1 THE Bull hath yielded for the Bull the milk of heaven: the Son of Aditi can never be deceived. According to his wisdom Varuṇa knoweth all: may he, the Holy, hallow times for sacrifice.
2 Gandharvi spake: may she, the Lady of the flood, amid the river's roaring leave my heart untouched. May Aditi accomplish all that we desire, and may our eldest Brother tell us this as Chief.
3 Yea, even this blessed Morning, rich in store of food, splendid, with heavenly lustre, hath shone out for man, Since they, as was the wish of yearning Gods, brought forth that yearning Agni for the assembly as the Priest.
4 And the fleet Falcon brought for sacrifice from afar this flowing Drop most excellent and keen of sight, Then when the Āryan tribes chose as Invoking Priest Agni the Wonder-Worker, and the hymn rose up.
5 Still art thou kind to him who feeds thee as with grass, and, skilled in sacrifice, offers thee holy gifts. When thou, having received the sage's strengthening food with lauds, after long toil, cornest with many more.
6 Urge thou thy Parents, as a lover ' to delight: the Lovely One desires and craves it from his heart. The priest calls out, the sacrificer shows his skill, the Asura tries his strength, and with the hymn is stirred.
7 Far-famed is he, the mortal man, O Agni, thou Son of Strength, who hath obtained thy favour. He, gathering power, borne onward by his horses, makes his days lovely in his might and splendour.
8 When, Holy Agni, the divine assembly, the sacred synod mid the Gods, is gathered, And when thou, Godlike One, dealest forth treasures, vouchsafe us, too, our portion of the riches.
9 Hear us, O Agni, in your common dwelling: harness thy rapid car of Amṛta. Bring Heaven and Earth, the Deities' Parents, hither: stay with us here, nor from the Gods be distant.
1 HEAVEN and Earth, first by everlasting Order, speakers of truth, are near enough to hear us, When the God, urging men to worship. sitteth as Priest, assuming all his vital vigour.
2 As God comprising Gods by Law Eternal, bear, as the Chief who knoweth, our oblation, Smoke-bannered with the fuel, radiant, joyous, better to praise and worship, Priest for ever.
3 When the cow's nectar wins the God completely, men here below are heaven's sustainers. All the Gods came to this thy heavenly Yajus which from the motley Pair milked oil and water.
4 1 praise your work that ye may make me prosper: hear, Heaven and Earth, Twain Worlds that drop with fatness. While days and nights go to the world of spirits, here let the Parents with sweet meath refresh us
5 Hath the King siezed us? How have we offended against his holy ordinance? Who knoweth? For even Mitra mid the Gods is angry there are both song and strength for those who come not.
6 ’Tis hard to understand the Immortal's nature, where she who is akin becomes astranger. Guard ceaselessly, great Agni, him who ponders Yama's name, easy to be comprehended.
7 They in the synod where the Gods rejoice them, where they are seated in Vivasvān's dwelling, Have given the Moon his beams, the Sun his splendour-the Two unweariedly maintain their brightness.
8 The counsel which the Gods meet to consider, their secret plan,—of that we have no knowledge. There let God Savitar, Aditi, and Mitra proclaim to Varuṇa that we are sinless.
9 Hear us, O Agni, in your comninn dwell ing: harness thy rapid car, the car of Amṛta. Bring Heaven and Earth, the Deities' Parents, hither: stay with us here, nor from the Gods be distant.
1 I YOKE with prayer your ancient inspiration: may the laud rise as on the prince's pathway. All Sons of Immortality shall hear it, all the possessors of celestial natures.
2 When speeding ye came nigh us like twin sisters, religious-hearted votaries brought you forward. Take your place, ye who know your proper station: be near, be very near unto our Soma.
3 Five paces have I risen from Earth. I follow her who hath four feet with devout observance. This by the Sacred Syllable have I measured: I purify in the central place of Order,
4 He, for God's sake, chose death to be his portion. He chose not, for men's good, a life eternal They sacrificed Bṛhaspati the Ṛṣi. Yama delivered up his own dear body.
5 The Seven flow to the Youth on whom the Maruts wait: the Sons unto the Father brought the sacrifice. Both these are his, as his they are the Lords of both: both toil; belonging unto both they prosper well.
1 HONOUR the King with thine oblations, Yama, Vivasvān's Son, who gathers men together, Who travelled to the lofty heights above us, who searcbes out and shows the path to many.
2 Yama first found for us a place to dwell in: this pasture never can be taken from Us. Men born on earth tread their own paths that lead them whither our ancient Fathers have departed.
3 Mitali prospers there with Kavyas, Yama with Aṅgiras' sons, Bṛhaspati with Rkvans: Exalters of the Gods, by Gods exalted, some joy in praise and some in our oblation.
4 Come, seat thee on this bed of grass, O Yama, in company with Aṅgirases and Fathers. Let texts recited by the sages bring thee O King, let this oblation make thee joyful.
5 Come, Yama, with the Aṅgirases the Holy, rejoice thee here with children of Virūpa. To sit on sacred grass at this our worship, I call Vivasvān, too, thy Father hither.
6 Our Fathers are Aṅgirases, Navagvas, Atharvans, Bhṛgus who deserve the Soma. May these, the Holy, look on us with favour, may we enjoy their gracious loving-kindness.
7 Go forth, go forth upon the ancient pathways whereon our sires of old have gone before us. ‘Mere shalt thou look on both the Kings enjoying their sacred food, God Varuṇa and Yama.
8 Meet Yama, meet the Fathers, meet the merit of free or ordered acts, in highest heaven. Leave sin and evil, seek anew thy dwelling, and bright with glory wear another body.
9 Go hence, depart ye, fly in all directions: this place for him the Fathers have provided. Yama bestows on him a place to rest in adorned with days and beams of light and waters.
10 Run and outspeed the two dogs, Saramā's offspring, brindled, four-eyed, upon thy happy pathway. Draw nigh then to the gracious-minded Fathers where they rejoice in company with Yama.
11 And those two dogs of thine, Yama, the watchers, four-eyed, who look on men and guard the pathway,— Entrust this man, O King, to their protection, and with prosperity and health endow him.
12 Dark-hued, insatiate, with distended nostrils, Yama's two envoys roam among the People; May they restore to us a fair existence here and to-day, that we may see the sunlight.
13 To Yama pour the Soma, bring to Yama consecrated gifts: To Yama sacrifice prepared and heralded by Agni goes.
14 Offer to Yama holy gifts enriched with butter, and draw near: So may he grant that we may live long days of life among the Gods.
15 Offer to Yama, to the King, oblation very rich in meath: Bow down before the Ṛṣis of the ancient times, who made this path in days of old.
16 Into the six Expanses flies the Great One in Trkadrukas. The Gāyatrī, the Tṛṣṭup, all metres in Yama are contained.
1 MAY they ascend, the lowest, highest, midmost, the Fathers who deserve a share of Soma- May they who have attained the life of spirits, gentle and righteous, aid us when we call them.
2 Now let us pay this homage to the Fathers, to those who passed of old and those who followed, Those who have rested in the earthly region, and those who dwell among the Mighty Races.
3 1 have attained the gracious-minded Fathers, I have gained son and progeny from Viṣṇu. They who enjoy pressed juices with oblation seated on sacred grass, come oftenest hither.
4 Fathers who sit on sacred grass, come, help us: these offerings have we made for you; accept them. So come to us with most auspicious favour, and give us health and strength without a trouble.
5 May they, the Fathers, worthy of the Soma, invited to their favourite oblations. Laid on the sacred grass, come nigh and listen: may they be gracious unto us and bless us.
6 Bowing your bended knees and seated southward, accept this sacrifice of ours with favour. Punish us not for any sin, O Fathers, which we through human frailty have committed.
7 Lapped in the bosom of the purple Mornings, give riches to the man who brings oblations. Grant to your sons a portion of that treasure, and, present, give them energy, ye Fathers.
8 Our ancient Fathers who deserve the Soma, who came, most noble, to our Soma banquet,— With these let Yama, yearning with the yearning, rejoicing eat our offerings at his pleasure.
9 Come to us, Agni, with the gracioug Fathers who dwell in glowing light, the very Kavyas, Who thirsted mid the Gods, who hasten hither, oblation winners, theme of singers' praises.
10 Come, Agni, come with countless ancient Fathers, dwellers in light, primeval, God-adorers, Eaters and drinkers of oblations, truthful, who travel with the Deities and Indra.
11 Fathers whom Agni's flames have tasted, come ye nigh: ye kindly leaders, take ye each your proper place. Eat sacrificial food presented on the grass: grant riches with a multitude of hero sons.
12 Thou, Agni Jātavedas, when entreated, didst bear the offerings which thou madest fragrant, And give them to the Fathers who did cat them with Svadha. Eat, thou God, the gifts we bring thee.
13 Thou, Jātavedas, knowest well the number of Fathers who are here and who are absent, Of Fathers whom we know and whom we know not: accept the sacrifice wellprepared with portions.
14 They who, consumed by fire or not cremated, joy in their offering in the midst of heaven,— Grant them, O Sovran Lord, the world of spirits and their own body, as thy pleasure wills it.
1 Burn him not up, nor quite consume him, Agni: let not his body or his skin be scattered. O Jātavedas, when thou hast matured him, then send him on his way unto the Fathers.
2 When thou hast made him ready, Jātavedas, then do thou give him over to the Fathers. When he attains unto the life that waits him, he shall become the Deities' controller.
3 The Sun receive thine eye, tne Wind thy spirit; go, as thy merit is, to earth or heaven. Go, if it be thy lot, unto the waters; go, make thine home in plants with all thy members.
4 Thy portion is the goat: with heat consume him: let thy fierce flame, thy glowing splendour, burn him With thine auspicious forms, o Jātavedas, bear this man to the region of the pious.
5 Again, O Agni, to the Fathers send him who, offered in thee, goes with our oblations. Wearing new life let him increase his offspring: let him rejoin a body, Jātavedas.
6 What wound soe’er the dark bird hath inflicted, the emmet, or the serpent, or the jackal, May Agni who devoureth all things heal it and Soma who hath passed into the Brahmans.
7 Shield thee with flesh against the flames of Agni, encompass thee about with fat and marrow, So will the Bold One, eager to attack thee with fierce glow fail to girdle and consume thee.
8 Forbear, O Agni, to upset this ladle: the Gods and they who merit Soma love it. This ladle, this which serves the Gods to drink from, in this the Immortal Deities rejoice them.
9 1 send afar flesh eating Agni, bearing off stains may he depart to Yama's subjects. But let this other Jātavedas carry oblation to the Gods, for he is skilful.
10 I choose as God for Father-worship Agni, flesh-eater, who hath past within your dwelling, While looking on this other Jātavedas. Let him light flames in the supreme assembly.
11 With offerings meet let Agni bring the Fathers who support the Law. Let him announce oblations paid to Fathers and to Deities.
12 Right gladly would we set thee down, right gladly make thee burn and glow. Gladly bring yearning Fathers nigh to cat the food of sacrifice.
13 Cool, Agni, and again refresh the spot which thou hast scorched and burnt. Here let the water-lily grow, and tender grass and leafy herb.
14 O full of coolness, thou cool Plant, full of fresh moisture, freshening Herb, Come hither with the female frog: fill with delight this Agni here.
1 TVASTAR prepares the bridal of his Daughter: all the world hears the tidings and assembles. But Yama's Mother, Spouse of great Vivasvān, vanished as she was carried to her dwelling.
2 From mortal men they hid the Immortal Lady, made one like her and gave her to Vivasvān. Saranyu brought to him the Aśvin brothers, and then deserted both twinned pairs of children.
3 Guard of the world, whose cattle ne’er are injured, may Pūṣan bear thee hence, for he hath knowledge. May he consign thee to these Fathers' keeping, and to the gracious Gods let Agni give thee.
4 May Āyu, giver of all life, protect thee, and bear thee forward on the distant pathway. Thither let Savitar the God transport thee, where dwell the pious who have passed-before thee.
5 Pūṣan knows all these realms: may he conduct us by ways that are most free from fear and danger. Giver of blessings, glowing, all-heroic, may he, thewise and watchful, go before us.
6 Pūṣan was born to move on distant pathways, on the road far from earth and far from heaven. To both most wonted places of assembly he travels and returns with perfect knowledge.
7 The pious call Sarasvatī, they worship Sarasvatī while sacrifice proceedeth. The pious called Sarasvatī aforetime. Sarasvatī send bliss to him who giveth.
8 Sarasvatī, who camest with the Fathers, with them rejoicing thee in our oblations, Seated upon this sacred grass be joyful, and give us strengthening food that brings no sickness.
9 Thou, called on as Sarasvatī by Fathers who come right forward to our solemn service, Give food and wealth to present sacrificers, a portion, worth a thousand, of refreshment.
10 The Mother Floods shall make us bright and shining, cleansers of holy oil, with oil shall cleanse us: For, Goddesses, they bear off all defilement: I, rise up from them purified and brightened.
11 Through days of earliest date the Drop descended on this place and on that which was before it. I offer up, throughout the seven oblations, the Drop which still to one same place is moving.
12 The Drop that falls, thy stalk which arms have shaken, which from the bosom of the press hath fallen, Or from the Adhvaryu's purifying filter, I offer thee with heart and cry of Vaṣaṭ!
13 That fallen Drop of thine, the stalk which from the ladle fell away, This present God Bṛhaspati shall pour it forth to make us rich.
14 The plants of earth are rich in milk, and rich in milk is this my speech; And rich in milk the essence of the Waters: make me pure therewith.
1 Go hence, O Death, pursue thy special pathway apart from that which Gods are wont to travel. To thee I say it who hast eyes and hearest: Touch not our offspring, injure not our heroes.
2 As ye have come effacing Mrtyu's footstep, to further times prolonging your existence, May ye be rich in children and possessions. cleansed, purified, and meet for sacrificing.
3 Divided from the dead are these, the living: now be our calling on the Gods successful. We have gone forth for dancing and for laughter, tofurther times prolonging our existence.
4 Here I erect this rampart for the living; let none of these, none other, reach this limit. May they survive a hundred lengthened autumns, and may they bury Death beneath this mountain.
5 As the days follow days in close succession, as with the seasons duly come the seasons, As each successor fails not his foregoer, so form the lives of these, O great Ordainer.
6 Live your full lives ap! find old age delightful, all of you striving one behind the other. May Tvaṣṭar, maker of fair things, be gracious and lengthen out the days of your existence.
7 Let these unwidowed dames with noble husbands adorn themselves with fragrant balm and unguent. Decked with fair jewels, tearless, free from sorrow, first let the dames go up to where he lieth.
8 Rise, come unto the world of life, O woman: come, he is lifeless by whose side thou liest. Wifehood with this thy husband was thy portion, who took thy hand and wooed thee as a lover.
9 From his dead hand I take the bow be carried, that it may be our power and might and glory. There art thou, there; and here with noble heroes may we o’ercome all hosts that fight against us.
10 Betake thee to the Iap of Earth the Mother, of Earth far-spreading, very kind and gracious. Young Dame, wool-soft unto the guerdongiver, may she preserve thee from Destruction's bosom.
11 Heave thyself, Earth, nor press thee downward heavily: afford him easy access, gently tending him. Cover him, as a mother wraps her skirt about her child, O Earth.
12 Now let the heaving earth be free from motion: yea,—let a thousand clods remain above him. Be they to him a home distilling fatness, here let them ever be his place of refuge.
13 I stay the earth from thee, while over thee I place this piece of earth. May I be free from injury. Here let the Fathers keep this pillar firm for thee, and there let Yama make thee an abiding-place.
14 Even as an arrow's feathers, they have set me on a fitting day. The fit word have I caught and held as ’twere a courser with the rein.
1 TURN, go not farther on your way: visit us, O ye Wealthy Ones. Agni and Soma, ye who bring riches again, secure us wealth.
2 Make these return to us again, bring them beside us once again. May. Indra give them back to us, and Agni drive them hither-ward.
3 Let them return to us again: under this herdsman let them feed. Do thou, O Agni, keep them here, and let the wealth we have remain.
4 1 call upon their herdsman, him who knoweth well their coming nigh, Their parting and their home-return, and watcheth their approach and rest.
5 Yea, let the herdsman, too, return, who marketh well their driving-forth; Marketh their wandering away, their turning back and coming home.
6 Home-leader, lead them home to us; Indra, restore to us our kine: We will rejoice in them alive.
7 1 offer you on every side butter and milk and strengthening food. May all the Holy Deities pour down on us a flood of wealth.
8 O thou Home-leader, lead them home, restore them thou who bringest home. Four are the quarters of the earth; from these bring back to us our kine,
1 SEND unto us a good and happy mind.
2 1 worship Agni, Youthfullest of Gods, resistless, Friend of laws; Under whose guard and heavenly light the Spotted seek the Mother's breast:
3 Whom with their mouth they magnify, bannered with flame and homed in light. He glitters with his row of teeth.
4 Kind, Furtherer of men, he comes, when he hath reached the ends of heaven, Sage, giving splendour to the clouds.
5 To taste man's offerings, he, the Strong, hath risen erect at sacrifice: Fixing his dwelling he proceeds.
6 Here are oblation, worship, rest: rapidly comes his furtherance. To sword-armed Agni come the Gods.
7 With service for chief bliss I seek the Lord of Sacrifice, Agni, whom They call the Living, Son of Cloud.
8 Blest evermore be all the men who come from us, who magnify Agni with sacrificial gifts.
9 The path he treads is black and white and red, and striped, and brown, crimson, and glorious. His sire begat him bright with hues of gold.
10 Thus with his thoughts, O Son of Strength, O Agni, hath Vimada, accordant with the Immortals, Offered thee hymns, soliciting thy favour. Thou hast brought all food, strength, a prosperous dwelling.