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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7Praise in the height him who hath many pathways, courageous, strongest, Áptya of the Áptyas.
Through strength he shows himself of ample power: pattern of Prithiví, he fights and conquers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5Thou springest from blest Plaxa, or Asvattha, Dhava, Khadira,
Parna or blest Nyhagrodha, so come thou to us, Arundhátí

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8Free us from trouble, free us from dishonour, accept our worship, give us life immortal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1All hail to Heaven!

2All hail to Earth!

3All hail to Air!

4All hail to Air!

5All hail to Heaven!

6All hail to Earth!

7Mine eye is Súrya and my breath is Váta, Air is my soul and Prithiví my body.
I verily who never have been conquered give up my life to Heaven and Earth for keeping.

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

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

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

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

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

5Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the stedfast region.
May he encounter it!

6Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who fights against me from the lofty region!
May he encounter it!

7Thou art my wall of stone against the sinner who from points intermediate fights against me.
May he encounter it!

8With Brihat I invoke the mind, with Mátarisvan both the breaths,
The eye from Súrya, and the ear from Air, the body from the Earth.
We, with Sarasvatl who suits the mind, call Speech to come to us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3Invoked, deserving prayer and adoration, O Agni, come accordant with the Vasus.
Thou art, O youthful Lord, the Gbds' Invoker, so, best of sacrificers, bring them quickly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7And Aliga and Vilingi, their father and the mother too, — What will ye do? Your venomed sap, we know, is utterly powerless.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9Not Vaisya, not Rajanya, no, the Bráhman is indeed her lord:
This Súrya in his course proclaims to the Five Races of mankind.

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

11Having restored the Bráhman's wife, and freed them, with Gods' aid, from sin.
They shared the fulness of the earth and won themselves extended sway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3The Bráhman^s cow is like a snake, chained with dire poison, clothed with skin.
Rajanya! hitter to the taste is she, and none may eat of her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12One and a hundred were the folk, those whom the Earth shook off from her:
When they had wronged the Bráhman race they perished inconceivably.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6If any King who deems hinaself mighty would eat a Bráhman up,
Rent and disrupted is that realm wherein a Bráhman is oppressed.

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

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

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

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

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

12Oppressor of the Bráhmans! thus the Gods have spoken and declared,

13The step-effacing wisp they biad upon the dead shall be thy couch.

14Oppressor of the Brabman! tears wept by the man who suffers wrong,
These are the share of water which the Gods have destined to be thine.

15The share of water which the Qods have destined to be thine, is that,
Oppressor of the priest! wherewith men lave the corpse and wet the beard.

16The rain of Mitra-Váruna falls not on him who wrongs the priest.
To him no counsel brings success: he wins no friend to do his will.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6Fever, snake, limbless one, speak out! Keep thyself far away from us.
Seek thou a wanton Daal girl and strike her with thy thunderbolt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2O Indra, Lord of Treasures, kill the worms that prey upon this boy -
All the malignant spirits have been smitten by my potent spell.

3We utterly destroy the worm, the worm that creeps around the eyes,
The worm that crawls about the nose, the worm that gets between the teeth,

4Two of like colour, two unlike, two coloured black, two coloured red,
The tawny and the tawny-eared, Vulture and Wolf, all these are killed.

5Worms that are white about the sides, those that are black with black-hued arms,
All that show various tints and hues, these worms we utterly destroy.

6Eastward the Sun is mounting, seen of all, destroying things unseen,
Crushing and killing all the worms invisible and visible.

7Let the Yevashas, Kaskashas, Ejatkas, Sipavitnukas,
Let both the worm that we can see, and that we see not, be destroyed.

8Slain the Yevasa of the worms, slain too is the Nadaniman.
I have reduced them all to dust like vetches with the pounding-stone.

9The worm Saranga, white of hue, three-headed, with a triple hump, -—
I split and tear his ribs away, I wrench off every head he has.

10I kill you, worms, as Atri, as Kanva and Jamadagni killed.
I crush the worms to pieces with a spell that erst Agastya used.

11The King of worms hath been destroyed, he who was lord of these is slain.
Slain is the worm whose mother, whose brother and sister have been slain.

12Destroyed are his dependants, those who dwell around him are destroyed.
And all the worms that seem to be the little ones are done to death.

13Of every worm and insect, of the female and the male alike,
I crush the head to pieces with a stone and burn the face with fire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11May Indra who is Lord of heaven protect me.

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

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

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

15May the Forefathers of old time protect me.

16May Fathers of succeeding ages save me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4Bring Praishas in the rite — All hail! — and Nivids, learned, connected, with the Consorts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5Accept the healing medicine, the balm thy mother and thy sire,
Thy sister and thy brother bring. I make thee live through lengthened years.

6O man, stay here among us; stay with all thy spirit: follow not
Yama's two messengers. Approach the castles where the living dwell.

7Come back as thou art called to come, knowing the outlet of the path,
And the approach and its ascent, the way of every living man.

8Be not alarmed: thou wilt not die. I give thee lengthened years of life.
Forth from thy members have I charmed Decline that caused the fever there.

9Gone is the pain that racked thee, gone thy fever, gone thy heart's disease.
Consumption, conquered by my voice, hath, like a hawk, fled far away.

10Two sages, Sense and Vigilance, the sleepless and the watchful one,
These, the protectors of thy life, shall be awake both day and night.

11This Agni must be waited on. Here let the Sun mount up for thee.
Rise from deep death and come away, yea, from black darkness rise thou up!

12Homage be paid to Yama, and to Mrityu, and to the Fathers, and to those who guide us!
I honour first, for this man's preservation, that Agni who well knoweth how to save him.

13Let breath and mind return to him, let sight and vigour come again.
Let all his body be restored and firmly stand upon its feet.

14Provide this man with breath and sight, O Agni, and with his body and his strength unite him.
Thou knowest Amrit: let him not go hence, nor dwell in house of clay.

15Let not thine inward breathing fail, let not thine outward breath be lost.
Let Súrya who is Lord Supreme raise thee from death with beams of light.

16Tied, tremulously moving, here the tongue is speaking in the mouth.
With thee I charmed Decline away and Fevers hundred agonies.

17This living world, unconquered of the Gods, is most beloved of all.
To whatsoever death thou wast destined when thou wast born, O man.
This death and we call after thee. Die not before decrepit age!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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