iii. 3. 8.
a. Giving life, O Agni, rejoicing in the oblation,
Be thou faced with ghee and with thy birthplace of ghee;
Having drunk the ghee, the sweet, the delightful product of the cow,
As a father his son, do thou protect him.
The sacrificer falls a victim to the two fires in that having made (the offering) ready in them he goes elsewhere to the final bath; ‘Giving life, O Agni, rejoicing in the oblation’, (with these words) should he offer when about to go to the final bath; verily by the offering he appeases the two (fires); the sacrificer does not go to destruction.
b. That loan which I have not yet paid back [1],
The tribute that I still owe to Yama,
Here do I make requital for it;
Here, O Agni, may I be freed from that debt.
c. O Viçvalopa, I offer thee in the mouth of the burner of all;
One is an eater of the uneaten, one an eater of the unoffered, one an eater of that which is gathered;
May they make for us medicine,
An abode, delightful strength.’
d. May he that fatteneth protect us
From in front with the cloud
Many be our houses,
That houses fail us not.
e. Do thou [2], O lord of cloud,
Bestow on us strength with kindliness;
Return to us what is lost,
Return wealth to us.
f. O god that dost fatten, thou art a lord of a thousandfold prosperity; do thou give us increase of wealth unfailing, rich in heroes, prosperity abiding through the year.
Yama is Agni, Yama is this (earth); the sacrificer becomes under a debt to Yama in that he strews the altar with plants; if he were to go away with out burning (them), they would drag him about bound by the neck [3] in yonder world. In that he burns, (saying) ‘The loan which I have not yet paid’, being here, having made requital of the loan to Yama, he goes freed from the debt to the world of heaven. If he does manifold things as it were, he should offer in the forest (fire) groats with his hand; the forest (fire) is Agni Vaiçvanara; verily he appeases him. On the Ekastaka the divider of the days, he should cook a cake of four Çaravas in size, and early with it should fire the thicket; if [4] it burns, it becomes a good season, if it does not burn, a bad season. By this mode of prognostication the seers of old used to undertake a long Sattra. He who knowing the seer, the hearer, the reciter, sacrifices, is united in yonder world with what he has sacrificed and bestowed. The seer is Agni, the hearer is Vayu, the reciter Aditya; he, who offers knowing thus to them, in yonder world is united with what be has sacrificed and bestowed. ‘May he from in front with the cloud’ [5], he says; (he that is) from in front with the cloud is Agni; verily he says to Agni, ‘Guard this for me.’ ‘Do thou, O lord of cloud’, he says; the lord of cloud is Vayu; verily he says to Vayu, ‘Guard this for me.’ ‘O god, that dost fatten’, he says; the god that fattens is yonder Aditya; verily he says to Aditya, ‘Guard this for me.’
The Special Animal Offerings
iii. 3. 9.
a. This young one I put around you,
Playing with him that is dear do ye move;
Afflict us not in birth, O ye prosperous ones;
May we rejoice in increase of wealth, in food.
b. Homage to thy greatness, to thine eye,
0 father of the Maruts, that do I sing;
Be propitious, with a fair sacrifice may we offer;
Be this oblation acceptable to the gods.
c. This was the bundle of the gods,
The germ of the waters smeared upon the plants;
Pusan chose a drop of Soma [1];
A great stone was there then for them.
d. Father of calves, husband of cows,
And father too of great gulfs,
Calf, afterbirth, fresh milk, beestings,
Clotted milk, curd, ghee is his seed.
e. Thee the cows chose for lordship,
Thee the Maruts, sweet singers, bailed;
Resting on the summit, the pinnacle, of lordly power,
Then O dread one to us assign wealth.
Unsuccessful is his animal offering for whom these (rites) are not performed; successful is the offering of him for whom they are performed.
iii. 3. 10.
a. Surya, the god, for those that sit in the sky, Dhatr for lordly power, Vayu for offspring, Brhaspati for Prajapati offer thee radiant.
b. Thee have I united with the gods,
Who hast a tawny embryo
And a womb of gold,
Whose limbs are uninjured.
c. Bring near, O bringer,
Remove away, O remover,
O Indra Nardabuda,
With the four quarters of the earth
Do thou bring near.
d. I split apart thy urinator,
Thy womb, the two groins, [1]
The mother and the child,
The embryo and the after-birth.
e. Apart from thee let it be. So!
f. The drop, far extending, of all forms,
Purified, wise, hath anointed the embryo.
g. With one foot, two feet, three feet, four feet, five feet, six feet, seven feet, eight feet may she extend over the worlds; hail!
h Nay the two great ones, sky and earth,
Mingle for us this sacrifice,
May they sustain us with support.
iii. 3. 11.
a. This oblation is dear in your mouth,
O Indra and Brhaspati,
The hymn and acclamation is recited.
b. This Soma is poured for you,
O Indra and Brhaspati,
Dear for delight, for drinking.
c. To us, O Indra and Brhaspati,
Grant wealth of a hundred kine,
Of horses a thousandfold.
d. From behind may Brhaspati guard us,
From above, from below, from the plotter of evil;
May Indra from the front, from the middle,
Friend to friend, grant us wide room.
e. Sped by the winds on all sides, O Agni,
Thy flames [1], O pure one, pure are diffused
Mightily destroying, the divine ones, the Navagvas
Assail the forests, rudely crushing (them).
f. Thee, O Agni, the tribes of men praise,
Who knowest the Hotr’s duty, discerning, best bestower of jewels,
Who art in secret yet, O happy one, seen by all,
Of impetuous spirit, a good sacrificer, brilliant with ghee.
g. May Dhatr give us wealth,
The lord the ruler of the world,
May he favour us with a full (gift).
h. Dhatr is lord of offspring and of wealth,
Dhatr created all this world.
Dhatr giveth a son to the sacrificer [2]
To him let us offer the oblation rich in ghee.
i. may Dhatr give us wealth,
Life in days to come and unfailing;
May we obtain the favour
Of the god whose gifts are true.
k. May Dhatr give wealth to the giver,
Desiring offspring, generous in his home;
Let all the immortal gods roll themselves up for him,
The All-gods and Aditi in unison.
l. For us to-day may Anumati
Among the gods favour our sacrifice,
And be she and Agni, bearer of the oblation,
A joy to the giver.
m. Accord thy favour, O Anumati [3],
And grant us wealth;
For inspiration, for insight impel us,
Lengthen our days for us.
n. May she favouring, favour (us)
With wealth, undecaying, rich in offspring;
In her disfavour may we not fall;
May the goddess easy to invoke grant us protection.
o. Anumati men reverence in the quarter
Wherein is that which shineth;
May she in whose lap is the broad atmosphere,
The goddess, easy to invoke, grant us protection [4].
p. Raka, easy to invoke, I invoke with fair praise;
May the fortunate one hear us and be aware of us
With needle that breaks not may she sew her task;
May she give a hero, whose wergild is a hundred, worthy of song.
q. The fair thoughts of thine, O Raka,
Whereby thou art wont to give wealth to the giver,
With them to-day come to us in kindliness,
Granting, O fortunate one, a thousandfold prosperity.
r. O Sinivali,
s. The fairhanded.
t. I invoke at the sacrifice Kuhn the fortunate,
Who accomplisheth her work, the easy to invoke;
May she give us the fame of our fathers;
To thee, O goddess, let us offer with oblation.
u. Kuhn, lady of the gods and of immortality,
Worthy of invocation, may she be aware of the oblation
To the giver may she assign much good fortune,
To the wise may she grant increase of wealth.