Atharva Veda · 457 of 724

BOOK XI

HYMN I An accompaniment to the preparation and presentation of a Brahmaudana 1. Agni, spring forth! Here Aditi, afflicted, cooks a Brahmaudana,    yearning for children.   Let the Seven Rishis, World-creators, rub thee into existence    here with gift of offspring. 2. Raise, as I bid, the smoke, my strong companions, lovers of free-    dom from deceit and malice!   Victor in fight heroic, here is Agni by whom the Gods subdued    the hostile demons. 3. Thou, Agni, wart produced for mighty valour, to cook Brahmau-    dana, O Jātavedas.   Seven Rishis, makers of the world, begat thee, Grant to this    woman wealth with store of heroes. 4. Burn up, O Agni, kindled with the fuel. Knowing the Gods who    merit worship, bring them.   Cooking, for these, oblation, Jātavedas! lift up this man to    heaven's most lofty summit. 5. Your portion from of old is triply parted, portion of Gods, of   Fathers, and of mortals.   Know, all, your shares. I deal them out among you. The portion    of the Gods shall save this woman. 6. Strong art thou, Agni, conquering, all-surpassing. Crush down    our foemen, ruin those who hate us.   So let this measure, measured, being measured, make all our kin    thy tributary vassals. 7. Increase with kinsmen and with all abundance: to mighty strength    and power lift up this woman.   Erect, rise upward to the sky's high station, rise to the lofty    world which men call Svarga. 8. May this great Earth receive the skin, this Goddess Prithivī,    showing us her love and favour. Then may we go unto the    world of virtue. 9. Fix on the skin these two joined press-stones, duly rending the    fibres for the sacrificer.   Strike down and slay those who assail this woman, and elevating    raise on high her offspring. 10. Grasp with thy hand, O man, the well-formed press-stones: the    holy Gods have come unto thy worship.   Three wishes of thy heart which thou electest, these happy gains    for thee I here make ready. 11. Here thy devotion is, here is thy birthplace. Aditi, Mother of    brave sons, accept thee!   Wipe away those who fight against this woman with wealth and    store of goodly sons endow her. 12. Rest in the roaring frame of wood: be parted from husk and    chaff, ye Sacrificial Fibres.   May we surpass in glory all our rivals. I cast beneath my feet    the men who hate us. 13. Go, Dame, and quickly come again: the waters, enclosed, have    mounted thee that thou mayst bear them.   Take thou of these such as are fit for service: skilfully separating.    leave the others. 14. Hither these Dames have come in radiant beauty. Arise and seize=    upon thy strength, O woman.   To thee hath sacrifice come: take the pitcher, blest with a good    lord, children, children's children. 15. Instructed by the Rishis, bring those waters, the share of strength    which was of old assigned you.   Let this effectual sacrifice afford you protection, fortune, off-    spring, men, and cattle. 16. Agni, on thee the sacrificial caldron hath mounted: shining,.    fiercely flaming, heat it.   May hottest flames, divine, sprung from the Rishis, gathering,    with the Seasons, heat this portion. 17. Purified, bright, and holy, let these Women, these lucid waters    glide into the caldron.   Cattle and many children may they give us. May he who cooks.    the Odana go to heaven. 18. Ye, Sacrificial Rice and Soma Fibres, cleansed and made pure by    prayer and molten butter. p. 43   Enter the water: let the caldron take you. May he who dresses    this ascend to heaven. 19. Expand thyself abroad in all thy greatness, with thousand Prish-    thas, in the world of virtue.   Grandfathers, fathers, children, and descendants, fifteenth am I    to thee when I have dressed it. 20. With thousand streams and Prishthas, undecaying, Brahmaudana    is celestial, God-reaching.   Those I give up to thee with all their children. Force them to    tribute, but to me be gracious. 21. Rise to the altar: bless this dame with offspring. Promote this    woman; drive away the demons.   May we surpass in glory all our rivals. I cast beneath my feet the    men who hate us. 22. Approach this woman here with store of cattle: together with    the deities come to meet her.   Let not a curse or imprecation reach thee: in thine own seat    shine forth exempt from sickness. 23. Fashioned at first by Right, set by the spirit, this altar of Brahmau-    dana was appointed.   Place the pure boiler on it, woman! set thou therein the rice    mess of Celestial Beings. 24. This second hand of Aditi, this ladle which the Seven Rishis,    world-creators, fashioned.   May this scoop deftly pile upon the altar, therein, the members    of the rice-oblation. 25. Let the dressed offering and divine Ones serve thee: creep from.    the fire again, own these as masters.   Made pure with Soma rest within the Brāhmans: let not thine    eaters, Rishis' sons, be injured. 26. Give understanding unto these, King Soma! all the good Brāh    mans who attend and serve thee.   Oft, in Brahmaudana, and well I call on: Rishis, their sons, and    those who sprang from Fervour. 27. Here I set singly in the hands of Brāhmans these cleansed and.    purifie d and holy Women,   May Indra, Marut girt, grant me the blessing which as I sprinkle    you, my heart desireth. 28. Here is my gold, a light immortal: ripened grain from the field    this Cow of Plenty give me! p. 44   This wealth I place among the Brāhmans, making a path that    leads to heaven among the Fathers. 29. Lay thou the chaff in Agni Jātavedas: remove the husks and    drive them to a distance.   That, we have heard, that is the House-Lord's portion: we know    the share allotted to Destruction. 30. Mark him who toils and cooks and pours oblation: make this    man climb the path that leads to heaven,   That he may mount and reach life that is highest, ascending to    the loftiest vault above us. 31. Adhvaryu, cleanse that face of the Supporter. Make room, well    knowing, for the molten butter.   Purify duly all the limbs with fatness. I make a path to heaven    amid the Fathers. 32. Supporter, send to those men fiends and battle, to all non-Brah-    mans who attend and serve thee.   Famous and foremost, with their great possessions, let not these    here, the Rishis sons, be injured. 33. I set thee, Odana, with Rishis' children: naught here belongs to    men not sprung from Rishis.   Let Agni my protector, all the Maruts, the Visve Devas guard    the cooked oblation. 34. May we adore thee, Sacrifice that yieldeth an everlasting son,    cow, home of treasures,   Together with increasing store of riches, long life and immor-    tality of children. 35. Thou art a Bull that mounts to heaven: to Rishis and their off-    spring go.   Rest in the world of pious men: there is the place prepared for    us. 36. Level the ways: go thitherward, O Agni. Make ready thou the   Godward-leading pathways.   By these our pious actions may we follow sacrifice dwelling in    the seven-rayed heaven. 37. May we invested with that light go upward, ascending to the    sky's most lofty summit.   Wherewith the Gods, what time they had made ready   Brahmaudana, mounted to the world of virtue.

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