Kāṇḍa 14

14.1.1 Indra, knowing, carried the divine waters with both arms for Varuṇa; all the Ādityas consecrated him, that fierce king, for the great battle. May those waters, the rājasūya waters, be favorable to us.

14.1.2 [The four verses beginning with] 'Of golden hue' — [rubric indicating four verses of the Golden-Hued Waters hymn to be recited here].

14.1.6 The divine waters, honey-sweet, yielding strength, the rājasūya waters that bring well-being — those with which Mitra and Varuṇa were consecrated — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.1.7 Those bright ones, sent forth by Varuṇa, move onward — divine waters that bear the golden spring; those that purify in concert with the sacred utterance — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.1.8 The waters that carry from the ocean up to heaven, and from heaven release themselves upon the earth; those with which the sovereign Maruts roam — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.1.9 Those that bear immortality, that carry sweet honey, those that the seers seized in the companionship of the gods; those by which Indra was led beyond his foes — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.1.10 Those that fill wealth to the brim for the mortal who is devout and generous, who desires the gods; whose milk is inexhaustible among inexhaustible things — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.1 Those that have golden ornaments, that bear banners, purifying themselves — the milk-cows that flow toward the ocean; those that Parjanya carries in the atmosphere — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.2 When the Rathantara and the Bṛhat sāmans are sung, they invigorate lordly power and extend life; those by which the swift steeds are made to course in the three contests — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.3 Those in whose company Indra the Vṛtra-slayer, lord of riches, drank the pressed Soma; those that the seven seers, the inspired poets, purify — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.4 The seven seers consecrated Bharata; they established the realm in him, rich in sacrificial fees; the gods endowed Manu with vital breath for his offspring — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.5 Those with which the wise ones sprinkle the eastward-facing sacrifice; those with which they purify the honey-mixed Soma; those by which all this stirring universe lives — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.6 Those whose drops have become full of honey; those that swell with ghee-rich agreement and with sweetness; those waters that Soma leads forth by the sacred word — [may those waters be favorable to us].

14.2.7 Those at whose feet the strength-giving ghee flows; those that purify themselves in the wake of Soma's outpouring; pregnant ones, with young calves, rich in ghee — may those waters, the rājasūya waters, be favorable to us.

14.2.8 Inspired thoughts were born; those that know the way to heaven came forward through the sacred word to the places of the well-spoken hymns. The rājasūya waters gave forth their streams of milk; the god Savitṛ impelled all the worlds.

14.2.9 Soma the king, Bhava the king, Paśupati lord of beasts, Varuṇa the steadfast in vow — those gods who were present at the rājasūya, let them bestow upon you sovereign power, long life, and might.

14.2.10 He stood up, he rose, the inspired sage was born; he stepped over his foes, he wielded his arms in battle; he thrust Nirṛti far away toward the distant quarters; and with the sun he mingled, with its rays.

14.3.1 I beheld you descending, as if from heaven to earth; I beheld Rudra, the blue-throated, the crest-bearing, as he cast his shaft.

14.3.2 The dreadful one climbed down from heaven and stood established upon the earth. O people, behold this one — the blue-throated, the deeply crimson.

14.3.3 This Rudra, the healer with cooling medicines, the destroyer of no man's hero, comes hither. He has made your trembling to vanish utterly; may your feverish agitation depart.

14.3.4 Homage to you, O Bhava, in your brilliance; homage to you, O Bhava, in your wrath. Homage to you be unto both your arms, and homage also to your arrow.

14.3.5 That arrow which you hold in your hand to shoot, O lord of the mountain — make it auspicious, O Giriśa; do not harm my people.

14.3.6 With auspicious speech we address you, O Giriśa; so that for us all this world may be free of consumption and of glad spirit.

14.3.7 Your arrow that is most auspicious, your bow that has become auspicious, your quiver that is auspicious — with that grant us ease, that we may live.

14.3.8 That form of yours, O Rudra, which is auspicious, which is not terrible, which does not reveal evil — with that most tranquil body, O Giriśa, shine upon us.

14.3.9 That one yonder who is copper-red, tawny, and deeply crimson — and these Rudras here on all sides, stationed in the directions by thousands — from their wrath we seek protection.

14.3.10 I beheld you descending, the blue-throated, the deeply crimson; the herdsmen too beheld you, and so did the women fetching water; all beings too beheld you — homage to you, to you thus seen.

14.4.1 Homage be to the blue-crested one, the thousand-eyed, the swift; and likewise to his host of attendants — to them too I have rendered homage.

14.4.2 Homage to your weapon, to the bow unstrung, to the bold one; homage I have rendered to both your arms, and to your bow.

14.4.3 Release the bowstring from both tips of the bow; and the arrows that are in your hand — scatter those away, O blessed one.

14.4.4 Having unstrung the bow, O thousand-eyed, O hundred-quivered one, shattering the heads of the arrow-shafts — come to us as benign, as bringer of joy.

14.4.5 The bow of the crested one is without its string, and he is free of arrows, quiverless; his arrows are without venom, benign is his quiver.

14.4.6 May the missile of your bow encompass us on all sides as a protection; and your quiver — place it far off from this one.

14.4.7 The bolt that was in your hand, the bow that was yours, O most bountiful — with that weapon guard us on all sides, keeping us free from disease.

14.5.1 The well-flanked, wish-yielding hundred-cooked-rice-offering has come to us, swelling with milk; milking forth vital strength, without stumbling, it prolongs the life of the sacrificer.

14.5.2 I seize her who is fit for sacrifice, who is eager, who brings well-being, who is replete with vitality, free from disease, worthy of meditation; may my whole world be among the gods — believing, I cook the hundred-rice-portion.

14.5.3 Bind and apply the goddess, the muñja-grass-girt hundred-rice-offering — for she is the wish-yielding one; do not injure her with the stone in your exuberance: she passes to the gods beyond the enemy.

14.5.4 Seize with the sacred formula this all-divine hundred-rice-offering — a hundred sins are hers to absorb; pressing with the stone as with a mountain, cause him to ascend above to the heavenly world.

14.5.5 Boldly cutting and slicing it into pieces, driving away evil, mix it with the skin-ladle; anointed by means of this daughter of Virāj, may she milk desire upon desire for the sacrificer.

14.5.6 Even as you cut joint by joint, do not tarry; make the portions for me separately; she who formerly was human, the hundred-rice-offering of many forms and golden hue, has gone to the gods.

14.5.7 The two-footed, two-handed man, the great subduer, bears the tree-piece with its knife-tip at the front; with it, skilled, he shall carve apart the joints of the inviolable one — sunder the divine hundred-rice-offering into a hundred parts.

14.5.8 Cut this reddish piece from the skin well, and having measured it, divide it into a hundred parts; releasing all the portions together, bestow abundance of wealth upon the sacrificer.

14.5.9 With the Ṛc-verse I place the pot upon the fire; I set you upon the earth, above the earth; bearing the flesh in the waters, do not tremble; may the Piśācas not slay you with their weapons.

14.5.10 Rise upward, do not collapse; spread out the inner atmosphere; having crossed beyond all the Rakṣasas — then ascend to heaven.

14.6.1 Go to heaven, O hundred-rice-offering; become the path for a thousand; become ten thousand, become a hundred thousand — be inexhaustible: thus you shall mount the heavenly world.

14.6.2 They partake of the hundred-rice-offering in a hundred ways; he who gives her ascends a hundred rungs; the Vāmadevya and the Naudhasa are her two wings — established on the third vault, she abides above the firmament.

14.6.3 The hundred-rice-offering, arranging itself in a hundred ways, fashions a hundred forms as she goes to the sky; may that goddess, easy to invoke, grant us shelter, and likewise grant ease to those in such condition.

14.6.4 The hundred-rice-offering, measured out with the twelve-day rite, has created a hundred Pṛṣṭha-hymns as she traverses the sky; encompassing all sacrifices beyond, may she establish the giver in abundance of wealth.

14.6.5 Go toward the soma-pressing sacrificers who have offered oblations, O hundred-rice-offering; having pervaded all sacrifices, become the pathway to the fulfillment of desire.

14.6.6 Go forward, O hundred-rice-offering; with sacrifice pass beyond those who have not sacrificed; you have climbed up to the gods, to where you shine on high in the triple heaven.

14.6.7 The first hundred-rice-offering has the nourishment-footed one as its base; truth is indeed your middle, immortality is your crown; O goddess, you fill both the worlds.

14.6.8 Order indeed are the hips, and the thighs in the body; power indeed are the arms, and that serves for strength; the belly follows the due course, and further the flanks — the hundred-rice-offering has reached all the worlds.

14.6.9 The first hundred-rice-offering is endowed with sight; the sun is indeed your eye, and the moon also; in accord with all the gods and with the seasons, you, O goddess, shall satiate the giver with satisfaction.

14.6.10 A hundred are her milkings, a hundred her calves; they distribute her, cooked, in a hundred shares; the seven worlds established in heaven — these you have won, O first of the hundred-rice-offerings.

14.7.1 Measured in hundreds, surpassing a thousand, as you go forth you have conquered the worlds, foremost O Śataudanā. She has attained the Sarvavedasa rite and the Vājapeya; all worlds the Śataudanā has encompassed.

14.7.2 Indra partook of the Śataudanā first, graciously disposed toward the seven ṛṣis; by her he seized the strength and vigor of the asuras, by her he ascended the heights of the celestial worlds.

14.7.3 Here Viśvāmitra, Jamadagni, Atri, Bharadvāja, Gotama, and here Vasiṣṭha — these with Kaśyapa as the seventh, let them partake first of this cooked Śataudanā.

14.7.4 Luminous is the foremost Śataudanā; proceeding toward the heavenly light she fashions the three luminaries. Her givers live in prosperity; wherever they are, they rejoice in common festivity with the gods.

14.7.5 The great Śataudanā, whose wings are the meters, going toward heaven has brought forth the three chants. They have found the year, the overlord of seasons, as her lord.

14.7.6 Surpassing the Agniṣṭoma and the Atirātra, O Śataudanā — having attained all the sacrifices, spread wide through the fire-altar built in layers.

14.7.7 Surpassing what belongs to the Aśvamedha and the Dvādaśāha, O Śataudanā — having attained the three-night rite with the press-day, she equals the Vājapeya.

14.7.8 Those who have sacrificed with thousands of offerings, those who have presented oblations in the Agnihotra, those who have sacrificed with all sacrifices — all of these the Śataudanā attains.

14.7.9 Auspicious I make your joints, O blessed one; auspicious too are the portions of flesh that are consumed. Whatever bone the sacrificial slaughterer has broken — that which is disjointed in you, let Tvaṣṭṛ restore.

14.7.10 Whatever worlds have been won by sacrifice, whatever meters have been obtained — all those worlds does he attain who gives the Śataudanā.

14.8.1 Vibrant, a maiden, youthful, dwelling within the house — Night belonging to the divine Savitṛ and Bhaga; unharmed as a horse, easy to invoke, her splendor gathered, she has filled heaven and earth with her greatness.

14.8.2 Deep, she has descended over all things; tireless, she has ascended to the highest peak. Eager Night spreads out along the benign ridge, like Mitra with her own powers.

14.8.3 O Night, worthy of heroes, deserving of praise, blessed, nobly born — come hither; be well-disposed; may I be here with cheerful mind. Protect us with the riches born of heroes, the ample wealth in horses and in cattle.

14.8.4 Eager Night, you have assumed the splendor of the lion, of the piśāca, of the tiger, of the leopard; the redness of the horse, the wizardry of man — shining abroad, you take on many forms.

14.8.5 Propitious Night and Sun by day — the mother of frost, easy to invoke, be good to us. O blessed one, heed this hymn of praise whereby I honor you in all directions.

14.8.6 O Night of brilliant radiance, take pleasure in our praise as a king takes pleasure. May we be possessed of all heroes, may we be possessed of all wealth, as you shine forth continuously, one Dawn after another.

14.8.7 You indeed bear the name Śamyā; those who would despoil my wealth — here let Night drive those away; then shall no thief be found, then shall no enemy be found.

14.8.8 You are auspicious, O Night, like a pressed cup; youthful, you uphold all that is of the form of the cow. Seeing with full eyes, touching my forms, you have released the divine golden ornaments belonging to the Ādityas.

14.8.9 Whosoever today comes as a thief, a mortal of sinful life, an enemy — encountering him, may Night strike off his throat, strike off his head.

14.8.10 His feet go not forward as they go, his hands do not reach as they stretch. Whosoever approaches in filth — crushed, he departs. He departs indeed, he departs; he has departed onto the dry stump.

14.9.1 O Night, make the serpent blind, motionless as smoke, headless. Strike out the eyes of the wolf; strike the thief into the wooden trap.

14.9.2 O Night, whatever bullocks of yours are sharp-horned and swift-footed — with them carry us across today, ever carrying us beyond all difficult passages.

14.9.3 Night after night, passing through unharmed in body, may we cross over; may our enemies not cross, as those who cannot swim through the deep.

14.9.4 As a millet grain falling down, cast upward, is found no more — even so, O Night, cast down the one who plots evil against us.

14.9.5 Drive away the thief, the plunderer of dwelling, the cattle-stealer, and the robber; and also him who, having tied a rope about a horse's head, would lead it off.

14.9.6 Whatever iron-rich wealth they distribute today, O Night of great blessing — come, make us resplendent with it; thereafter you approach others.

14.9.7 Hand us over to Dawn entirely guiltless, O Night. May Dawn give us a share of the day; the day belongs to you, O Night of brilliant radiance.