56 O Soma, with the spirit still within us, blest with progeny, May we be busied in thy law.

57 O Rudra, this is thine allotted portion. With Ambika thy sister kindly take it. This, Rudra, is thy share, the rat thy victim.

58 We have contented Rudra, yea, put off Tryambaka the God, That he may make us wealthier, may make us yet more prosperous, may make us vigorous to act.

59 Thou art a healing medicine, a balm for cow and horse and man, a happiness to ram and ewe.

60 Tryambaka we worship, sweet augmenter of prosperity.

As from its stem a cucumber, may I be freed from bouds of death, not reft of immortality.

We worship him, Tryambaka, the husband-finder, sweet to smell.

As from its stem a cucumber, hence and not thence may I be loosed.

61 This, Rudra, is thy food: with this depart beyond the Mûjavâus.

With bow unstrung, with mufled staff, clothed in a garment made of skin, gracious, not harming us, depart.

62 May Jamadagni's triple life, the triple life of Kasyapa, The triple life of Deities-may that same triple life be ours.

56 0 Soma: as being closely connected with the Fathers.

57 Rudra, the fierce Tempest-God, destroyer of men and cattle is to be propitiated. This a rice-cake. There is to be one cake for each living son and servant of the Sacrificer, and one over for future additions, and these cakes are all to be on one potsherd. Ambika: the personification of Autumn with which Rudra kills. The rat: the supernumerary cake is to be buried in the earth thrown up by a rat or vole, and this symbolic sacrifice will satisfy Rudra and induce him to spare other animals.

58 Tryambuka: a name of Rudra as having three wives, sisters, or mothers, or Triocular, the Three-eyed God, as Șiva is represented in later

literature.

59 Thou Rudra in his gentle mood.

60 Spoken by the girls of the Sacrificer's family as they walk round the altar. The first two lines are taken from R. V. VII. 59. 12. Husband-finder: more usually a title of Aryaman. See A. V. XIV. 1. 17. Hence and not thence from my father's house and not from my future husband's. Cf. R. V. X. 85. 25.

61 Thy food: provisions for thy journey; the remains of the rice-cakes packed in two baskets at the end of a pole and fastened on a tree, post, bamboo, or ant-hill. See Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, II. 352. Mújavāns: apparently a hill-tribe in the North-west.

62 Jamadagni and Kasyapa were ancient Vedic Rishis. See The Hymns of the Rigveda, Iudex.

63 Gracious, thy name; the thunder is thy father.

be to thee: forbear to harm me.

Obeisance

I shave thee for long life, for food to feed thee, for progeny, for riches in abundance, for noble children, for heroic vigour.

63 The Sacrificer's head and beard are shaved. Gracious: the razor is addressed. Thunder: the vajra or thunderbolt, made of iron like the razor, I share thee: the Adhvaryu speaks, using the word nivartayâmi (cause thee to be turned round) the technical term to be employed at this sacrificial allround shaving.

BOOK THE FOURTH.

WE have reached this earth's place of sacrificing, the place wherein all Deities delighted.

Crossing by Rik, by Sâman, and by Yajus, may we rejoice in food and growth of riches.

Gracious to me be these Celestial Waters!

Protect me, Plant. O Knife, forbear to harm him.

2 The Mother Floods shall make us bright and shining, cleansers of holy oil, with oil shall cleanse us.

For, Goddesses, they bear off all defilement.
from them purified and brightened.

I rise up

The form of Consecration and of Fervour art thou. I put thee on, the kind and blissful, maintaining an agreeable

appearance.

3 The Great Ones' milk art thou.

Giver of splendour art

thou: bestow on me the gift of splendour.

Pupil art thou of Vritra's eye.
Give me the gift of vision.

The giver of eyes art thou.

4 Purify me the Lord of Thought! Purify me the Lord of Speech! Purify me God Savitar with perfect strainer, with the beams of Sûrya!

Books IV. VIII. contain formulas for the Soma sacrifice in general.

1 Place of sacrificing: which has been carefully selected and prepared with shed, hall, etc. The Sacrificer recites the formula, holding in his hand the aranis or two pieces of the wooden fire-drill, and grasping the chief post of the sacrificial hall. Rik, Saman, Yajus: by means of the verse of praise, the chanted psalm, and the sacrificial formula. Waters: to be used in the Apsu-Diksha or Consecration Ceremony by water or baptism. He moistens his right whisker for shaving. Plant: a blade of Kusa grass placed on his whisker. Knife: the razor, which is said to be a svadhiti, or thunderbolt. See III. 63. Him: the Sacrificer.

2 The first two lines are taken from R. V. X. 17. 10. The Sacrificers bathe in the consecrating waters. Defilement the stain of sin as well as bodily impurity. I rise up: he steps out of the water. Thee the linen garment prescribed for the occasion. Fervour ardour, religious zeal, penance, or austere devotion.

3 Great Ones' milk: product of the cows; the fresh butter with which he is anointed from head to foot. Pupil art thou: the Adhvaryu anoints his eye with collyrium. It is said in the Taittiriya-Samhitâ, VI. 1. 5 that Vritra's eye-ball, when Indra conquered him, fell away and became ointment. Lord of Thought: Prajapati, Lord of Creatures. Lord of Speech: the same deity, or Brihaspati Lord of Prayer. Perfect strainer or purifier, Vayu the wind. Lord of the strainer: or of the means of purification, the Sacrificer who has gone through the ceremony. The meaning is, May I be able to accomplish the sacrifice in accordance with my preconceived wishes.

Of thee, Lord of the Strainer! who art by the strainer purified,

With what desire I purify myself, may I accomplish it.

5 We come to you for precious wealth, O Gods, as sacrifice proceeds.

O Gods, we call on you to give blessings that wait on sacrifice.
Svâhà! from spacious

6 Svâhâ! from mind the sacrifice.

firmament.

Svâhâ! from Dyaus and Prithivî. Svâhâ! from Wind I seize. Svâhâ!

To Resolution, Motive, Agni, Svâhâ! All-hail to Wisdom,
and to Mind, and Agni !

All-hail to Consecration, Fervour, Agni! Hail to Sarasvatî,
Pûshan, and Agni!

Ye vast, divine, all-beneficial Waters, ye Heaven and Earth
and spacious Air between them,

Let us adore Brihaspati with oblation. All-hail!

8 May every mortal man elect the friendship of the guiding God.

Each one solicits him for wealth: let him seek fame to prosper him.

9 Rik's, Sâman's counterparts are ye. me till the sacrifice be ended.

I touch you.

Protect

Obeisance

unto thee! Forbear to harm me.

Thou art a place of refuge. Give me refuge.

10 Strength of Angirases art thou. Wool-soft, bestow thou strength on me.

Thou art the garment-knot of Soma. Vishnu's refuge art thou, the Sacrificer's refuge.

6 Svîhâ: Ave! All-hail! The sacrifice: 'I grasp. or take hold of' being understood. Various bendings of fingers and final closing of the hands are prescribed Dyaus and Prithivi: Heaven and Earth.

7 These formulas, with the oblations which they accompany, are specially called Audgrabhana or Uplifting, because they raise the Sacrificer to heaven. Resolution: the intention or purpose of sacrificing.

8 Taken from R. V. V. 50. 1. Guiding God: Savitar, the Impeller and Leader.

9 Two black-antelope skins, tacked together and stretched on the ground for consecration purposes, are addressed and touched. Counterparts: in full accord, as used in sacred ceremonies, with the recited verses and chanted hymns of sacrifice. The white on the skins resembles the Rik, and the black the Sâman. Thou art, etc.: he kneels with his right knee on the skin.

10 He binds on and addresses a girdle of two plaited strands of hemp and one of Muñja grass. Angiruses: descendants of Angiras, a semi-divine

Thou art the womb of Indra. Make the crops produce abundant grain.

Stand up erect, O Tree. Protect me from harm until this sacrifice be ended.

И Prepare ye vow-food. Agni is the Brahman, Agni is sacrifice, the tree is holy.

For aid we meditate divine Intelligence, most merciful,

Free-giver, bringing worship. May it guide us gently, as we would.

Favour us Gods, mind-born, endowed with mind and intellectual might! All-hail to them! May they be our pro

tectors.

12 Waters that we have drunk! become refreshing, become auspicious draughts within our belly.

Free from all sin and malady and sickness, may they be pleasant to our taste, divine Oues, immortal, strengtheners of eternal Order.

3 This is thy sacrificial form.

Not offspring, waters I discharge. Freeing from sin and consecrate by Svâhâ enter ye the earth. Be thou united with the earth.

14 0 Agni, watch thou well. ing sleep.

May we take joy in most refresh

Protect us with unceasing care.
again.

From slumber waken us

patriarchal Rishi. See Index to The Hymns of the Rigveda. Garment-knot : the meeting ends of the cloth worn round the body; 'tuck': Eggeling. Of Soma belonging to Soma after the consecration of the wearer, and to the Fathers before that ceremony. Vishnu's: the Sacrificer's. The womb of Indra: he addresses a black-buck's horn which he ties to the fringe of his garment. See the legend. Sacred Books of the East. XXVI. 30-33. Mahidhara gives a somewhat similar legend, from the Taittiriya-Samhita, ascribing Indra's birth to the union of Yajña (Sacrifice) with Dakshinâ Sacrificial Guerdon) instead of Vâk (Speech). Make the crops: he draws a line with the horn on the ground. Tree: a staff of Udumbara (Ficus Glomerata) wood which the Adhvaryu gives to the Sacrificer.

11 Vow-food or fast-food, chiefly milk which the attendants prepare. The Sacrificer pronounces this formula thrice. The Brahman: (neuter) the priesthood, or, according to Mahîdhara, the three Vedas. The tree the Khadira (Acacia Catechu) and other trees whose wood is used for sacrificial purposes. For aid: to help us in the performance of the sacrifice. 12 Recited after drinking the milk.

13 This, etc.: micturiens, he takes up with the horn a lump of earth or something similar, and addresses embodied sacrifice: This earth is thy sacrificial form. i. e. place meet for worship. Ye the waters of which he relieves himself. Be thou he throws down the lump of earth.

14 With a prayer to the Guardian Agni he goes to sleep.