काण्ड 8

Homage to Death the Ender! May thy breathings, inward and outward, still remain within thee. Here stay this man united with his spirit in the Sun's realm, the world of life eternal! Bhaga hath lifted up this man, and Soma with his filaments, Indra and Agni, and the Gods the Maruts, raised him up to health. Here is thy spirit, here thy breath, here is thy life, here is thy soul: By a celestial utterance we raise thee from Destruction's bonds. Up from this place, O man, rise! sink not downward, casting away the bonds of Death that hold thee. Be not thou parted from this world, from sight of Agni and the Sun. Purely for thee breathe Wind and Mātarisvan, and let the Waters rain on thee their nectar. The Sun shall shine with healing on thy body; Death shall have mercy on thee: do not leave us! Upward must be thy way, O man, not downward: with life and mental vigour I endow thee. Ascend this car eternal, lightly rolling; then full of years shalt thou address the meeting. Let not thy soul go thither, nor be lost to us: slight not the living, go not where the Fathers are. Let all the Gods retain thee here in safety. Yearn not for the departed ones, for those who lead men far away. Rise up from darkness into light: come, both thy hands we clasp in ours. Let not the black dog and the brindled seize thee, two warders of the way sent forth by Yama. Come hither; do not hesitate: with mind averted stay not there. Forbear to tread this path, for it is awful: that path I speak of which thou hast not travelled. Enter it not, O man; this way is darkness: forward is danger, hitherward is safety. Thy guardians be the Fires within the Waters, thy guardian be the Fire which men enkindle. Thy guardian be Vaisvānara Jātavedas; let not celestial Fire with lightning burn thee. Let not the Flesh-Consumer plot against thee: depart thou far away from the Destroyer. Be Heaven and Earth and Sun and Moon thy keepers, and from the dart of Gods may Air protect thee. May Vigilance and Watchfulness protect thee, Sleepless and Slumberless keep guard above thee! Let Guardian and let Wakeful be thy warders. Let these be thy preservers, these thy keepers. All hail to these, to these be lowly worship! May saving Savitar, Vāyu, Indra, Dhātar restore thee to com- munion with the living. Let not thy vigour or thy breath forsake thee: we recall thy life. Let not the fiend with snapping jaws, nor darkness find thee: tongue, holy grass: how shouldst thou perish? May the Ādityas and the Vasus, Indra and Agni raise thee and to health restore thee. The Sky hath raised thee, and the Earth, Prajāpati hath raised thee up. The Plants and Herbs with Soma as their King have rescued thee from Death. Here let this man, O Gods, remain: let him not go to yonder world. We rescue him from Mrityu with a charm that hath a thousand powers. I have delivered thee from Death. Strength-givers smelt and fashion thee! Let not she-fiends with wild loose locks, or fearful howlers yell at thee. I have attained and captured thee: thou hast returned restored to youth. Perfect in body: so have I found all thy sight and all thy life. Life hath breathed on thee; light hath come: darkness hath past away from thee. Far from thee we have buried Death, buried Destruction and: Decline.

Seize to thyself this trust of life for ever: thine be longevity which nothing shortens. Thy spirit and thy life again I bring thee: die not, nor vanish into mist and darkness. Come to the light of living men, come hither: I draw thee to a life of hundred autumns. Loosing the bonds of Death, the curse that holds thee, I give thee age of very long duration. Thy breath have I recovered from the Wind, thy vision from the Sun. Thy mind I stablish and secure within thee: feel in thy members,. use thy tongue, conversing. I blow upon thee with the breath of bipeds and quadrupeds, as on a fire new-kindled. To thee, O Death, and to thy sight and breath have I paid reverence. Let this man live, let him not die: we raise him, we recover him. I make for him a healing balm. O Death, forbear to slay this man. Here for sound health I invocate a living animating plant, Preserving, queller of disease, victorious, full of power and might. Seize him not, but encourage and release him: here let him stay, though thine, in all his vigour. Bhava and Sarva, pity and protect him: give him full life and drive away misfortunes. Comfort him, Death, and pity him: let him arise and pass away, Unharmed, with all his members, hearing well, with old, may he through hundred years win profit with his soul. May the Gods' missile pass thee by. I bring thee safe from the mist: from death have I preserved thee. Far have I banished flesh-consuming Agni: I place a rampart for thy life's protection. Saving him from that misty path of thine which cannot be defined. From that descent of thine, O Death, we make for him a shield of prayer. I give thee both the acts of breath, health, lengthened life, and death by age. All Yama's messengers who roam around, sent by Vaivasvata, I chase away. Far off we drive Malignity, Destruction, Pisāchas banqueters on flesh, and Grāhi. And all the demon kind, the brood of sin, like darkness, we dispel. I win thy life from Agni, from the living everlasting Jātavedas. This I procure for thee, that thou, undying, mayst not suffer harm, that thou mayst be content, that all be well with thee. Gracious to thee be Heaven and Earth, bringing no grief, and drawing nigh! Pleasantly shine the Sun for thee, the Wind blow sweetly to thy heart! Let the celestial Waters full of milk flow happily for thee. Auspicious be the Plants to thee! I have upraised thee, borne thee from the lower to the upper earth: Let the two Sons of Aditi, the Sun and Moon, protect thee there. Whatever robe to cover thee or zone thou makest for thyself, We make it pleasant to thy frame: may it be soft and smooth to touch. When, with a very keen and cleasing razor, our hair and beards thou shavest as a barber, Smoothing our face steal not our vital forces. Auspicious unto thee be rice and barley, causing no painful sick- ness or consumption, these deliver from calamity. Thy food, thy drink, whate'er they be corn grown by cultivation, milk, Food eatable, uneatable, I make all poisonless for thee. We give thee over as a charge to Day and Night, in trust to both. Keep him for me from stingy fiends, from those who fain would feed on him. A hundred, yea, ten thousand years we give thee, ages two, three, four. May Indra, Agni, all the Gods, with willing favour look on thee. To Autumn we deliver thee, to Winter, Spring and Summer's care. We trust thee with auspicious years wherein the plants and herbs grow up. Death is the lord of bipeds, Death is sovran lord of quadrupeds. Away I bear thee from that: Death the ruler: be not thou afraid. Thou, still uninjured, shalt not die: be not afraid; thou shalt not die. Here where I am men do not die or go to lowest depths of gloom. Here verily all creatures live, the cow, the horse, the man, the beast, Here where this holy prayer is used, a rampart that protecteth life. Let it preserve thee from thy peers, from incantation, from thy friends. Live very long, be healthy, be immortal: let not the vital breath forsake thy body. One and a hundred modes of death, dangers that may be over- come, May Gods deliver thee from this when Agni, dear to all men, bids. Body of Agni prompt to save, slayer of fiends and foes art thou, Yea, banisher of malady, the healing balm called Pūtudru.

I balm with oil the mighty demon-slayer, to the most famous friend I come for shelter. Enkindled, sharpened by our rites, may Agni protect us in the day and night from evil. O Jātavedas, armed with teeth of iron, enkindled with thy flame, attack the demons. Seize with thy tongue the foolish gods' adorers: rend, put with- in thy mouth the raw-flesh-eaters. Apply thy teeth, the upper and the lower, thou who hast both, enkindled and destroying. Roam also in the air, O King, around us, and with thy jaws assail the wicked spirits. Pierce through the Yātudhāna's skin, O Agni; let the destroying dart with fire consume him. Rend his joints, Jātavedas! let the eater of raw flesh, seeking flesh, tear and destroy him. Where now thou seest, Agni Jātavedas! a Yātudhāna, standing still or roaming. Or one that flieth through the air's mid-region, kindled to fury as an archer pierce him. Bending thy shafts through sacrifices, Agni! dipping thine arrows in the hymn to point them, Pierce to the heart therewith the Yātudhānas, and break their arms uplifted to attack thee. Rescue the captives also, Jātavedas! yea, those whom Yātudhā- nas' spears have captured. Strike down that fiend, blazing before him, Agni! Let spotted carrion-eating kites devour him. Here tell this forth, O Agni: whosoever is, he himself, or acteth as, a demon, Grasp him, O thou most youthful, with thy fuel: to the Man- Seer's eye give him as booty. With keen glance guard the sacrifice, O Agni: thou Sage, con- duct it onward to the Vasus. Let not the fiends, O Man-Beholder, harm thee burning against the Rākshasas to slay them. Look on the fiend, 'mid men, as Man-Beholder: rend thou his three extremities in pieces. Demolish with thy flame his ribs, O Agni: the Yātudhāna's root destroy thou triply. Thrice, Agni, let thy noose surround the demon who with his falsehood injures holy Order. Loud roaring with thy flame, Jātavedas, fetter him in the pre- sense of the singer. Agni, what curse the pair this day may utter, what rude rough word the worshippers have spoken, Each arrowy taunt sped from the angry spirit,—pierce to the heart therewith the Yātudhānas. With fervent heat exterminate the demons: destroy the fiends with glow and flame, O Agni. Destroy with fire the foolish gods' adorers: destroy the insatiate fiercely-burning creatures. May Gods destroy to-day the evil-doer: may uttered curses turn again and strike him. Let arrows pierce the liar in his vitals, and Visva's net enclose the Yātudhāna. The fiend who smears himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of horses and of human bodies, Who steals the milch-cow's milk away, O Agni,—tear off the heads of such with fiery fury. Let the fiends steal the poison of the cattle: may Aditi cast off the evil-doers. May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and be their share of herbs and plants denied them. The cow gives milk each year, O Man-Beholder: let not the Yātudhāna ever taste it. Agni, if one should glut him with the biestings, pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee. Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons: never have Rākshasas in fight o'ercome thee. Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers: let none of them escape thy heavenly arrow. Guard us, O Agni, from above and under, protect us from be- hind and from before us; And may thy flames, most fierce and never wasting, glowing with fervent heat, consume the sinner. From rear, from front, from under, from above us, Agni, pro- tect us as a sage with wisdom. Guard to old age thy friend as friend eternal: O Agni, as im- mortal, guard us mortals. Lend thou the worshipper that eye, O Agni, where with thou lookest on the hoof-armed demons. With light celestial in Atharvan's manner burn up the fool who ruins truth with falsehood. We set thee round us as a fort, victorious Agni! thee, a sage, In conquering colour day by day, destroyer of the treacherous foe. With deadly poison strike thou back the treacherous brood of Rākshasas, O Agni, with thy sharpened glow, with rays that flash with points of flame. Agni shines far and wide with lofty splendour, and by his great- ness makes all things apparent. He conquers godless and malign enchantments, and sharpens both his horns to gore the ogres. Thy two unwasting horns, O Jātavedas, keen-pointed weapons, sharpened by devotion With these transfix the wicked-souled Kimidin, with fierce flame, Jātavedas! when he meets thee. Bright, radiant, meet to be adored, immortal with refulgent glow, Agni drives Rākshasas away.

Indra and Soma, burn, destroy the demon foe! Send downward, O ye Bulls, those who add gloom to gloom. Annihilate the fools, slay them and burn them uchase them away from us, pierce the voracious fiends. Let sin, Indra and Soma! round the wicked boil, like as a cald- ron set amid the flames of fire. Against the foe of prayer, eater of gory flesh, the fearful-eyed Kimidin, keep perpetual hate. Indra and Soma, plunge the wicked in the depth, yea, cast them into darkness that hath no support, So that not one of them may ever thence return: so may your wrathful might prevail and conquer them. Indra and Soma, hurl your deadly crushing bolt down on the wicked fiend from heaven and from the earth. Yea, fashion from the big clouds your celestial dart wherewith ye burn to death the waxing demon race. Indra and Soma, cast ye downward from the sky your deadly bolts of stone burning with fiery flame, Eternal, scorching darts. Plunge the voracious fiends within the depth, and let them pass without a sound. Indra and Soma, let this hymn control you both, even as the girth encompasses two vigorous steeds The song of praise which I with wisdom offer you. Do ye, as Lords of men, animate these my prayers. In your impetuous manner think ye both thereon: destroy those evil spirits, kill the treacherous fiends. Indra and Soma, let the wicked have no bliss whoso at any time- attacks and injures us. Whoso accuses me with words of falsehood when I pursue my way with guileless spirit, May he, the speaker of untruth, be, Indra! like water which the hollowed hand compresses. Those who destroy, as is their wont, the simple, and with their evil natures harm the righteous, May Soma give them over to the serpent, or to the lap of Nirriti consign them. O Agni, whosoever seeks to injure the essence of our food, kine, steeds, or bodies, May he, the adversary, thief, and robber, sink to destruction,. both himself and offspring. May he be swept away, himself and children; may all the three earths press him down beneath them. May his fair glory, O ye Gods, be blighted, who in the day or night would fain destroy us. The prudent finds it easy to distinguish the true and false: their words oppose each other. Of these two that which is the true and honest Soma protects, and brings the false to nothing. Never doth Soma aid and guide the wicked or him who falsely claims the Warrior's title. He slays the fiend and him who speaks untruly: both lie entan- gled in the noose of Indra. As if I worshipped deities of falsehood, or thought vain thoughts about the Gods, O Agni! Why art thou angry with us, Jātavedas? Destruction fall on those who lie against thee! So may I die this day if I have harassed any man's life, or if I be a demon. Yea, may he lose all his ten sons together who with false tongue hath called me Yātudhāna. May Indra slay him with a mighty weapon, and let the vilest of all creatures perish, The fiend who says that he is pure, who calls me a demon though devoid of demon nature. She too who wanders like an owl at night-time, hiding her body in her guile and malice, May she fall downward into endless caverns. May press-stones with loud ring destroy the demons. Spread out, ye Maruts, search among the people: seize ye and grind the Rākshasas to pieces, Who fly abroad, transformed to birds, at night-time, and sully and pollute our holy worship. Hurl down from heaven thy bolt of stone, O Indra: sharpen it, Maghavan, made keen by Soma. Forward, behind, and from above and under, smite down the demons with thy rocky weapon. They fly, the demon dogs, and, bent on mischief, fain would they harm indomitable Indra. Sakra makes sharp his weapon for the wicked: now let him cast his bolt at fiendish wizards. Indra hath ever been the fiends' destroyer who spoil oblations of the Gods' invokers. Yea, Sakra, like an axe that splits the timber, assails and sma- shes them like earthen vessels. Destroy the fiend shaped like an owl or owlet, destroy him in. the form of dog or cuckoo. Destroy him shaped as eagle or as vulture: as with a stone, O Indra, crush the demon. Let not the fiend of witchcraft-workers reach us: may Dawn. drive off the couples of Kimidins. Earth keep us safe from earthly woe and trouble! From grief that comes from heaven Mid-air preserve us! Indra destroy the demon, male and female, joying and triumph- ing in arts of magic! Let the fools' gods with bent necks fall and perish, and see no. more the Sun when he arises. Look, each one, hither, look around. Indra and Soma, watch ye well. Cast forth your weapon at the fiends: against the sorcerers hurl your bolt.

Upon the strong is bound the strong, this magic cord, this Amu- let, Potent, foe-slayer, served by valiant heroes, happy and fortu- nate defence. This Charm, foe-slayer, served by many heroes, strong, power- ful, victorious, and mighty, goes bravely forth to meet and ruin witchcraft. With this same Amulet wise Indra routed the Asuras, with this he slaughtered Vritra, With this he won this pair, both Earth and Heaven, and made the sky's four regions his possession. May this encircling magic cord, this Amulet of Srāktya wood, Mighty, subduing enemies, keep us secure on every side. This Agni hath declared, Soma declared it, Brihaspati, and Savitar, and Indra. So may these Gods whom I have set before me oppose with saving charms and banish witchcraft. I have obscured the heaven and earth, yea, and the daylight and the sun. So may these Gods whom I have set before me oppose with saving charms and banish witchcraft. Whoever for his armour takes an amulet of the Srāktya tree, Like the Sun risen up to heaven, quells witchcraft with superior might. With Amulet of Srāktya wood, as with a thoughtful Rishi's aid, In every fight have I prevailed; I smite the foes and Rākshasas. All witchcraft of Angirases,"all witchcraft wrought by Asuras, All witchcraft self-originate, and all that others have prepared, May these depart to both remotest spaces, past ninety ample water-floods. May the Gods bind the Charm on him for armour, Indra, and Vishnu, Savitar Rudra, Agni, Prajāpati, sublimest Parameshlhin, Virāj, Vaisvānara, and all the Rishis. Thou art the chief of all the plants, even as a bull among the beasts. A tiger of the beasts of prey. Him whom we sought for have we found, him lying near in wait for us. A tiger verily is he, he is a lion, and a bull, Subduer of his foes is he, the man who wears this Amulet. No mortal beings slay him, no Gāndharvas, no Apsarases; O'er all the regions he is king, the man who wears this Amulet. Kasyapa formed and fashioned thee, Kasyapa raised and sent thee forth. Indra wore thee, and, wearing thee, won in the wrestling-match with man. The Amulet of boundless might the Gods have made a coat of mail. Whoever would destroy thee with Dikshā-rites, sacrifices, spells, Meet him and smite him, Indra! with thy hundred-knotted thunderbolt. Verily let this Amulet, circular, potent, conquering, Happy and fortunate defence, preserve thy children and thy wealth. Brave Indra, set before us light, peace and security from below, Peace and security from above, peace and security from behind. My coat of mail is Heaven and Earth, my coat of mail is Day and Sun: A coat of mail may Indra and Agni and Dhātar grant to me. Not all the Gods may pierce, all leagued together, the vast strong shield which Indra gives, and Agni. May that great shield on all sides guard my body, that to full old my life may be extended. Let the Gods' Charm be bound on me to keep me safe from every ill. Come ye and enter all within this pillar, the safe-guard of the body, thrice-defended. In this let Indra lay a store of valour: approach ye Gods, and enter it together, For his long life, to last a hundred autumns, that to full age his days may be extended. Lord of the clan who brings, us bliss, fiend-slayer, queller of the foe, May he, the conqueror, ne'er subdued, may Indra bind the Charm on thee, Bull, Soma-drinker, he who gives us peace. May he protect thee round about, by night and day on every, side.

Let neither fiend of evil name, Alinsa, Vatsapa, desire Thy pair of husband-wooers which thy mother cleansed when, thou wast born. Palala, Anupalala, Sarku, Koka, Malimlucha, Palijaka Vavri- vāsas and Asresha, Rikshagriva and Pramilin. Approach not, come not hitherward: creep not thou in-between her thighs. I set, to guard her, Baja, that which chases him of evil name. Durnāmā and Sunāmā both are eager to converse with her. We drive away Arāyas: let Sunāmā seek the women-folk, The black and hairy Asura, and Stambaja and Tundika, Arāyas from this girl we drive, from bosom, waist, and parts below. Sniffer, and Feeler, him who eats raw flesh, and him who licks his lips, Arāyas with the tails of dogs, the yellow Baja hath destroyed. Whoever, in thy brother's shape or father's comes to thee in sleep, Let Baja rout and chase them like eunuchs with woman's head- dress on. Whoever steals to thee asleep or thinks to harm thee when awake,— These hath it banished, as the Sun travelling round drives shade away. Whoever causeth her to lose her child or bear untimely fruit,— Destroy him, O thou Plant, destroy the slippery fiend who lusts for her. Those who at evening, with the bray of asses, dance around the house, Kukshilas, and Kusfilas, and Kakubhas, Srimas, Karumas, These with thine odour, O thou Plant, drive far away to every side. Kukundhas and Kukūrabhas who dress themselves in hides and skins, Who dance about like eunuchs, who raise a wild clamour in the wood, all these we banish far away. All those who cannot bear the Sun who warms us yonder from the sky, Arāyas with the smell of goats, malodorous, with bloody mouths, the Makakas we drive afar. All those who on their shoulders bear a head of monstrous magnitude, Who pierce the women's loins with pain,—those demons, Indra drive away! Those, bearing horns upon their hands, who first of all approach the brides; Standing in ovens, laughing loud, those who in bushes flash forth light, all these we banish hence away. Those who have retroverted toes, and heels and faces in the front, Khalajas, Sakadhūmajas, Urundas, all the Matmatas, impotent Kumbhamushkas, these, Drive thou, O Brāhmanaspati, far from this girl with vigilance. Sightless and with distorted eyes, impotent. woman less be they. O Healing Plant, cast each away who, not her husband, would approach this woman wedded to her lord. The Bristly-haired, the Maniac-haired, the Biter, and the Groper-fiend, The Creeper-near, the Copper-hued, the Snouty, and the Saluda, With foot and heel kick over, as a hasty cow her milking-pan. If one should touch thy coming babe or kill thine infant newly born, The yellow Plant with mighty bow shall pierce him even to the heart. Those who kill infants unawares, and near the new-made mothers lie, Let Pinga chase the amorous Gandharvas as wind chases cloud. Let it maintain the genial seed: let the laid embryo rest secure. Let both strong Healers, to be worn within the girdle, guard the babe. From the Kimīdin, for thy lord and children, Pinga shield thee well, From Sāyaka, and Nagnaka, Tangalva, and Pavīnasa. From the five-footed, fingerless, from the four-eyed, the double- faced, From the Close-creeper, from the Worm, from the Quick-roller guard her well. Those who eat flesh uncooked, and those who eat the bleeding flesh of men, Feeders on babes unborn, long-haired, far from this place we banish these. Shy slinkers from the Sun, as slinks a woman from her husband's sire, Deep down into the heart of these let Baja and let Pinga pierce. Pinga, preserve the babe at birth, make not the boy a female child. Let not Egg-eaters mar the germs: drive the Kimidins far away. Sterility, and infants' death, and weeping that announceth woe, Dear! lay them on the fiend as thou wouldst pluck a garland from a tree.

The tawny-coloured, and the pale, the variegated and the red, The dusky-tinted, and the black,—all Plants we summon hither- ward. This man let them deliver from Consumption which the Gods have sent. The father of these Herbs was Heaven, their mother Earth, the Sea their root. The Waters are the best, and heavenly Plants. From every limb of thine have they removed Consumption caused by sin. I speak to Healing Herbs spreading, and bushy, to creepers, and to those whose sheath is single, I call for thee the fibrous and the reed-like, and branching. Plants, dear to the Visve Devas, powerful, giving life to men. The conquering strength, the power and might which ye, victo- rious Plants, possess, Therewith deliver this man here from this Consumption, O ye Plants: so I prepare the remedy. The living Plant that giveth life, that driveth malady away, Arundhatr, the rescuer, strengthening, rich a sweets I call, to free this man from scath and harm. Hitherward let the sapient come, the friendly sharers o f my speech. That we may give this man relief and raise him from his evil plight. Germ of the Waters, Agni's food, Plants ever growing fresh and new, Sure, healing, bearing thousand names, let them be all collected here. Let Plants whose soul is water, girt with Avakās, piercing with their sharp horns expel the malady. Strong, antidotes of poison, those releasers, free from Varuna, And those that drive away Catarrh, and those that frustrate magic arts, let all those Plants come hitherward. Let purchased Plants of mightier power, Plants that are praised for excellence. Here in this village safely keep cattle and horses, man and beast. Sweet is their root, sweet are these Plants' top branches, sweet also is their intermediate portion; Sweet is their foliage, and sweet their blossom, combined with sweetness is their taste of Amrit: food, fatness let them yield, with kine preceding. These Plants that grow upon the earth, whate'er their number and their size, Let these with all their thousand leaves free me from Death and misery. May the Plants' Tiger-amulet, protective, guardian from the curse, Beat off the brood of demons, drive all maladies afar from us. Before the gathered Plants they fly and scatter, as though a lion's roar or fire dismayed them. Expelled by Plants, let men's and kine's Consumption pass from us to the navigable rivers. Emancipated from the sway of Agni, of Vaisvānara, go, covering the earth, ye Plants whose ruler is Vanaspati. May these be pleasant to our heart, auspicious, rich in store of milk, These Plants of the Angirases which grow on mountains and on plains. The Plants I know myself, the plants that with mine eye I look upon, Plants yet unknown, and those we know, wherein we find that power is stored, Let all the congregated Plants attend and mark mine utterance, That we may rescue this man here and save him from severe distress. Asvattha, Darbha, King of Plants, is Soma, deathless sacrifice Barley and Rice are healing balms, the sons of Heaven who never die. Lift yourselves up, ye Healing Plants, loud is the thunder's crash and roar. When with full flow Parjanya, ye Children of Prisni! blesseth; you. We give the essence of that stream of nectar of this man to drink: So I prepare a remedy that he may live a hundred years. Well doth the wild boar know a Plant, the mungoose knows the Healing Herb. I call, to aid this man, the Plants which Serpents and Gandhar- vas know. Plants of Angirases which hawks, celestial Plants which eagles. know; Plants known to swans and lesser fowl, Plants known to all the birds that fly. Plants that are known to sylvan beasts,—I call them all to aid this man. The multitude of herbs whereon the Cows whom none may slaughter feed, all that are food for goats and sheep, So many Plants, brought hitherward, give shelter and defence to thee! Hitherward unto thee I bring the Plants that cure all maladies, All Plants wherein physicians have discovered health-bestowing power. Let Plants with flower and Plants with bud, the fruitful and the fruitless, all, Like children of one mother, yield their stores for this man's perfeet health. From the Five-arrowed, from the Ten-arrowed have I delivered thee, Freed thee from Yama's fetter and from all offence against the Gods,

Indra the Shaker shake them up, brave, hero, fortdemolisher, That into thousand fragments we may strike the armies of our foes! Let Pūtirajju with her breath corrupt and putrefy that host, And terror smite our foemen's heart when fire and smoke are seen afar. Asvattha, rend those men; do thou devour them quickly, Khadira! Like reeds let them be broken through, down-smitten by a lifted rush. Let Parushāhva make them reeds, and let the bulrush strike them down: Bound in a mighty net let them break quickly like an arrow's shaft. Air was the net; the poles thereof were the great quarters of the sky: Sakra therewith enveloped and cast on the ground the Dasyus' host. Verily mighty is the net of mighty Sakra rich in wealth: Therewith press all the foemen down so that not one of them escape! Great is thy net, brave Indra, thine the mighty match for a thousand, Lord of Hundred Powers! Holding them, with his host, therewith hath Indra slaughtered Dasyus a hundred, thousand, myriad, hundred millions. This world so mighty was the net of Sakra, of the Mighty One: With this, the net of Indra, I envelop all those men with gloom. Great weakness and misfortune, pain which words can never charm away, Languor, fatigue, bewilderment, with these I compass all the foes. I give those foemen up to Death: bound in the bonds of Death are they. I bind and carry them away to meet Death's wicked messengers. Bear them away, Death's messengers! envoys of Yama! bind them fast. More than a thousand be their slain: the club of Bhava pierce them through! Forth go the Sādhyas in their might bearing one netpole raised aloft. One pole the Rudras carry, one the Vasus, and the Ādityas one. The Visve Devas from above shall come depressing it with might, And in the midst the Angirases, slaying the mighty host, shall go. Trees of the forest, trees that bear flower and fruit, and herbs and plants, Quadruped, biped send I forth that they may strike this army dead, Gandharvas, and Apsarases, Gods, Serpents, Fathers, Holy Men, Seen and unseen, I send them forth that they may strike this army dead. Here spread are snares of Death wherefrom thou, once within them, ne'er art freed: Full many a thousand of the host yonder this horn shall smite and slay. The Gharma hath been warmed with fire: this Homa slays a thousand men. Let Bhava, Prisnibāhu, and Sarva destroy that armament. Their portion be the fire of Death, hunger, exhaustion, slaughter, fear. With your entangling snares and nets, Sarva and Indra! slay that host. Fly, conquered, in alarm, ye foes, run driven by the spell away! Let not one man escape of those when routed by Brihaspati. Down fall their weapons on the ground: no strength be theirs to point a shaft: Then in their dreadful terror let their arrows wound their vital parts. Let Heaven and Earth roar out in wrath against them, and Air with all the Deities in concert, Let them not find a surety or a refuge, but torn away go down to Death together. The mules of the Gods' car are heaven's four quarters; their hooves are sacred cakes, the air its body. Its sides are Heaven and Earth, its reins the Seasons, Voice is its hood, its grooms are sky's mid-regions. Year is the car, Full Year the seat for driving, Virāj the pole, the chariot's front is Agni, Indra the warrior, and the Moon the driver. Hence conquer, conquer, Hail! be thou the victor! Let these be conquerors and those be conquered. Good luck to these, ill luck to those men yonder! With the dark-blue-and-red our foes I cover.

Whence were these two produced? which was that region?' From what world, from which earth had they their being? Calves of Virāj, these two arose from water. I ask thee of these twain, who was their milker. He who prepared a threefold home, and lying there made the water bellow through his greatness, Calf of Virāj, giving each wish fulfilment, made bodies for him- self far off, in secret. Which are the three, the mighty three, whereof the fourth divides the voice, This may the Brāhman know by prayer and fervour, whereto belongs the one, whereto the other. Out of the Brihat as the sixth five Salmons have been fashioned forth: From Brihatī was Brihat formed: whence was the Brihatī com- posed? On measure Brihatī is based, and measure on the measurer: From magic might came magic might, from magic might came Mātali. Vaisvānara's image is the sky above us, so far as Agni forced both spheres asunder. Thence from that region as the sixth come praise-songs, and every sixth day hence again go upward. We, Kagyapa! six present Rishis, ask thee—for thou hast prov- ed things tried and meet for trial They call Virāj the Father of Devotion: tell her to us thy friends in all her figures. She whom, advancing, sacrifices follow, and when she takes her station stand beside her, By whose control and hest the spirit moveth, she is Virāj, in highest heaven, O Rishis. Breathless, she moves by breath of living creatures, Svarāj pre- cedes, Virāj comes closely after. Some men behold her not, and some behold her, Virāj meet- shaped, who thinks of all existence. Who hath perceived Virāj's duplication, perceived her seasons and her rule and practice? Who knows her steps, how oft, how far extended, who knows her home and number of her dawnings? She here who first of all sent forth her lustre moves onward resting on these lower creatures. Exalted power and might are stored within her: the woman hath prevailed, the new-come mother. Both Dawns on wings of song, with rich adornment, move on together to their common dwelling. Sūrya's two wives, unwasting, most prolific, knowing their way, move, rich in light, together. The three have passed along the path of Order—three warm libations have regarded offspring One quickens progeny, one strengthens vigour, and one protects the kingdom of the pious. She who was fourth was made by Agni, Soma, and Rishis as. they formed both halves of worship, Gāyatrī, Trishtup, Jagatī, Anushtup, Brihadarki lightening the sacrificer. Five milkings answer to the fivefold dawning, five seasons to the cow who bears five titles. The five sky-regions made fifteen in number, one head have these to one sole world directed. Six Elements arose, first-born of Order: the six-day time is carried by six Sāmans. Six-yoked the plough is, as each trace is numbered: they call both broad ones six; six, Earth and Heaven. They call the cold months six, and six the hot ones. Which, tell us, of the seasons is redundant? Seven sages, eagles, have sat down together: seven metres match the seven Consecrations. Seven are the Homas, seven the logs for burning, seven are the streams of mead, and seven the seasons. Into the world have come seven streams of butter; those we have heard of as the Seven Vultures. Seven metres, by four syllables increasing, each of the seven founded upon another How are the hymns of praise on these supported, and how are these imposed upon the praise-songs? How hath the Gāyatri filled out three triads? On the fifteen how is the Trishtup moulded, Jagatī fashioned on the three-and-thirty? How is Anushtup formed? how Ekavinsa? Eight Elements sprang up, first born of Order: the Priests divine are eight in number, Indra! Eight are the wombs of Aditi, eight her children; for the eighth night is the libation destined. So planning bliss for you have I come hither to win your friendshikind am I, and gracious. Born from one source, propitious is your wisdom: knowing full well to all of you it cometh. To Indra eight, to Yama six, seven to the Rishis, seven to each: The number five accompanies waters and men and healing herbs. The Heifer, all his own, poured forth for Indra control and milk at her first time of milking; And he then satisfied the four divisions, the Gods and men and Asuras and Rishis. Who is the Cow? Who is the Single Rishi? What is the law, what are the benedictions? What on the earth is the one only Spirit? Which of the number is the Single Season? One is the Cow, one is the Single Spirit, one is the law, single are benedictions. The Spirit dwelling on the earth is single: the Single Season never is transcended.

Viraj at first was This. At birth all feared her; the thought, She will become this All, struck terror. She rose, the Gārhapatya fire she entered. He who knows this becomes lord of a household, performer of domestic sacri- fices. She mounted up, the Eastward fire she entered. He who knows this becomes the Gods' beloved, and to his call they come when she invokes them. She mounted up, the Southward fire she entered. He who knows this becomes a fit performer of sacrifice, meet for honour, shelter-giver. She mounted up, she entered the Assembly. He who knows this becomes polite and courtly, and people come as guests to his assembly. She mounted up, she passed within the meeting. He who knows this becomes fit for the meeting, and to his hall of meeting come the people. She mounted up, she entered Consultation. Whoso knows this is fit to be consulted, and to his consultation come the people. She mounted up, and, into four divided, she took her station in the air's mid-region. Of her the Gods and men said, This she knoweth. That we may both have life let us invoke her. Thus did they cry to her: Come, Strength! come, Food! come, Charmer! come, Free- giver! Her calf, her well-beloved calf, was Indra: Gāyatri was her rope, the cloud her udder. Two teats she had, Rathantara and Brihat, two, Yajnāyajniya and Vāmadevya. With the Rathantara the Gods milked from her the Plants, and all the wide expanse with Brihat. They drew the Waters forth with Vāmadevya, with Yajnayaj- niya they milked out worship. For him who knoweth this, Rathantara poureth out Plants, and Brihat yieldeth wide expansion. Waters from Vāmdevya come, from Yajnāyajniya sacrifice. She rose, she came unto the tress: they killed her. A year went by and she again existed. Hence in a year the wounds of trees heal over. He who knows this sees his loathed rival wounded. She mounted up, she came unto the Fathers: they killed her: in a month she re-existed. Hence men give monthly offerings to the Fathers: who knows this, knows the path which they have trodden. She rose, she came unto the Gods: they killed her: but in a fortnight she again was living. Fortnightly, hence, men serve the Gods with Vasat! Who knows this knows the way which Gods pass over. She mounted up, she came to men: they killed her Presently she regained her life and being. Hence on both days to men they bring and offer—who knows this—near-seated in the dwelling. She rose, approached the Asuras: they called her: their cry was, Come, O Māyā, come thou hither. Her dear calf was Virochana Prāhrādi: her milking vessel was a. pan of iron. Dvimūrdhā Ārtvya milked her, yea, this Māyā, The Asuras depend for life on Māyā. He who knows this becomes a fit supporter. She mounted up, she came unto the Fathers. The Fathers called. to her, O Food, come hither. King Yama was her calf, her pail was silvern. Antaka, Mrityu's. son, milked her, this Svadhā. This Food the Fathers make their lives' sustainer. He who• knows this becomes a meet supporter. She mounted up, she came to men. They called her, Come unto- us, come hither thou Free-giver! Earth was her milking-pail, the calf beside her Manu Vaivasvata, Vivasvān's offspring. Prithi the son of Vena was her milker: he milked forth hus- bandry and grain for sowing. These men depend for life on corn and tillage. He who knows this becomes a meet supporter, successful in the culture of his_ corn-land. She rose, she came unto the Seven Rishis. They called her,. Come, Rich in Devotion! hither. King Soma was her calf. the Moon her milk-pail. Brihaspati. Āngirasa, her milker, Drew from her udder Prayer and Holy Fervour. Fervour and Prayer maintain the Seven Rishis. He who knows this becomes a meet supporter, a priest illustri- ous for his sacred knowledge. She rose, she came unto the Gods. They called her, crying, O Vigour, come to us, come hither! God Savitar milked her, he milked forth Vigour. The Gods depend for life upon that Vigour. He who knows this becomes a meet supporter. She rose approached the Apsarases and Gandharvas. They called her, Come to us, O Fragrant-scented! The son of Sūryavarchas, Chitraratha, was her dear calf, her pail. a lotus-petal. The son of Sūryavarchas, Vasuruchi, milked and drew from her most delightful fragrance. That scent supports Apsarases and Gandharvas. He who knows this becomes a meet supporter, and round him ever breathes delicious odour. She mounted up, she came to Other People. They called her, crying, Come, Concealment! hither. Her dear calf was Vaisravana Kubera, a vessel never tempered was her milk-pail. Rajatanābhi, offspring of Kubera, milked her, and from her udder drew concealment. By that concealment live the Other People. He who knows this becomes a meet supporter, and makes all evil disappear and vanish. She mounted up, she came unto the Serpents. The Serpents called her, Venomous! come hither. Her calf was Takshaka, Visāla's offspring: a bottlegourd suppli- ed a milking-vessel. Irāvān's offspring, Dhritarāshtra milked her, and from her udder drew forth only poison. That poison quickens and supports the Serpents: He who knows this becomes a meet supporter. One would ward off, for him who hath this knowledge, if with a bottle-gourd he sprinkled water. And did he not repel, if in his spirit he said, I drive thee back, he would repel it. The poison that it drives away, that poison verily repels. The man who hath this knowledge pours its venom on his hated foe.