PRAPATHAKA VI
The Preparation of the Fire
iv. 6. 1.
a. The strength resting on the stone, the bill,
On the wind, on Parjanya, on the breath of Varuna,
Brought together from the waters, from the plants, from the trees;
That food and strength do ye, O Maruts, bounteously bestow upon us.
b. In the stone is thy hunger; let thy pain reach N. N., whom we hate.
c. With the wind of the ocean
We envelop thee, O Agni;
Be thou purifying and auspicious to us.
d. With the caul of winter
We envelop thee, O Agni;
Be thou purifying and auspicious to us.
e. Down upon earth [1], upon the reed,
Upon the waters lower (do thou descend);
Thou, O Agni, art the bile of the waters,
f. O female frog, with these come hither;
Do thou make this sacrifice of ours
Pure in hue and auspicious.
g. Pure, with radiance wonderful,
On earth he hath shone as with the light of dawn.
h. Who (cometh) to battle,
Moving with strength as on Etaça’s course,
In the heat unathirst, immortal.
i O Agni, the purifying, with thy light,
O god, with thy pleasant tongue,
Bring hither the gods [2], and sacrifice.
k Do thou, O shining and purifying one,
O Agni, bring hither the gods
To our sacrifice and our oblation.
l. This is the meeting of the waters,
The abode of the ocean;
May thy bolts afflict another than us;
Be thou purifying and auspicious to us.
m. Homage to thy heat, thy blaze
Homage be to thy light;
May thy bolts afflict another than us;
Be thou purifying and auspicious to us.
n. To him that sitteth in man, hail! [3] To him that sitteth in the waters, hail! To him that sitteth in the wood, hail! To him that sitteth on the strew, hail! To him that findeth the heaven, hail!
o. Those gods among gods, worshipful among the worshipful,
Who await their yearly portion,
Who eat not oblations, in this sacrifice
Do ye delight yourselves with honey and ghee.
p. The gods who above the gods attained godhead,
Who lead the way to this holy power,
Without whom no place whatever is pure,
Neither on the heights of sky or earth are they.
q. Giver of expiration art thou [4], of inspiration, of cross-breathing,
Giver of eyesight, giver of splendour, giver of wide room;
May thy bolts afflict another than us;
Be thou purifying and auspicious to us.
r. May Agni with his piercing blaze
Cast down every foe;
May Agni win for us wealth.
s. With his countenance the kindly one
Will sacrifice to the gods for us, most skilled to win prosperity by sacrifice;
Guardian undeceived and protector of us,
O Agni, shine forth with radiance and with wealth.
iv. 6. 2.
a. He who sat down, offering all these beings,
As Hotr, the seer, our father,
He seeking wealth with prayer,
Hath entered into the boon of the first of coverers.
b. Since Viçvakarman is mighty in mind,
Disposer, ordainer, and highest seer,
Their offerings rejoice in food,
Where say they is one beyond the seven Rsis.
c. He who is our father, our begetter, the ordainer,
Who begot us from being unto being [1],
Who alone assigneth their names to the gods,
Him other beings approach for knowledge.
d. Wealth they won by offering to him
The seers of old like singers in abundance,
They who fashioned these beings illumined and unillumined
In the expanse of space.
e. Ye shall not find him who produced this world;
Another thing shall be betwixt you;
Enveloped in mist and with stammering
The singers of hymns move enjoying life.
f. Beyond the sky, beyond this [2] earth,
Beyond the gods, what is secret from the Asuras,
What germ first did the waters bear,
When all the gods came together?
g. This germ the waters first bore,
When all the gods came together;
On the navel of the unborn is set the one
On which doth rest all this world.
h. Viçvakarman, the god, was born;
Then second the Gandharva;
Third the father, begetter of plants [31
In many a place did he deposit the germ of the waters.
i. Father of the eye, the sage with his mind,
Produced these two worlds rich in ghee,
When the fore ends were made firm,
Then did sky and earth extend.
k. With eyes on every side, with a face on every side,
With hands on every side, with feet on every side,
The one god producing sky and earth
Welds them together with arms, with wings.
l. What was the basis?
Which and what his support?
When producing earth [4] Viçvakarman, all-seeing,
Disclosed the sky with his might.
m. What was the wood, and what the tree,
Whence they formed sky and earth?
O ye wise ones, inquire with your minds
On what he stood as he supported the worlds.
n. Thy highest, lowest,
Midmost abodes here, O Viçvakarman,
In the offering do thou teach thy comrades, O faithful one;
Do thou thyself sacrifice to thyself, rejoicing.
o. The lord of speech, Viçvakarman,
Let us invoke this day to aid us [5], thought yoked for strength,
May he delight in our nearest offerings,
He with all healing, to aid (us), the doer of good deeds.
p. O Viçvakarman, waxing great with the oblation,
Do thou thyself sacrifice to thyself rejoicing;
May the others around, our foes, be confused;
May our patrons here be rich.
q. O Viçvakarman, with the oblation as strengthening,
Thou didst make Indra, the protector, free from scathe,
To him the clans of old bowed in homage,
That he might be dread, to be severally invoked.
r. To the ocean, the moving,
The lord of streams, homage!
To the lord of all the streams
Do ye offer, to Viçvakarman,
Through all the days the immortal offering.
iv. 6. 3.
a. O Agni, to whom ghee is offered,
Do thou lead him forward;
Unite him with increase of wealth,
With offspring and with wealth.
b. O Indra, bring him to the fore,
That he may be lord over his fellows;
Unite him with splendour,
That he may assign their shares to the gods.
c. Him, O Agni, do thou exalt
In whose house we make the offering;
To him may the gods lend aid,
And he the lord of holy power.
d. May the All-gods thee [1],
O Agni, bear up with their thoughts;
Be thou to us most propitious,
With kindly face, abounding in light.
e. May the five regions divine aid the sacrifice,
The goddesses driving away poverty and hostility,
And giving to the lord of the sacrifice increase of wealth.
f. In increase of wealth the sacrifice hath been established,
Waxing great on the kindled fire,
Grasped with hymns as wings, to be adored;
They sacrificed embracing the heated cauldron.
g. When with strength the gods laboured at the sacrifice
For the divine supporter, the enjoyer,
Serving the gods, benign, with a hundred drinks (was it);
The gods kept embracing the sacrifice [2].
h. With the rays of the sun, with tawny hair,
Savitr hath raised before (us) his unending light;
On his instigation fareth Pusan the god,
The guardian, gazing on all things.
i. The gods stand serving as priests for the gods;
Ready (is it) for the immolator, let the immolator sacrifice;
Where the fourth offering goeth to the oblation,
Thence let our pure invocations be accepted.
k. As measurer he standeth in the midst of the sky,
Filling the two worlds and the atmosphere;
The all-reaching [3], the butter-reaching, he discerneth,
Between the eastern and the western mark.
l. Bull, ocean, ruddy bird,
He hath entered the birthplace of his ancient sire;
In the middle of the sky is the dappled stone set down
He hath stepped apart, he guardeth the two ends of space.
m. All songs have caused Indra to wax
To encompass the ocean,
Best charioteer of charioteers,
True lord and lord of strength.
n. Let the sacrifice invite favour, and bring (to us) the gods; let the god, Agni, offer and bring (to us) the gods.
o. With the impulse of strength,
With elevation he hath seized me;
Then Indra hath made my enemies
Humble by depression.
p. The gods have increased my prayer,
Which is elevation and depression;
Then do ye, O Indra and Agni,
Scatter my foes on every side.
