i. 5. 5.
a As we approach the sacrifice,Let us utter a hymn to Agni,Who heareth us, even from afar.
b After his ancient splendour,The bold ones have drawn the white milkFrom the seer who winneth a thousand.
c Agni is the head of the sky, the height,Lord of the earth here,He quickeneth the seed of the waters.
d Here hath he first been established by the establishers,Youngest Hotr to be invoked at the sacrifices,
Whom Apnavana and the Bhrgus caused to shine,Bright in the woods, spreading from house to house.
e Ye twain shall be summoned, O Indra and Agni [1],Ye twain shall rejoice together in the offeringYou both, givers of food and riches,You both I summon for the winning of strength.
f This is thy due place of birth,Whence born thou didst shine;Mount it, O Agni, knowing it,And make our wealth increase.
g O Agni, thou purifiest life;Do thou give food and strength to us;Far away drive ill-fortune.
h O Agni, good worker, purify for usGlory in good heroes,Giving increase of wealth [2] to me.
i O Agni, the purifying, with thy light,O god, with thy pleasant tongue,Bring hither the gods and sacrifice.
k Do thou, O shining and purifying one,O Agni, bring hither the godsTo our sacrifice and our oblation.
l Agni, of purest vows,Pure sage, pure poet,Shineth in purity when offering is made.
m O Agni, thy pure,Bright, flaming (rays) arise,Thy lights, thy flames.
n Thou art giver of life, O Agni; give me life [3]. Thou art giver of radiance, O Agni; give me radiance. Thou art guardian of the body, O Agni; guard my body.
o O Agni, whatever is deficient in my body, do thou make that good for me.
p O thou of various splendour, in safety may I reach the end of thee.
q Kindling thee may we kindle thee for a hundred winters, in radiance, strong the giver of strength, famous the giver of fame, with good heroes, the undeceived, O Agni, the deceiver of foes in the highest firmament.
r Thou, O Agni, hast attained the radiance of the sun, the praises of the Rsis, thy beloved abode.
s Thou, O Agni, hast the radiance of the sun; grant me life, radiance, and offspring.
i. 5. 6.
a I gaze on offspring,Offspring of Ida, connected with Manu;May they all be in our house.
b Ye are water; may I share your water. Ye are greatness, may I share your greatness; ye are might, may I share your might; ye are strength, may I share your strength.
c Ye wealthy ones, stay in this place, this fold, this dwelling, this birthplace; be ye here; go not hence; be many for me [1].
d Thou art composed of every form; enter me with strength, with lordship of kine, with increase of wealth.
e May I prosper with your thousandfold prosperity; may your wealth rest in me.
f To thee, O Agni, day by day,That shinest in the darkness, with our devotion,We come bearing honour.
g Lord of the sacrifices, Guardian of holy order, shining, Waxing in his own horne.
h O Agni, be of easy access to us, As a father to his son; Befriend us for prosperity.
i O Agni [2] be thou our nearest, Our protector, kindly, a shield; Thee, O shining and most radiant one,
We implore for favour, for our friends; Agni, bright, of bright fame, Come hither in thy greatest splendour and give us wealth.
k With strength I gaze on you; gaze on me with strength. With increase of wealth I gaze on you; gaze on me with increase of wealth.
l Ye are food, making sweetness; kindly enter me, nourishment and drink; may I prosper with your thousandfold prosperity [3], may your wealth rest on me,
m That excellent glory of Savitr The god we meditate, That be may stimulate our prayers.’
n Make famous the Soma-presser, O lord of prayer, Even as (thou did make famous) Kaksivant Auçija.
o Never art thou barren, O Indra, Never dost thou fail thy worshipper; Now more and more is thy divine gift increased, O bountiful one.
p May we set thee around us, O Agni, The sage, the strong, as a fort, Of daring hue, day by day
Destroyer of that which may be broken.
q O Agni, lord of the house, through thee as lord of the house, may I be a good lord of the house; through me as lord of the house, mayst thou be a good lord of the house; for a hundred winters, this blessing I invoke, bringing light for the race; this blessing I invoke, bringing light for N. N.
i. 5. 7.
There is no sacrifice without a Saman. ‘As we approach the sacrifice’, he says; verily he yokes a Stoma with it. ‘Approach’, he says; offspring and cattle approach the world; verily he approaches cattle and offspring and this world. ‘After his ancient splendour’, he says; the ancient is the world of heaven; verily he mounts upon the world of heaven. ‘Agni is the head of the sky, the height’, he says; verily he makes him the head [1] of his equals, and verily from the world of the gods he rests in the world of men. ‘Here hath he first been established by the establishers’, he says; verily he makes him the principal. ‘Ye twain shall be summoned, O Indra and Agni’, he says; verily he wins might and force. ‘This is thy due place of birth’, he says; wealth is cattle; verily he wins cattle. With six (verses) he pays reverence; the seasons are six [2]; verily he rests on the seasons. With six subsequent (verses) he pays reverence; they make up twelve; the year has twelve months; verily he rests on the year. Just as a man, a horse, a cow, are worn out, so the fire when established wears out; at the end of the year he pays reverence with (verses) containing the words Agni and pu; verily he renews it and makes it unageing, and also purifies it. He pays reverence; that is his union. He pays reverence [3]; that is his bond. He pays reverence; that is his appeal. He pays reverence; that is as if an inferior brings (something) to a superior and pays him honour. ‘Thou art giver of life, O Agni; give me life’, he says, for he is a giver of life. ‘Thou art giver of radiance, O Agni; give me radiance’, he says, for he is a giver of radiance. I Thou art guardian of the body, O Agni; guard my body’, he says [4], for he is a guardian of the body. ‘O Agni, whatever is deficient in my body, do thou make that good for me’, he says; ‘whatever is deficient in my offspring and cattle, do thou make that good for me’, be says in effect. ‘O thou of various splendour, in safety may I reach the end of thee’, he says; that of various splendour is the night. The Brahmans aforetime feared its not dawning; verily he wins the dawn. ‘Kindling thee for a hundred winters’ [5], he says; man lives a hundred years and has a hundred powers; verily he rests on life and power. This is a pipe with projections; by it the gods made piercings of hundreds of the Asuras; in that he takes up the kindling-stick with this verse, the sacrificer hurls the hundred-slaying (verse) as a bolt against his enemy to lay (him) low without fail. ‘Thou, O Agni, hast attained the radiance of the sun’, he says; ‘that thou art, thus may I be’, he says in effect. ‘Thou, O Agni, hast the radiance of the sun’, he says; verily he invokes this blessing.
i. 5. 8.
‘I gaze on offspring’, he says; verily he wins all the domesticated animals. ‘Ye are water; may I share your water’, he says, for they are water. ‘Ye are greatness; may I share your greatness’, he says, for they are greatness. ‘Ye are might; may I share your might’, he says, for they are might. ‘Ye are strength; may I share your strength’, he says [1], for they are strength. ‘Ye wealthy ones, stay’, he says; the wealthy ones are cattle; verily he makes cattle stay with himself. ‘Be ye here; go not hence’, he says; verily he makes them constant, departing not. Now one fire is piled with bricks, one with cattle. ‘Thou art composed Of every form’, (with these words) he strokes the calf; verily he piles it up and makes it piled with cattle. He falls away [2] from this world who pays reverence to the Ahavaniya; he pays reverence to the Garhapatya; verily he rests on this world, and also he makes amends to the Garhapatya. He pays reverence with Gayatri verses; the Gayatri is brilliance; verily he confers brilliance upon himself; moreover in that he repeats the triad (of verses), (it serves) for continuity. Because of the Garhapatya men are born with two feet; to him who knowing thus pays reverence to the Garhapatya with (verses) of two feet [3], a hero son is born. ‘With strength I gaze upon you; gaze on me with strength’, he says; verily he invokes this blessing. ‘That excellent glory of Savitr’, he says, for instigation. ‘Famous the Soma-presser’, he says; verily he wins the Soma draught. ‘Make, O lord of prayer’, he says; verily he wins splendour. ‘Never art thou barren’, be says; no barren night does he pass [4], who knowing thus pays reverence to the fire. May we (set) thee around, O Agni, as a fort’, he says; verily he sets around a barrier, that nothing be spilt. ‘O Agni, lord of the house’, he says; that is according to the text. ‘For a hundred winters’, he says; ‘for a hundred winters may I kindle thee’, he says in effect. He utters the name of his son; verily he makes him an eater of food. ‘This blessing I invoke bringing light for the race’, he should say, who has no son born; verily is born to him a son brilliant and resplendent. ‘This blessing I invoke bringing light for N. N.’, he should say who has a son born; verily he confers upon him brilliance and splendour.
i. 5. 9.
He offers the Agnihotra; whatever there is. of the Sacrificer’s own, that is (still) his. In the generative organ he pours seed, for Agni is the generative organ. Then he burns at the end the plants; they then grow more numerous. In that he offers in the evening, he thus pours seed, and makes it productive by the morning (offering). Seed when poured does not prove fruitful unless modified by Tvastr; as many modifications of seed when poured [1] as Tvastr makes, in so many shapes does it become fruitful; the sacrificer is the divine Tvastr. He pays reverence with many (verses); verily he makes many modifications of the seed when poured. He is fruitful and day by day becomes greater, who knowing thus pays reverence to the fire. The day was the gods’, the night the Asuras’. The Asuras entered night with all the precious wealth of the gods [2]; the gods thought that they were abandoned; they perceived, ‘The night is Agni’s, cattle are Agni’s; verily let us praise Agni here; he being praised by us will restore our cattle.’ They praised Agni; be praised by them delivered their cattle from night to day; the gods having gained their cattle per formed their desires. He who knowing thus pays reverence to the fire becomes possessed of cattle [3]. The sun went from this world to yonder world; he having gone to yonder world bethought him again of this world; having returned to this world he had fear of death, for this world is, as it were, yoked with death. He reflected, ‘Let me praise Agni here; he, praised, will make me go to the world of heaven.’ He praised Agni; he, praised, made him go to the world of heaven. He who [4] knowing thus pays reverence to the fire, goes to the world of heaven and lives all his days. He mounts these two fires who pays reverence to them; he acts according to the desires of one who has attained a higher place. He pays reverence at night, not in the morning, for vows are mingled at night, the bad and the good are on the same level, the fire is the light, the evening is the darkness; in that [5] he pays reverence by night, he overcomes the darkness by light. ‘Should reverence be paid to the fire or not?’ they say; ‘he who day by day makes a present to a man and then begs of him assuredly molests him; and who then will day by day beg of the gods?’ Then they say, ‘The sacrificer sacrifices for the sake of the benediction.’ The reverence of the fire is [6] the benediction of him who has established a fire; therefore reverence should be paid to the fire. Prajapati created cattle; being created they entered day and night; he recovered them by means of the metres. In that he pays reverence with the metres, he seeks to recover his own. ‘There is not monotony then’, they say, ‘if one pays reverence day by day.’ If a man pays reverence to the fire facing it, it burns him; if with averted (face), he is deprived of offspring and cattle; he should pay reverence with (face) somewhat to the side, then (the fire) does not burn him, he is not deprived of offspring or cattle.
