9 0 Agni, undertake the Hotar's office, take on thyself the

duty of an envoy. Heaven and Earth guard thee! Guard thou Earth and Heaven. May Indra be, by this presented butter, maker to Gods of fair oblation. Svâhâ! Let light combine with light. 10 Indra bestow on me that Indra-power! May wealth in full abundance gather round us. Let blessings wait on us, yea, real blessings.

Our Mother, Earth, hath been invited hither. May Earth, our Mother, in return invite us. I, through my Kindlership, am Agui. Svâhâ!

11 The Father Heaven hath been invited hither. May Heaven the Father in return invite us.

By impulse of God Savitar I receive thee with arms of Asvins, with the hands of Pûshan. I feed upon thee with the mouth of Agni.

12 God Savitar, this sacrifice of thine have they proclaimed unto Brihaspati the Brahman Priest.

Therefore protect the sacrifice, protect the sacrifice's lord, protect thou me.

13 The butter's rapid flow delight his spirit! Brihaspati extend this act of worship. May he restore the sacrifice uninjured. Here let all Gods rejoice. Ом! Step thou forward.

14 This is the stick for kindling thee, O Agni. By means of this grow strong and swell to greatness. May we too grow in strength and swell to greatness.

O Agni, thou who winnest food, I cleanse thee, thee who hast hastened to the food, Food-winner.

Hotar's: sacrificer's or invoker's; he is the chief priest with whom the Adhvaryu is associated. Envoy: messenger to the Gods to whom he bears oblations. Svaha!: a sacrificial exclamation: Ave! Hail! Benedictio sit! Light combine the butter in the Juhû with that in the Dhruvâ, which he now mixes.

10 That Indra-power: the great power which I hope for. The formula is muttered by the Sacrificer. May wealth, etc.: taken from R. V. 1. 98. 3. Earth: Prithivi; the broad, expansive one.

11 Father Heaven: or Heaven-Father; Dyaushpitâ (Dya uḥ pitṛi)=Zeùc Tarp, Jupiter; the Universal Father, the Consort of Earth. I receive thee: said by the Brahman or directing priest as he takes his allotted portion of the oblation.

12 Brihaspati: Lord of Prayer; the Brahman Priest of the Gods, and the representative and impersonation of human priesthood.

13 Oм the sacred mystical syllable; yea; so be it; Amen. Step thou forward: the Brahman's answer to the Adhvaryu.

14 The kindling-stick is consecrated by the Hotar. Food; or spoil, wealth, the prize.

15 After the victory of Agni-Soma may I obtain the victory. By impulse of sacrificial food I speed me onward.

May Agni-Soma drive off him who hates us, drive off the
man whom we detest. By impulse of sacrificial food away
I drive him.

After the victory of Indra-Agni may I obtain the victory.
By impulse of sacrificial food I speed me forward.

May Indra-Agni . . .

I drive him.

16 For Vasus thee. For Rudras thee. Thee for Adityas. Be, Heaven and Earth, accordant with each other. With rain may Mitra-Varuna assist thee.

May the birds go, licking what is anointed.

Go to the Maruts' speckled mares. Go, having become a speckled cow thyself, to heaven, and from that place bring the rain for us hither.

Thou art the eye's guard: guard mine eye, O Agni.

17 The stick which thou, God Agni, laidest round thee, what time thou wast kept hidden by the Panis, this do I bring to thee for thine enjoyment. May it remain with thee and ne'er be fruitless.

Approach, ye two, the place which Agni loveth.

18 The residue ye have to be your portion, mighty by food, ye Gods, ye who are stationed on the grass-bunch, and to be laid as fences.

All ye, applauding this my speech, be seated on this grassbunch and there be joyful. Svâhâ! Vâṭ!

15 The formula is recited by the Sacrificer as he separates the Juhû and the Upabhrit spoons and moves the former eastward. Victory: their undisturbed appropriation of the rice-cake offered to the dual Deity at the Full Moon sacrifice. Indra-Agni: as in the case of Agni-Soma, but the formula is to be used at the New Moon sacrifice.

16 With the first three formulas the Adhvaryu anoints the three enclosing-sticks in the order in which they were laid down. Thee: 'I anoint' being understood. Accordant: in producing rain. Mitra-Varuna: who are especially Rain-Gods (see R. V. V. 63 and 69). Birds: the metres Gâyatrî and others, according to Mahidhara. What is anointed: the Prastara. According to the Satapatha-Brahmana, the formula is: May (the Gods) eat, licking the anointed bird (the Prastara).' See Sacred Books of the East, XII. p. 242 Speckled mares: which convey the Maruts, the Gods of storm and rain. Speckled cow: representing the Earth.

17 The stick the Adhvaryu throws the western euclosing-stick on the fire. Panis: demons of darkness who steal the Gods' cows, the rays of light, and hide them in caverns. Ye two the remaining sticks which are now thrown into the fire.

18 The residue: of the sacrificial butter. Ye Gods Visve devaḥ, the Visvedevas or All-Gods. Grass-bunch: the Prastara. Fences: that is, representatives of the enclosing-sticks. Sváha: All hail! Vât: a sacrificial exclamation on making an offering of clarified butter, meaning, probably, Take, or carry (to the Gods).

Guard the two yoke-fellows. Ye two

19 Rich in oil are ye.
are full of grace, to grace conduct me.

Glory to thee, O Sacrifice, and increase! Stand firm in my

auspicious, righteous worship.

20 O Agni of unweakened strength, far-reaching, protect me from the lightning-flash, protect me from bondage. from defect in sacrificing, from food injurious to health protect

me.

Make thou the food that feeds us free from poison in the home good to sit in. Svâhâ! Vâţ!

Hail to the Lord of close embracements, Agni! Hail to Sarasvati enriched with glory!

21 Veda art thou, whereby, O godlike Veda, thou hast become for Deities their Veda: thereby mayst thou become for me a Veda.

O Deities, ye knowers of the Pathway, walk on the pathway having known the Pathway.

God, Lord of Spirit, hail! bestow upon the Wind this sacrifice.

22 Blest be the Grass with sacred food and butter. Let Indra be united with the Adityas, the Vasus, Maruts, and the Visvedevas. Let Svåhâ-offerings rise to heavenly ether.

19 Ye the Juhû and Upabhṛit spoons. Yoke-fellows: the two oxen who draw the cart containing the sacrificial elements.

20 O Agni: he grasps the two spoons, the sruk or Juhû and the sruva. In the home good to sit in: Mahidhara alternatively supplies, establish me.' Lord of close embracements: oblation is offered to Agni as a God who presides over the production of children, and to Sarasvati or Vâk, Goddess of Speech and Eloquence, who will make them famous.

21 The Matron, the Sacrificer's wife, unties the Veda, the tied-up bunch of sacred grass used for various purposes in sacrifice, passed from one priest to another, and handed to the Sacrificer, and to his wife when she recites a text or formula, as she does in this place. Their Veda: (from vid, to know, or obtain) their knower, or finder. For me a Veda: a finder, or obtainer. O Deities: he addresses all the invited Gods. Pathway: the sacrifice. Walk on the pathway: go your several ways; the formula of dismissing the Gods who are present at the sacrifice. Lord of Spirit: Genius of man's spiritual power and life; the Moon, according to Mahidhara, or Paramesvara the Supreme Lord. The Wind: representative of the New or Full Moon sacrifice. This sacrifice: special sacrifice, which is to be established in, or united with, the other.

22 The Grass: the Barhis or altar grass. Mahîdhara explains the verse differently: Together with Adityas, Vasus, Maruts, and Visvedevas, thoroughly may Indra anoint the Grass with butter like to havis (sacred food). Sváhá-offerings: duly consecrated oblations. Heavenly ether: theSun in heaven.

23 Who liberates thee from the yoke? He frees thee. For whom? For him he looses thee. For plenty.

Thou art the Râkshasas' allotted portion.

24 We have combined with lustre, vigour, bodies; we have united with the blessèd spirit. May Tvashṭar, bounteous giver, grant us riches, and clear each fault and blemish from the body.

25 By Jagatî metre in the sky strode Vishnu. Therefrom excluded is the man who hates us and whom we detest. By Trishṭup metre in the air strode Vishnu. Therefrom, etc. By Gâyatrî upon the earth strode Vishņu. Therefrom, etc. From this food. From this resting-place excluded.

We have reached heaven. We have combined with lustre. 26 Thou, noblest ray of light, art Self-existent. Giver art thou of splendour. Give me splendour.

I move along the path that Sûrya travels.

27 Agni, may I become a good householder, through thee, Home-master, O Householder Agni. Mayst thou become an excellent Householder through me the master of the house, O Agni.

Through hundred winters may our household matters-not like a one-ox car-be smoothly managed.

I move along the path that Sûrya travels.

28 I have performed the vow, Lord of Vows, Agni! Full power was mine, and it has proved successful.

Now am I he I truly am, no other.

23 He pours on the altar the holy water which has been brought forward (pranita) for the ceremony by the Adhvaryu from the Gârhapatya house. Who? or Ka. See I. 6. Thee: the holy water. He: Prajapati. Plenty: the prosperity of the Sacrificer. Thou: the refuse of the rice, which is strewn on the rice cake potsherd, under the black-buck's skin, as the allott. ed share of the Rakshasas or fierce and malicious demons.

24 The Adhvaryu, having gone round the fire, pours out a full vessel of water which the Sacrificer catches with both hands hollowed and placed together, and recites the text. Bodies: limbs and members fit for the performance of religious duties, or, perhaps, our wives and sons. Tvashtar: the divine Artificer, developer and shaper of the forms of living beings.

25 He makes the three ceremonial Vishnu-strides in imitation of that solar deity's strides through the three divisions of the world. By Jagati: supernatural powers are attributed to the Vedic metres as representations of effectual prayers.

26 Thou: the Sun, to which he looks.

27 Hundred winters: regarded as the natural duration of human life. See The Hymns of the Rigveda, and The Hymns of the Atharva-veda, Index. I move: he turns from left to right.

28 Having completed the vow, the Sacrificer discharges himself of further obligations. He I truly am: a man, not a semi-divine being as I was while performing the vow. See 1, 5 and note.

29 To Agni Hail! who bears gifts due to Sages. To Soma Hail! accompanied by Fathers.

Expelled are Asuras and fiends who sate upon the covering grass.

30 The Asuras, attracted by oblation, who roam at will assuming varied figures, from this our world may Agni drive them, whether they clothe themselves in large or little bodies.

31 O Fathers, here enjoy yourselves. Come hither, like bulls, come each to his allotted portion.

The Fathers have enjoyed themselves, and hither, like bulls, come each to his allotted portion.

32 Obeisance to your genial sap, O Fathers! Fathers, obeisance unto you for Ardour! Fathers, obeisance unto you for Svadhâ! Obeisance unto you for Life, O Fathers!

Fathers, to you obeisance for the Awful! Fathers, obeisance unto you for Passion! O Fathers, unto you be adoration. Bestow upon us houses, O ye Fathers. Of what is ours, O Fathers, will we give you. With this your raiment clothe yourselves, O Fathers.

33 Fathers, bestow on me a babe, a boy enwreathed with lotuses, so that there may be here a man.

29 The following are texts for the Pinḍapitṛiyajña, the monthly ancestral sacrifice or offering of obsequial cakes to the Fathers or Manes as part of the New and Full Moon sacrifices. To Agni: part of the oblation is presented to him as the general receiver of all sacrificial offerings. Sages: a special class of Manes. To Soma: as especially connected with the Fathers. See R. V. VIII. 48. 13; A. V. XVIII. 4. 72, 73; Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p. 109. Expelled: he draws a line of demarcation from north to south.

30 He lays down a firebrand to keep the fiends at a distance. Varied figures: even the forms of departed ancestors. Large or little bodies: this is Mahidhara's explanation of the doubtful words purápuraḥ and nípuraḥ.

32 Obeisance is offered to the Fathers six times in accordance with the seasons of the year. Your genial sap the fresh juices of trees and plants in Spring. Ardour: the Summer. Life: the vivifying water of the Rains. Svadha: or, viands; the food offered to the Fathers, representing fruitful Autumn. The Awful: the cold Winter. Passion: the chilling Dewy Season which kills the plants, Similarly it was the belief of the Old Northmen that their dead patriarchs had the power of sending good seasons. See Corpus Poeticum Boreale, II. 414, 418. Houses: wives and families. Raiment: threads, or wool, or hairs from the Sacrificer's chest, placed on each obsequial cake.

33 The matron who wishes for a son eats the middlemost of the three cakes and recites this formula.