RIG VEDA

HYMN XLVII. Adityas.

1. GREAT help ye give the worshipper, Varuna, Mitra, Mighty Ones! No sorrow ever reaches him whom ye, Adityas, keep from harm. Yours are incomparable aids, and good the succour they afford.

2. O Gods, Adityas, well ye know the way to keep all woes afar.
As the birds spread their sheltering wings, spread your protection over us.

3. As the birds spread their sheltering wings let your protection cover us.
We mean all shelter and defence, ye who have all things for your own.

4. To whomsoever they, Most Wise, have given a home and means of life,
O’er the whole riches of this man they, the Adityas, have control.

5. As drivers of the car avoid ill roads, let sorrows pass us by.
May we be under Indra’s guard, in the Adityas’ favouring grace.

6. For verily men sink and faint through loss of wealth which ye have given.
Much hath he gained from you, O Gods, whom ye, Adityas, have approached.

7. On him shall no fierce anger fall, no sore distress shall visit him,
To whom, Adityas, ye have lent your shelter that extendeth far.

8. Resting in you, O Gods, we are like men who fight in coats of mail.
Ye guard us from each great offence, ye guard us from each lighter fault.

9. May Aditi defend us, may Aditi guard and shelter us,
Mother of wealthy Mitra and of Aryaman and Varuna.

10. The shelter, Gods, that is secure, auspicious, free from malady,
A sure protection, triply strong, even that do ye extend to us.

11. Look down on us, Adityas, as a guide exploring from the bank.
Lead us to pleasant ways as men lead horses to an easy ford.

12 Ill be it for the demons’ friend to find us or come near to us.
But for the milch-cow be it well, and for the man who strives for fame.

13. Each evil deed made manifest, and that which is concealed, O Gods,
The whole thereof remove from us to Trita Aptya far away.

14. Daughter of Heaven, the dream that bodes evil to us or to our kine,
Remove, O Lady of the Light, to Trita Aptya far away.

15. Even if, O Child of Heaven, it make a garland or a chain of gold,
The whole bad dream, whate’cr it be, to Trita Aptya we consign.

16. To him whose food and work is this, who comes to take his share therein,
To Trita, and to Dvita, Dawn! bear thou the evil dream away.

17. As we collect the utmost debt, even the eighth and sixteenth part,
So unto Aptya we transfer together all the evil dream.

18. Now have we conquered and obtained, and from our trespasses are free.
Shine thou away the evil dream, O Dawn, whereof we are afraid. Yours are incomparable aids, and good the succour they afford.


HYMN XLVIII. Soma.

1. WISELY have I enjoyed the savoury viand, religious-thoughted, best to find out treasure,
The food to which all Deities and mortals, calling it meath, gather themselves together.

2. Tlou shalt be Aditi as thou hast entered within, appeaser of celestial anger.
Indu, enjoying Indra’s friendship, bring us – as a swift steed the car – forward to riches.

3. We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered.
Now what may foeman’s malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man’s deception?

4. Absorbed into the heart, be sweet, O Indu, as a kind father to his son, O Soma,
As a wise Friend to friend: do thou, wide-ruler, O Soma, lengthen out our days for living.

5. These glorious drops that give me freedom have I drunk. Closely they knit my joints as straps secure a car.
Let them protect my foot from slipping on the way: yea, let the drops I drink preserve me from disease.

6. Make me shine bright like fire produced by friction: give us a clearer sight and make us better.
For in carouse I think of thee, O Soma, Shall I, as a rich man, attain to comfort?

7. May we enjoy with an enlivened spirit the juice thou givest, like ancestral riches.
O Soma, King, prolong thou our existence as Surya makes the shining days grow longer.

8. King Soma, favour us and make us prosper: we are thy devotees; of this be mindful.
Spirit and power are fresh in us, O Indu give us not up unto our foeman’s pleasure.

9. For thou hast settled in each joint, O Soma, aim of men’s eyes and guardian of our bodies.
When we offend against thine holy statutes, as a kind Friend, God, best of all, be gracious.

10. May I be with the Friend whose heart is tender, who, Lord of Bays! when quaffed will never harm me-
This Soma now deposited within me. For this, I pray for longer life to Indra.

11. Our maladies have lost their strength and vanished: they feared, and passed away into the darkness.
Soma hath risen in us, exceeding mighty, and we are come where men prolong existence.

12. Fathers, that Indu which our hearts have drunken, Immortal in himself, hath entered mortals.
So let us serve this Soma with oblation, and rest securely in his grace and favour.

13. Associate with the Fathers thou, O Soma, hast spread thyself abroad through earth and heaven.
So with oblation let us serve thee, Indu, and so let us become the lords of riches,

14. Give us your blessing, O ye Gods’ preservers. Never may sleep or idle talk control us.
But evermore may we, as friends of Soma, speak to the synod with brave sons around us.

15. On all sides,. Soma, thou art our life-giver: aim of all eyes, light-finder, come within us.
Indu, of one accord with thy protections both from behind and from before preserve us.


HYMN XLIX. Agni.

1. AGNI, come hither with thy fires; we choose thee as Invoking Priest.
Let the extended ladle full of oil balm thee, best Priest, to sit on sacred grass.

2. For unto thee, O Angiras, O Son of Strength, move ladles in the sacrifice.
To Agni, Child of Force, whose locks drop oil, we seek, foremost in sacrificial rites.

3. Agni, thou art Disposer, Sage, Herald, bright God! and worshipful,
Best offercr, cheerful, to be praised in holy rites, pure Lord! by singers with their hymns.

4. Most Youthful and Eternal, bring the longing Gods to me, the guileless, for the feast.
Come, Vasu, to the banquet that is well-prepared: rejoice thee, gracious, with our songs.

5. Famed art thou, Agni, far and wide, Preserver, righteous, and a Sage.
The holy singers, O refulgent kindled God! arrangers, call on thee to come -

6. Shine, Most Resplendent! blaze, send bliss unto the folk, and to thy worshipper
Great art thou.
So may my princes, with good fires, subduing foes, rest in the keeping of the Gods.

7. O Agni, as thou burnest down to earth even high-grown underwood,
So, bright as Mitra is, burn him who injures us, him who plots ill against thy friend.

8. Give us not as a prey to mortal enemy, nor to the wicked friend of fiends.
With conquering guards, auspicious, unassailable, protect us, O Most Youthful God.

9. Protect us, Agni, through the first, protect us through the second hymn,
Protect us through three hymns, O Lord of Power and Might, through four hymns, Vasu, guard thou us.

10. Preserve us from each fiend who brings the Gods no gift, preserve thou us in deeds of strength:
For we possess in thee the nearest Friend of all, for service of the Gods and weal.

11. O Holy Agni, give us wealth renowned with men and strengthening life.
Bestow on us, O Helper, that which many crave, more glorious still by righteousness;

12. Wherewith we may o’ercome our rivals in the war, o’erpowering the foe’s designs.
So wax thou by our food, O Excellent in strength. Quicken our thoughts that find out wealth.

13. Agni is even as a bull who whets and brandishes his horns.
Well-sharpened are his jaws which may not be withstood: the Child of Strength hath powerful teeth.

14. Not to be stayed, O Bull, O Agni, are thy teeth when thou art spreading far and wide.
Make our ohlations duly offired up, O Priest, and give us store of precious things.

15. Thou liest in the wood: from both thy Mothers mortals kindle thee.
Unweariedly thou bearest up the offerer’s gifts, then shinest bright among the Gods.

16. And so the seven priests, O Agni, worship thee, Free-giver, Everlasting One.
Thou cIeavest through the rock with heat and fervent glow. Agni, rise up above the men.

17. For you let us whose grass is trimmed call Agni, Agni, restless God.
Let us whose food is offered call to all the tribes Agni the Invoking Priest of men.

18. Agni, with noble psalm that tells his wish he dwells, thinking on thee who guardest him.
Speedily bring us strength of many varied sorts to be most near to succour us.

19. Agni, Praise-singer! Lord of men, God burner-up of Raksasas,
Mighty art thou, the ever-present Household-Lord, Home-friend and Guardian from the sky.

20. Let no fiend come among us, O thou rich in light, no spell of those who deal in spells.
To distant pastures drive faint hunger: far away, O Agni, chase the demons’ friends.