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50 May Rudra's missile turn aside and spare us, the great wrath of the impetuous One avoid us.

Turn, Bounteous God, thy strong bow from our princes, and be thou gracious to our seed and offspring.

51 Most bounteous, most auspicious, be auspicious, well inclined

to us.

On some remotest tree lay down thy weapon, and clad in robe of skin approach, bearing thy bow come hitherward. 52 0 Wound averter, purple-hued, to thee be homage, holy Lord! May all those thousand darts of thine strike dead another one than us.

53 Thousands of thousands are the shafts, the missiles ready in thy hands:

Thou holy Lord, who hast the power, turn thou their points away from us.

54 Innumerable thousands are the Rudras on the face of earth: Of all these Rudras we unbend the bows a thousand leagues away.

55 Bhavas there are above us in this mighty billowy sea of air, Of all of these do we unbend, etc.

56 Rudras are dwelling in the sky, whose necks are blue, whose throats are white :

Of these do we unbend the bows a thousand leagues away from us.

57 Sarvas haunt realms beneath the earth—their necks are blue, their throats are white:

Of these, etc.

53 Those, green like young grass, in the trees, with azure necks and purple hue,

Of those, etc.

59 Those, ministering spirits' lords, with no hair-tufts, with braided locks,

Of these, etc.

60 Those, the protectors of the paths, bringers of food, who fight for life, Of these, etc.

61 Those who with arrows in their hand, and armed with swords, frequent the fords, Of these, etc.

62 Those who, inhabiting the food, vex men while drinking from their cups, etc.

50 Taken from R. V. II. 33. 14.

63 Rudras so many and still more, lodged in the quarters of the sky, etc.

64 Homage to Rudras, those whose home is sky, whose arrows floods of rain.

To them ten eastward, southward ten, ten to the south, ten to the north, ten to the region uppermost!

To them be homage! May they spare and guard us. Within their jaws we lay the man who hates us and whom we abhor.

65 Homage to Rudras, those whose home is air, whose arrows is the rain. To them, etc.

66 Homage to Rudras, those whose home is earth, whose arrows is men's food.

To them be homage, etc.

64 To them: 'I stretch out' understood. Ten: 'fingers' understood, That is, he extends both hands, with the finger tips placed together in sign of adoration to the omnipresent Rudras, towards the four quarters of the sky. Dr. Muir observes: Many of the epithets in this Satarudriya are not found in other books; and it is difficult, and perhaps of little importance to discover their real sense. Others, as the reader will have observed, are of the most fantastic character.'

6

BOOK THE SEVENTEENTH.

THE food and strength coutained in stone and mountain, drink gathered from the plants and trees and waters, That food and strength, Maruts! free-givers, grant us. In the stone is thy hunger. In me is thy food. Let thy pain reach the man we hate.

20 Agni, may these bricks be mine own milch kine: one, and ten, and ten tens, a hundred, and ten hundreds, a thousand, and ten thousand a myriad, and a hundred thousand, and a million, and a hundred millions, and an oceau middle and end, and a hundred thousand millions, and a billion.

May these bricks be mine own milch-kine in yonder world and in this world.

3 Ye are the Seasons, strengthening Law, fixed in due season, strengthening Law,

Called Splendid, dropping butter down and honey, yielders of every wish, imperishable.

4 With the lake's mantling need we robe thee, Agni: to us be purifying and auspicious.

5 With cold's investing garb we gird thee, Agni: to us be purifying and auspicious.

After the performance of the Satarudriya Oblation, propitiatory and preparatory ceremonies in connexion with Agni and the Fire-altar are continued in this Book.

First he sprinkles the altar with water from a pitcher. beginning from a stone which he has placed at the junction of the right wing of the altar with the body.

1 In the stone: he puts the pitcher on the stone which represents Agni. According to Mahîdhara, aşman (rock, stone) here means 'eater,' the devouring Fire. In me he takes up the pitcher. Thy pain: the fiery heat and attendant suffering. Here, having put the stone in the pitcher, he throws it southward.

2 He takes possession of the bricks of the altar, stretching over it and touching as much of it as he can. An ocean: a fantastic uame for a thou

sand million.

3 Ye: the bricks.

4 He draws a frog, an Avaka (Blyxa Octandra, a water-weed), and a shoot of bamboo, all emblems of coolness, eastward along the right part of the body of the altar. See R. V. X. 16. 14.

5 He draws them along from the south to the north hip of the altar.

6 Descend upon the earth, the reed, the rivers: thou art the gall, O Agni, of the waters.

With them come hither, female Frog, and render this sacrifice of ours bright-hued, successful.

7 This is the place where waters meet; here is the gathering of the flood.

Let thy shaft burn others than us: be thou cleanser, propitious unto us.

80 Agni, purifier, God, with splendour and thy pleasant tongue

Bring hither, and adore, the Gods.

9 So, Agni, purifying, bright, bring hither to our sacrifice, To our oblation bring the Gods.

10 He who with purifying, eye-attracting form hath shone upon the earth as with the light of Dawn;

Who speeding on, as in the fleet steed's race, in fight, cometh untouched by age, as one athirst in heat.

11 Obeisance to thy wrath and glow! Obeisance to thy fiery flame!

Let thy shot missiles burn others than us: be thou cleanser, propitious unto us.

12 To him who dwells in man, Hail! To him who dwells in waters, Hail!

To him who dwells in sacred grass, Hail! To him who dwells in the wood, Hail! To him who finds the light, Hail!

6 He draws them along from the north hip to the south shoulder of the altar. Gall: meaning heat, which is regarded as characteristic of the bilious humour.

7 He draws then along from the north to the south shoulder.

8 He draws them over the right wing of the altar. The formula is taken from R. V. V. 26. 1.

9 He draws them over the tail of the bird-shaped altar, with the formula from R. V. VI. 15. 5.

10 Fleet steed's: or Etasa's, one of the horses of the Sun.

11 The Adhvaryu takes chips of gold and a mixture of clarified butter and honey, with a bunch of Kusa grass, aud mounts the altar reciting the formula addressed to Agni.

12 Mounted on the altar he offers an oblation, on the chief Porous brick, of clarified butter taken in five ladlefuls, pronouncing five formulas. Who dwells in man: Agni. seated as vital breath in human beings. Hail!: vet, a sacrificial exclamation of unknown derivation, somewhat similar to vashat. In waters: in the shape of submarine fire, according to Mahidhara. În saered grass: in the shape of the Âhavaniya fire. In the wood: in the trees which he penetrates and consumes. The light or heaven, in the form of the Sun.

13 Worshipful Gods of Gods who merit worship, those who sit down beside their yearly portion,

Let them who eat not sacrificial presents drink in this rite of honey and of butter.

14 Those Gods who have attained to Godhead over Gods, they who have led the way in this our holy work,

Without whose aid no body whatsoever moves, not on heaven's heights are they, nor on the face of earth.

15 Giver of breath, of out-breath, breath diffusive, giver of lustre, giving room and freedom,

Let thy shot missiles burn others than us be thou cleanser, propitious unto us.

16 May Agni with his sharpened blaze cast down each fierce devouring fiend.

May Agni win us wealth by war.

17 He who sate down as Hotar priest, the Rishi, our Father offering up all things existent

He, seeking with his wish a great possession, came among men on earth as archetypal.

18 What was the place whereon he took his station? What was it that upheld him? What the manner,

Whence Visvakarman, seeing all, producing the earth, with mighty power disclosed the heavens?

13 He sprinkles the altar, the enclosing stones, and outside them, with sour curds, honey, clarified bulter, and Kusa grass, reciting two formulas. Worshipful Gods: in the shape of the Vital Airs, who are not eaters of

oblations.

14 Holy work: brahman; according to Mahidhara, Agni is intended. No body...moves: 'no dwelling-place becometh pure': Eggeling. Not on heaven's height, etc.: that is, the Vital Airs, although deities, exist in living creatures only.

15 He descends from the altar, and recites the formula addressed to Agni,

16 He goes to the sacrificial hall and offers clarified butter taken in five ladlefuls in the Hall-Door Fire, with the formula taken from R. V. VI. 16. 28:

17 He offers clarified butter in a ladle filled with sixteen spoonfuls, in twooblations, with eight formulas for each. and the formula of verse 16. The verses 17-23 are taken from R. V. X. 81. He who sate down: Viṣvakarman, the Omnific, the universal Father and Generator, the Architect of the worlds. and Cretor of all things, here identified with Prajapati, Agni the Fire-altar. All things existent: regarded as contained in the offerings presented by Visvakarman. His wish: his desire to create. Archetypal: the meaningof prathamachhad is uncertain; 'first investing (Agni with the worlds )," according to Sayana's explanation; 'first appearing': Ludwig; 'first wor shipper': Wallis.

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