With keen glance guard the sacrifice, O Agni: thou Sage, conduct it onward to the Vasus.
Let not the fiends, O Man-beholder, harm thee burning against the Rākṣasas 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 Yatudhana’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, O Jatavedas, crush him and cast him down before the singer.

Lead thou the worshipper that eye, O Agni, wherewith thou lookest on the hoof-armed demon.
With light celestial in Atharvan’s manner burn up the foot who ruins truth with falsehood.

Agni, what curse the pair this day have uttered, what heated word the worshippers have spoken,
Each arrowy taunt sped from the angry spirit, — pierce to the heart therewith the Yātudhāna.

With fervent heat exterminate the demons; destroy the fiends with burning flame, O Agni.
Destroy with fire the foolish gods’ adorers; blaze and destrepy the insatiable monsters.

May Gods destroy this day the evil-doer may each hot curse of his return and blast 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.

The cow gives milk each year, O Man-regarder: let not the Yātudhāna ever taste it.
If one would glut him with the biesting, Agni, pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee.

Let the fiends drink the poison of the cattle; may Aditi cast off the evildoers.
May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and be their share of plants and herbs denied them.

Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons: never shall Rākṣasas in fight o’ercome thee.
Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers: let none of them escape thine heavenly arrow.

Guard us, O Agni, from above and under, protect us fl-om behind us and 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, O King, protect us as a Sage with wisdom.
Guard to old age thy friend, O Friend, Eternal: O Agni, as Immortal, guard us mortals.

We set thee round us as a fort, victorious Agni, thee a Sage,
Of hero lineage, day by day, destroyer of our treacherous foes.

Burn with thy poison turned against the treacherous brood of Rākṣasas,
O Agni, with thy sharpened glow, with lances armed with points of flame.

Burn thou the paired Kimīdins, burn, Agni, the Yātudhāna pairs.
I sharpen thee, Infallible, with hymns. O Sage, be vigilant.

Shoot forth, O Agni, with thy flame demolish them on every side.
Break thou the Yātudhāna's strength, the vigour of the Rākṣasa.

HYMN LXXXVIII. Agni.

Dear, ageless sacrificial drink is offered in light-discovering, heaven-pervading Agni.
The Gods spread forth through his Celestial Nature, that he might bear the world up and sustain it.

The world was swallowed and concealed in darkness: Agni was born, and light became apparent.
The Deities, the broad earth, and the heavens, and plants, and waters gloried in his friendship.

Inspired by Gods who claim our adoration, I now will laud Eternal Lofty Agni,
Him who hath spread abroad the earth with lustre, this heaven, and both the worlds, and air’s mid-region.

Earliest Priest whom all the Gods accepted, and chose him, and anointed him with butter,
He swiftly made all things that fly, stand, travel, all that hath motion, Agni Jātavedas.

Because thou, Agni, Jātavedas, stoodest at the world’s head with thy refulgent splendour,
We sent thee forth with hymns and songs and praises: thou filledst heaven and earth, God meet for worship.

Head of the world is Agni in the night-time; then, as the Sun, at morn springs up and rises.
Then to his task goes the prompt Priest foreknowing the wondrous power of Gods who must be honoured.

Lovely is he who, kindled in his greatness, hath shone forth, seated in the heavens, refulgent.
With resonant hymns all Gods who guard our bodies have offered up oblation in this Agni.

First the Gods brought the hymnal into being; then they engendered Agni, then oblation.
He was their sacrifice that guards our bodies: him the heavens know, the earth, the waters know him.

He, Agni, whom the Gods have generated, in whom they offered up all worlds and creatures,
He with his bright glow heated earth and heaven, urging himself right onward in his grandeur.

Then by the laud the Gods engendered Agni in heaven, who fills both worlds through strength and vigour.
They made him to appear in threefold essence: he ripens plants of every form and nature.

What time the Gods, whose due is worship, set him as Sūrya, Son of Aditi, in heaven,
When the Pair, ever wandering, sprang to being, all creatures that existed looked upon them.

For all the world of life the Gods made Agni Vaiśvānara to be the days’ bright Banner, —
Him who hath spread abroad the radiant Mornings, and, coming with his light, unveils the darkness.

The wise and holy Deities engendered Agni Vaiśvānara whom age ne’er touches.
The Ancient Star that wanders on for ever, lofty and. strong, Lord of the Living Being.

We call upon the Sage with holy verses, Agni Vaiśvānara the ever-beaming,
Who hath surpassed both heaven and earth in greatness: he is a God below, a God above us.

I have heard mention of two several pathways, ways of the Fathers and of Gods and mortals.
On these two paths each moving creature travels, each thing between the Father and the Mother.

These two united paths bear him who journeys born from the head and pondered with the spirit
He stands directed to all things existing, hasting, unresting in his fiery splendour.

Which of us twain knows where they speak together, upper and lower of the two rite-leaders?
Our friends have helped to gather our assembly. They came to sacrifice; who will announce it?

How many are the Fires and Suns in number? What is the number of the Dawns and Waters?
Not jestingly I speak to you, O Fathers. Sages, I ask you this for information.

As great as is the fair-winged Morning’s presence to him who dwells beside us, Mātariśvan!
Is what the Brahman does when he approaches to sacrifice and sits below the Hotar.

HYMN LXXXIX. Indra.

I will extol the most heroic Indra who with his might forced earth and sky asunder;
Who hath filled all with width as man’s Upholder, surpassing floods and rivers in his greatness.

Sūrya is he: throughout the wide expanses shall Indra turn him, swift as car-wheels, hither,
Like a stream resting not but ever active he hath destroyed, with light, the black-hued darkness.

To him I sing a holy prayer, incessant new, matchless, common to the earth and heaven,
Who marks, as they were backs, all living creatures: ne’er doth he fail a friend, the noble Indra.

I will send forth my songs in flow unceasing, like water from the ocean’s depth, to Indra.
Who to his car on both its sides securely hath fixed the earth and heaven as with an axle.

Rousing with draughts, the Shaker, rushing onward, impetuous, very strong, armed as with arrows
Is Soma; forest trees and all the bushes deceive not Indra with their offered likeness.

Soma hath flowed to him whom naught can equal, the earth, the heavens, the firmament, the mountains, —
When heightened in his ire his indignation shatters the firm and breaks the strong in pieces.

As an axe fells the tree so be slew Vṛtra, brake down the strongholds and dug out the rivers.
He cleft the mountain like a new-made pitcher. Indra brought forth the kine with his Companions.

Wise art thou, Punisher of guilt, O Indra. The sword lops limbs, thou smitest down the sinner,
The men who injure, as it were a comrade, the lofty Law of Varuṇa and Mitra.

Men who lead evil lives, who break agreements, and injure Varuṇa, Aryaman and Mitra, —
Against these foes, O Mighty Indra, sharpen, as furious death, thy Bull of fiery colour.

Indra is Sovran Lord of Earth and Heaven, Indra is Lord of waters and of mountains.
Indra is Lord of prosperers and sages Indra must be invoked in rest and effort.

Vaster than days and nights, Giver of increase, vaster than firmament and flood of ocean,
Vaster than bounds of earth and wind’s extension, vaster than rivers and our lands is Indra.

Forward, as herald of refulgent Morning, let thine insatiate arrow fly, O Indra.
And pierce, as ’twere a stone launched forth from heaven, with hottest blaze the men who love deception.

Him, verily, the moons, the mountains followed, the tall trees followed and the plants and herbage.
Yearning with love both Worlds approached, the Waters waited on Indra when he first had being.

Where was the vengeful dart when thou, O Indra, clavest the demon ever beat on outrage?
When fiends lay there upon the ground extended like cattle in the place of immolation?

Those who are set in enmity against us, the Ogaṇas, O Indra, waxen mighty, —
Let blinding darkness follow those our foemen, while these shall have bright shining nights to light them.

May plentiful libations of the people, and singing Ṛṣis’ holy prayers rejoice thee.
Hearing with love this common invocation, come unto us, pass by all those who praise thee.

O Indra, thus may we be made partakers of thy new favours that shall bring us profit.
Singing with love, may we the Viśvāmitras win daylight even now through thee, O Indra.

Call we on Maghavan, auspicious Indra, best hero in the fight where spoil is gathered,
The Strong who listens, who gives aid in battles, who slays the Vṛtras, wins and gathers riches.

HYMN XC. Puruṣa.

A thousand heads hath Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.

This Puruṣa is all that yet hath been and all that is to be;
The Lord of Immortality which waxes greater still by food.

So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than this is Puruṣa.
All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven.

With three-fourths Puruṣa went up: one-fourth of him again was here.
Thence he strode out to every side over what cats not and what cats.

From him Virāj was born; again Puruṣa from Virāj was born.
As soon as he was born he spread eastward and westward o’er the earth.

When Gods prepared the sacrifice with Puruṣa as their offering,
Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood.

They balmed as victim on the grass Puruṣa born in earliest time.
With him the Deities and all Sādhyas and Ṛṣis sacrificed.

From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up.
He formed the creatures of-the air, and animals both wild and tame.

From that great general sacrifice Ṛcas and Sāma-hymns were born:
Therefrom were spells and charms produced; the Yajus had its birth from it.

From it were horses born, from it all cattle with two rows of teeth:
From it were generated kine, from it the goats and sheep were born.

When they divided Puruṣa how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?

The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rājanya made.
His thighs became the Vaiśya, from his feet the Śūdra was produced.

The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth;
Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vāyu from his breath.

Forth from his navel came mid-air the sky was fashioned from his head
Earth from his feet, and from his car the regions. Thus they formed the worlds.

Seven fencing-sticks had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were prepared,
When the Gods, offering sacrifice, bound, as their victim, Puruṣa.

Gods, sacrificing, sacrificed the victim these were the earliest holy ordinances.
The Mighty Ones attained the height of heaven, there where the Sādhyas, Gods of old, are dwelling.

HYMN XCI. Agni.

Brisk, at the place of Iḷā, hymned by men who wake, our own familiar Friend is kindled in the house;
Hotar of all oblation, worthy of our choice, Lord, beaming, trusty friend to one who loveth him.

He, excellent in glory, guest in every house, finds like a swift-winged bird a home in every tree.
Benevolent to men, he scorns no living man: Friend to the tribes of men he dwells with every tribe.

Most sage with insight, passing skilful with thy powers art thou, O Agni, wise with wisdom, knowing all.
As Vasu, thou alone art Lord of all good things, of all the treasures that the heavens and earth produce.

Foreknowing well, O Agni, thou in Iḷā’s place hast occupied thy regular station balmed with oil.
Marked are thy comings like the comings of the Dawns, the rays of him who shineth spotless as the Sun.

Thy glories are, as lightnings from the rainy cloud, marked, many-hued, like heralds of the Dawns’ approach,
When, loosed to wander over plants and forest trees, thou crammest by thyself thy food into thy mouth.

Him, duly coming as their germ, have plants received: this Agni have maternal Waters brought to life.
So in like manner do the forest trees and plants bear him within them and produce him evermore.

When, sped and urged by wind, thou spreadest thee abroad, swift piercing through thy food according to thy will,
Thy never-ceasing blazes, longing to consume, like men on chariots, Agni, strive on every side.

Agni, the Hotar-priest who fills the assembly full, Waker of knowledge, chief Controller of the thought, —
Him, yea, none other than thyself, doth man elect at sacrificial offerings great and small alike.

Here, Agni, the arrangers, those attached to thee, elect thee as their Priest in sacred gatherings,
When men with strewn clipt grass and sacrificial gifts offer thee entertainment, piously inclined.

Thine is the Herald’s task and Cleanser’s duly timed; Leader art thou, and Kindler for the pious man.
Thou art Director, thou the ministering Priest: thou art the Brahman, Lord and Master in our home.

When mortal man presents to thee Immortal God, Agni, his fuel or his sacrificial gift,
Then thou art his Adhvaryu, Hotar, messenger, callest the Gods and orderest the sacrifice.

From us these hymns in concert have gone forth to him, these. holy words, these Ṛcas, songs and eulogies,
Eager for wealth, to Jātavedas fain for wealth: when they have waxen strong they please their Strengthener.

This newest eulogy will I speak forth to him, the Ancient One who loves it. May he hear our voice.
May it come near his heart and make it stir with love, as a fond well-dressed matron clings about her lord.

He in whom horses, bulls, oxen, and barren cows, and rams, when duly set apart, are offered up, —
To Agni, Soma-sprinkled, drinker of sweet juice, Disposer, with my heart I bring a fair hymn forth.

Into thy mouth is poured the offering, Agni, as Soma into cup, oil into ladle.
Vouchsafe us wealth. strength-winning, blest with heroes, wealth lofty, praised by men, and full of splendour.

HYMN XCII. Viśvedevas.

I praise your Charioteer of sacrifice, the Lord of men, Priest of the tribes, refulgent, Guest of night.
Blazing amid dry plants, snatching amid the green, the Strong, the Holy Herald hath attained to heaven.

Him, Agni, Gods and men have made their chief support, who drinks the fatness and completes the sacrifice.
With kisses they caress the Grandson of the Red, like the swift ray of light, the Household Priest of Dawn.

Yea, we discriminate his and the niggard’s ways: his branches evermore are sent forth to consume.
When his terrific flames have reached the Immortal’s world, then men remember and extol the Heavenly Folk.

For then the net of Law, Dyaus, and the wide expanse, Earth, Worship, and Devotion meet for highest praise,
Varuṇa, Indra, Mitra were of one accord, and Savitar and Bhaga, Lords of holy might.

Onward, with ever-roaming Rudra, speed the floods: over Aramati the Mighty have they run.
With them Parijman, moving round his vast domain, loud bellowing, bedews all things that are within.

Straightway the Rudras, Maruts visiting all men, Falcons of Dyaus, home-dwellers with the Asura, —
Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman look on with these, and the swift-moving Indra with swift-moving Gods.

With Indra have they found enjoyment, they who toil, in the light’s beauty, in the very Strong One’s strength;
The singers who in men’s assemblies forged for him, according to his due, his friend the thunderbolt.

Even the Sun’s Bay Coursers hath lie held in check: each one fears Indra as the mightiest of all.
Unhindered, from the air’s vault thunders day by day the loud triumphant breathing of the fearful Bull.

With humble adoration show this day your song of praise to mighty Rudra, Ruler of the brave:
With whom, the Eager Ones, going their ordered course, he comes from heaven Self-bright, auspicious, strong to guard.

For these have spread abroad the fame of human kind, the Bull Bṛhaspati and Soma’s brotherhood.
Atharvan first by sacrifices made men sure: through skill the Bhṛgus were esteemed of all as Gods.

For these, the Earth and Heaven with their abundant seed, four-bodied Narāśaṁsa, Yama, Aditi,
God Tvaṣṭar Wealth-bestower, the Ṛbhukṣaṇas, Rodasī, Maruts, Viṣṇu, claim and merit praise.

And may he too give car, the Sage, from far away, the Dragon of the Deep, to this our yearning call.
Ye Sun and Moon who dwell in heaven and move in turn, and with your thought, O Earth and Sky, observe this well.

Dear to all Gods, may Pūṣan guard the ways we go, the Waters’ child and Vāyu help us to success.
Sing lauds for your great bliss to Wind, the breath of all: ye Aśvins prompt to hear, hear this upon your way.

With hymns of praise we sing him who is throned as Lord over these fearless tribes, the Self-resplendent One.
We praise Night’s youthful Lord benevolent to men, the foeless One, the free, with all celestial Dames.

By reason of his birth here Aṅgiras first sang: the pressing-stones upraised beheld the sacrifice-
The stones through which the Sage became exceeding vast, and the sharp axe obtains in fight the beauteous place.

HYMN XCIII. Viśvedevas.

MIGHTY are ye, and far-extended, Heaven and Earth: both Worlds are evermore to us like two young Dames. Guard us thereby from stronger foe; guard us hereby to give us strength.

In each succeeding sacrifice that mortal honoureth the Gods,
He who, most widely known and famed for happiness, inviteth them.

Ye who are Rulers over all, great is your sovran power as Gods.
Ye all possess all majesty: all must be served in sacrifice.

These are the joyous Kings of Immortality, Parijman, Mitra, Aryaman, and Varuṇa.
What else is Rudra, praised of men? the Maruts, Bhaga, Pūṣaṇa?

Come also to our dwelling, Lords of ample wealth, common partakers of our waters, Sun and Moon,
When the great Dragon of the Deep hath settled down upon their floors.

And let the Aśvins, Lords of splendour, set us free,—both Gods, and, with their Laws, Mitra and Varuṇa.
Through woes, as over desert lands, he speeds to ample opulence.

Yea, let the Aśvins Twain he gracious unto us, even Rudras, and all Gods, Bhaga, Rathaspati;
Parijman, Ṛbhu, Vāja, O Lords of all wealth Ṛbhukṣaṇas.

Prompt is Ṛbhukṣan, prompt the worshipper’s strong drink: may thy fleet Bay Steeds, thine who speedest on, approach.
Not mans but God’s is sacrifice whose psalm is unassailable.