattle.
Thou that hast produced, art rich in offspring, thy fetters do we loosen.
15. The expanse which is between heaven and earth, with that do I receive as a
gift this house of thine; the middle region which is stretched out from the sky,
that do I make into a receptacle for treasures; with that do I receive the house
for this one.
16. Full of nurture, full of milk, fixed upon the earth, erected, holding food
for all, O house, do thou not injure them that receive thee as a gift!
17. Enveloped in grass, clothed in reeds, like night does the house lodge the
cattle; erected thou dost stand upon the earth, like a she-elephant, firm of
foot.
18. The part of thee that was covered with mats unfolding do I loosen. Thee that
hast been enfolded by Varuna may Mitra uncover in the morning!
19. The house built with pious word, built by seers, erected--may Indra and
Agni, the two immortals, protect the house, the seat of Soma!
20. Chest is crowded upon chest, basket upon basket; there mortal man is
begotten from whom all things spring.
21. In the house which is built with two facades, four facades, six facades; in
the house with eight facades, with ten facades, in the 'mistress of dwelling.'
Agni rests as if in the womb.
Tuirning towards thee that art turned towards me, O house, I come to thee that
injurest me not. For Agni and the waters, the first door to divine order, are
within.
23. These waters, free from disease, destructive of disease, do I bring here.
The chambers do I enter in upon in company with the immortal Agni (fire).
24. Do thou not fasten a fetter upon us; though a heavy load, become thou light!
As a bride do we carry thee, O house, wherever we please.
25. From the easterly direction of the house reverence (be) to greatness, hail
to the gods who are to be addressed with hail!
26. From the southerly direction of the house, &c.!
27. From the westerly direction of the house, &c.!
28. From the northerly direction of the house, &c.!
29. From the firm direction (nadir) of the house, &c.!
30. From the upright direction (zenith) of the house, &c.!
3 1. From every direction of the house reverence (be) to greatness, hail to the
gods who are to be addressed with hail!
{06071}
VI, 71. Brahmanical prayer at the
receipt of gifts.
1. The varied food which I consume
in many places, my gold, my horses, and, too, my cows, goats, and sheep:
everything whatsoever that I have received as a gift--may Agni, the priest,
render that an auspicious offering!
2. The gift that has come to me by sacrifice, or without sacrifice, bestowed by
the Fathers, granted by men, through which my heart, as it were, lights up with
joy--may Agni, the priest, render that an auspicious offering!
3. The food that I, O gods, improperly consume, (the food) I promise, intending
to give of it (to the Brahmans), or not to give of it, by the might of mighty
Vaisvānara (Agni) may (that) food be for me auspicious and full of honey!
{20127}
XX, 127. A kuntāpa-hymn.
A.
1. Listen, ye folks, to this: (a
song) in praise of a hero shall be sung! Six thousand and ninety (cows) did we
get (when we were) with Kaurama among the Rusamas,--
2. Whose twice ten buffaloes move right along, touether with their cows; the
height of his chariot just misses the heaven which recedes from its touch.
3. This one (Kaurama) presented the seer with a hundred jewels, ten chaplets,
three hundred steeds, and ten thousand cattle.
B.
4. Disport thyself, O chanter,
disport thyself as a bird upon a flowering tree; thy tongue glides quickly over
the lips as a razor over the strop.
5. The chanters with their pious song hurry on blithely as cows; at home are
their children, and at home the cows do they attend.
6. Bring hither, O chanter, thy poem, that which earns cattle and earns good
things! Among the gods (kings) place thy voice as a manly archer his arrow!
C.
7. Listen ye to the high praise of
the king who rules over all peoples, the god who is above mortals, of Vaisvānara
Parikshit!
8. 'Parikshit has procured for us a secure dwelling when he, the most excellent
one, weat to his seat.' (Thus) the husband in Kuru-land, when he founds his
household, converses with his wife.
9. 'What may I bring to thee, curds, stirred drink, or liquor?' (Thus) I the
wife asks her husband in the kingdom of king Parikshit.
10. Like light the ripe barley runs over beyond the mouth (of the vessels). The
people thrive merrily in the kingdom of king Parikshit.
D.
11. Indra has awakened the poet,
saying: 'Arise, move about, and sing; of me, the strong, verily, sing the
praises; full every pious one shall offer thee (sacrificial reward)!'
12. Here, O cattle, ye shall be born, here, ye horses, here, ye domestics! And Pūshan
also, who bestows a thousand (cows) as sacrificial reward, settles down here.
13. May these cattle, O Indra, not suffer harm, and may their owner not suffer
harm; may the hostile folk, O Indra, may the thief not gain possession of them!
14. We shout to the hero with hymn and song we (shout) with a pleasing song.
Take delight in our songs; may we not ever suffer harm!
X.
COSMOGONIC AND THEOSOPHIC HYMNS.
{12001}
XII, 1. Hymn to goddess Earth.
1. Truth, greatness, universal
order (rita), strength. consecration, creative fervour (tapas), spiritual
exaltation (brahma), the sacrifice, support the earth. May this earth, the
mistress of that which was and shall be, prepare for us a broad domain!
2. The earth that has heights, and slopes, and great plains, that supports the
plants of manifold virtue, free from the pressure that comes from the midst of
men, she shall spread out for us, and fit. herself for us!
3. The earth upon which the sea, and the rivers and the waters, upon which food
and the tribes of men have arisen, upon which this breathing, moving life
exists, shall afford us precedence in drinking!
4. The earth whose are the four regions of space, upon which food and the tribes
of men have arisen, which supports the manifold breathing, moving things, shall
afford us cattle and other possessions also!
5. The earth upon which of old the first men unfolded themselves, upon which the
gods overcame the Asuras, shall procure for us (all) kinds of cattle, horses,
and fowls, good fortune, and glory!
6. The earth that supports all, furnishes wealth, the foundation, the
golden-breasted resting-place of all living creatures, she that supports Agni
Vaisvānara (the fire), and mates with Indra, the bull, shall furnish us with
property!
7. The broad earth, which the sleepless gods ever attentively guard, shall milk
for us precious honey, and, moreover, besprinkle us with glory!
8. That earth which formerly was water upon the ocean (of space), which the wise
(seers) found out by their skilful devices; whose heart is in the highest
heaven, immortal, surrounded by truth, shall bestow upon us brilliancy and
strength, (and place us) in supreme sovereignty!
9. That earth upon which the attendant waters jointly flow by day and night
unceasingly, shall pour out milk for us in rich streams, and, moreover,
besprinkle us with glory!
10. The earth which the Asvins have measured, upon which Vishnu has stepped out,
which Indra, the lord of might, has made friendly to himself; she, the mother,
shall pour forth milk for me, the son!
11. Thy snowy mountain heights, and thy forests, O earth, shall be kind to us!
The brown, the black, the red, the multi-coloured, the firm earth, that is
protected by Indra, I have settled upon, not suppressed, not slain, not wounded.
12. Into thy rniddle set us, O earth, and into thy navel, into the nourishing
strength that has grown tip from thy body; purify thyself for us! The earth is
the mother, and I the son of the earth; Paro-anya is the father; he, too, shall
save us!
13. The earth upon which they (the priests) inclose the altar (vedi), upon which
they, devoted to all (holy) works, unfold the sacrifice, upon which are set up,
in front of the sacrifice, the sacrificial posts, erect and brilliant, that
earth shall prosper us, herself prospering!
14. Him that hates us, O earth, him that battles against us, him that is hostile
towards us with his mind and his weapons, do thou subject to us, anticipating
(our wish) by deed!
15. The mortals born of thee live on thee, thou supportest both bipeds and
quadrupeds. Thine, O earth, are these five races of men, the mortals, upon whom
the rising sun sheds undying light with his rays.
16. These creatures all together shall yield milk for us; do thou, O earth, give
us the honey of speech!
17. Upon the firm, broad earth, the all-begetting mother of the plants, that is
supported by (divine) law, upon her, propitious and kind, may we ever pass-our
lives!
18. A great gathering-place thou, great (earth), hast become; great haste,
commotion, and agitation are upon thee. Great Indra protects thee unceasingly.
Do thou, O earth, cause us to brighten as if at the sight of gold: not any one
shall hate us!
19. Agni (fire) is in the earth, in the plants, the waters hold Agni, Agni is in
the stones; Agni is within men, Agnis (fires) are within cattle, within horses.
20. Agni glows from the sky, to Agni, the god, belongs the broad air. The
mortals kindle Agni, the bearer of oblations, that loveth ghee.
21. The earth, clothed in Agni, with dark knees, shall make me brilliant and
alert!
22. Upon the earth men give to the gods the sacrifice, the prepared oblation;
upon the earth mortal men live pleasantly by food. May this earth give us breath
and life, may she cause me to reach old age!
23. The fragrance, O earth, that has arisen upon thee, which the plants and the
waters hold, which the Gandharvas and the Apsaras have partaken of, with that
make me fragrant: not any one shall hate us!
24. That fragrance of thine which has entered into the lotus, that fragrance, O
earth, which the immortals of yore gathered up at the marriage of Sūryā, with
that make me fragrant: not any one shall hate us!
25. That fragrance of thine which is in men, the loveliness and charm that is in
male and female, that which is in steeds and heroes, that which is in the wild
animals with trunks (elephants), the lustre that is in the maiden, O earth, with
that do thou blend us: not any one shall hate us!
26. Rock, stone, dust is this earth; this earth is supported, held together. To
this golden-breasted earth I have rendered obeisance.
27. The earth, upon whom the forest-sprung trees ever stand firm, the
all-nourishing, compact earth, do we invoke.
28. Rising or sitting, standing or walking, may we not stumble with our right or
left foot upon the earth!
29. To the pure earth I speak, to the ground, the soil that has grown through
the brahma (spiritual exaltation). Upon thee, that holdest nourishment,
prosperity, food, and ghee, we would settle down, O earth!
30. Purified the waters shall flow for our bodies; what flows off from us that
do we deposit upon him we dislike: with a purifier, O earth, do I purify myself!
31. Thy easterly regions, and thy northern, thy southerly (regions), O earth,
and thy western, shall be kind to me as I walk (upon thee)! May I that have been
placed into the world not fall down!
32. Do not drive us from the west, nor from the east; not from the north, and
not from the south! Security be thou for us, O earth: waylayers shall not find
us, hold far away (their) murderous weapon!
33. As long as I look out upon thee, O earth, with Sūrya (the sun) as my
companion, so long shall my sight not fall, as year followeth upon year!
34. When, as I lie, I turn upon my right or left side, O earth; when stretched
out we lie with our ribs upon thee pressing against (us), do not, O earth, that
liest close to everything, there injure us!
35. What, O earth, I dig out of thee, quickly shall that grow again: may I not,
O pure one, pierce thy vital spot, (and) not thy heart!
36. Thy summer, O earth, thy rainy season, thy autumn, winter, early spring, and
spring; thy decreed yearly seasons, thy days and nights shall yield us milk
37. The pure earth that starts in fright away from the serpent, upon whom were
the fires that are within the waters, she that delivers (to destruction) the
blasphemous Dasyus, she that takes the side of Indra, not of Vritra, (that
earth) adheres to Sakra (mighty Indra), the lusty bull.
38. Upon whom rests the sacrificial hut (sadas) and the (two) vehicles that hold
the soma (havirdhāne), in whom the sacrificial post is fixed, upon whom the Brāhmanas
praise (the gods) with riks and sāmans, knowing (also) the yagur-formulas; upon
whom the serving-priests (ritvig) are employed so that Indra shall drink the
soma;--
39. Upon whom the seers of yore, that created the beings, brought forth with
their songs the cows, they the seven active (priests), by means of the satra-offerings,
the sacrifices, and (their) creative fervour (tapas);--
40. May this earth point out to us the wealth that we-crave; may Bhaga (fortune)
add his help, may Indra come here as (our) champion!
41. The earth upon whom the noisy mortals sing and dance, upon whom they fight,
upon whom resounds the roaring drum, shall drive forth our enemies, shall make
us free from rivals!
42. To the earth upon whom are food, and rice and barley, upon whom live these
five races of men, to the earth, the wife of Parganya, that is fattened by rain,
be reverence!
43. The earth upon whose ground the citadels constructed by the gods unfold
themselves, every region of her that is the womb of all, Pragāpati shall make
pleasant for us!
44. The earth that holds treasures manifold in secret places, wealth, jewels,
and gold shall she give to me; she that bestows wealth liberally, the kindly
goddess, wealth shall she bestow upon us!
45. The earth that holds people of manifold varied speech, of different customs,
according to their habitations, as a reliable milch-cow that does not kick,
shall she milk for me a thousand streams of wealth!
46. The serpent, the scorpion with thirsty fangs, that hibernating torpidly lies
upon thee; the worm, and whatever living thing, O earth, moves in the rainy
season, shall, when it creeps, not creep upon us: with what is auspicious (on
thee) be gracious to us!
47. Thy many paths upon which people go, thy tracks for chariots and wagons to
advance, upon which both good and evil men proceed, this road, free from
enemies, and free from thieves, may we gain: with what is auspicious (on thee)
be gracious to us!
48. The earth holds the fool and holds the wise, endures that good and bad dwell
(upon her); she keeps company with the boar, gives herself up to the wild hog.
49. Thy forest animals, the wild animals homed in the woods, the man-eating
lions, and tigers that roam; the ula, the wolf, mishap, injury (rikshikā), and
demons (rakshas), O earth, drive away from us!
50. The Gandharvas, the Apsaras, the Arāyas and Kimīdins; the Pisākas and all
demons (rakshas), these, O earth, hold from us!
51. The earth upon whom the biped birds fly together, the flamingoes, eagles,
birds of prey, and fowls; upon whom Mātarisvan, the wind, hastens, raising the
dust, and tossing the trees-as the wind blows forth and back the flame bursts
after;--
52. The earth upon whom day and night jointly, black and bright, have been
decreed, the broad earth covered and enveloped with rain, shall kindly place us
into every pleasant abode!
53. Heaven, and earth, and air have here given me expanse; Agni, Sūrya, the
waters, and all the gods together have given me wisdom.
54. Mighty am I, 'Superior' (uttara) by name, upon the earth, conquering am I,
all-conquering, completely conquering every region.
55. At that time, O goddess, when, spreading., (prathamānā) forth, named (prithivī
'broad') by the gods, thou didst extend to greatness, then prosperity did enter
thee, (and) thou didst fashion the four regions.
56. In the villages and in the wilderness, in the assembly-halls that are upon
the earth; in the gatherings, and in the meetings, may we hold forth agreeably
to thee!
57. As dust a steed did she, as soon as she was born, scatter these people, that
dwelt upon the earth, she the lovely one, the leader, the guardian of the world,
that holds the trees and plants.
58. The words I speak, honied do I speak them: the things I see they furnish me
with. Brilliant I am and alert: the others that rush (against me) do I beat
down.
59. Gentle, fragrant, kindly, with the sweet drink (kīlāla) in her udder, rich
in milk, the broad earth together with (her) milk shall give us courage!
60. She whom Visvakarman (the creator of all) did search out by means of
oblations, when she had entered the surging (flood of the) atmosphere, she, the
vessel destined to nourish, deposited in a secret place, became visible (to the
gods) and the (heavenly) mothers.
61. Thou art the scatterer of men, the broadly expanding Aditi that yields milk
according to wish. What is wanting in thee Pragāpati, first-born of the divine
order (rita), shall supply for thee
62. Thy laps, O earth, free from ailment! Free from disease, shall be produced
for us! May we attentively, throuoh our long lives, be bearers of bali-offerings
to thee!
63. O mother earth, kindly set me down upon a well-founded place! With (father)
heaven cooperating, O thou wise one, do thou place me into happiness and
prosperity!
{13001}
XIII, 1. Prayer for sovereign
power addressed to the god Rohita and his female Rohinī.
1. Rise up, O steed, that art
within the waters, enter this kingdom, rich in liberal gifts! Rohita (the red
sun) who has begotten this all, shall keep thee well-supported for sovereignty!
2. The steed that is within the waters has risen up: ascend upon the clans that
are sprung from thee! Furnishing soma, the waters, plants, and cows, cause thou
four-footed and two-footed creatures to enter here!
3. Do ye, strong Maruts, children of Prisni (the cloud), allied with Indra,
crush the enemies! Rohita shall hear you, that give abundant gifts, the thrice
seven Maruts, who take delight in sweet (nourishment)!
4. Rohita has climbed the heights, he has ascended them, he, the embryo of
women, (has ascended) the womb of births. Closely united with these women they
found out the six broad (directions); spying out a road he has brought hither
sovereignty.
5. Hither to thee Rohita has brought sovereignty; he has dispersed the enemies:
freedom from danger has resulted for thee. To thee heaven and earth together
with the revatī and sakvarī-stanzas shall yield gifts at will!
6. Rohita produced heaven and earth; there Parameshthin (the lord on high)
extended the thread (of the sacrifice). There Aga Ekapāda (the one-footed goat,
the sun) did fix himself; he made firm the heavens and earth with his strength.
7. Rohita made firm heaven and earth, by him the (heavenly) light was
established, by him the firmament. By him the atmosphere and the spaces were
measured out, through him the gods obtained immortality.
8. Rohita did ponder the multiform (universe) while preparing (his) climbings
and advances. Having ascended the heaven with great might, he shall anoint thy
royalty with milk and ghee!
9. All thy climbings, advances, and all thy ascents with which thou, (Rohita,
the sun), fillest the heavens and the atmosphere, having strengthened thyself
with their brahma and payas (spiritual and physical essence) do thou keep awake
(do thou watch over) among the people in the kingdom of the (earthly) Rohita
(the king)!
10. The peoples that have originated from thy tapas (heat, or creative fervour),
have followed here the calf, the gāyatri. They shall enter thee with kindly
spirit; the calf Rohita with its mother shall come on!
11. High on the firmament Rohita has stood, a youth, a sage, begettinu all
forms. As Agni he shines with piercing light, in the third space he did assume
lovely (forms).
12. A bull with a thousand horns, Gātavedas (fire), endowed with sacrifices of
ghee, carrying soma upon his back, rich in heroes, he shall, when implored, not
abandon me, nor may I abandon thee: abundance in cattle and abundance in heroes
procure for me!
14. Rohita is the generator of the sacrifice, and its mouth; to Rohita I offer
oblations with voice, ear, and mind. To Rohita the gods resort with glad mind:
he shall cause me to rise through elevation derived from the assembly!
14. Rohita arranged a sacrifice for Visvakarman; from it these brilliant,
qualities have come to me. Let me announce thy origin over the extent of the
world!
15, Upon thee have ascended the brihatī and the pankti (metres), upon thee the
kakubh with splendour, O Gātavedas. Upon thee the vashat-call, whose syllables
make an ushnihā, has ascended, upon thee Rohita with his seed has ascended.
16. This one clothes himself in the womb of the earth, this one clothes himself
in heaven, and in the atmosphere. This one at the station of the brown (sun) did
attain unto the worlds of light.
17. O Vākaspati (lord of speech), the earth shall be pleasant to us, pleasant
our dwelling, agrecable our couches! Right here life's breath shall be to our
friend; thee, O Parameshthin, Agni shall envelop in life and lustre!
18. O Vākaspati, the five seasons that we have, which have come about as the
creation of Visvakarman, rialit here (they and) life's breath shall be to our
friend; thee, O Parameshthin, Rohita shall envelop in life and lustre!
19. O Vākaspati, good cheer and spirit, cattle in our stable, children in our
wombs beget thou! Right here life's breath shall be to our friend; thee, O
Parameshthin, I envelop in life and lustre.
20. God Savitar and Agni shall envelop thee, Mitra and Varuna surround thee with
lustre! Treading down all powers of grudge come thou hither: thou hast made this
kingdom rich in liberal gifts.
21. Thou, O Rohita, whom the brindled cow, harnessed at the side, carries, goest
with brilliance, causing the waters to flow.
22. Devoted to Rohita is Rohinī his mistress, with beautiful colour
(complexion), great, and lustrous: through her may we conquer booty of every
description, through her win every battle!
23. This seat, Rohinī, belongs to Rohita; yonder is the path on which the
brindled (female) goes! Her the Gandharvas and the Kasyapas lead forth, her the
sages guard with diligence.
24. The radiant bay steeds of the sun, the immortal, ever draw the delightful
chariot. Rohita, the drinker of ghee, the shining god, did enter the variegated
heavens.
25. Rohita, the sharp-horned bull, who surpasses Agni and surpasses Sūrya, who
props up the earth and the sky, out of him the gods frame the creations.
26. Rohita ascended the heaven from the great flood; Rohita has climbed all
heights.
27. Create (the cow) that is rich in milk, drips with ghee: she is the
milch-cowof the gods that does not refuse! Indra shall drink the Soma, there
shall be secure possession; Agni shall sing praises: the enemies do thou drive
out!
28. Agni kindled, spreads his flames, fortified by ghee, sprinkled with ghee.
Victorious, all-conquering Agni shall slay them that are my rivals!
29. He shall slay them, shall burn the enemy that battles against us! With the
flesh-devouring Agni do we burn our rivals.
30. Smite them down, O Indra, with the thunderbolt, with thy (strong) arm! Then
have I overpowered my rivals with Agni's brilliant strengths.
31. O Agni, subject our rivals to us; confuse, O Brihaspati, the kinsman that is
puffed up! O Indra and Agni, O Mitra and Varuna, subjected they shall be, unable
to vent their wrath against us!
32. Do thou, god Sūrya (the sun), when thou risest, beat down my rivals, beat
them down with a stone: they shall go to the nethermost darkness!
33. The calf of Virāg, the bull of prayers, carrying the bright (soma) upon his
back, has ascended the atmosphere. A song accompanied by ghee they sing to the
calf; himself brahma (spiritual exaltation) they swell him with their brahma
(prayer).
34. Ascend the heavens, ascend the earth sovereignty ascend thou, and
possessions ascend thou! Offspring ascend thou, and immortality ascend thou,
unite thy body with Rohita!
35. The gods that hold sovereignty, who go about the sun, with these allied,
Rohita, kindly disposed, shall bestow sovereignty upon thee!
36. The sacrifices purified by prayer lead thee forth; the bay steeds that
travel upon the road carry thee: thou shinest across the swelling ocean.
37. In Rohita who conquers wealth, conquers cattle, and conquers booty, heaven
and earth are fixed. Of thee that hast a thousand and seven births, let me
announce the origin over the extent of the world!
38. Glorious thou goest to the intermediate directions and the directions (of
space), glorious (in the sight) of animals and the tribes of men, glorious in
the lap of the earth, of Aditi: may I like Savitar be lovely!
39. Being yonder thou knowest (what takes place) here; being here thou beholdest
these things. Here (men) behold the inspired sun that shines upon the sky.
40. A god thou praisest the gods, thou movest within the flood. They kindle
(him), a universal fire; him the highest sages know.
41. Below the superior (region), above the inferior (region) here, the cow has
arisen supporting (her) calf by the foot. Whither is she turned; to which half
(of the universe), forsooth, has she aone away; where, forsooth, does she beget?
Verily not in this herd!
42. One-footed, two-footed, four-footed is she; eight-footed, nine-footed became
she, the thousand-syllabled (consisting of thousand elements) pankti (quinary
stanza) of the universe: the oceans from her flow forth upon (the world).
43. Ascending the heaven, immortal, receive kindly my song! The sacrifices
purified by prayer lead thee forth; the bay steeds that travel upon the road
carry thee.
44. That do I know of thee, O immortal, where thy march is upon the sky, where
thy habitation is in the highest heaven.
45. Sūrya (the sun) surveys the sky, Sūrya the earth, Sūrya the waters. Sūrya
is the single eye of being: he has ascended the great heavens.
46. The broad (directions) where the fagots that fence in (the fire), the earth
turned itself into a fire-altar. There Rohita laid on for himself these two
fires, cold and heat.
47. Laying on cold and heat, using the mountains as sacrificial posts, the two
fires of Rohita who knows the (heavenly) light, into which (the fires) rain
(flowed) as ghee, carried out the sacrifice.
48. The fire of Rohita who knows the (heavenly) light is kindled by prayer. From
it heat, from it cold, from it the sacrifice was produced.
49. The two fires swelling through prayer, increased through prayer, sacrificed
into with prayer; the two fires of Rohita who knows the (heavenly) light,
kindled through prayer, carried out the sacrifice.
50. One is deposited in truth, the other is kindled in the waters. The two fires
of Rohita who knows the (heavenly) light, kindled through prayer, carried out
the sacrifice.
51. The fire which the wind brightens up, and that which Indra and Brahmanaspati
(brighten up), the two fires of Rohita who knows the (heavenly) light, kindled
through prayer, carried out the sacrifice.
52. Having fashioned the earth into an altar, having made the heavens (his)
sacrificial reward, then having made heat into fire, Rohita created all that has
breath through rain (serving) as ghee.
53. Rain fashioned itself into ghee, heat into fire, the earth into an altar.
Then Agni by (his) songs fashioned the high mountains.
54. Having fashioned by means of songs the high (mountains), Rohita spake to the
earth: In thee all shall be born, what is and what shall be.
55. The sacrifice first, (and then) what is and what shall be was born. From
that this all was born, and whatever here appears, brought hither by the sage
Rohita.
56. He who kicks a cow with his foot, and he who micturates towards the sun--of
thee do I tear out the root; thou shalt henceforth not cast a shadow!
57. Thou that passest across me, casting thy shadow against me, between me and
the fire--of thee do I tear out the root; thou shalt henceforth not cast a
shadow!
58. He, O god Sūrya, that to-day passes between thee and me, upon him our evil
dream, our foulness, and our misfortunes do we wipe off.
59. May we not miss our way, may we not, O Indra, miss the sacrifice of him that
presses the soma; may.not the powers of grudge intercept us!
60. The (guiding) thread stretched out among the gods, that accomplishes the
sacrifice, that, by pouring oblations, may we attain!
{11005}
XI, 5. Glorification of the sun,
or the primeval principle, as a Brahman disciple.
1. The Brahmakārin (Brahmanical
disciple) moves inciting both hemispheres of the world; in him the gods are
harmonised. He holds the heavens and the earth, he fills the teacher with
creative fervour (tapas).
2. The fathers, the divine folk, and all the gods severally follow the Brahmakārin;
the Gandharvas did go after him, six thousand three hundred and thirty-three. He
fills all the gods with creative fervour.
3. When the teacher receives the Brahmakārin as a disciple, he places him as a
foetus inside (of his body). He carries him for three nights in his belly: when
he is born the gods gather about to see him.
4. This earth is (his first) piece of firewood, the heaven the second, and the
atmosphere also he fills with (the third) piece of firewood. The Brahmakārin.
fills the worlds with his firewood, his girdle, his asceticism, and his creative
fervour.
5. Prior to the brahma (spiritual exaltation) the Brahmakārin was born; clothed
in heat, by creative fervour he arose. From him sprung the brāhmanam (Brahmanic
life) and the highest brahma, and all the gods together with immortality
(amrita).
6. The Brahmakārin advances, kindled by the firewood, clothed in the skin of
the black antelope, consecrated, with long beard. Within the day he passes from
the eastern to the northern sea; gathering together the worlds he repeatedly
shapes them.
7. The Brahmakārin, begetting the brahma, the waters, the world, Pragāpati
Parameshthin (he that stands in the hiahest place), and Virāg, having become an
embryo in the womb of immortality, having forsooth, become Indra, pierced the
Asuras.
8. The teacher fashioned these two hern spheres of the world, the broad and the
deep, earth and heaven. These the Brahmakārin guards with his creative fervour
(tapas): in him the gods are harmonised.
9. This broad earth and the heaven the Brahmakārin first brought hither as
alms. Having made these into two sticks of firewood he reveres them upon them
all beings have been founded.
10. One is on the hither side, the other on the farther side of the back of the
heavens; secretly are deposited the two receptacles of the brāhmanam (Brahmanic
life). These the Brahmakārin protects by his tapas (creative fervour);
understandingly he performs that brahma (spiritual exaltation) solely.
11. One on the hither side, the other away from the earth, do the two Agnis come
together between these two hemispheres (of the world). To them adhere the rays
firmly; the Brahmakārin by his tapas (creative fervour) enters into the (rays).
12. Shouting forth, thundering, red, white he carries a great penis along the
earth. The Brahmakārin sprinkles seed upon the back of the earth; through it
the four directions live.
13. Into fire, the sun, the moon, Mātarisvan (wind), and the waters, the
Brahmakārin places the firewood; the lights from these severally go into the
clouds, from them come sacrificial butter, the purusha (primeval man), rain, and
water.
14. Death is the teacher, (and) Varuna, Soma, the plants, milk; the clouds were
the warriors: by these this light has been brought hither.
15. Varuna, having become the teacher, at home prepares the ghee solely.
Whatever he desired from Pragāpati, that the Brahmakārin furnished, as Mitra
(a friend) from his own Atman (spirit, or person).
16. The Brahmakārin is the teacher, the Brahmakārin Pragāpati. Pragāpati
rules (shines forth, vi rāgati); Virāg (heavenly power, or light) became
Indra, the ruler.
17. Through holy disciplehood. (brahmakāryam), through tapas (creative fervour),
the king protects his kingdom. The teacher by (his own) brahmakāryam (holy
life) seeks (finds) the Brahmakārin.
18. Through holy disciplehood the maiden obtains a young husband, through holy
disciplehood the steer, the horse seeks to obtain fodder.
19. Through holy disciplehood, through creative fervour, the gods drove away
death. Indrajorsooth, by his holy disciplehood brought the light to the gods.
20. The plants, that which was and shall be, day and night, the tree, the year
along with the seasons, have sprung from the Brahmakārin.
21. The earthly and the heavenly animals, the wild and the domestic, the
wingless and the winged (animals), have sprung from the Brahmakārin.
22. All the creatures of Pragāpati (the creator) severally carry breath in
their souls. All these the brahma, which has been brought hither in the Brahmakārin,
protects.
23. This, that was set into motion by the gods, that is insurmountable, that
moves shining, from it has sprung the brāhmanam (Brahmanical life), the highest
brahma, and all the gods, together with immortality (amrita).
24, 25. The Brahmakārin carries the shining brahma: into this all the gods are
woven. Producing in-breathing and out-breathing, as well as through-breathing;
speech, mind, heart, brahma, and wisdom, do thou furnish us with sight, hearing,
glory, food, semen, blood, and belly!
26. These things the Brahmakārin fashioned upon the back of the (heavenly)
water. He stood in the sea kindled with tapas (creative fervour). He, when he
has bathed, shines vigorously upon the earth, brown and ruddy.
{11004}
XI, 4. Prāna, life or breath,
personified as the supreme spirit.
1. Reverence to Prāna, to whom
all this (universe) is subject, who has become the lord of the all, on whom the
all is supported!
2. Reverence, O Prāna, to thy roaring (wind), reverence, O Prāna, to thy
thunder, reverence, O Prāna, to thy lightning, reverence, O Prāna, to thy
rain!
When Prāna calls aloud to the plants with his thunder, they are fecundated,
they conceive, and then are produced abundant (plants).
4. When the season has arrived, and Prāna calls aloud to the plants, then
everything rejoices, whatsoever is upon the earth.
5. When Prāna has watered the great earth with rain, then the beasts rejoice;
(they think): 'strength, forsooth, we shall now obtain.'
6. When they had been watered by Prāna, the plants spake in concert: 'thou
hast, forsooth, prolonged our life, thou hast made us all fragrant.'
7. Reverence be, O Prāna, to thee coming, reverence to thee going; 'reverence
to thee standing, and reverence, too, to thee sitting!
8. Reverence be to thee, O Prāna, when thou breatbest in (primate), reverence
when thou breathest out! Reverence be to thee when thou art turned away,
reverence to thee when thou art turned hither: to thee, entire, reverence be
here!
9. Of thy dear form, O Prāna, of thy very dear form, of the healing power that
is thine, give unto us, that we may live!
10. Prāna clothes the creatures, as a father his dear son. Prāna, truly, is
the lord of all, of all that breathes, and does not breathe.
11. Prāna is death, Prāna is fever. The gods worship Prana. Prāna shall place
the truth-speaker in the highest world
12. Prāna is Virāg (power, lustre), Prāna is Deshtrī (the divinity that
guides): all worship Prāna. Prāna verily is sun and moon. They call Prāna
Pragāpati.
13. Rice and barley are in-breathing and outbreathing. Prāna is called a steer.
In-breathing forsooth, is founded upon barley; rice is called out-breathing.
14. Man breathes out and breathes in when within the womb. When thou, O Prāna,
quickenest him, then is he born again.
15. They call Prāna Mātarisvan (the wind); Prāna, forsooth, is called Vāta
(the wind). The past and the future, the all, verily is supported upon Prāna.
16. The holy (ātharvana) plants, the magic (āngirasa) plants, the divine
plants, and those produced by men, spring forth, when thou, O Prāna, quickenest
them.
17, When Prāna has watered the great earth with rain, then the plants spring
forth, and also every sort of herb.
18. Whoever, O Prāna, knows this regarding thee, and (knows) on what thou art
supported, to him all shall offer tribute in yonder highest world.
19. As all these creatures, O Prāna, offer thee tribute, so they shall offer
tribute (in yonder world) to him who hears thee, O far-famed one!
20. He moves as an embryo within the gods; having arrived, and being in
existence, he is born again. Having arisen he enters with his mights the present
and the future, as a father (goes to) his son.
21. When as a swan he rises from the water he does not withdraw his one foot. If
in truth he were to withdraw it, there would be neither to-day, nor to-morrow,
no night and no day, never would the dawn appear.
22. With eight wheels, and one felloe he moves, containing a thousand sounds
(elements), upward in the east, downward in the west. With (his) half he
produced the whole world: what is the visible sign of his (other) half?
23. He who rules over this (all) derived from every source, and over everything
that movesreverence be to thee, O Prāna, that wieldest a swift bow against
others (the enemies)!
24. May Prāna, who rules over this (all) derived from every source, and over
everything that moves, (may he) unwearied, strong through the brahma, adhere to
me!
25. Erect he watches in those that sleep, nor does lie lie down across. No one
has heard of his sleeping in those that sleep.
26. O Prāna, be not turned away from me, thou shalt not be other than myself!
As the embryo of the waters (fire), thee, O Prāna, do bind to me, that I may
live.
{09002}
IX, 2. Prayer to Kāma (love),
personified as a primordial power.
1. To the bull that slays the
enemy, to Kāma, do I render tribute with ghee, oblation, and (sacrificial)
melted butter. Do thou, since thou hast been extolled, hurl down my enemies by
thy great might!
2. The evil dream which is offensive to my mind and eye, which harasses and does
not please me, that (dream) do I let loose upon my enemy. Having praised Kāma
may I prevail!
3,. Evil dreams, O Kāma, and misfortune, O Kāma, childlessness, ill-health,
and trouble, do thou, a strong lord, let loose upon him that designs evil
against us!
4. Drive them away, O Kāma, thrust them away, O Kāma; may they that are my
enemies fall into trouble! When they have been driven into the nethermost
darkness, do thou, O Agni, burn up their d welling- places!
5. That milch-cow, O Kāma, whom the sages call Vāk Virāg (ruling, or
resplendent speech), is said to be thy daughter; by her drive away my enemies;
breath, cattle, and life shall give them a wide birth!
6. With the strength of Kāma, Indra, king Varuna, and Vishnu, with the
impelling force (savena) of Savitar, with the priestly power of Agni, do I drive
forth the enemies, as a skilled steersman a boat.
7. My sturdy guardian, strong Kāma, shall procure for me full freedom from
enmity! May the gods collectively be my refuge, may all the gods respond to
this, my invocation!
8. Taking pleasure in this (sacrificial) melted butter, and ghee do ye, (O
gods), of whom Kāma is the highest, be joyful in this place, procuring for me
full freedom from enmity!
9. O Indra and Agni, and Kāma, having formed an alliance, do ye hurl down my
enemies; when they have fallen into the nethermost darkness, do thou, O Agni,
burn up after them their dwelling places!
10. Slay thou, O Kāma, those that are my enemies, hurl them down into blind
darkness. Devoid of vigour, Without sap let them all be; they shall not live a
single day!
11. Kāma has slain those that are my enemies, a broad space has he furnished me
to thrive in. May the four directions of space bow down to me, and the six broad
(regions) carry ghee to me!
12. They (the enemies) shall float down like a boat cut loose from its moorings!
There is no returning again for those who have been struck by our missiles.
13. Agni is a defence, Indra a defence, Soma a defence. May the gods, who by
their defence ward off (the enemy), ward him off!
14. With his men reduced, driven out, the hated (enemy) shall go, shunned by his
own friends! And down upon the earth do the lightnings alight; may the strong
god crush your enemies!
15. This mighty lightning supports both moveable and immoveable things, as well
as all thunders. May the rising sun by his resources and his majesty hurl down
my enemies, lie the mighty one!
16. With that triple-armoured powerful covering of thine, O Kāma, with the
charm that has been made into an Invulnerate armour spread (over thee), with
that do thou drive away those who are my enemies; may breath, cattle, and life
give them a wide berth!
17. With the weapon with which the god drove forth the Asuras, with which Indra
led the Dasyus to the nethermost darkness, with that do thou, O Kāma, drive
forth far away from this world those who are my enemies!
18. As the gods drove forth the Asuras, as Indra. forced the demons into the
nethermost darkness, thus do thou, O Kāma, drive forth far away from this world
those who are my enemies!
19. Kāma was born at first; him neither the gods, nor the Fathers, nor men have
equalled. To these art thou superior, and ever great; to thee, O Kāma, do I
verily offer reverence.
20. As great as are the heavens and earth in extent, as far as the waters have
swept, as far as fire; to these art thou superior, &c.
21. Great as are the directions (of space) and the intermediate direction on
either side, great as are the regions and the vistas of the sky; to these art
thou superior, &c.
22. As many bees, bats, kurūru-worms, as many vaghas and tree-serpents as there
are; to these art thou superior, &c.
23. Superior art thou to all that winks (lives), superior to all that stands
still (is not alive), superior to the ocean art thou, O Kāma, Manyu! To these
art thou superior, &c.
24. Not, surely, does the wind equal Kāma, not the fire, not the sun, and not
the moon. To these art thou superior, &c.
25. With those auspicious and gracious forms of thine, O Kāma, through which
what thou wilst becometh reaL with these do thou enter into us, and elsewhere
send the evil thoughts!
{19053}
XIX, 53. Prayer to Kāla (time),
personified as a primordial power.
1. Time, the steed, runs with
seven reins (rays), thousand-eyed, ageless, rich in seed. The seers, thinking
holy thoughts, mount him, all the beings (worlds) are his wheels.
2. With seven wheels does this Time ride, seven naves has he, immortality is his
axle. He carries hither all these beings (worlds). Time, the first god, now
hastens onward.
3. A full jar has been placed upon Time; him, verily, we see existing in many
forms. He carries away all these beings (worlds); they call him Time in the
highest heaven.
4. He surely did bring hither all the beings (worlds), he surely did encompass
all the beings (worlds). Being their father, he became their son; there is,
verily, no other force, higher than he.
5. Time begot yonder heaven, Time also (begot) these earths. That which was, and
that which shall be, urged forth by Time, spreads out.
6. Time created the earth, in Time the sun burns. In Time are all beings, in
Time the eye looks abroad.
7. In Time mind is fixed, in Time breath (is fixed), in Time names (are fixed);
when Time has arrived all these creatures rejoice.
8. In Time tapas (creative fervour) is fixed; in Time the highest (being is
fixed); in Time brahma (spiritual exaltation) is fixed; Time is the lord of
everything, he was the father of Pragāpati.
9. By him this (universe) was urged forth, by him it was begotten, and upon him
this (universe) was founded. Time, truly, having become the brahma (spiritual
exaltation), supports Parameshthin (the highest lord).
10. Time created the creatures (pragāh), and Time in the beginning (created)
the lord of creatures (Prāgapati); the self-existing Kasyapa and the tapas
(creative fervour) from Time were born.
{19054}
XIX, 54. Prayer to Kāla (time),
personified as a primordial power.
1. From Time the waters did arise,
from Time the brahma (spiritual exaltation), the tapas (creative fervour), the
regions (of space did arise). Through Time the sun rises, in Time he goes down
again.
2. Through Time the wind blows, through Time (exists) the great earth; the great
sky is fixed in Time. In Time the son (Pragāpati) begot of yore that which was,
and that which shall be.
3. From Time the Riks arose, the Yagus was born from Time; Time put forth the
sacrifice, the imperishable share of the gods.
4. Upon Time the Gandharvas and Apsarases are founded, upon Time the worlds (are
founded), in Time this Angiras and Atharvan rule over the heavens.
5. Having conquered this world and the highest world, and the holy (pure) worlds
(and) their holy divisions; having by means of the brahma (spiritual exaltation)
conquered all the worlds, Time, the highest God, forsooth, hastens onward.
{11007}
XI, 7. Apotheosis of the
ukkhishta, the leavings of the sacrifice.
1. In the ukkhishta are deposited
name (quality) and form, in the ukkhishta the world is deposited. Within the
ukkhishta Indra and Agni, and the all are deposited.
2. In the ukkhishta heaven and earth, and all beings, are deposited; in the
ukkhishta are deposited the waters, the ocean, the moon, and the wind.
3. In the ukkhishta are both being and non-being, death, strength (food), and
Pragāpati. The (creatures) of the world are founded upon the ukkhishta; (also)
that which is confined and that which is free, and the grace in me.
4. He who fastens what is firm, the strong, the leader, the brahma, the ten
creators of the all, the divinities, are fixed on all sides to the ukkhishta as
the (spokes of the) wheel to the nave.
5. Rik, Sāman, and Yagus, the singing of the sāmans, their introductions, and
the stotras are in the ukkhishta. The sound 'him' is in the ukkhishta, and the
modulations and the music of the sāman. That is in me.
6. The prayer to Indra and Agni (aindrāgnam), the call to the soma, as it is
being purified (pāvamāmam), the mahānāmnī-verses, the singing of the mahāvrata,
(these) divisions of the service are in the ukkhishta, as the embryo in the
mother.
7. The ceremony of the consecration of the king (rāgasūya), the vāgapeya, the
agnishtoma, and the cattle-sacrifice belonging to it, the arka and the
horse-sacrifice, and the most delightful (sacrifice) for which fresh barhis is
strewn, are in the ukkhishta.
8. The preparation of the sacred fire (agnyādheyam), the consecration for the
soma-sacrifice (dikshā), the sacrifice by which (special) wishes are fulfilled,
together with the metres, the sacrifices that have passed out, and the extended
sacrifices (satra), are lounded upon the ukkhishta.
9. The agnihotra, faith, the call vashat, vows and asceticism, sacrificial
rewards, what is sacrificed (to the gods) and given (to the priests) are
contained in the ukkhishta.
10. The (soma-sacrifice) that lasts one night (ekarātra), and that which lasts
two nights (dvirātra), the (condensed soma-sacrifice called) sadyahkrī, and
(that which is called) prakrī, the (Songs called) ukthya, are woven and
deposited in the ukkhishta; (also the parts) of the sacrifice subtle through
(higher) knowledge.
11. The soma-sacrifice that lasts four nights (katūrātra), five nights (pańkarātra),
six nights (shadrātra), and along (with them) those that last double the time;
the sixteenfold stotra (shodasin), and the soma-sacrifice that lasts seven
nights (saptarātra), all the sacrifices which were founded upon immortality
(amrita), were begotten of the ukkhishta.
12. The pratihāra-passages (in the sāman-songs), and their final syllables,
the (soma-sacrifices called) visvagit and abhgit, the soma-sacrifice that ends
with the day (sāhna), and that which lasts into the next day (atirātra), are
in the ukkhishta--the soma-sacrifice also that lasts twelve days. That is in me.
13. Liberality, accomplishment, possession, the call svadhā, nurture,
immortality (amrita), and might, all inner desires are satisfied according to
wish in the ukkhishta.
14. The nine earths, oceans, heavens, are founded upon the ukkhishta. The sun
shines in the ukkhishta, and day and night also. That is in me.
15. The (soma-sacrifice called) upahavya, the offering on the middle day of a
sacrifice lasting a year (vishūvant), and the sacrifices that are secretly
presented, Ukkhishta, the sustainer of the universe, the father of the generator
(Pragāpati), supports.
16. Ukkhishta, the father of the generator, the grandson of the spirit (asu),
the primal ancestor (grandfather), the ruler of the universe, the lusty bull
dwells upon the earth.
17. Order (rita), truth (satya), creative fervour (tapas), sovereignty,
asceticism, law and works; past, future, strength, and prosperity, are in the
ukkhishta-force in force.
18. Success, might, plans, dominion, sovereignty, the six broad (regions), the
year, libation (idā), the orders to the priests (praisha), the draughts of soma
(graha), oblations (are founded) upon the ukkhishta.
19. The (liturgies called) katurhotārah, the āpri-hymns, the triennial
sacrifices, the (formulas called) nīvid, the sacrifices, the priestly
functions, the cattle-sacrifice and the soma-oblations connected with it, are in
the ukkhishta.
20. The half-months and months, the divisions of the year together with the
seasons, the resounding waters, thunder, the great Vedic canon (sruti) are in
the ukkhishta.
21. Pebbles, sand, stones, herbs, plants, grass, clouds, lightning, rain, are
attached to, and are founded upon the ukkhishta.
22. Success, attainment, accomplishment, control, greatness, prosperity, supreme
attainment, and wellbeing rest upon, rest in, have been deposited in the
ukkhishta.
23. Whatever breathes with breath, and sees with sight, all gods in the heavens,
founded upon heaven, were born of the ukkhishta.
24. The riks and the sāmans, the metres, the ancient legends (purānam)
together with the yagus, all gods in the heavens, founded upon heaven, were born
of the ukkhishta.
25. In-breathing and out-breathing, sight, hearing, imperishableness and
perishableness, all gods in the heavens, founded upon heaven, were born of the
ukkhishta.
26. Joys, pleasures, delights, jubilation and merriment, all gods in the
heavens, founded upon heaven, were born of the ukkhishta.
27. The gods, the (deceased) Fathers, men, Gandharvas and Apsaras, all gods in
the heavens, founded upon heaven, were born of the ukkhishta.
{09001}
IX, 1. Hymn to the honey-lash of
the Asvins.
1. From heaven, from earth, from
the atmosphere, from the sea, from the fire, and from the wind, the honey-lash
hath verily sprung. This, clothed in amrita (ambrosia), all the creatures
revering, acclaim in their hearts.
2. Great sap of all forms (colours) it hath-they call thee moreover the seed of
the ocean. Where the honey-lash comes bestowing gifts, there life's breath, and
there immortality has settled down.
3. Men severally, contemplating it profoundly, behold its action upon the earth:
from the fire and from the wind the honey-lash hath verily sprung, the strong
child of the Maruts.
4. Mother of the Ādityas, daughter of the Vasus, breath of life of created
beings, nave of immortality, the honey-lash, golden-coloured, dripping ghee, as
a great embryo, moves among mortals.
5. The god's begot the lash of honey, from it came an embryo having all forms (colours).
This, as soon as born, (while yet) young its mother nourishes; this, as soon as
born, surveys all the worlds.
6. Who knows it and who perceives it, the inexhaustible, soma-holding cup that
has come from the heart of it (the honey-lash)? 'Tis the wise priest: he shall
derive inspiration from it!
7. He knows them, and he perceives them, the inexhaustible breasts of it (the
honey-lash), that yield a thousand streams. Nourishment they pour out -without
recalcitration.
8. The great (cow) that loudly gives forth the sound 'him,' that bestows
strength, and goes with loud shouts to the holy act, bellowing with lust for the
three (male) gharmas (fires), she lows, and drips with (streams) of milk.
9. When the waters, the mighty bulls, self-sovereign, wait upon (the cow),
swollen with milk, (then) they, the waters, pour nourishment (upon her), and
cause her to pour nourishment at will for him that knoweth this.
10. The thunder is thy voice, O Pragāpati; as a bull thou hurlest thy fire upon
the earth. From the fire, and from the wind the honey-lash hath verily sprung,
the strong child of the Maruts.
11. As the soma at the morn ing-pressure is dear to the Asvins, thus in my own
person, O Asvins, lustre shall be sustained!
12. As the soma at the second (mid-day) pressure is dear to Indra and Agni, thus
in my own person, O Indra, and Agni, lustre shall be sustained!
13. As the soma at the third pressure (evening) is dear to the Ribhus, thus in
my own person, O Ribhus, lustre shall be sustained!
14. May I beget honey for myself; may I obtain honey for myself! Bringing milk,
O Agni, I have come:. endow me with lustre!
15. Endow me, O Agni, with lustre, endow me with offspring and with life! May
the gods take note of this (prayer) of mine; may Indra together with the Rishis
(take note of it)!
16. As bees carry together honey upon honey, thus in my own person, O Asvins,
lustre shall be sustained!
17. As the bees pile this honey upon honey, thus in my own person, O Asvins,
lustre, brilliance, strength, and force shall be sustained!
18. The honey that is in the mountains, in the heights; in the cows, and in the
horses; the honey which is in the surā (brandy) as it is being poured out, that
shall be in me!
19. O Asvins, lords of brightness, anoint me with the honey of the bee, that I
may speak forceful speech among men!
20. The thunder is thy speech, O Pragāpati; as a bull thou hurlest thy fire
upon earth and heaven. All animals live upon it (the earth), and she with it (Pragāpati's
fire) fills nourishment and food.
21. The earth is the staff, the atmosphere the embryo, the heaven the whip
(itself?), the lightning the whip-cord; of gold is the tip (of the whip?).
22. He that knoweth the seven honies of the whip becomes rich in honey; (to
wit), the Brāhmana, the king, the cow, the ox, rice, barley, and honey as the
seventh.
23. Rich in honey becomes he, rich in honey become his appurtenances, worlds
rich in honey does he win, he that knoweth thus.
24. When in a bright sky it thunders, then Pragāpati manifests himself to (his)
creatures (pragāh). Therefore do I stand with the sacred cord suspended from
the right shoulder (prākinopavita), saying, 'O Pragāpati, watch over me!' The
creatures (pragāh) watch over him, Pragāpati watches over him, that knoweth
thus.
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