1 WITH offerings of our own we choose thee, Agni, as Invoking Priest, For sacrifice with trimmed grass,—at your glad carouse-piercing and brightly shining. Thou art waxing great.
2 The wealthy ones adorn thee, they who bring us horses as their gift: The sprinkling ladle, Agni,—at your glad carouse -and glowing offering taste thee. Thou art waxing great.
3 The holy statutes rest by thee, as ’twere with ladles that o’erflow. Black and white-gleaming colours,—at your glad carouse-all glories thou assurnest. Thou art waxing great.
4 O Agni, what thou deemest wealth, Victorious and Immortal One! Bring thou to give us vigour,—at your glad carouse -splendid at sacrifices. Thou art waxing great.
5 Skilled in all lore is Agni, he whom erst Atharvan brought to life. He was Vivasvān's envoy, at your glad carouse-the weIl-loved friend of Yama, Thou art waxing great.
6 At sacrifices they adore thee, Agni, when the rite proceeds. All fair and lovely treasures-at your glad carouse-thou givest him who offers. Thou art waxing great.
7 Men, Agni, have established thee as welcome Priest at holy rites, Thee whose face shines with butter,—at your glad carouse-bright, with eyes most observant. Thou art waxing great.
8 Wide and aloft thou spreadest thee, O Agni, with thy brilliant flame. A Bull art thou when bellowing,—at your glad carouse-thou dost impregn the Sisters. Thou art waxing great.
1 WHERE is famed Indra heard of? With what folk is he renowned to-day as Mitra is,— Who in the home of Ṛṣis and in secret is extolled with song?
2 Even here is Indra famed, and among us this day the glorious Thunderer is praised, He who like Mitra mid the folk hath won complete and full renown.
3 He who is Sovran Lord of great and perfect strength, exerter of heroic might, Who bears the fearless thunder as a father bears his darling son.
4 Harnessing to thy car, as God, two blustering Steeds Of the Wind-God, O Thunderer, That speed along the shining path, thou making ways art glorified.
5 Even to these dark Steeds of Wind thou of thyself hast come to ride, Of which no driver may be found, none, be he God or mortal man.
6 When ye approach, men ask you, thee and Uśanā: Why come ye to our dwelling-place? Why are ye come to mortal man from distant realms of eapth and heaven?
7 O Indra, thou shalt speak us fair: our holy prayer is offered up. We pray to thee for help as thou didst strike the monster Śuṣṇa dead.
8 Around us is the Dasyu, riteless, void of sense, inhuman, keeping alien laws. Baffle, thou Slayer of the foe, the weapon which this Dāsa wields.
9 Hero with Heroes, thou art ours: yea, strong are they whom thou dost help. In many a place are thy full gifts, and men, like vassals, sing thy praise.
10 Urge thou these heroes on to slay the enemy, brave Thunderer! in the fight with swords. Even when hid among the tribes of Sages numerous as stars.
11 Swift come those gifts of thine whose hand is prompt to rend and burn, O Hero Thunder-armed: As thou with thy Companions didst destroy the whole of SuSnia's brood.
12 Let not thine excellent assistance come to us, O Hero Indra, profitless. May we, may we enjoy the bliss of these thy favours, Thunderer!
13 May those soft impulses of thine, O Indra, be fruitful and innocent to us. May we know these whose treasures are like those of milch-kine, Thunderer!
14 That Earth, through power of knowing things that may be known, handless and footless yet might thrive, Thou slewest, turning to the right, gu;na for every living man.
15 Drink, drink the Soma, Hero Indra; be not withheld as thou art good, O Treasure-giver. Preserve the singers and our liberal princes, and make us wealthy with abundant riches.
1 INDRA, whose right hand wields the bolt, we worship, driver of Bay Steeds seeking sundered courses. Shaking his beard with might he hath arisen, casting his weapons forth and dealing bounties.
2 The treasure which his Bay Steeds found at sacrifice,—this wealth made opulent Indra slayer of the foe. Ṛbhu, Ṛbhukṣan, Vāja-he is Lord of Might. The Dāsa's very name I utterly destroy.
3 When, with the Princes, Maghavari, famed of old, comes nigh the thunderbolt of gold, and the Controller's car Which his two Tawny Coursers draw, then Indra is the Sovran Lord of power whose glory spreads afar.
4 With him too is this rain of his that comes like herds: Indra throws drops of moisture on his yellow beard. When the sweet juice is shed he seeks the pleasant place, and stirs the worshipper as wind disturbs the wood.
5 We laud and praise his several deeds of valour who, fatherlike, with power hath made us stronger; Who with his voice slew many thousand wicked ones who spake in varied manners with contemptuous cries.
6 Indra, the Vimadas have formed for thee a laud, copious, unparalleled, for thee Most Bountiful. We know the good we gain from him the Mighty One when we attract him as a herdsman calls the kine.
7 Ne’er may this bond of friendship be dissevered, the Ṛṣi Vimada's and thine, O Indra. We know thou carest for us as a brother with us, O God, be thine auspicious friendship.
1 O INDRA, drink this Soma, pressed out in the mortar, full of sweets. Send down to us great riches,—at your glad carouse-in thousands, O Most healthy. Thou art waxing great.
2 To thee with sacrifices, with oblations, and with lauds we come. Lord of all strength and power, grant-at your glad carouse-the best choiceworthy treasure. Thou art waxing great.
3 Thou who art Lord of precious boons, inciter even of the churl. Guardian of singers, Indra,—at your glad carouse-save us from woe and hatred. Thou art waxing great.
4 Strong, Lords of Magic power, ye Twain churned the united worlds apart, When ye, implored by Vimada, Nāsatyas, forced apart the pair.
5 When the united pair were rent asunder all the Gods complained. The Gods to the Nāsatyas cried, Bring these together once again.
6 Sweet be my going forth, and rich in sweets be my approach to home. So, through your Deity, both Gods, enrich us with all pleasantness.
1 SEND us a good and happy mind, send energy and mental power. Then-at your glad carouse-let men joy in thy love, Sweet juice! as kine in pasture. Thou. art waxing great.
2 rn all thy forms, O Soma, rest thy powers that influence the heart. So also these my longings-at your glad carouse-spread themselves seeking riches. Thou art waxing great.
3 Even if, O Soma, I neglect thy laws through my simplicity, Be gracious-at your glad carouse-as sire to son. Preserve us even from slaughter. T'hou. art waxing great.
4 Our songs in concert go to thee as streams of water to the wells. Soma, that we may live, grant-at your glad carouse-full powers of mind, like beakers. Thou art waxing great.
5 O Soma, through thy might who art skilful and strong, these longing men, These sages, have thrown open-at your glad carouse-the stall of kine and horses. Thou art waxing great
6 Our herds thou guardest, Soma, and the moving world spread far and wide. Thou fittest them for living,—at your glad carouse-looking upon all beings. Thou art waxing great.
7 On all sides, Soma, be to us a Guardian ne’er to be deceived. King, drive away our foemen-at your glad carouse:—let not the wicked rule us. Thou art waxing great.
8 Be watchful, Soma, passing wise, to give us store of vital strength. More skilled than man to guide us,—at your glad carouse-save us from harm and sorrow. Thou art waxing great.
9 Chief slayer of our foemen, thou, Indu, art Indra's gracious Friend, When warriors invoke him-at your glad carouse -in fight, to win them offspring. Thou art waxing great.
10 Victorious is this gladdening drink: to Indra dear it grows in strength. This-at your glad carouse -enhanced the mighty hymn of the great sage Kakṣīvān. Thou art waxing great.
11 This to the sage who offers gifts brings power that comes from wealth in kine. This, better than the seven, hath-at your glad carouse-furthered the blind, the cripple. Thou art waxing great.
1 FORWARD upon their way proceed the ready teams, the lovely songs. Further them glorious Pūṣan with yoked chariot, and the Mighty Twain!
2 With sacred hymns let this man here, this singer, win the God to whom Belong this majesty and might. He hath observed our eulogies.
3 Pūṣan the Strong hath knowledge of sweet praises even as Indu hath. He dews our corn with moisture, he bedews the pasture of our kine.
4 We will bethink ourselves of thee, O Pūṣan, O thou God, as One. Who brings fulfilment of our hymns, and stirs the singer and the sage.
5 joint-sharer of each sacrifice, the driver of the chariot steeds; The Ṛṣi who is good to man, the singer's Friend and faithful Guard.
6 One who is Lord of Suca, Lord of Suca caring for herself: Weaving the raiment of the sheep and making raiment beautiful.
7 The mighty Lord of spoil and wealth, Strong Friend of all prosperity; He with light movement shakes his beard, lovely and ne’er to be deceived.
8 O Pūṣan, may those goats of thine turn hitherward thy chariot-pole. Friend of all suppliants; art thou, born in old time, and arm and sure.
9 May the majestic Pūṣan speed our chariot with his power and might. May he increase our store of wealth and listen to this call of ours.
1 THIS, singer, is my firm determination, to aid the worshipper who pours the Soma. I slay the man who brings no milkoblation, unrighteous, powerful, the truth's perverter.
2 Then Will I, when I lead my friends to battle against the radiant persons of the godless, Prepare for thee at home a vigorous bullock, and pour for thee the fifteen-fold strong juices.
3 I know not him who sayeth and declareth that he hath slain the godless in the battle. Soon as they see the furious combat raging, men speak forth praises of my vigorous horses.
4 While yet my deeds of might were unrecorded, all passed for Maghavans though I existed. The potent one who dwelt in peace I conquered, grasped by the foot and slew him on the mountain.
5 None hinder me in mine heroic exploits, no, not the mountains when I will and purpose. Even the deaf will tremble at my roaring, and every day will dust be agitated.
6 To see the Indraless oblation-drinkers, mean offerers, o’ertaken by destruction! Then shall the fellies of my car pass over those who have blamed my joyous Friend and scorned him.
7 Thou wast, thou grewest to full vital vigour: an earlier saw, a later one shall see thee. Two canopies, as ’twere, are round about him who reacheth to the limit of this region.
8 The freed kine eat the barley of the pious. 1 saw them as they wandered with the herdsman. The calling of the pious rang around them. What portion will these kine afford their owner?
9 When we who cat the grass of men are gathered I am with barley-eaters in the corn-land. There shall the captor yoke the yokeless bullock, and he who hath been yoked seek one to loose him.
10 There wilt thou hold as true my spoken purpose, to bring together quadrupeds. and bipeds. I will divide, without a fight, his riches who warreth here, against the Bull, with women.
11 When a man's daughter hath been ever eyeless, who, knowing, will be wroth with her for blindness? Which of the two will loose on him his anger-the man who leads her home or he who woos her?
12 How many a maid is pleasing to the suitor who fain would marry for her splendid riches? If the girl be both good and fair of feature, she finds, herself, a friend among the people.
13 His feet have grasped: he eats the man who meets him. Around his head he sets the head for shelter. Sitting anear and right above he smites us, and follows earth that lies spread out beneath him.
14 High, leafless, shadowless, and swift is Heaven: the Mother stands, the Youngling, loosed, is feeding. Loud hath she lowed, licking Another's offspring. In what world hath the Cow laid down her udder?
15 Seven heroes from the nether part ascended, and from the upper part came eight together. Nine from behind came armed with winnowing-baskets: ten from the front pressed o’er the rock's high ridges.
16 One of the ten, the tawny, shared in common, they send to execute their final purpose. The Mother carries on her breast the Infant of noble form and soothes it while it knows not.
17 The Heroes dressed with fire the fatted wether: the dice were thrown by way of sport and gaming. Two reach the plain amid the heavenly waters, hallowing and with means of purifying.
18 Crying aloud they ran in all directions: One half of them will cook, and not the other. To me hath Savitar, this God, declared it: He will perform, whose food is wood and butter.
19 I saw a troop advancing from the distance moved, not by wheels but their own God-like nature. The Friendly One seeks human generations, destroying, still new bands of evil beings.
20 These my two Bulls, even Pramara's, are harnessed: drive them not far; here let them often linger. The waters even shall aid him to his object, and the all-cleansing Sun who is above us.
21 This is the thunderbolt which often whirleth down from the lofty misty realm of Sūrya. Beyond this realm there is another glory so through old age they pass and feel no sorrow.
22 Bound fast to,every tree the cow is lowing, and thence the man-consuming birds are flying, Then all this world, though pressing juice for Indra and strengthening the Ṛṣi, is affrighted.
23 In the Gods’ mansion stood the first-created, and from their separation came the later. Three warm the Earth while holding stores of water, and Two of these convey the murmuring moisture.
24 This is thy life: and do thou mark and know it. As such, hide not thyself in time of battle. He manifests the light and hides the vapour: his foot is never free from robes that veil it.
1 Now all my other friends are here assembled: my Sire-in-law alone hath not come hither. So might he eat the grain and drink the Soma, and, satisfied, return unto; his dwelling.
2 Loud belloweth the Bull whose horns are sharpened: upon the height above earth's breadth he standeth. That man I guard and save in all his troubles who fills my flanks when he hath shed the Soma.
3 Men with the stone press out for thee, O Indra, strong, gladdening Soma, and thereof thou drinkest. Bulls they dress for thee, and of these thou eatest when, Maghavan, with food thou art invited.
4 Resolve for me, O singer, this my riddle: The rivers send their swelling water backward: The fox steals up to the approaching lion: the jackal drives the wild-boar from the brushwood.
5 How shall I solve this riddle, I, the simple, declare the thought of thee the Wise and Mighty? Tell us, well knowing, as befits the season: Whitherward is thy prosperous car advancing?
6 Thus do they magnify me, me the mighty higher than even high heaven is my car-pole. I all at once demolish many thousands: my Sire begot me with no foe to match me.
7 Yea, and the Gods have known me also, Indra, as mighty, fierce and strong in every exploit. Exulting with the bolt I slaughtered Vṛtra, and for the offerer oped with might the cow-stall.
8 The Deities approached, they carried axes; splitting the wood they came with their attendants. They laid good timber in the fire-receivers, and burnt the grass up where they found it growing.
9 The hare hath swallowed up the opposing razor: I sundered with a clod the distant mountain. The great will I make subject to the little: the calf shall wax in strength and cat the bullock.
10 There hath the strong-winged eagle left his talon, as a snared lion leaves the trap that caught him. Even the wild steer in his thirst is captured: the leather strap still holds his foot entangled.
11 So may the leather strap their foot entangle who fatten on the viands of the Brahman. They all devour the bulls set free to wander, while they themselves destroy their bodies' vigour.
12 They were well occupied with holy duties who sped in person with their lauds to Soma. Speaking like man, mete to us wealth and booty: in heaven thou hast the name and fame of Hero.
1 As sits the young bird on the tree rejoicing, ye, swift Pair, have been roused by clear laudation, Whose Herald-Priest through many days is Indra, earth's Guardian, Friend of men, the best of Heroes.
2 May we, when this Dawn and the next dance hither, be thy best servants, most heroic Hero! Let the victorious car with triple splendour bring hitherward the hundred chiefs with Kutsa.
3 What was the gladdening draught that pleased thee, Indra? Speed through our doors to songs, for thou art mighty. Why comest thou to me, what gift attracts thee? Fain would I bring thee food most meet to offer.
4 Indra, what fame hath one like thee mid heroes? With what plan wilt thou act? Why hast thou sought us? As a true Friend, Wide-Strider! to sustain us, since food absorbs the thought of each among us.
5 Speed happily those, as Sūrya ends his journey, who meet his wish as bridegrooms meet their spouses; Men who present, O Indra strong by nature, with food the many songs that tell thy praises.
6 Thine are two measures, Indra, wide-wellmeted, heaven for thy majesty, earth for thy wisdom. Here for thy choice are Somas mixed with butter: may the sweet meath be pleasant for thy drinking.
7 They have poured out a bowl to him, to Indra, full of sweet juice, for faithful is his bounty. O'er earth's expanse hath he grown great by wisdom, the Friend of man, and by heroic exploits.
8 Indra hath conquered in his wars, the Mighty: men strive in multitudes to win his friendship. Ascend thy chariot as it were in battle, which thou shalt drive to us with gracious favour.
1 As ’twere with swift exertion of the spirit, let the priest speed to the celestial Waters, The glorious food of Varuṇa and Mitra. To him who spreadeth far this laud I offer.
2 Adhvaryus, he ye ready with oblations,, and come with longing to the longing Waters, Down on which looks the. purple-tinted Eagle. Pour ye that flowing wave this day, deft-handed.
3 Go to the reservoir, O ye Adhvaryus worship the Waters’ Child with your oblations. A consecrated wave he now will give you, so press for him the Soma rich in sweetness.
4 He who shines bright in floods, unfed with fuel, whom sages worship at their sacrifices: Give waters rich in sweets, Child of the Waters, even those which gave heroic might to Indra:
5 Those in which Soma joys and is delighted, as a young man with fair and pleasant damsels. Go thou unto those Waters, O Adhvaryu, and purify with herbs what thou infusest.
6 So maidens bow before the youthful gallant who comes with love to them who yearn to meet him. In heart accordant and in wish one-minded are the Adhvaryus and the heavenly Waters.
7 He who made room for you when fast imprisoned, who freed you from the mighty imprecation,— Even to that Indra send the meath-rich current, the wave that gratifies the Gods, O Waters.
8 Send forth to him the meath-rich wave, O Rivers, which is your offspring and a well of sweetness, Oil-balmed, to be implored at sacrifices. Ye wealthy Waters, hear mine invocation.
9 Send forth the rapture-giving wave, O Rivers, which Indra drinks, which sets the Twain in motion; The well that springeth from the clouds, desirous, that wandereth triple-formed, distilling transport.
10 These winding Streams which with their double current, like cattle-raiders, seek the lower pastures,— Waters which dwell together, thrive together, Queens, Mothers of the world, these, Ṛṣi, honour.
11 Send forth our sacrifice with holy worship send forth the hymn and prayer for gain of riches. For need of sacrifice disclose the udder. Give gracious hearing to our call, O Waters.
12 For, wealthy Waters, ye control all treasures: ye bring auspicious intellect and Amṛta. Ye are the Queens of independent riches Sarasvatī give full life to the singer!
13 When I behold the Waters coming hither, carrying with them milk and mcath and butter, Bearing the well-pressed Soma juice to Indra, they harmonize in spirit with Adhvaryus.
14 Rich, they are come with wealth for living beings, O friends, Adhvaryus, seat them in their places. Seat them on holy grass, ye Soma-bringers in harmony with the Offspring of the Waters.
15 Now to this grass are come the longing Waters: the Pious Ones are seated at our worship. Adbvaryus, press the Soma juice for Indra so will the service of the Gods be easy.