Kāṇḍa 16
Ancient Anonymous (Vedic) Sanskrit16.1.1 Homage to Antaka, to Mṛtyu — let this man remain here together with his vital breath. In the portion of Sūrya, in the realm of immortality, may your in-breath and out-breath take their delight here.
16.1.2 Bhaga has seized him upward, the radiant Soma has seized him upward; the Maruts, the gods, have raised him up — Indra and Agni have raised him for well-being.
16.1.3 Here is your vital force, here your breath, here your life-span, here your mind. With the divine word we bear you up out of the nooses of Nirṛti.
16.1.4 Rise up and do not fall down; loosening the foot-fetter of Death, do not sever yourself from this world, from the sight of Agni and Sūrya.
16.1.5 May Vāyu, Mātariśvan, blow for you; may the waters rain down their immortal gifts upon you; may Sūrya warm your body with well-being. Let Death be compassionate toward you — do not perish.
16.1.6 Your going is upward, O man, not a going-down; may your living make your vitality complete. Mount this immortal, pleasant chariot, and then in old age speak forth at the assembly.
16.1.7 Let not your mind go thither; let it not be lost. Do not stray from the living in intoxication; do not follow the Pitṛs. May all the gods protect you here.
16.1.8 Do not fix your gaze upon those who have gone, those who lead to the far realm. Ascend, come from darkness to light — we take hold of your hand.
16.1.9 Śyāma and Śabala, the two dogs of Yama, the road-guardians sent forth — come hither; do not stare away, do not stand there with your mind turned backward.
16.1.10 Do not travel this path — it is dreadful, the one by which they lead those who went before; so I declare it. Darkness lies yonder, O man; do not fall forward upon it. Fear lies beyond, but safety lies this side of you.
16.2.1 May the fires that dwell within the waters guard you; may that fire which men kindle guard you. May Vaiśvānara, Jātavedas, guard you. May the heavenly one not scorch you along with the lightning.
16.2.2 May Earth guard you, may Dyaus guard you; may Sūrya and Candramās guard you. Let the flesh-eater not assail you — keep away from Saṃkasuka from afar.
16.2.3 May the mid-air with its divine weapon guard you; may Awareness and Counter-awareness guard you. May the Sleepless One and the Ever-wakeful guard you; may the Watcher guard you, and the Vigilant.
16.2.4 Let them guard you, let them protect you, let them shield you from distress. Homage to them; svāhā to them.
16.2.5 For the living, in the community, may Vāyu, Indra, Dhātṛ, the protecting Savitṛ establish you. Let not the breath forsake your strength — we call after your vital spirit.
16.2.6 Let neither the jaw nor the snap of teeth find you; let not the darkness; let not the tongue of the sacrificial grass cause your destruction — how could you perish? May the Ādityas and Vasus raise you up; may Indra and Agni raise you for well-being.
16.2.7 O gods, let this man be here only; let him not go from here to yonder. We ferry this one across from Death with a thousandfold heroic power.
16.2.8 I have ferried you across from Death; may the life-sustaining ones blow strength into you. Let not the disheveled-haired woman weep over you; let not she who wails with grief lament for you.
16.2.9 I have fetched you back; I have found you. You have returned, renewed. With every limb intact, all your sight, and all your life-span I have found for you.
16.2.10 Heaven has seized you upward, and Earth, and Prajāpati has seized you upward. The plants whose queen is Soma have ferried you across from Death.
16.2.11 As far as your light extended, darkness has retreated from you. Away from you we blow Death, Nirṛti, and wasting disease.
16.3.1 Grasp hold of this hearing of immortality; may your old age be unbroken. I bring back your vital force and your life-span. Do not go to the dust, to darkness — do not perish.
16.3.2 Come back to the light of the living, to the world; I carry you to a hundred autumns. I make your life-span ever longer and more extended. Let the nooses of Death, the curses, be released.
16.3.3 From Vāyu I have recovered your breath; from Sūrya I have recovered your sight all around. Whatever mind is yours, in you I hold it steady. Awaken with all your limbs; speak, converse with your tongue.
16.3.4 With the breath of bipeds and quadrupeds I blow upon you as upon a fire just kindled. Homage to your eye, O Mṛtyu; I have paid homage to your breath.
16.3.5 Let this one live; let him not die — we stir this one back into life. I make the healing remedy for him. O Mṛtyu, do not slay this man.
16.3.6 The Jīvalā, the Naghāriṣā, the living herb — the protecting, enduring, powerful Arundhatī — these I invoke here for his inviolate well-being.
16.3.7 Speak favorably; do not seize him — release this one. Belonging to you entirely, let him who lives all his years be here. O Bhava and Śarva, show mercy, grant shelter; thrust evil away and bestow life.
16.3.8 May the weapon of the gods enfold you protectively. I ferry you across; I have carried you over from the dust of Death. Driving the flesh-eating fire away from afar, I place a boundary around you for the sake of life.
16.3.9 O Mṛtyu, speak favorably for this one; be gracious to him — let him go up from here. Uninjured, with all his limbs intact, well-formed, let him attain the enjoyment of the self through old age for a hundred years.
16.3.10 O Mṛtyu, the dusty downward path of yours — I have turned it away from him. Guarding this man from that path, we make the brahman a coat of armor for him.
16.4.1 I make for you breath and vital breath; let old age and death make long life and well-being. The messengers of Yama dispatched by Vaivasvata, all those who roam about — I drive them far away.
16.4.2 Far away — malice, dissolution, the seizing demon beyond, flesh-devouring Piśācas; whatever evil being there is, every Rakṣas — that we smite away like darkness.
16.4.3 From immortal Agni Jātavedas, long-lived and cognizant of all births, I take breath for you, as for Manu — so that you may be unharmed and immortal in fellowship. This I do for you; may this be fulfilled for you.
16.4.4 May Heaven and Earth be auspicious to you, resting upon you without scorching heat, shining with splendour. May the sun warm you auspiciously; may the wind blow auspiciously upon your heart. May the heavenly, milk-rich waters flow auspiciously over you; may the plants be auspicious to you.
16.4.5 I have lifted you up from the lower region toward the higher earth. There let both Ādityas — Sun and Moon together — guard you.
16.4.6 The garment you put on for wearing, the girdle you fasten about yourself — we make that auspicious for your body; may it be unharmful in contact with you.
16.4.7 When, with a razor of fine keenness, the barber shaves off hair and beard — making the face beautiful, let it not rob this one of life.
16.4.8 Auspicious to you be rice and barley — not causing weakness, not causing oppression. These two repel disease; these two release from distress.
16.4.9 Whatever you eat, whatever you drink — the grain, the produce of tillage, the milk — what is to be eaten and what is not to be eaten: all food I make free of poison for you.
16.4.10 To both Day and Night together we entrust you. From the greedy devouring demons — protect this one of ours on all sides.
16.5.1 May there be for you a hundred, ten thousand years of life; two ages, three, four. May Indra and Agni, may all the gods consent to this without anger.
16.5.2 For autumn, for winter, for spring, for summer we entrust you. May the rainy seasons be gentle for you — those in which the plants flourish.
16.5.3 Death rules the two-footed; Death rules the four-footed. From that Death, lord of cattle, I lift you up. May he not slay you.
16.5.4 Unharmed, you shall not die; you shall not die — fear not. Truly, they do not perish there; they do not go to the lower realm of dust.
16.5.5 Truly everything lives there — cow, horse, man, beast — where this sacred formula is performed as a protective enclosure for life, for bliss.
16.5.6 May it guard you on all sides from the sorcery of kindred folk, from those of equal standing. Be one who does not wither; be immortal, one who outlives; may your vital forces not abandon your body.
16.5.7 May all the gods sustain you with immortality; may Paśupati be your advocate. May Savitṛ make you free of sickness; may breath enter you for the sake of life.
16.5.8 The hundred-and-one deaths, the fatal nights that are not to be outlived — from those let the gods release you, above and beyond Agni Vaiśvānara.
16.6.1 I kindle the strong slayer of Rakṣases; I approach the shelter of the most widely spread Friend. Agni, whetted and kindled with rites — may he protect us from harm by day, by night.
16.6.2 Touch with your flame those who grow strong with iron fangs, O Jātavedas, when kindled. With your tongue seize the fool-gods; having consumed the flesh-eaters, close your mouth upon them.
16.6.3 O bearer of both kinds, apply your fangs — fierce and whetted — upon the lower and the upper. And roam through the atmosphere, O Agni; crush the sorcerers with your jaws; fall upon them.
16.6.4 O Agni, pierce the skin of the sorcerer; may the fierce thunderbolt strike him down with heat. Shatter his joints, O Jātavedas; the flesh-eating fire, hungering for raw flesh, picks him apart.
16.6.5 O Agni, bending your arrows with sacrificial rites, smearing your shafts with speech and with thunderbolts — with those, pierce the sorcerers in their hearts; shatter the arms of those who oppose us.
16.6.6 Wherever you now see him, O Jātavedas, O Agni — standing still or moving about — or a sorcerer flying through the atmosphere: pierce him through with darkness, wholly, you who are whetted.
16.6.7 And shatter the sorcerer with your spears when seized, O Jātavedas; and when he is about to fly. Strike first, O blazing Agni; may the raw-flesh-eating female spirits, shrieking, devour him.
16.6.8 Declare here, O Agni, which one he is — the sorcerer who hears this. Seize him, O youngest one, with fuel; surrender him to the sight of the man-watching eye.
16.6.9 With your keen eye, O Agni, guard the sacrifice; lead it forward eastward to the Vasus, O wise one. Blazing against the fierce Rakṣases — may the sorcerers not deceive you, O watcher of men.
16.6.10 O watcher of men, look upon the Rakṣas among the settlements; shatter his three foremost points. Shatter his ribs, O Agni, with your heat; cleave the root of the sorcerer into three.
16.7.1 Thrice let the yātudhāna come within thy snare; he who smites the truth with falsehood, O Agni — him, crackling with thy flame, O Jātavedas, cut down before the eyes of him who praises thee.
16.7.2 What curse the two together hurl today, O Agni, what harsh word the chanters generate — the arrow that is born from wrath and from the mind: with that pierce the yātudhānas in the heart.
16.7.3 Smite away the yātudhānas with thy heat; smite away the rakṣas with thy blaze, O Agni; smite away the foolish demons with thy flame; smite away those who would drink up the vital force as thou blazest forth.
16.7.4 Let the gods today cut off the crooked one; let the hurled curses fly back upon him; let the arrows strike the word-thief in the vital spot; let the yātudhāna enter thy noose from every side.
16.7.5 From of old, O Agni, thou dost crush the yātudhānas; the rakṣases have never conquered thee in battles. Burn down the flesh-eating fools along with their companions; let them not escape from thy divine weapon.
16.7.6 The yātudhāna who defiles himself with human flesh, who does so with the flesh of horse or cattle beast, who carries off the milk of the inviolable cow, O Agni — hew off the heads of those with thy blaze.
16.7.7 Whoever, gazing upon men, is a yātudhāna and would drink the year-long milk of the dappled cow, or the colostrum — whoever among them would satisfy himself therewith, O Agni, pierce that one head-on with thy flame in the vital spot.
16.7.8 Let the yātudhānas drink the poison of the cows; let those evil ones be cut down for Aditi. Let the god Savitā give them over utterly; let them forfeit their share in the plants.
16.7.9 Do thou, O Agni, guard us from below and from above, from behind, and protect us from in front. Let those ageless, most scorching flames of thine, blazing, burn the evil-proclaimer.
16.7.10 From behind and from before, from below and from above, guard us with the poet's wisdom, O Agni the poet. As a friend guards a friend against old age, O Agni, thou art immortal — guard us mortals.
16.8.1 That eye, O Agni, fix upon the chanter — the hoof-smashing one with which thou seest the yātudhāna. Like Atharvan, with the divine light, burn down completely that unwise one who harms the truth.
16.8.2 Around thee, O Agni, we place our thought as a stronghold, O wise one, O powerful one — bold-hued, day by day the slayer of the Bhaṅgurāvat demons.
16.8.3 Agni blazes forth with great light; by his greatness he makes all things manifest. He overcomes the divine māyās and the evil ones; he sharpens his two horns to pierce the rakṣas.
16.8.4 Agni drives away the rakṣases, brilliant in radiance, immortal; pure, cleansing, worthy of invocation.
16.8.5 O Agni, protect us from affliction; ward off, O god, those who would harm us. Ageless, burn them with thy most scorching flames.
16.8.6 Those two ageless horns of thine, O Jātavedas, sharp-gleaming, whetted by sacred utterance — with those two pierce through the kimīdin who is hard-hearted, who would destroy, the yātudhāna who faces thee, O Jātavedas.
16.8.7 Burn together the Bhaṅgurāvat rakṣas with thy poison, O Indra; O Agni, with thy brilliant radiance, with flames whose tips are burning hot.
16.8.8 Burn down, O Agni, the yātudhāna and the kimīdin as a pair. I whet thee with hymns; be vigilant, O wise one, undeceived.
16.8.9 Smite down, O Agni, the blaze with thy fiery wrath, from every direction. Shatter the strength, the heroic power, of the yātudhāna rakṣas.
16.8.10 Crush down utterly this one who dwells on the path, O Indra, O guardian, with the fools who destroy yātudhānas. Let these two yātudhānas as a pair, O Agni, lie dead and scattered in every direction, slain by thy blaze.
16.8.11 Let Bṛhaspati guard us from behind and from the north, from below against the evil-doer. Let Indra guard us from in front and from the middle; let him, as a friend, make things more spacious for his friends.
16.9.1 O Indra and Soma, scorch the rakṣas, press it down, cast it down, O ye two bulls who increase darkness. Smite it away, the senseless one; burn it utterly, smite it dead and thrust it away; sharpen yourselves against the devourers.
16.9.2 O Indra and Soma, let burning heat go against the evil-proclaimer, against evil, like a cauldron full of fire. Lay irresistible hatred upon the brahman-hater, the flesh-eater, the fierce-eyed kimīdin.
16.9.3 O Indra and Soma, pierce the evildoers through into the pit, into the darkness that has no handhold. So that not one of them may rise up from there again — let that be your power, full of wrath and might.
16.9.4 O Indra and Soma, hurl down from heaven your stone-blows, heated in fire. With your burning, ageless weapons of death, pin the devourers in their ribs; let them go voiceless.
16.9.5 O Indra and Soma, hurl the death-bolt from heaven; bring the crusher from the earth upon the evil-proclaimer. Hew out the solar timber from the mountains with which you two crush down the waxing rakṣas.
16.9.6 O Indra and Soma, let this thought encompass you on all sides like a girth around prize steeds. The oblation-invocation I send forth to you with insight — invigorate these sacred formulations, as a king invigorates his men.
16.9.7 Remember it back with your vigorous courses — slain, the rakṣas of treachery, the Bhaṅgurāvat demon. O Indra and Soma, let there be no easy passage for the evildoer, for that deceitful one who would ever assail me.
16.9.8 Whoever denounces me as I go about with a guileless mind, denounces me with false words — may he be seized like water by a gleaming vessel; may the speaker of falsehood be shown to be a speaker of falsehood, O Indra.
16.9.9 Those who scatter naive speech about with their courses, or who corrupt what is auspicious with their practised powers — let Soma give them over to the serpent, or let him place them in the lap of Nirṛti.
16.9.10 Whoever would harm the sap of our food, O Agni — of horses, of cattle, of bodies — let that enemy, that thief, that committer of theft, go forth diminished; let him be abandoned here with his body and his progeny.
16.10.1 May he be cut off — body and offspring — and may all three earths lie beneath him. His glory withers away, O gods, whoever seeks to harm me by day and whoever seeks to harm me by night.
16.10.2 To the person of discernment it is well known: the words of truth and falsehood touch each other. Of these two, whichever is true, whichever is the more upright — that one Soma protects; the false he strikes down.
16.10.3 Soma does not drive forward the crooked, nor the kṣatriya who bears false office. He slays the rakṣas; he slays the speaker of falsehood — both lie in Indra's snare.
16.10.4 If indeed I am one who makes a god of falsehood, or if I invoke the gods in vain, O Agni — why then art thou angry with us, O Jātaveda? Let them who speak treachery cleave to Nirṛti without purpose.
16.10.5 May I die this very day if I am a yātudhāna, or if the breath of a man has been scorched by me. But let him who calls me a yātudhāna falsely be scattered apart with his ten heroes.
16.10.6 Whoever says to me 'thou art a sorcerer, a yātudhāna,' whoever, being a rakṣas himself, says 'I am pure' — may Indra smite him with a great blow; may he fall the lowest of all living creatures.
16.10.7 She who moves abroad at night like a screech-owl, concealing her treacherous body — may she fall down into endless pits; may the pressing-stones smite the rakṣas with their thunder.
16.10.8 Spread out, O Maruts; search through the settlements; seize the rakṣases, crush them together. Those who take the forms of birds and fly through the nights, or those who have set deception within the divine sacrifice — crush them.
16.10.9 Here they come flying, the dog-roving ones; the deceivers seek to deceive Indra, the undecievable. Śakra sharpens his weapon against the slanderers; now will he loose his thunderbolt against the sorcerers.
16.10.10 Roll forth the stone of heaven, O Indra; sharpen it well, O Maghavan, whetted by Soma. From the east, from the west, from below, from above — smite the rakṣases with the mountain.
16.11.1 Indra became Parāśara against the yātu-sorcerers, against those who churn away the oblation. Śakra indeed advances like an axe through a forest, splitting the rakṣases by the hundreds like vessels.
16.11.2 Slay the owl-sorcerer and the screech-owl-sorcerer; slay the dog-sorcerer and the kokay-bird-sorcerer; slay the eagle-sorcerer and the vulture-sorcerer — crush the rakṣas, O Indra, as with a pressing-stone.
16.11.3 Let no rakṣas, none possessed by yātu-sorcery, press upon us. Drive away the coupled Kimīdins. May the Earth protect us from earthly distress; may the Atmosphere protect us from the heavenly.
16.11.4 O Indra, smite the male yātudhāna and also the female who injures through sorcery. Let those with broken necks, the god-bereft, weep; may they not behold the sun as it rises.
16.11.5 Keep watch, keep vigil — O Indra and Soma, be awake! Hurl the weapon of death upon the rakṣases; hurl the thunderbolt upon the sorcerers.
16.12.1 The brown ones and the bright ones, the red ones and the dappled ones, the dark ones, the black plants — to all these healing herbs we now speak out.
16.12.2 May they protect this man from the yakṣma disease sent by the gods — those whose father is Dyaus, whose mother is Pṛthivī, and whose root has become the ocean.
16.12.3 The divine waters are foremost among the healing herbs. They have driven out the sin-laden yakṣma from your limb by limb.
16.12.4 I address the spreading plants, the clumping ones, the single-stemmed, the creeping herbs. I call you — the filamentous, the jointed, those with spreading branches — those plants that belong to all the gods, the potent, the life-sustaining for man.
16.12.5 By that power of yours, O herbs, which overpowers, by the virile force and strength that is in you — with that, release this man from this yakṣma disease.
16.12.6 I invoke Jīvalā, Naghāriṣā, the living herb, and Arundhatī the uplifting, the flowering one, the honey-sweet one.
16.12.7 May the wise, the knowing ones come here at my word, so that we may carry this man across, beyond misfortune.
16.12.8 The food of Agni, the embryo of the waters — those that grow anew as punarṇavās: may those steadfast, thousand-named healing plants be gathered and brought here.
16.12.9 The herbs that dwell in hollows, whose nature is water, the sharp-horned ones — shaking off all misfortune, they drive it away.
16.12.10 Those that release bonds, the wide-opening ones, the fierce ones that destroy poison, and those that destroy the balāsa affliction, those that destroy rakṣases, that neutralize kṛtyā witchcraft — may those herbs come here.
16.13.1 Benign be to you the herbs, the purchased ones, the mightier plants, the creepers that have been invoked with praise; may Sarasvatī, the eldest of the waters, protect our cattle, our horse, our man, our beast.
16.13.2 Honey-sweet the root, honey-sweet the tip of these plants has become; honey-sweet the middle of the creepers; honey-sweet their leaf, honey-sweet their flower — born of sweetness, they are a taste of immortality; they yield ghee and food for the herd of cattle led by the bull.
16.13.3 However many, however numerous these herbs that grow upon the earth — may they, with their thousand leaves, release us from the distress of death.
16.13.4 The tiger-amulet, the gem of plants, the guardian that wards off curses — may it drive far away from us all diseases and all demons.
16.13.5 As the roar of a lion, as the blazing of fire scatters what was gathered against the herbs — the wasting disease of cattle and of men, chased off by the plants, shall flow away like a navigable river into a river channel.
16.13.6 Loosed forth from Vaiśvānara, the all-consuming fire, the herbs spread themselves over the earth from here — they whose king is the lord of the forest.
16.13.7 The creepers that I know and those that I see with my eyes, those unknown ones that we may come to know, those in which we know healing to be gathered — may all herbs, complete and entire, heed my utterance.
16.13.8 The Āṅgirasa plants, the universal-healing creepers that grow on mountains and on level grounds — may those herbs, full of delight, benign, be a blessing to our heart.
16.13.9 The aśvattha, the darbha among the creepers, King Soma the immortal oblation; rice and barley are two healers, the two immortal sons of heaven.
16.13.10 Rise up, you herbs, as it thunders and roars — when Parjanya, rich in seed, waters you, O speckle-mothered ones.
16.14.1 By that immortal power we bring this man across to safety; and I make a remedy so that he may live a hundred years.
16.14.2 The boar knows the healing plant; the mongoose knows the medicinal herbs; whatever herbs the Gandharvas and the serpents know — let those herbs come here.
16.14.3 Those that the suparṇas know, the heavenly Āṅgirasa plants that the raghaṭa bird knows; those that the birds, the haṃsas know, and all the flying creatures; the herbs that the deer know — those I call hither to give him aid.
16.14.4 As many herbs as the inviolable cows graze upon, as many as the goats and sheep graze upon — of that many kinds of universal-healing herbs I bring a full measure toward you.
16.14.5 In as many herbs as human healers know a remedy — may herbs of that many kinds, brought to you, bestow shelter upon you.
16.14.6 Those that are in flower, those that have given birth, those bearing fruit, and those without fruit — like mothers uniting together, let them give milk to him for the sake of his unharmed wholeness.
16.14.7 I have raised you out of the five-fettered snare, and out of the ten-fettered snare as well; I have lifted you out of Yama's foot-fetter — with the herbs I have brought you safely across.
16.15.1 The first chariot belongs to Indra; the next chariot belongs to the gods; Varuṇa's is truly the third. The last chariot is that of the serpents — it has come near to the post; let it then strike.
16.15.2 The darbha grass is the flame, the tender shoot; it is the shield of the horse, the shield of the man; it is the cross-bar of the chariot — the venom of the serpents is made powerless; indeed it is a mighty ward.
16.15.3 O white one, strike down with your fore-hoof and with your hind-hoof alike; like a piece of wood that has been soaked in water, the venom of the serpents is made powerless — indeed it is a mighty ward.
16.15.4 Araṃghasa, having plunged and emerged again, spoke once more: like a piece of wood that has been soaked in water, the venom of the serpents is made powerless — indeed it is a mighty ward.
16.15.5 Paidva slays the kaṣarṇīla serpent; Paidva slays the white one and the dark one; Paidva has shattered the head of the ratharvyā, of the spotted snake.
16.15.6 O Paidva, go forth first; we shall follow after you. Drive the serpents away from the path along which we shall travel.
16.15.7 Here Paidva was born; here is his domain. These are the hoofprints of the steed, of Vājinīvat, the serpent-slayer.
16.15.8 What is shut let it not spring open; what is open let it not shut tight. In this field there are two serpents, a female and a male — both of them are rendered venomless.
16.15.9 Venomless are the serpents here, those near and those far away. With a club I strike the scorpion; the serpent that has come I strike with the staff.
16.15.10 This is the remedy of Aghāśva, for both kinds of serpent and for the constrictor as well; Indra and Paidva have restrained for me the serpent that seeks to do evil.
16.16.1 We meditate upon Paidva, the steadfast one, the firmly-abiding one; these spotted serpents behind us sit blazing forth.
16.16.2 Their life-breath extinguished, their venom destroyed, slain by Indra the wielder of the vajra — Indra has struck them down; we likewise have struck them down.
16.16.3 Slain are the tiraścirāja serpents, crushed are the spotted pṛdākus; strike down the darvī, the karikrata, the śvitra, the dark asita lurking in the kuśa-grass.
16.16.4 A Kirāta maiden, a young girl companion, digs up the healing herb with her golden spades upon the ridges of the mountains.
16.16.5 Here has come the young healer, the variegated, the unvanquished; he is indeed the crusher of the svaja serpent and of both species of scorpion.
16.16.6 Indra has crushed the serpents for me, and Mitra and Varuṇa, and both Vāta and Parjanya.
16.16.7 Paidva has crushed the serpents for me, and the spotted pṛdākus as well — the svajas, the tiraścirājas, the kasarṇīlas, the daśonaśīs.
16.16.8 Indra first slew the progenitor of your kind, O serpent; of those crushed ones, what then could remain as the essence of them?
16.16.9 For I have seized the heads together, as Pauñjiṣṭa seizes the skull-bowl; having crossed to the midst of the Sindhu river, I wash away the serpent's venom.
16.16.10 Let the rivers carry away the venom of all serpents; slain are the tiraścirājas, crushed are the spotted pṛdākus.
16.17.1 I choose out the herbs, as one chooses fertile fields with skill; I lead them like swift mares — O serpent, let your venom go forth out of you.
16.17.2 Whatever venom is in fire, in the sun, in the earth, in the herbs — the kāndā-venom, the kanikla — let it go forth; let it become your secretion flowing outward.
16.17.3 Drive it out from limb to limb, protect the heart from it; then let the fiery power of the venom depart downward from you.
16.17.4 O Agni, protect Vimada; lead this one back, restore him to life, O Jātavedas. May we not fall into your wrath through wrongdoing; let not the serpent slay our man with its venom.
16.17.5 Those serpents born of fire, born of herbs, those that have come into being from clouds and lightning — their many and diverse broods: to those serpents we would offer reverence.
16.17.6 You are named Taudī, or else you are named Ghṛtācī, O maiden; from beneath your foot, from between your feet, I take the venom-antidote.
16.17.7 The venom stood far off; venom wailed at venom and shrank away; Agni drove out the venom of the serpent, Soma led it away; the venom followed after the biter — the serpent became deathless.
16.18.1 Whence were those two born? Which is that half? From which realm, from which of the two earths? The two calves of Virāj arose from the primordial waters — I ask you: by which of the two was she milked?
16.18.2 He who made the waters cry out by his greatness, having fashioned a triangular womb lying there — the wish-fulfilling calf of Virāj has made the bodies turn away from sight in the hidden depths.
16.18.3 Those four great ones, of which the fourth releases speech — let the wise brahman know this through ascetic power: that in which the one is yoked, and that in which the one alone abides.
16.18.4 The sāmans are fashioned around the Bṛhat; from the sixth, five are built above it; the Bṛhat is fashioned from the Bṛhatī meter — from what, moreover, is the Bṛhatī measured out?
16.18.5 The Bṛhatī is fashioned around the measure, built upon the mother's measure; for Māyā was born from Māyā, and Mātali arose from Māyā.
16.18.6 Above the image of Vaiśvānara is the sky; as far as Agni has pressed apart the two world-halves — from thence, from the sixth, the stotra-hymns proceed; they rise up hence toward the sixth day.
16.18.7 We seers, six of us, ask you this, O Kaśyapa — for you have harnessed what is fit to be harnessed and what is capable of yoking; they call Virāj the father of Brahman — reveal her to us according to the seasons, among our companions.
16.18.8 She when dislodged, the sacrifices were dislodged after her; she when standing firm, they stand firm in attendance upon her; in her cowpen, at her bringing-forth, the yakṣa trembles — she is Virāj, O seers, in the highest heaven.
16.18.9 The breathless one advances through the breath of breathing beings; Virāj follows after Svarāj from behind; Virāj, touching all things, beautiful in form — some see her in you, others see her not in you.
16.18.10 Who truly knows the twofold nature of Virāj, who knows her seasons, who again knows her ordered pattern? Who knows her strides, drawn forth in manifold ways, who knows her abode and how manifold are her dawns?
16.19.1 She is verily that one who first shone forth; she moves within the waters, having entered therein. The bride has conquered, the newly-come, the mother; great are the powers of greatness abiding within her.
16.19.2 The two Dawns, adorned with meter as their wings, course together following the same womb. The wife of Sūrya moves in union with him, perceptive, blazing with light, unwasting, rich in seed.
16.19.3 Three have come along the path of Ṛta; three heats have come following the generative flow. One quickens offspring, one quickens nourishment, one guards the kingdom of those devoted to the gods.
16.19.4 The Agnīṣṭoma they established as the fourth; the seers, arranging the wings of the sacrifice, bringing the Gāyatrī, Triṣṭubh, Jagatī, Anuṣṭubh, and Bṛhat-arkā — bringing heaven for the sacrificer.
16.19.5 Five dawnings, following them five milkings, the cow of five names, following her the five seasons; the five directions ordered by the fifteenfold — all these, headed as one, face toward the one world.
16.19.6 Six born-and-existent firstborns of Ṛta, and six Sāmans bearing the sixfold day; the plow of six yokings follows the Sāman upon Sāman — six, they say, are Heaven-and-Earth, six the broad expanses.
16.19.7 Six, they say, are the cold months, and six the hot — tell us which among the seasons is the surplus one. Seven fair-winged seers settled down; seven meters follow, and seven consecrations.
16.19.8 Seven oblations, and seven kindling-woods indeed, seven honeys, and seven seasons verily; seven ghee-portions have come round to existence — seven hotar-priests sacrifice seasonally. These I have heard called the seven vultures.
16.19.9 Eight are the stations of the firstborn of Ṛta; eight the divine priests-of-Indra; Aditi of eight wombs, of eight sons — the oblation approaches toward the eighth night.
16.19.10 Deeming this the better way, I have come hither; in your friendship I am auspicious. May there be for you an intention propitious, of common birth; knowing all, may it accompany us entirely.
16.20.1 The young cow milked for Indra alone — a heifer milking her first milk of beestings; then fourfold she satisfied the four: the gods, the humans, the asuras, and the seers.
16.20.2 Eight portions are Indra's, six are Yama's, seven sevenfold belong to the seers; the waters, humans, and plants — these five have poured themselves out in sequence for them.
16.20.3 Who then is the cow? Who the sole-seer? What the Sāman? What the blessings? The disease that grows alone upon the earth, alone in season — which one, then, is that?
16.20.4 One is the cow, one the sole-seer, one the Sāman and one the direction of blessings; the disease that grows alone upon the earth, alone in season — it exceeds not beyond.
16.21.1 Homage to Prāṇa, in whose power all this universe is held — who, existent, is lord of all, in whom all things are established.
16.21.2 Homage to you, O Prāṇa, as roaring thunder-cry; homage to you as the thunderclap; homage to you be as lightning; homage to you, O Prāṇa, as rain.
16.21.3 When, O Prāṇa, upon the arrival of the season you thunder over the plants, they burst forth with vigor, they take on the embryo, and thereupon they bring forth abundantly.
16.21.4 When, O Prāṇa, with thunderclap you thunder over the plants, then all that exists upon the earth rejoices at that moment.
16.21.5 When Prāṇa thundered over the world with rain and thunderclap, the cattle rejoiced then — 'Great indeed shall this be for us.'
16.21.6 The plants, rained upon abundantly, spoke together with Prāṇa: 'Life force has truly extended out for us; all of us it has made fragrant.'
16.21.7 Homage to you, O Prāṇa, as you breathe forth; homage be to you as you breathe back. Homage to your westward movement, homage to your eastward movement — this homage here to all of you.
16.21.8 Homage to you coming near, homage be to you departing afar; homage to you, O Prāṇa, standing still, and homage to you seated.
16.21.9 That form of yours which is dear, O Prāṇa, or that which is yet dearer to you, O Prāṇa — and whatever medicine is yours, bestow that upon us for the sake of living.
16.21.10 Prāṇa clothes his creatures as a father his beloved son; Prāṇa is verily the lord of all — both of what breathes and what breathes not.
16.22.1 Prāṇa is death; prāṇa is immortality; the gods attend upon prāṇa. Prāṇa indeed establishes the truth-speaker in the highest world.
16.22.2 Prāṇa is Virāj; prāṇa is the directress; all things attend upon prāṇa. Prāṇa is Agni, the moon, the sun; they call prāṇa Prajāpati.
16.22.3 Prāṇa and apāna are rice and barley; the ox is called prāṇa. In barley indeed prāṇa is lodged; apāna is called rice.
16.22.4 The person breathes out and breathes in while yet within the womb. When thou, O Prāṇa, dost quicken him, then he is born forth from thee.
16.22.5 They call prāṇa Mātariśvan; wind indeed is called prāṇa. In prāṇa verily are the past and the future; in prāṇa is all things gathered together.
16.22.6 The plants of Atharvan, those of the Āṅgirases, the divine ones, and those born among men — all plants rejoice when thou, O Prāṇa, dost quicken them.
16.22.7 When Prāṇa has rained upon the great earth with rain, the plants rejoice, and likewise whatsoever creeping herbs there are.
16.22.8 Whoever knows this thy prāṇa and that in which thou art established — may all things bring tribute to him in yonder highest world.
16.22.9 As, O Prāṇa, all these creatures here bring tribute to thee, so may they bring tribute to him who has heard thee, to those who have heard.
16.22.10 He moves within the womb among the gods; having come into being he is born again. He — the past, the future, the world, the yet-to-be — as a father has entered the son by his powers.
16.23.1 The swan does not wrench up even one foothold as it flies up from the water. If, O friend, he were to wrench it up, then there would be neither today nor tomorrow, neither night nor day, nor would anything whatsoever be discerned.
16.23.2 Eight-wheeled it rolls, single-rimmed, with a thousand syllables, onward in front and backward behind. By its half has this whole universe come into being; what then is that half — what is its sign?
16.23.3 He who is lord of this universe of all beings, who moves all things — among the others, to the swift-bowed one: to him, O Prāṇa, be homage to thee.
16.23.4 He who is lord of all the beings of this universe, who moves all things — may Prāṇa, unwearied, wise with brahman, protect me.
16.23.5 Standing upright he keeps watch among the sleeping; he does not lie crosswise. Of his sleeping among the sleepers no one has ever heard.
16.23.6 O Prāṇa, do not turn away from me; thou shalt be no other than me. Like the embryo of the waters, for life I bind thee within me, O Prāṇa.
16.24.1 This bull of a thousand, rich in milk, bearing all forms upon his flanks, teaching welfare to the giver and the sacrificer — he, son of Bṛhaspati, has stretched the thread of the dawn-cows.
16.24.2 He who at the first became the measure of the waters, lord over all like the divine earth — the father of calves, the master of the inviolable cows, may he place us in thousandfold nourishment.
16.24.3 A male, pregnant, ancient, rich in milk — the bull bears the barrel of treasure. May Agni Jātavedas carry him, offered up by the paths that lead to the gods, to Indra.
16.24.4 This is the portion of the gods, the binding-bond, the essence of waters, of plants, of clarified butter. Śakra chose the drop of Soma; the great stone-presser became what is his body.
16.24.5 Father of calves, lord of the inviolable cows, and moreover father of the great bellowing bulls — the calf is the afterbirth; the beestings are the first milking; curds, clarified butter — that indeed is his seed.
16.24.6 Thou bearest a full vessel of Soma; Tvaṣṭṛ, the begetter of forms, the progenitor of cattle — may thy generative powers be propitious; grant us those yonder ones, O self-powerful one.
16.24.7 The vigor of Indra, the arms of Varuṇa, the shoulders of the Aśvins — this is the hump of the Maruts.
16.24.8 He bears the oblation-butter; clarified butter is his seed; thousandfold nourishment — that they call the sacrifice. Wearing the form of Indra, may this bull, given by the gods, come to us benignly.
16.24.9 Rich in milk, thou stretchest out the divine clans; they call thee Indra, they call thee Sarasvant. A thousand at a single bestowal does he give who sacrifices a bull to a brahmin.
16.24.10 Bṛhaspati, Savitṛ has established thy mind; thy breath of life has been brought from Tvaṣṭṛ and Vāyu. With mind I offer thee into the atmosphere; Heaven and Earth have become thy sacrificial grass.
16.25.1 He who moves among the gods like Indra, lowing loudly among the kine — let Brahmā praise with a blessing the limbs of that bull.
16.25.2 His flanks belonged to Anumati; his haunches belonged to Bhaga; his knee-joints — Mitra declared: "These two are mine alone."
16.25.3 His rump belonged to the Ādityas; his haunches belonged to Bṛhaspati; his tail belonged to the god Vāta — with it he fans the herbs.
16.25.4 His chest was Jāmiśaṃsa's; the vessel of Soma was set there; when they assigned portions to the bull, they declared his hooves to be the Utthātu.
16.25.5 His entrails belonged to Sinīvālī; his hide they declared to be Sūryā's — when all the gods assembled and apportioned the bull.
16.25.6 The gods gave his hoofs to Saramā and to the tortoises; his belly contents they sustained for the insects and for the dung-beetles.
16.25.7 With his two horns he drives away the demons; with his eye he smites the enemy; with his two ears he hears what is auspicious — he who is the inviolable lord of kine.
16.25.8 He performs a hundredfold sacrifice; the fires do not afflict him; all the gods quicken him who offers oblation to the bull, O Brāhmaṇa.
16.25.9 Having given a bull to a Brāhmaṇa, one makes the mind more spacious; may he behold the thriving of the inviolable ones in his own cattle-pen.
16.25.10 May there be cattle; may there be offspring; and may there be bodily strength — may all the gods consent to all of that for the giver of the bull.
16.26.1 This one, drinking in vigor, bears a wealth endowed with consciousness; this one milks the good-milking cow ever accompanied by her calf, milks the amenable one, the wise one, in front of the sky.
16.26.2 Of tawny form, sustainer of vigor from the sky, the might of Indra, all-formed, has come to us; bestowing offspring upon us and wealth, may we abide, having drawn near to the increase of riches.
16.26.3 We place this young one here among you; roaming in delight with him, follow the amenable cows; do not harm us, O well-favored ones by your nature — attend upon us with the increase of wealth.
16.26.4 Let the Upaparcana come hither; let it mix within this cattle-pen — the seed of the bull, O Indra, that is your virile power.
16.27.1 This amulet-stone bound as a counter-charm is tied upon the hero for a hero's sake; possessed of virile force, a slayer of rivals, a warrior-hero, a protector, most auspicious.
16.27.2 This gem is a rival-slayer, a fine hero, full of might, a prize-winner, overpowering, formidable; may the warrior come forward, deflecting and corrupting sorceries.
16.27.3 With this gem Indra, the wise one, slew Vṛtra; with this he caused the Asuras to be overthrown; with this he conquered both heaven and earth; with this he conquered the four directions.
16.27.4 This Srāktya gem, a repeller, a counter-charm — the gem full of vital force that crushes enemies: may it guard us from all sides.
16.27.5 That Agni has declared, that Soma has declared, Bṛhaspati, Savitā, and Indra have declared it — may those gods, as your priests, drive back with counter-charms the sorceries directed against you.
16.27.6 Within himself he concealed heaven and earth, and the day, and the sun, and also this Brahmaṇaspati — may those gods, as your priests, drive back with counter-charms the sorceries directed against you.
16.27.7 Those persons who fashion armor with the Srāktya gem — like the sun mounting the sky, the sovereign drives away sorceries.
16.27.8 With the Srāktya gem, as with a sage endowed with wisdom, I have conquered all armies; I smite the enemies, I slay the Rakṣases.
16.27.9 Whatever sorceries are those of the Āṅgirasas, whatever sorceries are those of the Asuras, the sorceries that are self-made and those that are brought by others — may all of them pass away to the far distance, beyond the ninety navigable waters.
16.27.10 May the gods bind the gem as armor upon him — Indra, Viṣṇu, Savitā, Rudra, Agni, Prajāpati, Parameṣṭhin, Virāj, Vaiśvānara, and all the seers.
16.28.1 Thou art the foremost of plants, as the bull among cattle, as the tiger among beasts of prey. That one whom we sought and declared — him they called a counter-snare.
16.28.2 He indeed becomes a tiger, and also a lion, and also a bull; he shines forth in all directions, he who bears this amulet.
16.28.3 The Apsarases do not smite him, nor the Gandharvas, nor mortal men; he shines forth in all directions, he who bears this amulet.
16.28.4 Kaśyapa fashioned thee, Kaśyapa set thee in motion; Indra, bearing thee fearlessly among men, conquered by thee the one who clings close.
16.28.5 The gods fastened this amulet, the crusher of rivals, as armour. He who seeks to slay thee with sorceries, he who seeks to slay thee with consecrations, he who seeks to slay thee with sacrifices — smite him back, O Indra, with the hundred-jointed thunderbolt.
16.28.6 This is indeed the amulet that turns back, mighty and victorious; may it guard offspring and wealth — all-protecting, of great auspiciousness.
16.28.7 Make us free of rivals from below, free of rivals from above; O Indra, O hero, place before us a light free of rivals, and behind us as well.
16.28.8 The broad, fierce armour belonging to Indra and Agni — which all the All-Gods together cannot pierce — let that great armour protect thy body from every side, so that thou mayest live long, reaching old age.
16.28.9 The divine amulet has mounted thee for my unharmed continuance. Enter ye into this post, O ye who guard the body, triple-shielded, for vigour.
16.28.10 May Indra deposit heroic power in this; enter ye, O gods, into this. For long life, for a hundred autumns — so may he live long, reaching old age.
16.28.11 May Indra bind the amulet upon thee — ever conquering, unconquered, drinking Soma, the bull who creates fearlessness; may he protect thee always, by day and by night, from every side.
16.29.1 Let Indra churn, the churner, Śakra the hero, the breaker of strongholds — so that we may slay the army of enemies by the thousands.
16.29.2 Let the stinking rope, the blower-upon, make yonder army stinking; seeing before them fire and smoke, may they place fear in their own hearts.
16.29.3 Let the Rough-named one make those ones rough; the slayer smites them with slaughters. Like arrows, let them quickly shatter, caught fast in the great net.
16.29.4 Crush down yonder ones, O Aśvattha; gnaw yonder ones, O swift Khadira. Like the snapping of tāja-reeds let them break, caught fast in the great net.
16.29.5 The atmosphere was the net, the great directions were the net-poles; having covered the army with that net, Indra swept away the Dasyus.
16.29.6 Great is thy net, O great Indra, O hero, worth a thousand, possessed of a hundredfold power; with that net, O Maghavan, press down the enemies through all the everlasting years.
16.29.7 Great is thy net, of the great Śakra possessed of troops; with it Indra slew a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand of the Dasyus, having covered their army.
16.29.8 This great world was the net of the great Śakra; with that Indra-net and with darkness I cover all those yonder ones.
16.29.9 Exhaustion, fierce-whirling distress, and inescapable affliction, weariness and languor and bewilderment — with these I cover all those yonder ones.
16.29.10 I deliver those yonder ones to Death; they are bound by the nooses of Death. The sinister messengers of Death — to them I hand these over, having bound them.
16.30.1 O messengers of Death, lead those ones away; O messengers of Yama, submerge them. Let them be slain beyond the thousands; the weapon of Bhava crushes them.
16.30.2 The Sādhyas go lifting one net-pole with vigour; the Rudras a second, the Vasus a third — one is lifted by the Ādityas.
16.30.3 Let all the gods come pressing down from above with vigour; let the Aṅgirasas come striking in the middle, smiting the army with weapons.
16.30.4 Trees, the offspring of trees, plants, and herbs — bipeds and quadrupeds I urge on so that they may smite yonder army.
16.30.5 Gandharvas and Apsarases, gods, serpents, beings of holy people, and the Fathers — seen and unseen ones I urge on so that they may smite yonder army.
16.30.6 These nooses of Death are yoked — having stepped into which, thou art not released; let this snare smite that army by the thousands.
16.30.7 The gharma-vessel blazes with fire; this oblation is the slayer of thousands. O Bhava of the speckled arm, and O Śarva, smite that army yonder.
16.30.8 Let them fall upon the searing heat of Death, upon hunger, exhaustion, slaughter, and fear. O Indra with thy two eye-nets, and O Śarva, smite that army yonder.
16.30.9 Defeated, flee with trembling, O enemies, conquered and routed by the brahman-power; of these, driven forward by Bṛhaspati, let not one be released.
16.30.10 Let their weapons fall away; may they not be able to fix an arrow to the string. Then, of these greatly terrified ones, let arrows smite their vital spots.
16.30.11 Let both Heaven and Earth roar together upon them; let the atmosphere together with the deities roar upon them. May they find neither kinsman nor firm footing; striking one another, let them go to Death.
16.31.1 The four directions are the mule-mares of the divine chariot; the oblation-portions are its hooves; the atmosphere is its upward shaft.
16.31.2 Heaven and earth are its two wings; the seasons are the reins; speech is the outer road of the chariot.
16.31.3 Day and night are the two wheels; the months are the spokes; the year is the axle-base.
16.31.4 Virāj is the pole; the two fires are the front of the chariot; Indra is the left-standing one; the Moon is the charioteer.
16.31.5 From here conquer, conquer thoroughly, conquer, conquer altogether — svāhā!
16.32.1 For Madhukaśā was born from heaven, from earth, from the atmosphere, from the ocean, from fire, from the winds. Having waited upon her, all creatures clad in immortality rejoice with their hearts.
16.32.2 Men behold her movement upon the earth, severally, pondering her in many ways. For Madhukaśā was born from fire and the winds — the fierce granddaughter of the Maruts.
16.32.3 Great and all-formed is her milk; they call it the seed of the ocean. Whence Madhukaśā comes forth rejoicing — there is the breath of life, there immortality is lodged.
16.32.4 Mother of the Ādityas, daughter of the Vasus, the breath of creatures, the navel of immortality — golden-hued Madhukaśā, radiant with ghee, moves as a great splendour among mortals.
16.32.5 The gods gave birth to the whip of honey; her womb became all-formed. The mother nourishes him newly born and tender; he, once born, clothes all the worlds.
16.32.6 Who truly knows them? Who has declared them — her two breasts that flow in a thousand streams, imperishable, milking out vigour without ever shrinking?
16.32.7 Who truly knows it? Who has discerned it — that vessel of her heart, the imperishable Soma-receptacle? May a brahman of sound understanding rejoice therein.
16.32.8 She who moves to the rites with the hiṅkāra-call — great, sustaining life, resounding loudly — lowing repeatedly toward the three ritual heatings, she bellows her cry, she yields milk with her streams.
16.32.9 The waters approach her as she is full-uddered; the mighty bulls approach her; the self-rulers approach her. They rain, they cause it to rain — in that the waters know desire and nourishment.
16.32.10 Your thunder is your voice, O Prajāpati; as bull you cast your vigour down upon the earth. For Madhukaśā was born from fire and the winds — the fierce granddaughter of the Maruts.
16.33.1 As Soma at the morning pressing becomes dear to the Aśvins, even so let the Aśvins hold radiant lustre within my self.
16.33.2 As Soma at the midday pressing becomes dear to Indra and Agni, even so let Indra and Agni hold lustre [within my self].
16.33.3 As Soma at the third pressing becomes dear to the Ṛbhus, even so let the Ṛbhus hold radiant lustre within my self.
16.33.4 May I be born in honey, may I think in honey. I have come to you, O Agni, rich in milk — unite me with lustre.
16.33.5 Unite me, O Agni, with lustre; unite me with offspring; unite me with long life. May the gods know this of me; may Indra know it together with the seers.
16.33.6 [Colophon:] "That which is on the mountains" — this is a five-verse sūkta.
16.33.7 As the honey-makers gather honey upon honey, even so let the Aśvins hold strength and vital force within me.
16.33.8 As bees smear this honey upon the honeycomb, even so let the Aśvins hold lustre and blazing energy within me.
16.33.9 O Aśvins, lords of auspiciousness, anoint me with the honey of the bee, so that I may speak lustrous speech among the people.
16.33.10 As bull you cast vigour upon the earth; with the honey-whip from heaven you have anointed the earth. All creatures live by her once she is born; therewith does she nourish the remaining vigour.
16.34.1 The earth is the shaft, the atmosphere the womb, the sky the lash, lightning the lustre. Thou art the lash of honey, dripping ghee, the golden drop.
16.34.2 Thou art vast, thou art eminent, thou art water, thou art sky, thou art great. Make me water, make me sky, make me great.
16.34.3 Thou art the ocean, undiminished, unbounded, winning thousands — let a thousand come to me. Whosoever truly knows the seven honeys of the honey-lash, and the seven honey-bearing ones —
16.34.4 — he wins the honey-rich world; the honey thereof becomes unassailable. When it thunders in the cloud-rift, it is Prajāpati himself who manifests thereby for his creatures.
16.34.5 Therefore one should stand with the sacred cord worn to the east, saying: 'O Prajāpati, be thou aware of me.' Prajāpati becomes aware of him, and his creatures become aware of him — so knows he who thus knows.
16.35.1 That which skilled healers fashion as a bride at the wedding procession — all-formed, wrought by hand — let us drive them away from the very core.
16.35.2 The sorcery-effigy endowed with a head, full of sap, possessed of ears, fashioned and assembled by the sorcerer, all-formed — back and away we dispatch it; let it reach the one who made it.
16.35.3 Whether made by a Śūdra, made by a king, made by a woman, or made by brahmin-sages — like a wife repulsed by her husband, let it reach the maker, its own kinsman.
16.35.4 With this herb — just this one — do I act.
16.35.5 Let the sorceries fall upon the sorcery-maker, the curses upon the curser. Back and away we dispatch them; let them reach the one who made them.
16.35.6 The westward-facing Āṅgirasa is our overseer and domestic priest. Turn back the sorceries westward, and smite that sorcery-maker.
16.35.7 He who told thee 'Go forth!' in a contrary and hostile utterance — turn back upon him, O sorcery; do not seek us who are guiltless.
16.35.8 He who fitted together thy joints with skill, as a master does with a chariot — go to him; there is thy path; this person here is unknown to thee.
16.35.9 Those knowing sorcerers who have smeared thee upon the sorcery-image — we know this sorcery-bane, the return-path counter-charm; with it we bathe thee.
16.35.10 If we have approached a woman ill-fated, bathed in misfortune, whose calf is dead — let all evil depart from me; let no wealth fail to abide with me.
16.36.1 Whatever name they seized of thine — whether when giving to the Fathers or at the sacrifice — from all that pollution, from every sin, may these herbs release thee.
16.36.2 From divine sin, from ancestral name-seizure, from pollution fully contracted — may the plants release thee by their power, by the brahman, by the ṛk-verses, by the milk of the sages.
16.36.3 As the wind dislodges the dust from the earth and the cloud from the atmosphere — even so let all ill-being depart from us, driven away by the brahman.
16.36.4 Depart, O thou braying and bound one, like a she-ass. Seek out the makers from here, driven away, expelled by the mighty brahman.
16.36.5 This is the path — along it I lead thee, O sorcery; we dispatch thee back toward the one who sent thee. Travel along it as a all-formed, misshapen draught-animal travels without a cart — go, consuming.
16.36.6 Thy light faces away, thy path faces backward; make thy course elsewhere, not toward us. Cross beyond the ninety navigable streams, pass over the difficult crossings and the swirling rapids — harm us not; be gone.
16.36.7 Like wind crushing and felling a tree — crush and fell them; spare the cow, the horse, the man of these folk. O sorcery, turning back from here, rouse the makers to childlessness.
16.36.8 The sorcery they wrought for thee upon the sacrificial grass, the stake they buried against thee in the cremation-ground or in the field, or by which the more cunning ones assailed thee in the Gārhapatya fire — being innocent and simple, from all that we destroy and free thee here.
16.36.9 The enmity brought near, tracked down, buried, the treacherous deed — we have discerned the makers. Let it return whence it came; there let it turn about like a horse; let it smite the offspring of the sorcery-maker.
16.36.10 Iron swords there are in our house; we know, O sorcery, how many joints thou hast.
16.37.1 Rise up and begone, O sorcery-charm dispatched by an unknown one — what do you seek here? I shall cut off your neck and feet, O kṛtya; flee away!
16.37.2 May Indra and Agni, the two lords of creatures, protect us; may Soma the king, the supreme sovereign who bestows grace, and the lords of cosmic order be gracious to us.
16.37.3 Let Bhava and Śarva hurl the divine lightning-bolt of the gods against the evil-doer, against the maker of the kṛtya, against the worker of ill.
16.37.4 Whether you have come as a two-footed or four-footed kṛtya, assembled and fashioned in all forms by the sorcerer — having become an eight-footed beast of ill omen, go back the way you came!
16.37.5 Smeared and anointed, arrayed in her own cry, carrying all evil — begone! Seek out, O kṛtya, your maker, as a daughter seeks her own father.
16.37.6 Begone, O kṛtya, do not linger — lead back your step as if to one who has been pierced. He is the quarry and you the hunter; he who sent you does not deserve to destroy you.
16.37.7 The mortal is his own death — he who, through heedlessness, fashioned with his own two hands destruction for himself.
16.37.8 The later one smites with his arrow the one who sat before, having reclaimed it; and in turn the later one strikes back against the one who is slaying the former.
16.37.9 Hear this word of mine and return to where you came from; go back again to the one who fashioned you.
16.37.10 The slaying of the innocent is truly dreadful, O kṛtya; do not smite our cow, our horse, our man.
16.38.1 Wherever you have been deposited, from there we rouse you up and drive you forth; become lighter than a leaf.
16.38.2 If you are shrouded in darkness, covered over with a net — we dissolve you all, O kṛtyās, and send you back again to the maker.
16.38.3 Crush the offspring of the one who has gone forth, who made the kṛtya, who performed root-sorcery; O kṛtya, do not spare him — smite yonder maker of the kṛtya!
16.38.4 As the sun is freed from darkness, casts off the night, and surpasses the beacons of dawn — so I cast off all ill-being and evil, as an elephant shakes off dust.
16.39.1 The ties that are measured at the top, measured across, and measured around — the knottings of the all-sheltering house we now unloose.
16.39.2 Whatever noose has been bound in you, O all-sheltering one, and whatever knot has been made — I, like Bṛhaspati, undo that binding by the power of the sacred word.
16.39.3 He who drew tight, who compacted and made a firm knot in you — knowing your joints, we loosen them as if with a blade, together with Indra.
16.39.4 The knottings of the clamps, of the peg-fastenings, and of the encircling embrace — all the bindings of yours, O wife of the house-lord, we now unloose.
16.39.5 The lashings of your bamboo rafters, and of the binding-grass, and of the wing-beams — all your bindings, O all-sheltering house, we now unloose.
16.39.6 The hanging nets within you that they have pierced through for some purpose — those we now loosen for you. Be auspicious, O wife of the house-lord; do not afflict the body with what is unbound.
16.39.7 The hall of the oblation-press, the fire-shed, the seat and dwelling of the wives — you are the seat of the gods, O divine house.
16.39.8 The axle-pin, the peg, what is spread wide, what is thousand-eyed and turned on all sides — what is fastened and bound down we now unloose by means of sacred speech.
16.39.9 He who receives you in his keeping and he by whose effort you have been built — both of them, O wife of the house-lord, may they live to old age.
16.39.10 Let her who is firm, well-bound, and fully adorned go to meet him there — of her, we unloose you limb from limb, joint by joint.
16.40.1 You shelter Agni within, together with men and cattle; O fruitful one, O prolific one — we cut asunder your bonds.
16.40.2 Rich in vigor, rich in ghee, measured and fixed upon the earth — the hall bearing all food: do not harm the one who receives you.
16.40.3 He who first measured you out and gathered together the forest-trees — Parameṣṭhin Prajāpati fashioned you, O hall, for progeny.
16.40.4 Homage to him, homage to the giver — and we make obeisance to the lord of the hall; homage to Agni who moves within, and homage to you, O Man.
16.40.5 Homage to the cattle and horses that are born in the hall. By the expanse that lies between heaven and earth — by that expanse do I receive this hall of yours.
16.40.6 That which is the intermediate space, the measure of the luminous realm — that I make the womb for treasures; for that for which I praise the hall, be it so.
16.40.7 Covered with grasses, clothed in thatch, like Night the hall is the resting-place of the world; measured, it stands upon the earth, like a great elephant, footed firm.
16.40.8 She who is measured with two sides, four sides, six sides — the eight-sided, ten-sided hall, wife of the house-master: Agni lies within her like a child in the womb.
16.40.9 I undo what is bound of your wicker-work, uncovering what is covered over; what has been pent up by Varuṇa, may Mitra release it at dawn.
16.40.10 Nest upon nest, sheath within sheath compressed — therein does the mortal take birth, from whom all the world is born.
16.41.1 Four-cornered, furnished with a circuit, measured and built by the sages — Indra and Agni, those two immortal lords of Soma, protect the hall.
16.41.2 Do not hurl your bonds back upon us; become light, O heavy burden. Like a bride, O hall, we carry you wherever we wish.
16.41.3 I carry forward these waters, disease-free, destroyers of disease; I settle into the dwelling together with immortality and with Agni.
16.41.4 Westward I, facing westward, approach you, O hall, unharmful; for Agni within and the waters — both are the foremost of the cosmic order.
16.41.5 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the eastern quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.6 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the southern quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.7 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the western quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.8 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the northern quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.9 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the fixed (nadir) quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.10 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from the upper (zenith) quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.41.11 Svāhā to the gods, svāhā to those worthy of svāhā — from every quarter of the hall, homage to its greatness.
16.42.1 The head of the rival, the enemy, the ill-willed adversary who hates us — this I cleave off with might.
16.42.2 This amulet, born from the plowshare, shall make armor for me; satisfied with the oblation-drink, may it come with vital sap and with luster.
16.42.3 What the skilled carpenter struck away from you with the adze in his hand — from that may the living waters, pure themselves, purify you, O pure one.
16.42.4 This amulet, garlanded with gold, milking forth inexhaustible wealth, bearing faith, sacrifice, and greatness — may the guest dwell in our home.
16.42.5 For him we carve out ghee, surā, honey, and food — let the amulet, having gone to the gods, discern for us ever greater prosperity, as a father does for his sons.
16.42.6 The amulet — the plowshare-piece dripping with ghee, fierce khadira-wood — which Bṛhaspati bound on for might: with that strike down your enemies.
16.42.7 Agni fastened it back on — for the sake of clarified butter and vital sap; it milks ghee for him, ever more, day after day. With that strike down your enemies.
16.42.8 The amulet — the plowshare-piece dripping with ghee, fierce khadira-wood — which Bṛhaspati bound on for might: with that [strike down your enemies].
16.42.9 Indra fastened it back on — for might and heroic power; it milks strength alone for him. [With that strike down your enemies.]
16.42.10 Sūrya fastened it back on; with it he conquered these quarters; it milks luster alone for him. [With that strike down your enemies.]
16.43.1 Soma fastened that amulet upon him — for wealth, for vital sap, verily. It milked greatness for him (…).
16.43.2 The Moon, bearing that jewel, conquered the citadels of the Asuras, the golden strongholds of the Dānavas. It milked lustre for him (…).
16.43.3 King Varuṇa fastened upon him that amulet, the well-being-granting one. It milked sovereignty for him (…).
16.43.4 Tvaṣṭṛ fastened that amulet upon him — for progeny, for heroic vigour. It milked beauty of form for him (…).
16.43.5 Savitṛ, bearing that jewel, conquered the heavenly realm with it. It milked gracious speech for him (…).
16.43.6 The Waters, bearing that jewel, flow on for ever, inexhaustible. It milked immortality for them (…).
16.43.7 With that jewel the two Aśvins guard this farmland. It milked milk for the two healers (…).
16.43.8 The amulet which Bṛhaspati bound for swift Vāta — it milked sacred speech for him (…).
16.43.9 The gods, bearing that jewel, conquered all the worlds in battle. It milked conquest for them (…).
16.43.10 May the deities place this jewel upon you to be worn; may it milk prosperity for you indeed. Again and again, day after day, with it do you smite your foes.
16.44.1 The intermediate quarters fastened it; the cardinal directions fastened that amulet. The jewel brought forth by Prajāpati has laid my enemies low.
16.44.2 The seasons fastened it; the seasonal divisions fastened that amulet. The year, having bound it, shines sovereign over all existing beings.
16.44.3 The Atharvaṇas fastened it; the Ātharvaṇas fastened that amulet. The Aṅgirasas, having bound it, split open the strongholds of the Dasyus.
16.44.4 Dhātṛ fastened that amulet; with it he fashioned all existing creatures. With it do you smite your foes.
16.44.5 The amulet which Bṛhaspati bound for the gods as protection against the Asuras — that jewel has come to you together with cattle, with goats and sheep, with food and with offspring.
16.44.6 (…) they have come with a stream of honey and ghee, with sweet drink, together with splendour.
16.44.7 The amulet which Bṛhaspati bound for the gods as protection against the Asuras — that jewel has come to you with vital power, with lustre, with might, with prosperity, with wealth, together with splendour.
16.44.8 He whose milk these three worlds attend as something milked — may that jewel protect you from above for pre-eminence.
16.44.9 May that jewel of hundredfold capacity quicken you for pre-eminence — that jewel upon which gods, Pitṛs, and human beings continually depend for their sustenance.
16.44.10 O amulet that augments the sacrifice, I have fastened you, auspicious one, upon this man — him do you, O jewel of hundredfold capacity, quicken to pre-eminence.
16.45.1 Without rivals, slayer of rivals, it has laid my rivals low. May this jewel, born of the gods, make you superior over your adversary.
16.45.2 The jewel of thousandfold power, auspicious — I fasten it upon you together with sacred formulation and lustre. May this plough-jewel mount upon you together with the gods.
16.45.3 As the seed sprouts in the fertile field when ploughed with the ploughshare, so may progeny, cattle, and food upon food flourish in him.
16.45.4 O Agni, being pleased, welcome this fire-wood duly gathered, welcome the oblation. May we find in him — in Jātavedas — through sacred formulation, benevolence, well-being, sight, breath, offspring, and cattle.
16.46.1 You are Kṣā and you are Kṣamā; in your mouth are Being and Auspicious-Being. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two of yours we bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.2 You are Bhūmi and you are Bhūti; in your mouth are the World and Fair-Flourishing. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.3 You are Pṛthvī and you are Pṛthivī; in your mouth are What-Shall-Be and What-Shall-Not-Be. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.4 You are Kṣemyā and you are Kṣiti; in your mouth are Bliss and the Vault-of-Heaven. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.5 You are the Firm One and you are the Yielding One; in your mouth are Luminous-Space and Heaven. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.6 You are the Immeasurable and you are Nirṛti; in your mouth are Mitra and the Benevolent-One. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.7 You are the White-Backed One and you are the Shaking One; in your mouth are Finding and the Act-of-Finding. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.8 You are the Well-Fed One and you are Suhiti; in your mouth are Acquisition and Fair-Acquisition. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.9 You are Vapsā and you are Vapsatī; in your mouth are the Well-Speaking and the Forth-Speaking. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.46.10 You are the Apsaras and you are Sadānvā; in your mouth are Own-Wealth and Well-Endowed-Wealth. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.1 You are Pṛśni and you are Pṛṣatī; in your mouth are Giving and Bestowing-Forth. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.2 You are All-Sustaining and you are All-Form; in your mouth are Giving and Giving-Forth. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.3 You are the Swallowing One and you are Garargṛt; in your mouth are a Multitude and the Gathering-Multitude. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.4 You are the Heavy One and you are the Bearer-of-Weight; in your mouth are Milking and the Act-of-Milking. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.5 You are Diti and you are Aditi; in your mouth are Milk and the Milk-Filled. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.6 You are the Aged One and you are the Aging One; in your mouth are Vigor and the Vigorous-One. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.7 You are Foundation and you are the One-Who-Stands-Firm; in your mouth are Vital-Force and Fiery-Splendor. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.8 You are the World-Possessing One and you are the World-Maker; in your mouth are Renown and the Seeker-of-Renown. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.9 You are the Vast One and you are the Powerful-Origin; in your mouth are Action and the Perfecting-Action. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.47.10 You are the Low One and you are the Upturned One; in your mouth are Growth and Abundant-Growth. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.48.1 You are Rohiṇī and you are Surohiṇī; in your mouth are Food and the Eating-of-Food. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.48.2 You are Sarā and you are Sarasvatī; in your mouth are Sacred-Power and Lordly-Might. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.48.3 You are the Bearer-of-Goods and you are Vasumatī; in your mouth are Glad-Truth and Vivid-Grace. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.48.4 You are Mahas and you are Mahasvatī; in your mouth are Desire and Satisfaction. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two be our bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.48.5 You are the All and all this here is yours; in your mouth are the All-World and all the Gods. To those two of yours we are subject; to those two of yours we bow; by those two be gracious to us, speak over us, breathe upon us. As a mother to a son, as a father to a son — this one here am I; release him not, O Seizer; lead this man forth, freed from the bonds of possession.
16.49.1 Whatever offence against the gods, O gods, we have committed — from that, O Ādityas, do you release us by the power of ṛta.
16.49.2 By the power of ṛta, O adorable Ādityas, release us here; for though you, the bearers of the sacrifice, were willing to instruct us in sacrifice, we fell short.
16.49.3 Offering oblation with the ladle and ghee — though all of you gods were willingly instructing us, we sacrificers rich in fat-offerings could not fully attain.
16.49.4 Whatever sins we have committed knowingly or unknowingly — from that guilt, release us here, all you gods acting in concert.
16.49.5 Whether waking or sleeping I have done wrong upon wrong — from that, both what has been and what is yet to be, may they release me, as from a wooden post.
16.49.6 As one released from a wooden post, as one who has sweated and bathed away impurity — let them release me, purified with the purifying ghee, from all sins.
16.49.7 What a boundary the ploughmen made at the beginning by driving in stakes — without proper knowledge and without learning — that I offer into Vaivasvata the king; may our sacrificial rite now be sweet.
16.49.8 May Vaivasvata prepare the remedies; may he, having a share of sweetness, unite us with sweetness. Whatever sin sent by a mother has come upon us, or whatever offence a father has committed in anger — may it be healed.
16.49.9 If this sin has come upon us injuriously from mother, from father, from brother, or from a son — may the wrath of all those fathers who attend upon her be propitious.
16.49.10 Whatever debt remains unpaid, whatever I owe — that by which I move under Yama's authority — from this, O Agni, I become free of debt; while yet living I render back all sin.
16.50.1 Even here and now, we make this return; we, the living, carry back this debt to the living. Whatever grain was consumed after being borrowed — may Agni make me free of that debt.
16.50.2 May we be free of debt in this world, free of debt in the next, free of debt in the third vault of heaven. May we dwell free of debt on all paths — those of the gods and those of the fathers.
16.50.3 Whatever guilt we committed with our hands seeking to anoint the dice — that, O Ugraṃpaśyā and Ugrajit, you two Apsarases, grant us release from that debt today.
16.50.4 O Ugraṃpaśyā, sustainer of the realm, whatever guilt arising from the play of dice — grant us release from that. Let not the one seeking our debt come to us; may he arrive at Yama's world, fettered with cords.
16.50.5 Him to whom I owe a debt, whose wife I approach, whom I approach as a supplicant — O gods, may they speak no word superior to mine; O divine wives, O Apsarases, this has been pondered by you.
16.50.6 When gambling, I incur a debt; when intending not to give, O Agni, I also make a pledge. May Vaiśvānara, our most excellent overlord, lead us upward to the world of the well-performed deed.
16.50.7 May Vaiśvānara purify us with purifiers, since I run toward the quarter of pledged obligation. Whatever sin is there in begging mentally without knowing — that I press away.
16.50.8 Let us make known to Vaiśvānara this pledge of the debt that I declare among the deities; may he fully understand the unravelling of these bonds, and then may we come together with what is ripened.
16.50.9 Whatever harm we have done to the atmosphere, to the earth or to heaven, to mother or to father — from that sin may Agni Gārhapatya release me.
16.50.10 Earth is our mother, Aditi our birth-source, the atmosphere our brother against our calumny; may Father Heaven be auspicious from the ancestral realm — do not, having approached a kinswoman, fall us from the world.
16.51.1 Where the good-hearted and the well-performed rejoice, having shed the disease of their own body — whole in limb, uninjured, in heaven — there may we behold both our parents and our sons.
16.51.2 May Viṣāṇā loosen and release from you all the bonds — highest, lowest, and those of Varuṇa — by which you are bound with wood, by which with rope, by which you are bound to the earth, and by which with a spoken vow.
16.51.3 The two auspicious stars named Vicṛtau have risen; may they reach here and bestow of immortality — that which releases the bound.
16.51.4 Open wide, make room; you release the bound from their bonds. Like an embryo thrust forth from the womb, dwell upon all the paths.
16.51.5 Knowing him, may the wise Prajāpati, first-born of ṛta, receive him; may we follow the unbroken thread that has been given by us, beyond old age.
16.51.6 Some follow along the stretched thread, for whom a path has been given through ancestral rite; some, having no kin, hand on and extend — if they have learned to give, that is their heaven.
16.51.7 Take hold of it in succession, grasp it in succession; those who have faith attend upon this world. Whatever charitable deed of you two has entered the fire — for its safekeeping let the couple take refuge together.
16.51.8 Gods are fathers; fathers are gods. Who I am, that I am; that one here — I am he.
16.51.9 He cooks, he sacrifices, he worships for this man. May the desired be auspicious to me; prosperous, pacified, propitious — from that keep the barley grain safe for me.
16.51.10 O king, stand firm in the vault of heaven; may this offering stand firm there. Know our charitable deed, O king; be well-disposed, O divine one.
16.52.1 Away from us we thrust the Brāhmaṇīsandhā, we drive off the obstructing torrents; may Indra and Agni, united in treasure, release us from the flood.
16.52.2 Homage to you, O Brāhmaṇīsandhā — go back whence you have come. He who hates us and him whom we hate, upon him I urge you forward; be you roused against him.
16.52.3 They call you a boundless ocean — those who do not lead rightly do not know you; but those who directly know your belly, your great mouth, your face, your rite of dismissal — they truly know you.
16.52.4 Her womb has been fashioned by Indra; hell is her nest. May the great ocean, the measurer of the atmospheric realm, grant us a place in the celestial world as well.
16.53.1 Of that odana: Bṛhaspati is the head, Brahman the face, the Sun and Moon the two eyes, the Bṛhat and Rathantara sāmans the two ears; Agni is the mouth, lightning the tongue, the Maruts the teeth, Pavamāna the breath.
16.53.2 The herbs are the body-hairs, the trees the head-hair, the ocean the urine, the two Aśvins the fore-feet; the caruvessel is the five-holed cooking-pot, the gharma is kindled here.
16.53.3 The eye is the pestle, Desire the mortar, Diti the winnowing-fan, Aditi the one who grasps the winnowing-fan, the Wind has winnowed it clean; the cows are the husked grains, the horses the broken fragments, the gnats the chaff, the kabru and phalīkaraṇa plants the dark iron, the red iron his flesh.
16.53.4 Tin is the ash, the white substances are the bones, green is the complexion, abundant is the fragrance; the threshing-floor is the vessel, the two camels the arms, the two wooden spoons the shoulders, the traces the intestines, the pole and the yoke-pin the cross-pieces, the yoke-beams the collar-bones.
16.53.5 Sacred truth is the hand-sprinkling, the channel-water is the pouring over; the seasonal rains are the cookers, Fire is the eater, the Brāhmaṇa is the receiver.
16.54.1 Of that odana: the Earth is the cooking-pot, Heaven the lid, the head the cloud, steam the mist; the Bṛhat is the spreading base, the Rathantara the ladle; the quarters are the flanks, the furrows the ribs, the sand the lower fat, the sesamum paste the under-layer, day and night the two strides of the odana.
16.54.2 Rain is the sprinkling-water, the Maruts have kindled it round about, the kiṣkara-grasses are the enclosing sticks; by the ṛc-verse the pot is placed upon the fire, by the priestly office it is dispatched, by Brahman it is received.
16.54.3 Whoever should thus know the greatness of this odana — he should not say it is small, nor say it is mere sprinkling-over, nor say this is nothing whatsoever.
16.54.4 As much as the giver might intend in his mind, that he should not overspeak; by the odana, the sacrificial word, all worlds are fulfilled.
16.54.5 In whom the ocean, heaven, and earth — the three — rest, lower and upper alike.
16.55.1 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose head did you eat it?
16.55.2 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose mouth did you eat it?
16.55.3 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two eyes did you eat it?
16.55.4 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two ears did you eat it?
16.55.5 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose oral cavity did you eat it?
16.55.6 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose tongue did you eat it?
16.55.7 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose teeth did you eat it?
16.55.8 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose vital breaths did you eat it?
16.55.9 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose chest did you eat it?
16.55.10 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose breadth did you eat it?
16.55.11 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose back did you eat it?
16.55.12 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose belly did you eat it?
16.55.13 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose bladder did you eat it?
16.55.14 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two thighs did you eat it?
16.55.15 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two knee-joints did you eat it?
16.55.16 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two feet did you eat it?
16.55.17 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' Upon whose foundation did you eat it?
16.55.18 The theologians declare: 'You have eaten the rice-oblation facing toward it; you have eaten the rice-oblation facing away from it; the rice-oblations have eaten you.' With whose two hands did you eat it?
16.56.1 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a head other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your head shall fall apart.'
16.56.2 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a mouth other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your head shall go awry.'
16.56.3 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two eyes other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall become blind.'
16.56.4 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two ears other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall become deaf.'
16.56.5 And if thereupon you were to eat it with an oral cavity other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your speech shall depart from you.'
16.56.6 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a tongue other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your tongue shall be the first of you to die.'
16.56.7 And if thereupon you were to eat it with teeth other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your teeth shall shatter.'
16.56.8 And if thereupon you were to eat it with vital breaths other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'The breath of life shall abandon you.'
16.56.9 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a chest other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall not succeed in cultivation.'
16.56.10 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a breadth other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Rājayakṣman shall smite you.'
16.56.11 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a back other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Lightning shall strike you.'
16.56.12 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a belly other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Varuṇa shall smite you.'
16.56.13 And if thereupon you were to eat it with a bladder other than the one with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall die in the waters.'
16.56.14 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two thighs other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'Your two thighs shall fall off.'
16.56.15 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two knee-joints other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall become lame.'
16.56.16 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two feet other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'A serpent shall strike you.'
16.56.17 And if thereupon you were to eat it upon a foundation other than that upon which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall become without firm footing.'
16.56.18 And if thereupon you were to eat it with two hands other than those with which you ate it before, he says to him: 'You shall slay a brahmin.'
16.57.1 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Bṛhaspati as the head.
16.57.2 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with brahman as the mouth.
16.57.3 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Sūrya and Candramās as the two eyes.
16.57.4 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the Bṛhat and Rathantara sāmans as the two ears.
16.57.5 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Agni as the oral cavity.
16.57.6 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with lightning as the tongue.
16.57.7 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the Maruts as the teeth.
16.57.8 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the Seven Seers as the vital breaths.
16.57.9 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the earth as the chest.
16.57.10 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the atmosphere as the breadth.
16.57.11 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the sky as the back.
16.57.12 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Varuṇa's belly as the belly.
16.57.13 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the ocean as the bladder.
16.57.14 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Mitra and Varuṇa as the two thighs.
16.57.15 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the knee-joints of ṛta as the two knee-joints.
16.57.16 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with Savitṛ's feet as the two feet.
16.57.17 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — upon this very foundation did it eat.
16.57.18 I did not face toward it nor away from it; neither did I eat the rice-oblation, nor did the rice-oblation eat me. The rice-oblation itself ate the rice-oblation — with the hands of satya as the two hands.
16.57.19 They ate it; they mounted it; they attained it. It is from this very oblation that Prajāpati fashioned the thirty-three worlds out of worlds.
16.57.20 For its protection the gods created the sacrifices. Those thirty-three pure worlds created by Prajāpati — all of them are won and secured for him who knows this.
16.58.1 This rice-oblation indeed is all-limbed, all-souled, all-jointed, all-footed, all-backed. All-limbed, all-souled, all-jointed, all-footed, all-backed becomes he who knows thus.
16.58.2 He who becomes a witness-observer of one who knows thus — that witness-observer obstructs his vital breath. Yet he does not obstruct the vital breath, and then all his wealth is wrested away.
16.58.3 And yet all his wealth is not wrested away — then one says to him: 'Thou shalt die, without foundation, without abode.' Without foundation indeed, without abode, does he die who becomes a witness-observer of one who knows thus.
16.59.1 By whom were the two heels of the man brought together? By whom was the flesh gathered? By whom the two ankles? By whom the fleshy toes, and by whom the apertures? By whom the two shin-bones raised up in the middle? Who is the foundation?
16.59.2 Why indeed did they make the two ankles lower, and the two knee-caps upper, in the man? Having fashioned them, they set the two shanks in place — where then? Who begot these two joints of the knees?
16.59.3 A fourfold frame is joined together, holding at its seams, a loose trunk above the knees. The two haunches and the thighs — who then begot them? By means of those two the body became well and firmly held.
16.59.4 How many gods, and which were they, who built up the foremost chest of the man? How many set the two breasts in place? Who formed the two collar-bones? How many fashioned the shoulders, how many the ribs?
16.59.5 Who brought together his two arms, saying, 'Let him perform heroic deeds'? Which god placed his two shoulders upon the trunk and set them there?
16.59.6 Which one fashioned his brain, his forehead? Who first shaped the nape-joint and the skull? Having built the built-up structure of the man's two jaws, which god was it who ascended to heaven?
16.59.7 Who pierced the seven apertures in the head — these two ears, the two eyes, the two nostrils, the mouth — whose greatness of conquest, in many places, both four-footed and two-footed creatures traverse?
16.59.8 He placed the tongue, widely extended, within the two jaws; thereupon he established mighty speech upon it. He rolls about in greatness in the sky, clothed in the waters — who indeed knows him fully?
16.59.9 Having stitched together his head and that which is the heart, Atharva sent the purifying breath upward from the brain, above the skull.
16.59.10 That head of Atharvan is a divine casket, firmly clasped shut. May that vital breath protect the glory, the food, and likewise the mind thereof.
16.60.1 The many pleasant and unpleasant things, sleep, oppression, torpor, delight, the vehement and its joys — all these does the man carry upward and bear forth.
16.60.2 Distress, ill-fortune, dissolution — whence now in the man is lack of wisdom? Attainment, full prosperity, non-growth, intelligence, utterances — whence do these come?
16.60.3 Who placed the waters in him — flowing in diverse directions, falling in abundance, born to run like rivers? The fierce red ones, the bloody, the coppery-smoky, the upward-flowing and downward-flowing and transverse ones within the man.
16.60.4 Who placed the in-breath in him, who the out-breath, and likewise the diffused breath? Which god established the equalizing breath upon this man?
16.60.5 Who placed form in him? Who greatness and a name? Who placed gait in him, who the distinguishing mark, who the deeds of conduct in the man?
16.60.6 Who placed seed in him, saying, 'Let the thread be extended'? Who poured wisdom upon him? Who placed the arrow in him, who the masculine vitality?
16.60.7 Who clothed him with a garment? Who ordained his lifespan? Who bestowed strength upon him? Who ordained his swiftness?
16.60.8 Who first, as the one, placed sacrifice upon this man? Who placed truth in him, who falsehood, who death, who immortality?
16.60.9 By whom were the waters spread out in sequence? By whom was the day made for brilliance? By whom was the dawn kindled? By whom was the evening-born given?
16.60.10 By whom was this earth covered over? By whom did he encompass the sky? By whom in greatness the mountains? By whom does the man perform his deeds?
16.61.1 By what does one dwell in the wake of the gods? By what did he bring forth the divine directions? By what this other constellation? By what is the existent called the ruling power?
16.61.2 By what does one attain Parjanya? By what the far-seeing Soma? By what does a man attain this Agni? By what does he measure out the year?
16.61.3 By what was this earth set in place? By what was the upper heaven established? By what was this atmosphere—both upward-reaching and transverse—spread wide and set in position?
16.61.4 By Brahman was the earth set in place; Brahman upheld the upper heaven; by Brahman was this atmosphere—both upward-reaching and transverse—spread wide and set in position.
16.61.5 By what does one attain the Vedic scholar? By what this Parameṣṭhin? By what sacrifice and faith? By what is mind established within him?
16.61.6 By Brahman one attains the Vedic scholar; Brahman is this Parameṣṭhin; Brahman is sacrifice and faith; by Brahman is mind established within him.
16.61.7 Who created these bones? Who assembled this flesh? Who gathered this skin and hair? Who put together this form?
16.61.8 Brahman created the bones; Brahman assembled the flesh; Brahman gathered skin and hair; Brahman put together the form.
16.61.9 Who created this eye? Who set the breath moving through the apertures? Who gathered this mind and speech? Who assembled this citadel?
16.61.10 Brahman created the eye; Brahman set the breath moving through the aperture; Brahman gathered mind and speech; Brahman assembled this citadel.
16.62.1 The eye does not abandon him, nor does the breath, before old age, for he who knows the citadel of Brahman—it is on that account that he is called Puruṣa.
16.62.2 To him who truly knows that citadel of Brahman enveloped in immortality, both Brahman and the Brahmic powers have given life-span, breath, and progeny.
16.62.3 Eight-wheeled, nine-gated is the unconquerable citadel of the gods; within it is a golden sheath enveloped in the light of heaven.
16.62.4 In that golden sheath with three spokes, set on three supports—that which abides within it, possessing the Self, that indeed the knowers of Brahman know.
16.62.5 The golden, resplendent, tawny citadel, enveloped in glory, unconquered—into it did Brahmā enter.
16.63.1 This varaṇa-amulet of yours has been fashioned as the destroyer of rivals; with it seize your enemies boldly, crush down those who scheme you harm.
16.63.2 Smite them, crush them down, attack them boldly—let the amulet be your vanguard going before you! The gods, day by day, warded off with the varaṇa the onslaughts of the Asuras.
16.63.3 The varaṇa—all-healing, thousand-eyed, green-hued, golden—has enclosed you in protection; you who strike your enemies down, overwhelm them first, those who indeed hate you.
16.63.4 This varaṇa shall ward off for you the widely spread sorcery, the man-made harm; this shall ward off all evil from you.
16.63.5 Let the divine varaṇa, lord of the forest, ward off this; the disease that has entered into him—that the gods have shielded against with the varaṇa.
16.63.6 If on sleeping you behold an evil dream, if a beast runs off on an ill-omened track—from ill-boding sneezing, from an evil omen of a bird, let this varaṇa amulet ward off all.
16.63.7 From malice, from Nirṛti, from sorcery, and from fear; from the blow of a death mightier than death—from these, O Varaṇa, ward me off.
16.63.8 My adversaries and their kinsmen, shaken to pieces by the varaṇa—into the formless darkness, into the realm of non-being, let them go into the lowest gloom.
16.63.9 Whatever sin my mother has committed, whatever my father, my brothers, our own people—whatever transgression we have done—from that shall this divine lord of the forest ward us off.
16.63.10 Unharmed am I, unharmed in my cattle, long-lived, complete in all my being—me, thus, let the varaṇa amulet guard on every side, from all directions.
16.64.1 This varaṇa upon my chest — king, god, lord of the forest — may he bestow on me sovereignty, dominion, cattle, and vital force.
16.64.2 I bear this varaṇa, possessing life, one of a hundred autumns; may he drive away my enemies even as Indra drives the Dasyus like Asuras.
16.64.3 As the wind breaks aged forest trees with its might, so do thou shatter my rivals — those born before and those born after; may Varaṇa protect thee on all sides.
16.64.4 As trees withered by the wind lie cast down and felled, so do thou utterly destroy and lay low all my rivals — those born before and those born after; may Varaṇa protect thee.
16.64.5 As the wind and fire together consume all forest trees, so do thou consume all my rivals — those born before and those born after; may Varaṇa protect thee on all sides.
16.64.6 Do thou cut them off, O Varaṇa, before their appointed doom, before their full lifespan — those who seek to harm him among his cattle, and those who seek to harm his realm.
16.64.7 As the sun shines pre-eminent, as splendor is established in him, so do thou outshine all my rivals day by day; may Varaṇa protect thee on all sides.
16.64.8 As glory abides in the earth, as glory abides in Jātavedas — so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory.
16.64.9 As glory resides in the Agnihotra, as glory resides in the vaṣaṭ-call — [so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory].
16.64.10 As glory resides in the soma-drinking, as glory resides in the honey-mixture — [so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory].
16.65.1 As glory resides in a maiden, as glory resides in this fully equipped chariot — [so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory].
16.65.2 As glory resides in the moon and in Āditya the all-seeing eye of men — [so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory].
16.65.3 As glory resides in Prajāpati, as glory resides in Parameṣṭhin — [so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory].
16.65.4 As immortality is established among the gods, as truth is established among them — so may my varaṇa amulet confer on me fame and prosperity; may it anoint me with its brilliance, anoint me with its glory.
16.66.1 Of this brilliant, hoary Hotṛ — his middle brother is the devourer of food; the third brother is he of butter-bright back. Here I beheld the lord of the people who has seven sons.
16.66.2 Seven harness the one-wheeled chariot; one horse bearing seven names draws it. The three-naveled wheel is unaging and unchecked; upon it all these worlds are established.
16.66.3 Those seven who stand upon this chariot, the seven-wheeled — seven horses draw it; seven sisters sing forth together where the seven names of the cows are hidden.
16.66.4 Who perceived it first at its birth — the bone-possessing one that the boneless one bears? The breath of life, the blood, the self of the earth — where indeed is it? Who has gone to a knower to ask this?
16.66.5 Unwise, I ask with my mind not understanding — the hidden footprints of the gods lie in this. Upon the young calf the seers have spread seven threads, which are to be woven.
16.66.6 Unknowing yet questioning even the knowing seers here, I ask for understanding though I understand not — who propped apart these six expanses in the form of the unborn? What is that one thing?
16.66.7 Let him declare here who truly knows it — the hidden track of this lovely bird. The cows milk milk from his head; clad in a covering they have fetched water with their feet.
16.66.8 The mother has embraced the father in truth; at the beginning she met him in thought, with mind. She, the shuddering womb-fluid, was buried within; reverencing, they approached to invoke her.
16.66.9 Yoked, the mother stood at the right-side pole; the embryo stood within the enclosures. The calf lowed, looking after the cow, the all-formed one, in the three journeys.
16.66.10 Bearing three mothers and three fathers, one stood erect; they do not wear him down. On the back of yonder sky they deliberate — an all-knowing speech that does not fill all.
16.67.1 The twelve-spoked wheel of Ṛta rolls around heaven, never subject to decay. O Agni, upon it stand paired sons — seven hundred and twenty.
16.67.2 They call the five-footed, twelve-formed Father full-bodied in the upper half of heaven; others above declare him, the far-seeing, fixed on the seven-wheeled, six-spoked [wheel].
16.67.3 As the five-spoked wheel turns round and round, all worlds are established upon it. Its axle glows with the immense burden; from of old the nave is never severed.
16.67.4 The ageless wheel with unbroken felly revolves; ten yoked [steeds] draw it upon the outstretched [sky]. Covered, the eye of the Sun moves through the atmosphere — upon it all worlds are fastened.
16.67.5 The seventh of those born together they call the only-born; six, they say, are the twin-born ṛṣis, offspring of the gods. Their oblations are distributed station by station; differing in form, they shine in the steadfast [realm].
16.67.6 Those who are women — men call them such; the seeing one with eyes perceives it, the blind does not discern. The son who is a seer recognises them; he who knows them would be the father of his own father.
16.67.7 Below the farther, above the nearer, bearing the calf on her hoof, the cow has arisen. Facing downward, to which side has she gone? Where does she calve? — for she is not in this herd.
16.67.8 Who knows his father below the farther, above the nearer — who, acting as seer, could here declare whence is born the divine mind?
16.67.9 Those moving hither — them they call moving yonder; those moving yonder — them they call moving hither. O Soma, those things which you and Indra made: yoked to the pole they carry [the load] through the atmosphere.
16.67.10 Two fair-winged companions, yoked together as friends, cling around the same tree. One of the two eats the sweet pipal berry; the other, eating nothing, only looks on.
16.67.11 In the tree where the honey-eating fair-winged birds nest and all bring forth their young — they say its sweet pipal berry is at the crest; he who does not know the Father will not attain it.
16.67.12 Where the fair-winged ones chant unblinking at the assembly for a share of immortality — the Lord, the guardian of all the world — that wise one has entered into the simple one right here.
16.68.1 That which in the gāyatrī was placed beyond the gāyatrī, and the triṣṭubh that was fashioned out from the triṣṭubh — and the verse that was set in the jagatī's jagatī — those who truly know that have attained immortality.
16.68.2 With the gāyatrī one measures the ark; with the ark the sāman; with the triṣṭubh the speech. With speech they measure speech — two-footed, four-footed — with the syllable they measure the seven voices.
16.68.3 With the jagatī [metre] he propped the celestial river; in the rathantara [sāman] he beheld the Sun round about. They speak of three kindling-sticks of the gāyatra; by that greatness it surpassed all in majesty.
16.68.4 I call near this good-milking cow; may the skilled-handed milker milk and draw from her. May Savitṛ press out for us the choicest pressing; the gharma kindled — of that I now proclaim aloud.
16.68.5 Making the hiṃkāra sound, mistress of the Vasus, seeking her calf she came near in thought. May this inviolable one be milked of her milk for the two Aśvins; may she increase to great good fortune.
16.68.6 The cow lowed toward her calf blinking its eyes; she made the hiṃ-sound at the calf's head, eager to be its mother. Lowing toward the brimming gharma vessel, she bellows her cry, overflowing with milk.
16.68.7 This is he who bellows, by whom the cow, covered all around, lows her cry, perched on the quivering [hide]. She, by her wisdom, laid low a mortal; becoming lightning, she hurled herself against the covering.
16.68.8 Lightning, slumbering on the back of the waters, though young, was devoured by the grey one. Behold the poetic power of the god in his greatness — today he died, yet yesterday he came together.
16.68.9 The breathing one lies still; the swift-footed, the living, the trembling, the steadfast — in the midst of dwellings. The living moves by his own powers among the dead; the immortal shares a womb with the mortal.
16.68.10 I saw the herdsman who does not rest, going hither and thither along the paths. Putting on convergent and divergent [forms] alike, he revolves again and again within the worlds.
16.69.1 He who made it does not know it; he who saw it — the sight has been hidden from him. Wrapped within the womb of the mother, he of many offspring has entered into dissolution.
16.69.2 Heaven is our father, our begetter, our navel here; kin to us is this great Earth, our mother. The womb lies between the two outstretched bowls; here the father placed the embryo in the daughter.
16.69.3 I ask you: what is the farthest limit of the earth? I ask you: what is the navel of the world? I ask you: what is the seed of the vigorous horse? I ask you: what is the highest heaven of speech?
16.69.4 This altar-ground is the farthest limit of the earth; this sacrifice is the navel of the world. This Soma is the seed of the vigorous horse; this brahman is the highest heaven of speech.
16.69.5 The seven half-embryos, the seed of the world, stand in Viṣṇu's law in the [four] quarters. Those wise ones, those far-seeing ones, encompass with their thoughts and minds; they surround on every side.
16.69.6 I do not discern what it is that I am; hidden, girded up, I wander with the mind. When the first-born of Ṛta came to me, then at last I obtained a share of this speech.
16.69.7 Going away, yet forward, seized by his own inherent power, the immortal shares a womb with the mortal. They two, ever going apart in opposite directions, perceive the one but not the other.
16.69.8 In the imperishable supreme heaven where all the gods have settled — he who does not know that, what will he do with the ṛc? Those who truly know that, they are seated here together.
16.69.9 Fashioning the footing of the ṛc by measure, with the half-verse they have fashioned all that moves. The triple-footed brahman manifests in many forms; by it the four quarters live.
16.69.10 May you become full of blessing from good pasture, and may we in turn be blessed. Eat the grass, O inviolable one, at all times; drink of the pure water, going about freely.
16.69.11 The gaurī has measured out and fashions the waters — she who is one-footed, two-footed, four-footed. Having become eight-footed, nine-footed, of a thousand syllables is the meter of the world; from her the oceans flow forth.
16.69.12 Then the footless goes first among those with feet — who of you two, O Mitra and Varuṇa, has perceived that? The embryo bears the burden even of him; it fulfils Ṛta and wards off what is not Ṛta.
16.69.13 Along the dark path the tawny fair-winged ones, clothed in waters, fly up to heaven. They turned back from the seat of Ṛta; and therewith they bedewed the earth with ghee.
16.70.1 Heaven by its swiftness, Earth by its breadth, the atmosphere by its greatness, the waters by their abundance — by the impulse of the god Savitṛ, with the arms of the Aśvins, with the hands of Pūṣan, impelled forth, I pour thee out for the Brāhmaṇas.
16.70.2 For the ṛṣis, for the seers' lineages, I pour thee out.
16.70.3 The most beloved, the best borne, the most filling, the most nutritious — the imperishable portion of vital strength, for the sake of imperishability I pour thee out.
16.70.4 May the Vasus pour thee out with the Gāyatrī metre.
16.70.5 May the Rudras pour thee out with the Triṣṭubh metre.
16.70.6 May the Ādityas pour thee out with the Jagatī metre.
16.70.7 This is for those who shout against us; this for those who rush against us; this for those who bear malice against us.
16.70.8 Just as a well of a hundred channels, a well of a thousand channels, fails not — so may this not fail us, like the ford of the Aśvins.
16.70.9 Whoever hates us in mind and whoever in speech, in the divine world or in the human — may Indra the god, the bounteous, the lord of Śacī, smite all of him with the great pressing-stone.
16.70.10 This garment, born among plants — O Soma, enter us again here with vital strength. Be firm, O Mother of arms, be bold; suffer no harm — Agni shall obtain this for you.
16.70.11 O divine Waters, for a share of vital strength I pour you in, imperishable ones, for the sake of imperishability.
16.71.1 O Jātavedas, with that body of thine that does not devour raw flesh, that heavenly form of thine, akin to austerity — with that form cook this odana offering; with it, O Agni, grant us great shelter.
16.71.2 Purified by the rays of Soma, O you who have eaten, be seated on the back of Āditya. Those among men who know the wooden vessel of thee, the odana, in the celestial world — for them may heaven be as great as the vessel. We know Earth as thy vessel, O odana.
16.71.3 May these waters, dripping with ghee, approach thee, O odana, augmenting thee with milk. Thou dost prop heaven, thou dost prop Earth and the atmosphere; with svādhā thou dost fill them.
16.71.4 As many grains of rice as are the foundations of thy cosmic order, so many sacrifices are the milkings of that order. So great may the svādhā be for me — the one whose back is ghee — milking vital strength mixed with honey in the vault of heaven.
16.71.5 The odana which I cook with faith, filling the vessel, delighting in the one whose back is ghee — may it not be exhausted for me, ever being eaten, in the world of Yama, in the highest heaven.
16.71.6 The odana, given together with the vessel and the sacrificial fee to Brāhmaṇas, establishes one in immortality. It has gone along the courses of the Sun, along his rays — ascending the back of heaven like a bird.
16.71.7 I release thee together with breath among the living, together with vitality, with milk, and with blessing. Go to the place of praise, to the world of those who have done good; may they eat of thee, seated to the south.
16.71.8 For thou goest on the same chariot as the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice; then go also to the recited Atirātra. Being of the measure of two nights, pervade the three-day rite; then ascend the four-night rite as though mounting a chariot.
16.71.9 Being consecrated by the four-night rite, advance; then go to the seven-night and the ten-night rite. Having encompassed the twelve-day rite on all sides, thrust away adversaries with the twenty-one-fold.
16.71.10 Having thrust away adversaries with the twenty-one-fold, then approach the forty-one-day rite, one at a time. Having become immortal through the thirty-three-fold, take hold of the odana of the three-month rite.
16.72.1 The year and the full year, in the realm of Bradhna in the highest heaven — O odana, become one with the vault of heaven upon vault of heaven.
16.72.2 May the Sādhyas lead this of mine forward from the front; the Ādityas, the Rudras, the Vasus, of one mind — may all the gods, united through the seasons, ever guard this with undivided attention.
16.72.3 The year, the full year, and the complete year — days and nights, months — O odana, follow upon the experience of the Sun, of Agni, of the Moon, the becoming of Vāyu.
16.72.4 Him whom the Pitṛs worship, whom the gods worship as purohita, through austerity and sacred knowledge — svādhā, vital strength, imperishability I offer into Vāyu the god, into Pavamāna, into Bṛhaspati.
16.72.5 Being consecrated fourfold, the odana — with vital strength the gods, with svādhā the Pitṛs, with bodily nourishment mankind, becoming food for the Brāhmaṇas — may it be ours in the highest heaven.
16.72.6 This path, O odana, the god-faring path, unobstructed by Death — by that path go. Undeceived, established by the virtuous through their own power, ordered by sacred knowledge, by the instruction of Yama — may it be ours in the highest heaven.
16.72.7 O odana, wherever thy homes are, go forth thither; let the waters go wherever is the place of the waters. Where the Brāhmaṇas know the womb of the odana — may that be ours in the highest heaven.
16.72.8 Offered into thy speech, may it be an oblation; offered into thy sight; offered into thy understanding, may it be offered into thy strength. Offered into thy hearing, into thy breath — offered into thy progeny, into thy immortality, and into thy desire, may it be offered.
16.72.9 Whether it belongs to Agni, or whether to Indra, whether to Marut, or whether to Viśvedeva — the Agni within thee whose name is Nṛmaṇas, the heart-dweller: into him may this odana be well offered; may it be ours in the highest heaven.
16.72.10 He who has entered mankind as Nṛmaṇas — the Agni of Agnis, the first, the sustainer of life.
16.73.1 That body of yours which departed from Death toward the fellowship of the gods, toward the world of the living — she who roams the waters, she who dwells in the depths, in her greatness: may this oblation-rice be well-offered to her; may it be ours in the highest heaven.
16.73.2 Without wrath, come back to our house, auspicious one, with gracious mind, not terrible — may the rain-grown [offering] go forth to meet you.
16.73.3 This our svadhā — the nine-fold mother — has become an immortal oblation among the immortals. Guard those [forebears] for us always, without negligence; they have come to us — watch over them, be wakeful.
16.73.4 Those who assail this deposit of ours — the current carried off into the realm of Yama — may king Varuṇa stand over their vital faculties with divine wrath. Those who sit together in this assembly: I give you this [deposit] in full, for the lord of sacrifice has come, having beheld it.
16.73.5 Those who scratch away and tear apart what has been given, who seize the sacrificial fee while it is being conveyed — let Indra the god, the bountiful, lord of Śacī, mighty Śakra, come burning them with the fire-kindler's flame. May Bṛhaspati, Varuṇa, Soma, and Indra make what I have given solely and wholly mine.
16.74.1 Headache, head-disease, earache, tertian fever — all the ailment in your head we charm out and away.
16.74.2 From your ears, from your ear-passages — the oyster-shell discharge, the bloody [flux] — [we charm out and away].
16.74.3 That [disease] which renders a man stupefied, which renders a man blind — [we charm it out and away].
16.74.4 On whose account wasting-disease (yakṣma) falls away from the nose and from the mouth — [we charm it out and away].
16.74.5 Head-disease, limb-disease, the disease that pervades all limbs, visalpaka — all the ailment in your head we charm out and away.
16.74.6 Whose terrible appearance makes a man tremble — fever-ague (takman), the chill, and the burning: that we charm away from you.
16.74.7 That which creeps along the thighs and also along the groins — balāsa (phlegmatic disease) from within the limbs we charm out and away.
16.74.8 Whether from desire or from aversion it is born and spreads from the heart — balāsa from the heart, from the limbs, we charm out and away.
16.74.9 Jaundice (harimāṇa) from your limbs, the nest of wasting-disease from within your inner self — all yakṣma from your limbs we charm out and away.
16.74.10 Let the balāsa become raw discharge; let the ailment become urine. The poison of all wasting-diseases I have now spoken out away from you.
16.75.1 Let the hollow drain outward — the kahā-bearer from your belly. The poison of all wasting-diseases I have now spoken out away from you.
16.75.2 From your belly, round about from your kloman (right lung), above from your navel, from your heart — the nest of wasting-disease from within your inner self we charm out and away.
16.75.3 Those [diseases] that break through the crown of the head, that flow back against the summit — may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening.
16.75.4 Those that creep toward the heart and stretch along the vertebrae — [may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening].
16.75.5 Those that flow up along the flanks and pierce along the ribs — [may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening].
16.75.6 Those that flow up crosswise, the flowing ones from the flanks — [may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening].
16.75.7 Those that creep along the rectum and also constrict the intestines — [may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening].
16.75.8 Those that creep along the marrow and also break apart the joints — may they, no longer harming, free of affliction, run outward through the opening.
16.75.9 Those wasting-diseases that intoxicate the limbs, the festering ones — the poison of all wasting-diseases I have now spoken out away from you.
16.75.10 Of visalpaka, of vidradha (abscess), of vātīkāra (wind-disease), of vālaja — the poison of all wasting-diseases I have now spoken out away from you.
16.75.11 From your feet, from your ankles, from your shins, from your knees, from your thighs, from your hips, round about from your buttocks — from the spine, the flowing discharges, from the nape, from the neck, from the shoulders, from the head: I have caused the disease to perish.
16.75.12 The skull-plates of your head and of the heart — those who know them: the rising sun, Āditya, as he ascends, has caused the limb-disease to perish.
16.76.1 With ghee, with an oblation of clarified fat, I propitiate Kāma, the bull who slays rivals. Do thou, praised with great might, cast down my rivals low.
16.76.2 Whatever is not dear to my mind, not pleasing to my eye, whatever does not gladden my heart — that ill-dream I release upon my rival. Having duly praised Kāma, may I break free and rise.
16.76.3 O Kāma, release upon him the ill-dream, O Kāma the misdeed, childlessness, the indigence not of our making — O fierce lord, release it upon him who has treated us with hostility.
16.76.4 She who is called thy daughter, O Kāma, the cow, whom the seers name Speech, the far-shining — with her encircle my rivals; may life-breath, offspring, cattle, and vitality pass around them and encompass me.
16.76.5 By the power of Kāma, by the might of Indra, by the sovereignty of King Varuṇa, by Viṣṇu's strength, by Savitṛ's creative impulse, by Agni's priestly office — drive forth the rivals, as a helmsman a boat through the waters.
16.76.6 May Kāma, my fierce overlord, the prize-winner, make for me a world without rivals. May all the Viśvedevāḥ be my protectors; may all the gods come to this my invocation.
16.76.7 May those for whom Kāma is the foremost delight in this clarified fat and ghee here; may they make for me a world without rivals.
16.76.8 O Kāma, having mounted the same chariot as Indra and Agni, cast down my rivals low; and those who have fallen — their lowest dwellings, O Agni, burn through entirely.
16.76.9 Slay, O Kāma, those who are my rivals; cast them down into blind darkness. May they all be devoid of vital force and strength, so that not one of them shall remain alive.
16.76.10 Kāma has slain those who were my rivals and has made broad space for my flourishing. May the four cardinal quarters bow to me; may the six vast realms bring me ghee.
16.77.1 That shelter of thine, O Kāma, triple-sheathed, the piercer, the spread-out armour of sacred power that is made impenetrable — with that encircle my rivals; may life-breath, offspring, cattle, and vitality pass around them and encompass me.
16.77.2 May they drift away downward, like a boat cut from its mooring. For those driven off by the arrow there is no returning.
16.77.3 Agni is the averter, Indra is the averter, Soma is the averter. O ye gods who drive away, drive that man — yonder son of yonder woman — from the world of the living to the world of the dead, the departed.
16.77.4 He wanders bereft of all heroes, driven off, hateful to friends, shunned by his own kin. And even lightnings strike down upon the earth — may the fierce god crush the rivals.
16.77.5 This great lightning, both the fallen and the unfallen, bears all thunderclaps. May Āditya, rising with his wealth of brilliance, drive off my rivals with power.
16.77.6 As the gods drove off the Asuras, as Indra pressed the Dasyus into the lowest darkness — so do thou, O Kāma, drive all those who are my rivals away from this world.
16.77.7 By that same means by which the gods always drove off the Asuras, by which Indra pressed the Dasyus into the lowest darkness — by that, O Kāma, drive those who are my rivals far away from this world.
16.77.8 Kāma was born first of all; before him there was nothing else. Neither the gods nor the Pitṛs nor mortals have attained unto him. Therefore thou art ever the greater, the mighty — to thee, O Kāma, homage alone I render.
16.77.9 Not even the wind has attained Kāma, nor fire, nor the sun, nor the moon. [...]
16.77.10 Not even the waters have attained Kāma; the appointed days and nights do not reach him. [...]
16.78.1 Not even the Puṇyajanas have attained Kāma, nor the Gandharvas and Apsarasas, nor the serpents. Therefore thou art ever the greater, the mighty — to thee, O Kāma, homage alone I render.
16.78.2 As wide as heaven and earth in their expanse, as far as the waters have streamed, as far as fire reaches — so far thou art ever the greater, the mighty; to thee, O Kāma, homage alone I render.
16.78.3 As many as are the directions, the intermediate quarters reaching everywhere, as many as are the hopes that look upon the sky — so far thou art ever the greater, the mighty; to thee, O Kāma, homage alone I render.
16.78.4 As many as are the bees, the gnats, the kurūravaḥ, as many as are the vaghā creatures that creep upon trees — so far thou art ever the greater, the mighty; to thee, O Kāma, homage alone I render.
16.78.5 Those auspicious, gracious forms of thine, O Kāma, by which that which one chooses comes to be true — with those enter into us fully; drive the evil thoughts elsewhere away.
16.79.1 Those two limb-marks which your mother wiped off you at birth — the pativedanau auspices — let not the Evil-Named one covet them there, neither the aliṃśa nor the vatsapa.
16.79.2 The palāla, the anupalāla, the śarkuṇa, the koka, the malimruca, the palījaka, the āśleṣa, the vavrivāsasa, the ṛkṣagrīva, the pramīlina — we smite them away from her pudenda.
16.79.3 Let him not press close, let him not creep up against her thighs, let him not glide between them. I prepare for her this remedy, the baja-plant, banisher of the Evil-Named.
16.79.4 Both the Evil-Named and the Fair-Named desire a woman who is enclosed; we smite away the arāya — the Fair-Named desires what belongs to women.
16.79.5 He who is dark, hairy, a demon born of the tussock — and the taṇḍika as well — the arāyas from her hind parts and pudenda we drive away.
16.79.6 The arāya who sniffs after her and fondles her, the flesh-eater who licks her again and again, the dog-like śvakiṣkiṇa — Baja and Piṅga have utterly destroyed them.
16.79.7 He who steals upon you while you sleep, and he who seeks to harm you while you wake — as Sūrya in his circuit destroys shadows, so has he destroyed them all.
16.79.8 He who falls upon you asleep, having taken the form of a brother or like a father — O Baja, you, strike down from here that impotent-shaped tirīṭina.
16.79.9 He who makes this woman miscarry or causes her calf to be born dead — O herb, destroy him with her kamala and her añjiva.
16.79.10 Those who dance around dwelling-places in the evening, braying like asses — the kusūlas, the kukṣilas, the kakubhas, the saramas, the sumas — O herb, scatter them in all directions with your fragrance and utterly destroy them.
16.80.1 Those kukundhas and kukūrabhas who wear pelts and unsightly garments, who dance about in the forest like eunuchs and raise a clamour — we drive them away from here.
16.80.2 Those whose toe-tips are behind and whose heels are in front and whose face is in front — the khalajās born of smoke-ash, the uruṇḍas, the maṭmaṭas, the kumbhamuṣkas, the ayāśavas — O Bṛhaspati, destroy them for her with your counter-awakening.
16.80.3 Those who cannot endure yonder Sūrya blazing in the sky — the arāyas who dwell in he-goats, the foul-smelling, red-mouthed makaka demons — we destroy them.
16.80.4 Those who creep away from Sūrya as a daughter-in-law avoids her father-in-law — let both Baja and Piṅga pierce them through the heart.
16.80.5 Those who carry themselves with excessive self-conceit, placing an undue portion upon themselves, and who prick women in the haunches — O Indra, destroy those rakṣases.
16.80.6 Those who walk ahead of the bride bearing horns in their hands, the grinning ones who stand at a distance, those who make a light upon a post — we drive them away from here.
16.80.7 Let them become rolling-eyed, clumsy, effeminate eunuchs — O remedy, strike down the man without a husband who seeks to uncover this woman who has a husband.
16.80.8 The arrogantly excited one, the matted-haired muni-like one, the gnashing one who fondles incessantly, the one who presses close with his udumbala, the tusk-snouted one, and the śāluḍa — pierce them with heel and foot as a cow kicks over the cooking pot.
16.80.9 He who tampers with your womb or seeks to kill your child once born — let Piṅga of the fierce bow make him a heart-pierced one.
16.80.10 Those Gandharvas who lie down beside the lying-in women and kill the newly born — let Piṅga drive those claimants of women's portions away as the wind drives a cloud.
16.81.1 Hold fast what remains of the placenta; let not what was placed there fall away. Let the two fierce remedies, bearers of the girdle-knot, guard your womb.
16.81.2 You are the all-round protection of men and the expeller of Rakṣases. Scatter in all directions and utterly destroy all arāyas, the Evil-Named, the Yātudhānas.
16.81.3 From the pavīnasa, from the taṅgalva, from the śāyaka, and from the naked one — may Piṅga guard you for offspring and for your husband, keeping away the kimīdina demon.
16.81.4 Guard her from the two-mouthed one, from the four-eyed one, from the five-footed one, from the fingerless one — from those who creep forward from a cluster, and from the repeatedly encircling one.
16.81.5 Those keśavas who eat raw flesh and the flesh of men, who devour embryos — the arāyas from her hind parts and pudenda we drive away.
16.81.6 O Piṅga, guard the one being born; let them not turn the male into a female. Let not the egg-eating ones crush the embryo; drive the kimīdinas away from here.
16.81.7 Childlessness, the death of offspring, lamentation, evil, misfortune — making them as a garland stripped from a tree, hurl all that upon the enemy woman.
16.81.8 O Piṅga, smite the Yātudhānas, the foul-smelling, the red-mouthed ones. Driven forth by you, let the flesh-eaters go scattered in all directions, utterly slain.
16.82.1 In the Leavings are name and form; in the Leavings the worlds are established. In the Leavings are Indra and Agni; the whole universe is gathered within.
16.82.2 In the Leavings are Heaven and Earth; all that exists is gathered there. The waters and the ocean are in the Leavings; the moon and the wind are established therein.
16.82.3 Both the existent and the non-existent are in the Leavings — Death, vital prize, and Prajāpati. Whatever belongs to the world depends upon the Leavings; may the one who sees and the one who grants, and Śrī as well, be in me.
16.82.4 The firm, the strengthening, the steadfast, the other — Brahman, the ten all-creating ones: as a wheel surrounds the hub on every side, so the deities are fixed in the Leavings.
16.82.5 The Ṛc, the Sāman, the Yajus are the Leavings; the udgītha, the prastuta, that which stands firm. The hiṅkāra is in the Leavings, the musical note of the Sāman and its meḍi — may that be in me.
16.82.6 The Aindrāgna, the Pāvamāna, the Mahānāmnī verses, the Mahāvrata rite — the limbs of the sacrifice are in the Leavings, as an embryo within its mother.
16.82.7 The Rājasūya, the Vājapeya, the Agniṣṭoma and the soma-rite, the Arka and the Aśvamedha — in the Leavings, whose sacrificial grass is living and which is most exhilarating.
16.82.8 The Agnyādheya, and likewise the dīkṣā, the kāmaprā together with the metres — the lapsed sacrifices and the sattras are gathered in the Leavings.
16.82.9 The Agnihotra and faith, the vaṣaṭ-call, sacred vow, and austerity; the sacrificial gift and charitable work — all are gathered in the Leavings.
16.82.10 The one-night soma rite, the three-night rite, the sadyaḥkrī, the prakrī, the ukthya — woven and embedded in the Leavings are the minute particles of the sacrifice, by sacred knowledge.
16.83.1 The four-night rite, the five-night rite, the six-night rite, and both together; the ṣoḍaśī and the seven-night rite — from the Leavings were all born, all the sacrifices established in immortality.
16.83.2 The pratihāra, the nidhana, the Viśvajit and the Abhijit — the sāhna and the atirātra are in the Leavings, and the twelve-day rite as well — may that be in me.
16.83.3 Gracious speech, submission, security, the sweetness of food, nourishment, immortality, and vigor — all desires that incline toward us are in the Leavings; may desires be satisfied through desire.
16.83.4 The nine earths and the oceans are established in the Leavings of the sky. The sun shines forth from the Leavings; day and night too — may that be in me.
16.83.5 The upahavya, the viṣūvant, and whatsoever sacrifices are placed in the hidden realm — the Leavings sustains the sustainer of all; it is the father who begets.
16.83.6 The Leavings is the father of the begetter, the grandson of life itself, the grandfather. He is proclaimed lord of the universe, the bull upon the earth, beyond smiting.
16.83.7 Order, truth, austerity, consecration, exertion, dharma, and ritual action; the past and the future are in the Leavings — virility, Lakṣmī, strength within strength.
16.83.8 Prosperity, vital energy, resolve, lordly power, sovereignty, and the six broad realms — the year is established in the Leavings, as are the iḍā invocation, the praiṣā call, the ritual cups, and the oblation.
16.83.9 The four hotr-priests, the āprī hymns, the Cāturmāsya rites, the nivid litanies — sacrifices, priestly invocations, and animal offerings, those very iṣṭis, are in the Leavings.
16.83.10 The half-months and the months, the seasonal offerings together with the seasons — in the Leavings are the roaring waters, the thunder, sacred revelation, and the great earth.
16.84.1 Gravel, sand, and stones; herbs, plants, and grasses; clouds, lightning, and rain — they have taken refuge in the Leavings, dwelling therein.
16.84.2 Accomplishment, attainment, pervasion, completion, greatness, and growth; surpassing fulfilment — prosperity is placed in the Leavings, deeply embedded, well established.
16.84.3 Whatever breathes by breath, and whatever sees with the eye — from the Leavings were all born, the gods in heaven, those who dwell in the sky.
16.84.4 In-breath and out-breath, sight and hearing, the imperishable and whatever is perishable — [remainder of verse not preserved in this recension].
16.84.5 The gods, the Pitṛs, human beings, and those who are Gandharvas and Apsarases — [remainder of verse not preserved in this recension].
16.84.6 The Ṛc-verses, the Sāmans, the metres, the Purāṇa together with the Yajus — [remainder of verse not preserved in this recension].
16.84.7 The Atharvan and Āṅgirasa sacred lore, and those who are serpents and holy folk — [remainder of verse not preserved in this recension].
16.84.8 Those who are joy and those who are delight, those who are rapture and exultation — from the Leavings were all born, the gods in heaven, those who dwell in the sky.
16.85.1 When Manyu brought forth the bride from the house of Saṃkalpa — who were the wedding-party, who were the suitors, and who became the chief suitor?
16.85.2 Tapas and Karman both dwelt within the great ocean — they were the wedding-party, they were the suitors, and Tapas was indeed the chief suitor.
16.85.3 Ten gods were born together, transcending the gods. Whoever truly knows their names would speak a great thing today.
16.85.4 Prāṇa and Apāna, sight and hearing, the imperishable and what perishes, Vyāna, Udāna, speech and mind — these carried purpose within them.
16.85.5 The seasons were yet unborn, and likewise Dhātṛ and Bṛhaspati, Indra, Agni, and the two Aśvins — whom did they then attend as eldest?
16.85.6 Tapas and Karman both dwelt within the great ocean; Tapas was born from Karman — him they attended as eldest.
16.85.7 Whence was Indra born, whence Soma, whence did Agni come into being? Whence did Tvaṣṭṛ come together, whence did Dhātṛ come together?
16.85.8 From Indra came Indra, from Soma came Soma, from Agni Agni was born; Tvaṣṭṛ was indeed born from Tvaṣṭṛ, Dhātṛ arose from Dhātṛ.
16.85.9 Those ten who were born, gods transcending the gods — having granted the world to their sons, in what world do they now abide?
16.85.10 That which was the primordial earth, which Addhātayas alone have known — what gods dwell upon it, and in what does it rest, with all therein?
16.86.1 From where did he bring the hair, from where the sinews, from where did he bring the bones? Who brought the limbs and joints and marrow, from where did he bring the flesh?
16.86.2 When he brought together hair, bone, sinew, flesh, and marrow — having fashioned a body with feet, into what world did he then enter?
16.86.3 Saṃsica — so are those gods named, who assembled him with their materials; having completely fashioned the mortal, the gods entered into the person.
16.86.4 The head and hands, and the arms, the tongue and neck and vertebrae, the back-ribs, the spine, and the flanks — what ṛṣi fitted all that together?
16.86.5 The thighs and feet, the knee-joints, the hips and hands, and the face — wrapping all that with skin, the great Saṃdhā joined it together.
16.86.6 That great body which took form, assembled together by Saṃdhā, by which this shines today — who brought color into it?
16.86.7 All the gods sought to learn it; yet the virtuous bride knew — she who is the wife, mistress of will: she it was who brought color into it.
16.86.8 When Tvaṣṭṛ had fashioned it, and the father who is beyond Tvaṣṭṛ — having made a home of the mortal, the gods entered into the person.
16.86.9 Sleep and languor, Nirṛti, and the deities named the Pāpmans — old age, baldness, and graying entered into the body.
16.86.10 Theft, evil deed, and iniquity; truth, sacrifice, and great glory; strength, lordship, and vital force — all entered into the body.
16.87.1 Prosperity and adversity, the gifts and the withheld gifts, all hungers and thirsts — all entered into the body.
16.87.2 The censurable and the praiseworthy, and that which strikes and that which withholds — faith, the sacred gift, and faithlessness entered the body.
16.87.3 Knowledge and ignorance, and whatever else is teachable — Brahman entered the body: the Ṛc, the Sāman, and the Yajus.
16.87.4 Bliss, joy, exhilaration, and the various forms of delight — laughter, festivity, and dances entered into the body.
16.87.5 Conversation and babble, and the various forms of excited speech and chatter — all entered the body: the unyoked, the preyoked, and the yoked.
16.87.6 Prāṇa and Apāna, sight and hearing, the imperishable and what perishes, Vyāna and Udāna, speech and mind — by means of the body, these move.
16.87.7 Blessings and commands, the shared commands and the distinct commands — all thoughts and intentions entered into the body.
16.87.8 Urgency and steadfastness, the prayer and the auspicious word — all entered the body: those that truly strive, the weapons, the diminishers.
16.87.9 The forces of blood and bone, the swift ones and the wretched — the hidden, the bright, the gross: the loathsome ones set them in order.
16.87.10 Making bone the sacrificial fuel, the eight waters set it in place; making semen the clarified butter, the gods entered into the person.
16.88.1 The waters, and the deities, and she who is Virāj together with Brahman — Brahman entered the body, and Prajāpati entered upon the body.
16.88.2 Sūrya apportioned the eye of the Puruṣa, Vāyu apportioned his breath; then the gods delivered his remaining self to Agni.
16.88.3 Therefore the knower holds this Puruṣa to be Brahman, for all the gods are gathered together upon the body within him.
16.88.4 When the Father apportioned the worlds as stations in the limbs for them, all the gods entered into the body limb by limb.
16.88.5 All the gods entered limb after limb of the body, for the Father granted them that unconquered world.
16.88.6 All the gods entered that unconquered world, the body laid down in manifold ways, which Prajāpati had brought forth.
16.89.1 O Agni, be born — Aditi, who seeks a patron, cooks this brahma-rice-oblation, desiring sons. May the seven sages, the makers of beings, churn you here together with offspring.
16.89.2 Make smoke, O vigorous friends, O guileless guardian, toward the sacred speech. This Agni, conqueror of armies, richly heroic, is he by whom the gods overpowered their enemies.
16.89.3 O Agni, O Jātavedas, you were born for great heroic might, to cook the brahma-rice-oblation. The seven sages, the makers of beings, engendered you — bestow upon him riches replete with all heroes.
16.89.4 O Agni, kindled, you are kindled with fuel; you shall carry hither all the sacred gods. O Jātavedas, cooking the oblation for them, make him ascend to the heavenly world.
16.89.5 O Jātavedas, the share which has been set threefold before you — for the gods, for the Pitṛs, and for mortals — know your portions; I distribute that to you: that which belongs to the gods shall convey him across.
16.89.6 O Agni, you are mighty, the one who overpowers, the prevailing one; press down the rivals and enemies face downward. This measured portion, measured out, shall make your kindred bring tribute to you.
16.89.7 Thrive together with your kindred by means of milk; press him upward for great heroic might. Ascend erect upon the vault of the sky, upon the firmament — that which they call the heavenly world.
16.89.8 Let this great earth, the divine Pṛthivī, well-disposed in mind, receive the skin. May we attain the world of the well-doers on high.
16.89.9 Yoke these two pressing-stones joined together upon the skin; press out the soma-shoots well for the sacrificer. Smiting them down, strike down those who are hostile; lift up the offspring on high and raise it.
16.89.10 Take the pressing-stones, O hero of good deeds, with your hands; hither have the sacred gods come to your sacrifice. Three boons — whichever you choose — those prosperities I shall fulfil for you here.
16.90.1 Settle, you who are sacred, upon the press-board and the druvā ladle; scatter the husks away. May we surpass all those equal to us in prosperity, and may we bring our enemies underfoot.
16.90.2 This is your thought, this is your birthplace; may Aditi, mother of heroes, receive you. Purify and drive away those who are hostile to this one; bestow upon him riches replete with all heroes.
16.90.3 O woman, go apart; come back quickly — the cow-pen of the waters has mounted over you for the purpose of bearing. Among these waters, let whichever is most sacred take hold; having distributed, let the more resolute one leap forward.
16.90.4 These women have come adorning themselves; arise, O woman, seize strength eagerly. The sacrifice has come to you as a good consort, fruitful with offspring for your husband — grasp the pot.
16.90.5 The share of strength that was deposited for you aforetime — bring hither these waters enjoined by the seers. May this sacrifice, knowing your need, knowing the path, knowing offspring, be fierce, rich in cattle, knowing heroes, for you.
16.90.6 O Agni, the sacred oblation-pot has mounted over you, the pure and most ardent; with fervor, scorch it. Let the seer-born and god-born ones assemble together, and let the most ardent heat this portion with the ritual seasons.
16.90.7 These pure, female, sacred waters — let these bright waters glide like an oblation-pot. Bestowing upon me offspring and many cattle, let him who cooked the rice-oblation go to the world of the well-doers.
16.90.8 These rice-grains, sacred, purified by brahman and cleansed with ghee, are the portions of Soma. Let it enter the waters; let the oblation-pot receive you; having cooked this, let him go to the world of the well-doers.
16.90.9 Turn back hither together with offspring; face him and unite him with the gods. Carry him jointly to the heavenly world — O divine Āditya, to the highest firmament.
16.90.10 Spread wide with great greatness, O thousand-ridged one, in the world of the well-doer. O grandfathers, O fathers, O progenitor of offspring — having cooked, I am your fifteenth.
16.91.1 The brahma-odana — thousand-backed, hundred-streamed, imperishable — is the celestial path to the gods. I assign these beings to you with offspring; harass him not — let him be gratified as the bearer of tribute; be gracious to me alone.
16.91.2 Rise up, O vedi; augment him with offspring; drive away the rakṣas; set him ever forward on the path. May we surpass in glory all who are our equals; may we make those who hate us fall beneath our feet.
16.91.3 This altar, fashioned by cosmic order, established by the mind, is set before the brahma-odana. O woman, place upon it the pure portioning-ladle; settle there the odana belonging to the gods.
16.91.4 This second ladle, born of Aditi's hand, which the seven seers — the makers of what has come into being — fashioned: may it, the ritual spoon that knows the limbs of the odana, gather him upon the altar.
16.91.5 May the divine beings take their seat beside you, O cooked oblation; gliding forth, O Agni, settle upon him once more; purified by Soma, abide in the belly. May those descended from the seers among the brāhmaṇas who partake of you suffer no harm.
16.91.6 O King Soma, bestow full recognition upon those noble brāhmaṇas, whoever they be, that sit in attendance upon you. The seers and their descendants born from fervent austerity — I invoke them again and again with good invocation into the brahma-odana.
16.91.7 These honey-sweet, ghee-dripping waters I separately settle in the hands of the brāhmaṇas. With whatever wish I sprinkle you, may Indra, accompanied by the Maruts, have granted that very thing to me.
16.91.8 This is my light, immortal and golden; cooked from the field, she is a wish-yielding cow for me. This wealth I deposit among the brāhmaṇas; I open the path among the ancestors that leads to heaven.
16.91.9 Scatter the husks into Agni Jātavedas; beyond them, be gracious to these kuṭaja worms. This share, we have heard, belongs to the lord of the house; and we know the portion that belongs to Nirṛti.
16.91.10 Be cooked, O toiling one; arise, O pressing one; cause him to ascend the heavenly realm, that by which he may attain the highest, whatever vitality he has.
16.92.1 O adhvaryu, anoint this face of the brown one; knowing it, make way for the ghee; anoint all its limbs with ghee. I open the path among the ancestors that leads to heaven.
16.92.2 O brown one, scatter the demon of equal fury away from those brāhmaṇas, whoever sit in attendance upon you. Those who are first and foremost, filled with sacredness — may those descended from the seers who partake of you suffer no harm.
16.92.3 I place you, O odana, among those descended from the seers; here too there is a place for those not of diverse ṛṣi lineage. May Agni be my protector, and all the Maruts, and all the Viśve Devās guard what has been cooked.
16.92.4 Ever yielding the sacrifice, always well-nourished, a virile cow, a seat of riches — may we be seated near you for immortality through offspring, for long life, and for the abundance of wealth.
16.92.5 You are a bull, O heaven; go to the seers and their descendants. Settle in the world of those who have done good deeds — that is our compact.
16.92.6 Heap it together, follow along behind, O Agni; make ready the paths that lead to the gods. By means of these good deeds may we come to know him who stands at the sacrifice, on the vault of heaven, upon the seven rays.
16.92.7 By that light with which the gods ascended the sky — having cooked the brahma-odana, the world of the well-doer — that very light, the highest of lights, I cook you; grant us that light in the world of those who have done well.
16.93.1 Toward the eastern quarter I scatter you, hundred-streamed, free from hunger. Carry the one who has cooked you to the world of the well-doers, where the primordially born seers of old dwell.
16.93.2 Toward the southern quarter — [as above].
16.93.3 Toward the western quarter — [as above].
16.93.4 Toward the northern quarter — [as above].
16.93.5 Toward the fixed quarter — [as above].
16.93.6 Toward the upward quarter — [as above].
16.93.7 To heaven — [as above].
16.93.8 To the atmosphere — [as above].
16.93.9 To the earth — [as above].
16.93.10 To the cattle — [as above].
16.95.10 From all the divine beings I pour thee out, a hundredfold stream, unstinted. May it carry the cooker to the world of the well-doers, where the ancient seers, the first-born, abide.
16.96.1 As a male stand firm upon the hide of a male; let Jātavedas not scorch thy generative member. May thy virile power abide even among the Apsarases.
16.96.2 Great are Heaven and Earth; great is this mid-air. Great in greatness is the all-limbed odana — that one who cooks thee.
16.96.3 Seven suns surround him, and seven lotus-pools likewise; seven thousand Gandharvas — him who cooks thee, O all-limbed odana.
16.96.4 Dhātṛ was their udgātṛ; the gods were the hotṛ-priests, the officiants. Where they first assembled the all-limbed odana with truth.
16.96.5 The seven seers, the seers who are creators of beings, and those who are the Sādhyas — they verily first assembled the all-limbed odana with faith.
16.96.6 For him who cooks the all-limbed one and does not harm the Brāhmaṇa, King Yama guards a world full of light.
16.96.7 That all-limbed one, ghee-backed, of luminous measure, assembled by the gods — lay it down yonder as a treasure; may Brahman guard it for thee.
16.96.8 Of that odana the belly is the mid-air; heaven is its back; the directions are its flanks; the sun and moon are its two eyes; the seasons are its teeth; Pavamāna is its breath; the Aṅgirases are its form.
16.97.1 Lead this one hither, take hold of him; knowing fully, let him reach the world of the well-doers. Having crossed the darknesses and seeing manifoldly, may the unborn one step up to the third vault of heaven.
16.97.2 Wash clean the feet; whatever ill-conduct he has performed — with pure hooves let him step forward, knowing fully. Seeking the luminous world of the well-doers, stride out upon the third firmament.
16.97.3 Following along, O viśastar, sever this dark skin with a knife joint by joint — do not think too highly of thyself. Do not harm him by roughness; make him fit; set him down in the midst of the well-doers.
16.97.4 Set this earth upon the earth; pour water upon it; lay him down. O slaughterers, wrap him round with fire. Boiled, let him go to where the world of the well-doers lies.
16.97.5 Step up out of this, whether unheated or heated, from the cauldron to the third vault of heaven. Thou hast become fire upon fire; go luminous to where the world of the well-doers lies.
16.97.6 O five-part odana, stride out fivefold, about to be stepped upon — five lights. Go into the midst of the sacrificing well-doers; win for him the luminous world.
16.97.7 The unborn one is indeed fire, they say; the unborn one is indeed light. The unborn one should be given to the Brāhmaṇa without being vanquished, they say. The unborn one drives away the darknesses far; given in this world by one possessed of faith.
16.97.8 This is your third light, O Fathers — he gives the five-part unborn one to the Brāhmaṇa. The unborn one drives away the darknesses far; the five-part odana being given to the Brāhmaṇa.
16.97.9 The five-part odana being given to the Brāhmaṇa — may the unborn one step up to the third firmament. Striding through the world of the well-doer, it drives away darkness far with its light.
16.97.10 Stride, O unborn one, to where the world of the well-doers lies; like the śarabha beast, chased forth, it shall lead him beyond the difficult passages. The five-part odana being given to the Brāhmaṇa — thou art the one of all forms, the wish-milking cow.
16.98.1 Desiring the luminous world of the well-doers, he gives the goat of fivefold rice-dish to the brahmin. Spread yourself, win that world for him; be gracious to us, and become the accepted offering.
16.98.2 The goat bears the giver to the triple firmament, to the triple heaven, to the triple back of the sky, to the world of the well-doers. The five-rice-dish goat, being given to the brahmin, satisfies the giver with satiety.
16.98.3 For the goat was born from the flame of Agni—the wise one, life-sustaining, born of the might of the wise. That which is offered, sacrificed, fulfilled, and consecrated with vaṣaṭ—may the gods arrange that in due season.
16.98.4 He should place an unwoven garment and gold as the sacrificial fee; thus he shall attain fully all the worlds, both those celestial and those earthly.
16.98.5 O goat, may these streams approach you from all sides—divine, belonging to Soma, their backs of ghee, dripping honey. Propping up the earth, accompany heaven; stand upon the vault of heaven, upon the seven-rayed one.
16.98.6 "From the back of the earth"—thus the four [verses are recited].
16.98.7 [Verse lost in transmission — text not preserved in this manuscript.]
16.98.8 [Verse lost in transmission — text not preserved in this manuscript.]
16.98.9 [Verse lost in transmission — text not preserved in this manuscript.]
16.98.10 Lift this five-rice dish with five fingers from the ladle, this fivefold rice offering. Stride out toward the eastern quarter, the southern, the western, the northern, the fixed, and the upward direction.
16.99.1 Place the goat's head in the eastern quarter; place the right flank in the southern quarter. Place its hindquarters in the western quarter; place the left flank in the northern quarter.
16.99.2 Place the goat's spine in the upward direction; place the chest in the fixed direction. Place its middle in the midst of the atmosphere; stand firm in the quarters with its four feet.
16.99.3 Cover the cooked goat with the cooked skin; it is assembled of all limbs, of universal form. Rise up, proceed to the highest vault of heaven; stand firm in the quarters with its four feet.
16.99.4 May all the quarters, unanimous and confluent, together with the intermediate regions, accept the radiance. May they protect this offering of yours, for you; unto them I offer with oblation and with ghee.
16.99.5 What was deposited for the brahmin, and what was deposited among the people, whatever drops of the goat's rice-dish—may all that, O Agni, be known in the world of the well-doer; may the paths lead to our coming together.
16.99.6 The five-rice-dish goat strode forth extensively. This earth became its lap, the atmosphere its belly, the sky its back, and the directions its flanks.
16.99.7 Diti and Aditi are its two horns; Truth and Order are its two eyes; the universal form is its body; Faith is its breath; Virāj is its head.
16.99.8 This sacrifice is indeed boundless—namely, the five-rice-dish goat. He wins a boundless world, he obtains a boundless world, who gives the five-rice-dish goat to one who knows thus.
16.99.9 One should not break its bones, nor should one draw out the marrow. Having gathered all of them together, one should insert this and this [piece by piece back into the whole].
16.99.10 This and this is its form; by that one causes it to come together. It yields to him svadhā, vigor, inexhaustibility, and greatness—to one who gives the five-rice-dish goat to one who knows thus.
16.100.1 May Savitṛ make the share for Indra; may the lord of sacrifice, the generous patron, prosper this sacrifice. Pursue those who hate us; may all the heroes of the sacrificer be unharmed.
16.100.2 Five are the worlds, five are the seasons. He prospers in all five seasons who gives the five-rice-dish goat to one who knows thus.
16.100.3 This sacrifice is indeed the scorching fire—namely, the five-rice-dish goat. It burns away the hostile rival; by his own self he becomes one whose hostile rival has been driven off [from him].
16.100.4 Whoever knows the season as "the approaching one"—he takes away the approaching prosperity of the hostile rival; by his own self he becomes one [who has prevailed].
16.100.5 [He who knows the season called] "the converging one" — he takes away even the converging [prosperity of his rival — remainder not preserved in this manuscript].
16.100.6 [He who knows the season called] "the becoming one" — he takes away even the becoming [prosperity of his rival — remainder not preserved in this manuscript].
16.100.7 [He who knows the season called] "the overpowering one" — he takes away even the overpowering [prosperity of his rival — remainder not preserved in this manuscript].
16.100.8 [He who knows the season called] "the rising one" — he takes away even the rising [prosperity of his rival — remainder not preserved in this manuscript].
16.100.9 [He who knows the season called] "the summit" — he takes away even the summit [prosperity of his rival — remainder not preserved in this manuscript].
16.100.10 Whoever knows the season as "the all"—he takes away all the prosperity of the hostile rival; by his own self he becomes one whose hostile rival has been driven off from him—he who gives the five-rice-dish goat to one who knows thus.
16.100.11 As many as are the hairs of it that the brahmin strews upon the altar—so many are the inexhaustible streams that flow for him, as from the ocean.
16.100.12 May it yield milk; may there be ghee for these; having become spirituous liquor, may it attend upon the drinkers of surā. Yielding streams of mead for the drinkers of mead, may the goat stand rejoicing upon the vault of heaven.
16.101.1 By the Skambha are these two propped and held apart — heaven and earth stand firm. In the Skambha all this is established: whatever stirs, whatever breathes and blinks.
16.101.2 Single-wheeled it revolves, single-rimmed, with a thousand syllables — forward it moves and backward. With half of itself it has encompassed all this universe; as for the other half, what is that emblem?
16.101.3 A five-coursed team draws its van; the flanks, yoked, haul in sequence. Its yet-untraveled course cannot be seen, nor its traveled one — what is far is nearer, what is near is more remote.
16.101.4 Know this, O Savitṛ: six paired ones and one that is born singly. In him do they seek communion — he who among them is born as one.
16.101.5 A cup whose opening faces sideways and whose base is upward — in it is laid the glory of all forms. Here together sat the seven seers who became the guardians of this great one.
16.101.6 Three creatures passed across the crossing; others poured inward around the sun. The great one stood as measurer of the atmosphere; into the tawny mares the golden one entered.
16.101.7 Twelve fellies, one wheel, three hubs — who has perceived this? In it are fixed three hundred and sixty pegs and sixty more — immovable they stand.
16.101.8 Infinite and spread across many places — the infinite and the finite meet face to face. The guardian of the vault of heaven moves knowing both: he who is wise knows what has come to be and what shall yet come to be.
16.101.9 Manifest yet concealed in the cave — ancient is the name, great is the station. In that is all this established: whatever stirs, whatever breathes and blinks.
16.101.10 Bearing water upward, as if a water-vessel fit to be carried — all behold it with the eye; not all know it with the mind.
16.102.1 From the deficient the full arises; from the full the deficient is drawn forth. The seer, the brahman, knows from whence it is poured around.
16.102.2 Prajāpati moves within the womb, unseen; in manifold ways he is born. With half of himself he engendered the whole world of beings — as for the other half, what did that bring forth?
16.102.3 What stirs and moves and what stands still — the breathless breathing, the blinking yet at rest — that of all forms has sustained the earth; coming together, it becomes one alone.
16.102.4 She who is yoked in front and likewise behind, she who is yoked on all sides and in every direction — she by whom the sacrifice is stretched forth toward the east: of her I ask you — which of these strands is she?
16.102.5 Whence the sun rises and where it sets — that alone I hold to be the highest; from that nothing whatsoever goes beyond.
16.102.6 By truth it blazes upward; by brahman it looks downward; by breath it breathes laterally — upon this the highest is established.
16.102.7 He who would know those two fire-sticks from which wealth is churned forth — that knowing one would esteem the highest; he would know the great brahman.
16.102.8 Footless at first it came into being; at first it brought the sun forth. Having become four-footed and worthy of enjoyment, it took all nourishment.
16.102.9 It became worthy of enjoyment and thereafter consumed abundant food — he who worships the eternal god possessed of exaltation.
16.102.10 They call him eternal, yet today he shines again as new. Day and night are born in turn, each taking the form of the other.
16.103.1 A hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a billion — the incalculable treasure lodged within this: they smite it only while they look on it. Therefore the god shines; it is he.
16.103.2 No more than the tip of an awl has it been seen — and yet it is not seen at all. More embracing than all that is this deity; she is my beloved.
16.103.3 This auspicious one, unaging and immortal, dwells in the house of the mortal. He for whom she was made lies with her; he who fashioned her has reached that goal.
16.103.4 You are woman, you are man; you are the maiden and the boy. You, grown old, totter with a staff; you, once born, become the one whose face is everywhere.
16.103.5 And this one is the eldest, and likewise the youngest; this one is the brother and also the father. The one god who has entered the mind — first-born is he, yet even now he is within the womb.
16.103.6 Without stirring he sets all this in motion; all beings are borne around within him who bears all. That male, engendering from the male by cosmic law — standing firm, let him reach all ends.
16.103.7 Set in the midst of heaven, the speckled stone — and these two striding ones cleave the atmosphere asunder. He surveys all with his powers, between the eastern and the western light.
16.103.8 Those who speak on all sides of the knower of the Veda — whether of recent times or of ancient — all of them are speaking of Āditya alone, of Agni the second, and the triple-woven haṃsa.
16.103.9 A single ṛc they kindle with twelve fires. In it the waters are established, in it the cattle, in it the plants take refuge.
16.103.10 Seven fair-winged ones blow upon the arrow, this wind gathered in the anuṣṭubh. Let the mind purify that stretched-out thread, stretched and spread upon the surface of the water.
16.103.11 Seven seers are set within the body; seven guard it always without fail. Seven waters went to the world of one who sleeps — there the two gods who do not sleep, who arose from wakefulness, sat together at the sattra.
16.104.1 O Bhava and Śarva, show us grace; come not against us — you, Lords of Beings, Lords of Cattle, homage to you both. What has been aimed, let it turn back; release it not upon us; harm not our two-footed ones nor our four-footed ones.
16.104.2 Do not make our bodies a portion for the howling jackal, for the vultures, nor for those dark carrion-birds that are unfeathered. O Paśupati, the flies, the birds — let them be thine for the feast; let them not find us as their prey.
16.104.3 To thy cry, to thy breath, and to thy festering wounds, O Bhava — homage we render to thee, O Rudra, O thousand-eyed Immortal.
16.104.4 From the east we make homage to thee, from the north, from below as well; from the surrounding quarters, from across the sky — to thee, O Antarikṣa, homage.
16.104.5 To thy face, O Paśupati; to thy eyes, O Bhava; to thy skin, to thy form, to thine aspect, to thy western-turned presence — homage to thee.
16.104.6 To thy limbs, to thy belly, to thy tongue and to thy mouth, to thy teeth, to thy scent — homage to thee.
16.104.7 With Rudra of the blue crest-plume, the thousand-eyed, the vigorous, the slayer of wayfarers — with that one let us not come into collision.
16.104.8 May Bhava encompass us on all sides; as fire encompasses water, so may Bhava encompass us. Let him not take aim at us — homage be to him.
16.104.9 Four times homage, eight times homage to Bhava; ten times, O Paśupati, homage to thee. Thine are these five categories of cattle apportioned: kine, horses, men, and then goats and sheep.
16.104.10 Thine are the four cardinal directions; thine is the sky; thine, O Fierce One, is this vast mid-air. Thine is all this that possesses breath, all that stirs upon the earth.
16.105.1 Wide is this treasury that bears wealth — thine it is — within which all these beings are contained. He, O Paśupati — show us grace, homage to thee. Let the howling jackals and the menacing dogs go far away; let the ill-voiced, dishevelled ones depart afar.
16.105.2 Thou bearest the tawny golden bow, O Crested One, slayer of thousands, smiter of hundreds. Rudra's arrow courses forth — the divine missile; to that one homage, in whichever direction it travels.
16.105.3 He who comes against thee, O Fierce One, who lies in wait desiring to injure thee — thou dost dispatch thine arrow after him from behind, as one tracking the footprints of the wounded.
16.105.4 Bhava and Rudra, yoked together and in accord, both fierce, move forth for the exercise of might. Between them are the earth, the mid-air, the sun, the sky — to those two we render homage with all that belongs to Bhava.
16.105.5 Homage to thee as thou comest; homage to thee as thou departest. Homage to thee, O Rudra, as thou standest still; and homage to thee as thou art seated.
16.105.6 Homage at evening, homage at dawn, homage by night, homage by day — to Bhava and to Śarva, to both of them together I have rendered homage.
16.105.7 I behold in front the thousand-eyed Rudra, shooting his shafts in many ways, the all-knowing. May I not cease from praising him who makes himself known through speech.
16.105.8 Him of dark bay horses, the black, the very dark, who crushes down, terrible, driving his dread chariot, the long-haired one — we meet him from the front; homage be to him.
16.105.9 Cast not down upon us the mortal divine missile; be not wrathful against us, O Paśupati — homage to thee. Elsewhere than toward us shake thy heavenly branch.
16.105.10 Harm us not; speak favorably over us; wrap us in thy protection; be not angry. Let us not come to collision with thee.
16.106.1 Covet not our horses, our kine, our men; covet not our goats and sheep, O Fierce One. Turn away elsewhere; slay the offspring of the revilers.
16.106.2 Whose weapon is the fever, the cough — his one missile — which goes roaring like the snorting of a stallion; he drives it out, from the front, successively — homage be to him.
16.106.3 He who stands firmly established in the mid-air, crushing down the non-sacrificers, the scorners of the gods — to him homage with ten Śakvarī verses.
16.106.4 To thee belong the forest animals, the wild beasts set in the woodland; to thee belong the birds and winged fowl. Thine, O Paśupati, is the wasting-disease hidden in the waters; to thee the heavenly waters flow for thy increase.
16.106.5 The Śiṃśumāras, the pythons, the Pulīkas, the crocodiles and fishes — upon all these thou dost shoot in the mist. Nothing is far from thee, nothing beyond thy reach, O Bhava; thou beholdest all the earth at once.
16.106.6 Thou strikest from the eastern ocean into the northern sea. Harm us not, O Rudra, with fever nor with poison; pour not down upon us the heavenly fire — let lightning strike elsewhere than upon us.
16.106.7 Bhava is lord of the sky; Bhava is lord of the earth; Bhava has filled the vast mid-air. Let no ill-omen whatsoever reach here to harm him.
16.106.8 O King Bhava, show grace to the sacrificer — for thou hast become the Lord of Cattle among cattle. He who has faith that the gods exist — show grace upon his four-footed and his two-footed ones.
16.106.9 Harm not our great one, nor our little one; harm not our waning one, nor our unwasted one. Injure not our father, nor our mother; O Rudra, wound not thine own body — harm us not.
16.106.10 To the dogs of Rudra that utter the sound ailabaka, whose voice is not well-spoken, to these wide-mouthed ones I have rendered homage.
16.106.11 Homage to you, the clamorous ones; homage to you, the long-haired ones. Homage to you, the restrained ones; homage to you, the ones full of reverence.
16.107.1 Homage to you at your coming-to-birth, and homage to you when born. To your tender parts, to your hooves, to your form, O inviolable cow — homage to you.
16.107.2 He who knows the seven near reaches, who knows the seven far reaches, he who knows the head of the sacrifice — he shall receive the cow as his due.
16.107.3 I know the seven near reaches, I know the seven far reaches; I know the head of the sacrifice, and the discerning Soma that dwells within her.
16.107.4 By her are heaven and earth sustained, by her these waters are guarded — the cow of a thousand streams, her we address with sacred formulas.
16.107.5 A hundred calves, a hundred milkers, a hundred guardians upon her back — the gods who breathe within her, they know the cow as the one undivided whole.
16.107.6 She whose footstep is the sacrifice, whose eye is the oblation, whose breath is the ancestral offering, the great and luminous one — the cow, Parjanya's wife, approaches the gods through sacred formulas.
16.107.7 Agni entered into you, Soma followed you, O cow. Parjanya is your udder, O auspicious one, the lightnings are your teats, O cow.
16.107.8 You milk the waters first, then the arable land, O cow; thirdly you milk sovereignty — food and milk you give, O cow.
16.107.9 When, being invoked by the Ādityas, you stood present, O guardian of truth, Indra made you drink Soma in a thousand vessels, O cow.
16.107.10 When, turning away from Indra, the bull called out to you — then the slayer of Vṛtra, enraged, brought you milk and cream, O cow.
16.108.1 That milk which the lord of wealth, though enraged, brought to you, O cow — that very milk the vault of heaven today protects in three vessels.
16.108.2 In three vessels the divine cow brought that Soma — where Atharvan, consecrated, sat upon the golden sacrificial grass.
16.108.3 She came together with Soma and with all that moves on feet; the cow danced before the ocean, bearing the Ṛc and Sāman hymns.
16.108.4 She came together with the Sun and with all that has sight; the cow strode beyond the ocean together with the Gandharvas and the Kalis.
16.108.5 She came together with the Wind and with all winged creatures; the auspicious cow surveyed beyond the ocean, bearing the celestial lights.
16.108.6 Then the auspicious things came together — the cow as guide, and also the ancestral oblation — where Atharvan, consecrated, sat upon the golden sacrificial grass.
16.108.7 When you stood there, covered with gold, O guardian of truth, the ocean, having become a horse, leaped upon you, O cow.
16.108.8 The cow is the mother of the royal caste, the cow is your mother, O ancestral libation. From the cow was born the weapon, and from that arose thought.
16.108.9 The upward drop moved aloft, from the hump of brahman — from that you were born, O cow; from that the Hotṛ priest was born.
16.108.10 Let the sacred songs be born from your mouth; your strength comes from the Uṣṇih metres. From your girth the sacrifice was born, from your teats the rays of light, O cow.
16.109.1 From your shoulder-joints and your haunches, O cow, the path was born; from your entrails the food was produced, from your belly the plants sprang up.
16.109.2 When you entered into Varuṇa's belly, O cow, then the sacred formulation called you out — for he it was who found your eye.
16.109.3 All trembled at her birth, at the one being born from the womb — for she has given birth; they call her the cow, fashioned by sacred formulas, and she is a kinswoman to all.
16.109.4 The one who alone is the master of her joins together in battle; the swift-moving sacrifices came into being, the cow became the eye of the swift-moving ones.
16.109.5 The cow took hold of the Sun, the cow sustained the sacrifice; into the cow there entered the odana rice-cooked oblation along with sacred formulas.
16.109.6 The cow alone they call immortality; the cow they worship as death. All this became the cow — gods, humans, Asuras, the ancestors, and the seers.
16.109.7 He who knows thus shall receive the cow as his due — for in this way the sacrifice, complete on all feet, yields milk to the giver without withholding.
16.109.8 Three tongues of Varuṇa flash within the mouth; among them the one that shines in the middle — she is the cow, hard to receive.
16.109.9 The seed of the cow became fourfold: one quarter is the waters, one quarter immortality, one quarter the sacrifice, one quarter the animals. He who knows thus shall receive the cow as his due.
16.109.10 The cow is heaven, the cow is earth, the cow is Viṣṇu and Prajāpati. The Sādhyas and the Vasus drank the milk drawn from the cow.
16.110.1 Having drunk the milk of the barren cow, the Sādhyas and the Vasus — those who dwell upon the seat of Bradhna revere the milk of this one.
16.110.2 Some milk Soma from her, others attend upon her for clarified butter. Those who have given the barren cow to one who knows thus — they have gone to the triple heaven, to the sky.
16.110.3 By giving the barren cow to Brāhmaṇas one attains all the worlds; for truth is placed within her, as also brahman and austerity.
16.110.4 The gods live by the barren cow, and likewise human beings. All this that the sun surveys has come to be through the barren cow.
16.111.2 The joints [of the sacrificial animal] are whose kindling-materials; the Ṛc verses are whose recitation.
16.111.3 The metres are whose hairs; the spreading-layer indeed is the oblation; the Yajus is declared to be whose heart.
16.111.4 When the host beholds his guests, he is beholding the divine sacrificial ground.
16.111.5 When he greets them, he enters consecration; when he asks for water and leads forward the waters — those very waters that are led forward at sacrifices, those are they.
16.111.6 When they bring the refreshing offering, that is indeed the beast sacred to Agni and Soma that is bound.
16.111.7 When they bring the excavated [vessel], those two are the rice-cakes; when they arrange the guest-halls, they are thereby arranging the sacrificial hall and the oblation-sheds.
16.111.8 When they spread the underlayer, that is the sacred grass indeed.
16.111.9 When they bring the mats and cushions, those are the enclosing sticks; when they bring the upper coverlet, by that one obtains the heavenly world.
16.111.10 When they bring the anointing substance, that is the clarified butter indeed; when they invoke [the guests] for eating, they are thereby invoking for the prepared oblation; when rice-grains and barley-grains are strewn, those stalks are what are strewn.
16.112.1 The mortar, the pestle, the pressing-stones, the winnowing fan, the strainer, the husks, the Soma-residue; the sacrificial ladle, the wooden spoon, the stirring-rod, the mixing-vessel, the waters, the pressing-board, the trough-jar, the water-pot —
16.112.2 This very black antelope skin, the vessels consecrated to Vāyu — the host makes of these the sacrificer or the Brāhmaṇa, when he looks upon the things that are to be carried [for the guests], saying: 'May this be more, may this [be enough].'
16.112.3 When he says 'Bring up more,' by that he increases progeny and cattle; by that he makes breath the greater. When he inquires [after the guests' desires], by that he obtains desire itself — for one who is asked out of regard does request what he desires.
16.112.4 When he sprinkles water, by that he obtains the waters themselves; when he presents [gifts], he establishes the oblations.
16.112.5 When they are seated, the guest pours the oblation into himself — with the act of the ladle, with the vaṣaṭ-call, with the sacrificial spoon [that is] the hand, into the breath [that is] the sacrificial post.
16.113.1 Therefore one should not eat while harbouring hatred, nor should one eat the food of one who harbours hatred; nor the food of one who is under suspicion, nor of one who is being questioned with suspicion.
16.113.2 He whose food others eat is one whose sin has been consumed — he is wholly freed of evil.
16.113.3 He whose food others do not eat is one whose sin has not been consumed — he is wholly burdened with evil.
16.113.4 Those who present the offering follow in the stride of Prajāpati's own great stride.
16.113.5 The sacrifice spread forth by him who presents the offering is indeed the sacrifice belonging to Prajāpati.
16.113.6 He who presents the offering is at all times one for whom the soma has been pressed, the pressing-stones are yoked, the strainer is moist, the rite of the sacrifice has been performed, and the adhvara has been spread.
16.113.7 He who is for the guests is the āhavanīya fire; he who is the preparer of food is the dakṣiṇāgni; he who abides in the household is the gārhapatya.
16.113.8 He who eats before the guest eats up both the iṣṭa — the fruit of sacrificial rites — and the pūrta — the fruit of works of public merit.
16.113.9 He likewise eats away his progeny and his cattle — [he who eats before the guest].
16.113.10 He who eats before the guest eats away the vigour and the milk-wealth of the households.
16.113.11 He who is a learned Vedic scholar — he indeed is the true atithi, the guest.
16.113.12 Therefore one should not eat first; one should eat only after he has eaten — that is the vow, the sacred rule.
16.113.13 For the unbroken continuity of the sacrifice, for the protection of the sacrifice, for the sacrifice's identification with the self.
16.114.1 When one presents the offering with milk poured over it, one thereby obtains as much merit as is obtained by sacrificing with a fully performed Agniṣṭoma — so much does one secure through this.
16.114.2 When one presents the offering with clarified butter poured over it, one thereby obtains as much as is obtained by a fully performed sāhna sacrifice — [so much does one secure through this].
16.114.3 When one presents the offering with honey poured over it, one thereby obtains as much as is obtained by a fully performed atirātra sacrifice — [so much does one secure through this].
16.114.4 When one presents the offering with meat poured over it, one thereby obtains as much merit as is obtained by sacrificing with a fully performed dvādaśāhna — so much does one secure through this.
16.114.5 When one presents the offering with water poured over it, it is for the procreation of progeny; he lives long, he attains the full span of life, and he does not die before old age — he who knows thus.
16.115.1 For him, Vāta and Uṣas intone the hiṅkāra; Savitṛ extols him with prosperity as the prastāva; Bṛhaspati chants the udgītha with vigour; Tvaṣṭṛ performs the pratihāra with nourishment; the Viśve Devāḥ perform the nidhana. The nidhana becomes one of prosperity, of progeny, and of cattle — for him who knows thus.
16.115.2 For him, the rising sun intones the hiṅkāra; the forenoon performs the prastāva; the midday chants the udgītha; the afternoon performs the pratihāra; the setting sun performs the nidhana — [and the nidhana becomes one of prosperity, of progeny, and of cattle, for him who knows thus].
16.115.3 For him, the forming cloud intones the hiṅkāra; the lightning flashing forth performs the prastāva; the thundering chants the udgītha; the raining performs the pratihāra; the clearing performs the nidhana — [and the nidhana becomes one of prosperity, of progeny, and of cattle, for him who knows thus].
16.115.4 He looks towards the guests — that is the hiṅkāra; he addresses them with welcome — that is the prastāva; he requests water — that is the udgītha; he brings the offering forward — that is the pratihāra; he performs the nidhana with the remnant. The nidhana becomes one of prosperity, of progeny, and of cattle — for him who knows thus.
16.116.1 These indeed — both the beloved and the unloved — are the officiating priests who lead one to the heavenly world, namely the guests (atithis).
16.116.2 When he summons the doorkeeper and causes him to be called, and when he responds and causes the response to be heard in return.
16.116.3 When the servers enter the lodging-places, they are in truth the cup-bearing adhvaryus for those guests — not a single one of them is without the function of an hotṛ.
16.116.4 What one brings forth in the morning — that is verily the morning pressing (prātaḥsavana).
16.116.5 What one brings forth at midday — that is verily the midday pressing (mādhyaṃdina savana).
16.116.6 What one brings forth in the evening — that is verily the third pressing (tṛtīya savana).
16.116.7 When the lord of the guests, having served the guests all round, asks leave of his seat — he thereby approaches the avabhṛtha (the concluding ablution of the sacrifice).
16.116.8 What he distributes in common — thereby he distributes the sacrificial fee (dakṣiṇā); and what he follows through to completion — thereby he indeed performs the udavasāna (final rite of dismissal).
16.117.1 He, being invoked, feasts upon the earth; invoked, he feasts upon whatever all-form (viśvarūpa) exists in the earth. He blazes within the earth, he shines forth upon the earth. He becomes the heavenly world — he who knows thus.
16.117.2 He, being invoked, feasts upon the atmosphere; invoked, he feasts upon whatever all-form exists in the atmosphere. He blazes within the atmosphere, he shines forth upon the atmosphere. [He becomes the heavenly world — he who knows thus.]
16.117.3 He, being invoked, feasts upon the sky; invoked, he feasts upon whatever all-form exists in the sky. He blazes within the sky, he shines forth upon the sky. [He becomes the heavenly world — he who knows thus.]
16.117.4 He, being invoked, feasts among the gods; invoked, he feasts upon whatever all-form exists among the gods. He blazes among the gods, he shines forth among the gods. [He becomes the heavenly world — he who knows thus.]
16.117.5 He, being invoked, feasts among the worlds; invoked, he feasts upon whatever all-form exists in the worlds. He blazes among the worlds, he shines forth among the worlds. He becomes the heavenly world — he who knows thus.
16.118.1 When, seated facing east, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for the sacrifice and for the gods.
16.118.2 When, seated facing south, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for Yama and for the ancestors (pitṛs).
16.118.3 When, seated facing west, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for Varuṇa, the one who dwells in the waters (apsuṣad).
16.118.4 When, seated facing north, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for Soma the king and for the Seven Seers (saptarṣis).
16.118.5 When, seated with the lap formed, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for Vāyu and for the atmosphere (antarikṣa).
16.118.6 When, standing upright, one scatters the grain — thereby one cuts off a portion for the sky (dyu) and for Āditya.
16.119.1 Whomsoever one desires to make inferior in self, in progeny, in livestock, in household, and in wealth — for him one should perform this oblation, and having performed it thus, one should follow it with this same oblation. Thereupon he indeed becomes inferior in self, in livestock, in household, and in wealth. This one should do: that is the expiation-rite.
16.119.2 Whomsoever one desires to make neither wealthier nor better in self, in progeny, in livestock, in household, and in wealth — for him one should perform this oblation, and having performed it thus, one should follow it with this same oblation. Thereupon he indeed becomes neither wealthier nor better in self, in progeny, in livestock, in household, and in wealth. This one should do: that is the expiation-rite.
16.119.3 Whomsoever one desires to make wealthier and better in self, in progeny, in livestock, in household, and in wealth — for him one should perform this oblation, and having performed it thus, one should follow it with this same oblation. Thereupon he indeed becomes wealthier and better in self, in progeny, in livestock, in household, and in wealth. This one should do: that is the expiation-rite.
16.120.1 When, as the grain is being husked, a rice-grain leaps out — the best kinsman of the same flesh becomes subject to death.
16.120.2 When the cooking-pot is not properly mounted, one performs a rite belonging to the Fathers.
16.120.3 When it drips and overflows — the milk of the household and of the livestock drips away.
16.120.4 When one pours it off prematurely — the milk of the household and of the livestock is poured away.
16.120.5 When the stirring-stick crumbles — the householder dies.
16.120.6 When the ladle crumbles — the mistress of the house dies.
16.120.7 When the pot cracks open — total loss ensues: both the giver and the receiver suffer defeat.
16.121.1 When one stirs it upward toward the east — it is cut off for the sacrifice and for the gods.
16.121.2 When one stirs it upward toward the south — it is cut off for Yama and for the Fathers.
16.121.3 When one stirs it upward toward the west — it is cut off for Varuṇa, the one who dwells in the waters.
16.121.4 When one stirs it upward toward the north — it is cut off for Soma the king and for the Seven Seers.
16.121.5 When one lifts it out with a circular motion — fear comes to him from every direction.
16.122.1 When one strews the barhis eastward, it is cut off for the sacrifice and for the gods.
16.122.2 When one strews the barhis southward, it is cut off for Yama and for the Pitṛs.
16.122.3 When one strews the barhis westward, one does what has never been done before.
16.122.4 When one strews the barhis northward, it is cut off for King Soma and for the Seven Sages.
16.123.1 When one fashions the handle of the vessel in front, hemorrhoids arise in the mouth of the recipient.
16.123.2 When one fashions the handle of the vessel on the south side, it is cut off for Yama and for the Pitṛs.
16.123.3 When one fashions the handle of the vessel behind, a westward-flying arrow strikes the recipient.
16.123.4 When one fashions the handle of the vessel on the north side, it is cut off for King Soma and for the Seven Sages.
16.124.1 When it is bright, it attains the dear abode of the Ādityas. He who would eat of the bright one should eat it saying: 'I eat thee with the dear abode of the Ādityas.' Thereupon he eats it with another abode; and it is cut off for the Ādityas.
16.124.2 When it is husked, it is the dear (abode) of the Viśve Devās. He who would eat of the husked one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee with the dear abode of all the gods'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for the Viśve Devās.
16.124.3 When it is unhusked, it is the dear (abode) of the Maruts. He who would eat of the unhusked one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee with the dear (abode) of the Maruts'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for the Maruts.
16.124.4 When it is shrunken, it is (the dear abode) of Agni alone. He who would eat of the shrunken one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee with the dear (abode) of Agni'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for Agni.
16.124.5 When it is unshrunken, it is (the dear abode) of Mitra and Varuṇa. He who would eat of the unshrunken one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee with the dear (abode) of Mitra and Varuṇa'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for Mitra and Varuṇa.
16.124.6 When it is dry, it is (the dear abode) of Indra alone. He who would eat of the dry one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee (with the dear abode) of Indra'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for Indra.
16.124.7 When it is moist, it is (the dear abode) of the Pitṛs alone. He who would eat of the moist one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee (with the dear abode) of the Pitṛs'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for the Pitṛs.
16.124.8 When it is small, it is (the dear abode) of the Waters alone. He who would eat of the small one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee with the dear (abode) of the waters'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for the Waters.
16.124.9 When it is loose, it is (the dear abode) of the Directions alone. He who would eat of the loose one should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee (with the dear abode) of the Directions'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for the Directions.
16.124.10 When it is a gulantī grain, it is (the dear abode) of Prajāpati alone. He who would eat of the gulantī grain should (eat it saying): 'I eat thee (with the dear abode) of Prajāpati'; (he eats it thus). It is cut off for Prajāpati.
16.124.11 When it is withered, it attains the dear abode of the Uppermost Sky. He who would eat of the withered one should eat it saying: 'I eat thee with the dear abode of the Uppermost Sky.' Thereupon he eats it with another abode; and it is cut off for the Uppermost Sky.
16.125.1 If, having poured milk over it, one eats first, the recipient becomes a kilāsa (one afflicted with a leprous skin disease).
16.125.2 If, having poured ghee over it, one eats first, a serpent slays the recipient.
16.125.3 If, having poured honey over it, one eats first, Mahādeva slays the recipient.
16.125.4 If, having added meat to it, one eats first, Īśāna slays the recipient.
16.125.5 If, having poured water over it, one eats first — that is prosperous. He lives long, reaches his full lifespan, and does not die before old age — he who knows thus.
16.126.1 If, while about to eat, one wipes the food from in front — the life-breath of the recipient goes forward; rising up from there it departs; his head aches. He does not live beyond twelve. And so an onlooker catches this person as he eats.
16.126.2 If, while about to eat, one wipes the food from the south — the recipient's [life-breath goes] to the right [southward — remainder as above, ellipsis in source].
16.126.3 If, while about to eat, one wipes the food from the north — the life-breath of the recipient goes northward; rising up from there it departs; his head aches. He does not live beyond twelve. And so an onlooker catches this person as he eats.
16.126.4 If, while about to eat, one wipes it from behind forward — one thereby touches it with shelter and with armor. Both shelter and armor come to be his. He conquers the rice-dish; he becomes one whose world is the rice-dish — he who knows thus.
16.127.1 Ye are Indra's vital force; ye are Indra's might; ye are Indra's strength; ye are Indra's heroic power; ye are Indra's brilliance; ye are Indra's virility. For victorious yoking I yoke you with the yokings of Indra. For victorious yoking, may all forms attend upon me. Yoked to me, ye Waters, stand here.
16.127.2 [As 16.127.1, with:] I yoke you with the yokings of kṣatra for victorious yoking [remainder as 16.127.1, ellipsis in source].
16.127.3 [As 16.127.1, with:] I yoke you with the yokings of brahman for victorious yoking [remainder as 16.127.1, ellipsis in source].
16.127.4 [As 16.127.1, with:] I yoke you with the yokings of food (anna) for victorious yoking [remainder as 16.127.1, ellipsis in source].
16.127.5 Ye are Indra's vital force; ye are Indra's might; ye are Indra's strength; ye are Indra's heroic power; ye are Indra's brilliance; ye are Indra's virility. For victorious yoking I yoke you with the yokings of the Waters. For victorious yoking, may all forms attend upon me. Yoked to me, ye Waters, stand here.
16.128.1 You are the share of Agni. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.2 You are the share of Indra. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.3 You are the share of Soma. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.4 You are the share of Varuṇa. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.5 You are the share of Yama. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.6 You are the share of the Pitṛs. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.7 You are the share of Bṛhaspati. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.8 You are the share of Prajāpati. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.128.9 You are the share of the god Savitṛ. O divine Waters, place in us the bright essence of the waters, the vital lustre. By the ordinance of Prajāpati I settle you here for this world.
16.129.1 That which among you, O Waters, is the share of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.2 That which among you, O Waters, is the wave of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.3 That which among you, O Waters, is the current of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.4 That which among you, O Waters, is the drop of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.5 That which among you, O Waters, is the embryo of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.6 That which among you, O Waters, is the calf of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.7 That which among you, O Waters, is the bull of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.8 That which among you, O Waters, is the speckled heavenly stone of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.9 That which among you, O Waters, is Hiraṇyagarbha of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping one dwelling within the waters — I release this beyond him; let it not strike me. With it I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.129.10 Those which among you, O Waters, are the fires of the waters — the sacrificial, deity-worshipping ones dwelling within the waters — I release these beyond him; let them not strike me. With them I drive beyond him who hates us, whom we hate. May I smite him, may I overwhelm him with blazing force, by this sacred formulation, by this rite, by this mental intent.
16.130.1 Whatever untruth we have uttered since the past year up to the present — from that sin, from that transgression, may the Waters guard me on every side.
16.130.2 O stainless Waters, carry the stain away from us; of fair countenance, carry far from us sin, transgression, evil omen, and pollution.
16.130.3 I release you back to the ocean — return to your own source. Whole and unharmed for all our years, let nothing whatsoever afflict us.
16.131.1 You are the stride of Viṣṇu, slayer of rivals, whetted by the Earth, radiant with the fire of Agni. Along the Earth do I stride wide; from the Earth we expel him who hates us and whom we hate. The rivals born before — I press those very ones down; I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival.
16.131.2 You are the stride of Viṣṇu, slayer of rivals, whetted by the atmosphere, radiant with the wind of Vāyu. Along the atmosphere do I stride wide; from the atmosphere we expel him who hates us and whom we hate. The rivals born together — [I press those very ones down; I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.3 You are the stride of Viṣṇu, slayer of rivals, whetted by the sky, radiant with the light of Sūrya. Along the sky do I stride wide; from the sky we expel him who hates us and whom we hate. The rivals born after — [I press those very ones down; I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.4 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the directions, radiant with the power of the wind. Along the directions do I stride wide; from the directions him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.5 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the horizons, radiant with the power of the mind. Along the horizons do I stride wide; from the horizons him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.6 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the waters, radiant with the power of Varuṇa. Along the waters do I stride wide; from the waters him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.7 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the Ṛc hymns, radiant with the power of the Sāman. Along the Ṛc hymns do I stride wide; from the Ṛc hymns him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.8 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the sacrifice, radiant with the power of brahman. Along the sacrifice do I stride wide; from the sacrifice him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.9 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by the plants, radiant with the power of Soma. Along the plants do I stride wide; from the plants him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.10 [You are the stride of Viṣṇu,] slayer of rivals, whetted by tillage, radiant with the power of the Puruṣa. Along the tillage do I stride wide; from the tillage him — [we expel who hates us and whom we hate; I press the rivals down, I stride beyond them — driven away and expelled is the rival].
16.131.11 You are the stride of Viṣṇu, slayer of rivals, whetted by the breath, radiant with the power of food. Along the breath do I stride wide; from the breath we utterly expel him who hates us and whom we hate.
16.132.1 I have reached the sun, I have reached the light; I have stood over all hostile armies and foes-without-gift. He who hates us and whom we hate — his breath and life-span I here wind off; I send this man to the lowest darkness.
16.132.2 I turn back following Sūrya's circuit; I turn back following the southern course. I circle back toward the luminous directions; I circle back toward the Seven Ṛṣis; I circle back toward brahman; I circle back toward the Brāhmaṇas. May they bestow wealth upon me; may they bestow upon me the brilliance of brahman.
16.132.3 O Lord of the Earth, whatever food of yours dwells distributed along the Earth — of that, O Lord of the Earth, O Prajāpati, do generously grant us a share. Him whom we hunt down, let us lay low with the slaying blow.
16.132.4 Into the open jaws of Parameṣṭhin we have thrust him with brahman's force. Death has fully overtaken him through the fangs of Vaiśvānara.
16.132.5 Let this oblation, the divine kindling-stick of surpassing strength, devour him. You are the bond of King Varuṇa — bind yonder one, the son of that woman, that scion of that lineage, in food and in breath.
16.132.6 Knowingly I hurl against him the four-pointed thunderbolt of the waters to cleave his skull. Let it shatter all his joints — may all the gods take cognisance of this for me.
16.132.7 O Agni, when we look upon you through your heat and fervent energy, may we be dear to the Renowned One — long-lived and of keen wisdom.
16.133.1 Verily, Virāj was born first here. When she was born, all things were afraid, thinking: 'This one alone will become all this; not we.'
16.133.2 She then stepped forth; she descended into the Dakṣiṇāgni. He who knows this becomes fit for sacrifice, a dweller in the abode.
16.133.3 [She then stepped forth;] she descended into the Gārhapatya [fire]. [He who knows this] becomes a householder devoted to the household rites, a master of the house — [he who knows this].
16.133.4 [She then stepped forth;] she descended into the Āhavanīya [fire]. The gods come to his invocation of the gods; he becomes dear to the gods — [he who knows this].
16.133.5 [She then stepped forth;] she descended into the assembly hall. [Men] come to his assembly; he becomes a respected member of the assembly — [he who knows this].
16.133.6 [She then stepped forth;] she descended into the council. [Men] come to his council; he becomes a member of authority in the council — [he who knows this].
16.133.7 [She then stepped forth;] she descended into the deliberation. [Men] come to his deliberation; he becomes one worthy of being consulted — he who knows this.
16.133.8 [She then stepped forth;] she stood in the atmosphere striding fourfold. The gods and men said of her: 'This one knows that by which we both could live — let us call upon her.' They called upon her: 'Come, O Vigor; come, O Self-sufficiency; come, O Truth; come, O Bounty.' Of her, Agni was the calf, the Gāyatrī was the vessel over her, the cloud was the udder.
16.133.9 Of her, the Bṛhat and the Rathantara were the two teats, and the Yajñāyajñiya and the Vāmadevya were the two. The Rathantara — the gods milked the plants from it; the Bṛhat — they milked wide space; the Vāmadevya — the waters; the Yajñāyajñiya — the sacrifice.
16.133.10 These indeed are the wish-yielding teats of Virāj. He milks wish after wish from Virāj — he who knows this.
16.134.1 She went forth; she came to the forest-trees, the forest-trees smote her, and she became whole in a year. Therefore in a year even a felled tree of the forest grows again. They strike down the unloved rival of him who knows this.
16.134.2 She came to the Pitṛs, the Pitṛs smote her, and she became whole in a month. Therefore in a month they make offerings to the Pitṛs; one who does so becomes possessor of svadhā among the Pitṛs and knows well the path of the Pitṛyāṇa—he who knows this.
16.134.3 She came to the gods, the gods smote her, and she became whole in a half-month. Therefore in a half-month they offer to the gods; one offers the Agnihotra and knows well the path of the Devayāna—he who knows this.
16.134.4 She came to human beings, human beings smote her, and she became whole that very day. Therefore on both days humans bring offerings; they bring them reverently into the house—he who knows this.
16.135.1 She went forth; she came to the Asuras. The Asuras called out to her: 'O Māyā, come!' Her calf was Virocana son of Prahrāda, and her pail was of iron. Dvimūrdhan the Ārtvijaḥ milked her; he milked forth Māyā. On that Māyā the Asuras subsist. He becomes one on whom others subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.2 She came to the Pitṛs. The Pitṛs called out to her: 'O Svadhā, come!' Her calf was Yama Vaivasvata, and her pail was of silver. Antaka son of Mṛtyu milked her; he milked forth Svadhā. On that Svadhā the Pitṛs subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.3 She came to human beings. Human beings called out to her: 'O Irāvatī, come!' Her calf was Manu Vaivasvata, and her pail was the earth. Pṛthu son of Vena milked her; he milked forth both ploughing and grain. On that ploughing and grain human beings subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.4 She came to the gods. The gods called out to her: 'O Ūrjā, come!' Her calf was Indra, and her pail was of wood. Savitṛ milked her; he milked forth Ūrjā. On that Ūrjā the gods subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.5 She came to the Seven Sages. The Seven Sages called out to her: 'O Brahmaṇvatī, come!' Her calf was Soma, and her pail was the metres. Bṛhaspati of the lineage of Āṅgiras milked her; he milked forth both brahman and tapas. On that brahman and tapas the Seven Sages subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.6 She came to the Gandharvas and Apsarasas. The Gandharvas and Apsarasas called out to her: 'O Puṇyagandhā, come!' Her calf was Citraratha son of Sūryavarcas, and her pail was a lotus leaf. Vasurucis son of Sūryavarcas milked her; he milked forth the holy fragrance. On that holy fragrance the Gandharvas and Apsarasas subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.7 She came to the Puṇyajanas. The Puṇyajanas called out to her: 'O Tirodhā, come!' Her calf was Kubera Vaiśravaṇa, and her pail was of unbaked clay. Rajatanābhi the Kāberaka milked her; he milked forth invisibility. On that invisibility the Puṇyajanas subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.8 She went forth; she came to the Serpents. The Serpents called out to her: 'O Viṣavatī, come!' Her calf was Takṣaka of Vaiśāla, and her pail was a gourd vessel. Dhṛtarāṣṭra son of Airāvata milked her; he milked forth venom. On that venom the Serpents subsist. He becomes one on whom others subsist—he who knows this.
16.135.9 Therefore upon whomsoever one sprinkles with a gourd vessel, saying in the mind 'I strike you back,' let him strike that one back. What one strikes back is venom he strikes back; yet when one does not strike it back, the venom flows on after him. He slays the venom, the unloved rival of him—he who knows this.
16.136.1 Bind shut the mouths of those who scheme evil; hurl this thunderbolt upon the rivals. The first Śataudanā, given by Indra, slays rivals and clears the way for the sacrificer.
16.136.2 Let the altar-ground be your hide, let the sacrificial grass be your body-hair. This halter has seized you; let this pressing-stone dance upon you.
16.136.3 Let your tail-hairs be the sprinkling-waters; let your tongue lick the altar-grass, O inviolable one. Pure, having become fit for sacrifice, go to heaven, O Śataudanā.
16.136.4 He who cooks the Śataudanā with love fulfils his purpose; for his officiating priests, well pleased, all go each to his proper place.
16.136.5 O goddess, your slaughterers and those persons who are your cooks—all these will protect you; do not be afraid of them, O Śataudanā.
16.136.6 He ascends to heaven, to yonder triple heaven of the sky, making it resplendent with gold—he who gives the Śataudanā.
16.136.7 He attains fully those worlds in which the gods dwell, making an apūpa cake its navel—he who gives the Śataudanā.
16.136.8 The Vasus will guard you from the south, the Maruts from the north; the Ādityas will guard you from the west. Run beyond the Agniṣṭoma with the Atirātra.
16.136.9 The Gandharvas, the Apsarasas, O goddess, the Rudras, the Āṅgirasas will guard you. All these will protect you. Run beyond the Agniṣṭoma with the Atirātra.
16.136.10 The atmosphere, the sky, the earth, the Ādityas, the Maruts, the directions—all the worlds he attains—he who gives the Śataudanā.
16.137.1 She the auspicious one, sprinkling ghee, shall go as a goddess to the gods. O inviolable cow, do not injure the one who cooks thee; ascend to heaven, O thou of a hundred offerings.
16.137.2 Those Fathers who dwell in heaven, and those who abide in the atmosphere, and those here upon the earth — for them do thou yield at all times milk, and ghee, and honey.
16.137.3 Whatever is thy head, thy two horns, thy two ears, and thy two eyes — from these let the ones who milk thee yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey.
16.137.4 Whatever is thy mouth, thy tongue, thy teeth, and thy two jaws — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.5 Whatever is thy lung, thy heart, thy entrails together with the throat — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.6 Whatever is thy liver, thy kidneys, thy intestines, and thy lower bowels — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.7 Whatever is thy spleen, thy lower belly, thy two flanks, and thy abdomen — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.8 Whatever is thy marrow, thy bones, thy flesh, and thy blood — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.9 Whatever are thy two forelegs, thy two shoulders, thy two forearms, and thy hump — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.137.10 Whatever are thy shoulder-blades, thy neck, thy ribs, and thy side-bones — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.138.1 Whatever are thy two thighs, thy two knee-joints, thy two haunches, and thy hindquarters — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.138.2 Whatever is thy tail, thy tail-hairs, thy udder, and thy teats — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.138.3 Whatever are thy shanks, thy pasterns, thy fetlock-joints, and thy hooves — [yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey].
16.138.4 Whatever is thy skin, O thou of a hundred offerings, whatever are thy hairs, O inviolable one — from these let those who milk thee yield to the giver curdled milk, ghee, and honey.
16.138.5 This teat of thine yields curdled milk, this one ghee, this one honey. May this teat of thine, O goddess, O thou of a hundred offerings, milk forth all desires.
16.138.6 May thy two flanks become the two sacrificial rice-cakes sprinkled over with ghee. Making those thy wings, O goddess, carry the giver to heaven.
16.138.7 Whatever grains and husks are in the mortar, in the pestle, in the hide, or in the winnowing fan — whatever Mātariśvan the wind has churned, may Agni the purifier make that a well-offered oblation.
16.138.8 The divine waters, sweet-flowing and dripping with ghee, I place severally into the hands of the Brāhmaṇas. With whatever desire I now sprinkle you, may that be granted to us; may we become lords of riches.
16.139.1 Prajāpati and Parameṣṭhin are the two horns; Indra is the head; Agni is the brow; Yama is the nape of the neck; King Soma is the brain. Truth is the right eye; Ṛta is the left ear; Prāṇa and Apāna are the two nostrils; Heaven is the upper jaw; Earth is the lower jaw.
16.139.2 Agni is the mouth; lightning is the tongue; the Maruts are the teeth; Pavamāna is the breath. The All is the throat of Vāyu; the heavenly world is Kṛṣṇadra; Vidharaṇī and Vikeśī are [its parts].
16.139.3 The Revatī stars are the neck; the Kṛttikā stars are the shoulders; the Gharma is the back-carrier; the hawk is the chest; the atmosphere is the Pājasya. Mitra and Varuṇa are the two shoulder-joints; Tvaṣṭṛ and Aryaman are the two forearms.
16.139.4 Mahādeva is the two forelegs; Bṛhaspati is the hump; the Bṛhatī metres are the spine-bones. The wives of the gods are the back-ridges; the Upasad rites are the ribs.
16.139.5 Indrāṇī is the hindquarters; Vāta is the tail; Pavamāna is the tail-hairs. Brahman and Kṣatra are the two haunches; Strength is the two thighs; Dhātṛ and Savitṛ are the two knee-joints.
16.139.6 The Gandharvas and the Apsarases are the shanks; Aditi is the pasterns; the hooves are [hers]. The mind is the heart; the liver is wisdom; jaundice is the bile; the sacred vow is the entrails.
16.139.7 Hunger is the flank; Irā is the lower belly; mountains are the spleen; divine beings are the lower bowels; humans are the intestines; the other beings are the contents of the stomach; Rakṣases are the blood. Anger is the two kidneys; fury is the two testicles; progeny is the phallus.
16.139.8 The ocean is the bladder; the river is the urinary canal; thunder is the udder; the lords of rain are the teats. All-pervading space is the hide; plants are the body-hairs; the lunar asterisms are the form.
16.139.9 The cloud is the fat; marrow is the final resting-place. He who knows thus becomes the foundation of prosperity, of offspring, and of cattle.
16.139.10 Indra stands to the east; Yama stands to the south; Dhātṛ stands to the west; Savitṛ stands to the north. King Soma, having reached the grasses, is Ānanda turned away. Being seen, he is in Mitra; being yoked, he is Vaiśvadeva; when yoked, Prajāpati; when unyoked, the All. This is verily the form of the cow. Cattle possessed of fair form attend upon him who knows thus.
16.140.1 Created by exertion and austerity, she rests sheltered in Brahman; enveloped by truth, clothed in splendour, encompassed by fame, girt round with svādhā, borne along by faith, guarded by consecration, established in sacrifice — the world is her final abode.
16.140.2 The metres are her form, the Aṅgirases her fervour, Brahman her path — this Brāhmaṇa is her sovereign lord. From that kṣatriya who seizes her — the cow of Brahman — and thereby despoils the Brāhmaṇa, sweet speech departs, heroic power departs, and auspicious prosperity departs.
16.142.1 This is she — the dreadful brahmin's cow, filled with the poison of sin, the sorcery-spell wound round a reed-bundle; in her dwell all cruelties and all deaths; in her dwell all terrors and all slayings of men.
16.142.2 She, the brahmin's cow, when she is taken from one who has wronged a brahmin, flies straight into the snare of Death; for she is wrath carrying a hundredfold slaughter — she is indeed the ruin of the brahmin-wronger.
16.142.3 Therefore the cow of the brahmins is not to be assailed by one who knows; she has Vaiśvānara as her breath upward, she is Mahādeva watching over her, she is the thunderbolt running, the missile tearing up with her hooves.
16.142.4 With a razor-edged wheel as she surveys, Death as she lows — the brahmin's cow, as she bellows, thunders down upon the brahmin-wronger.
16.143.1 The fierce god is she who swishes her tail — total loss as she shakes her ears — royal consumption as she urinates — wrath as she is milked — headache as the milk is drawn; when she rises up she is mutual strife — when her mouth is stopped she is the arrow-shot.
16.143.2 As she is struck she is affliction — as she is dragged away she is utter decline — as she swoops down she is the poison of evil — as she falls she is darkness fallen; following after, the brahmin's cow enslaves the breath-forces of the brahmin-wronger.
16.144.1 As she is cut up she is enmity — as she is apportioned from grandchildren onward she is the god-hurled weapon — as she is carried off, bewilderment is set in place and Nirṛti is established; as evil is heaped upon her, cruelty is placed upon her — sterility is implanted.
16.144.2 As she is encircled she is the sacrificial heat — Vaiśvānara is wrapped all around her — as she is sent forth she is poison — as she is dispatched she is the fever-sickness; as she is turned about she is the uprooter of roots — destruction is turned all around.
16.144.3 As she is cooked she is evil-ripening — when fully cooked she is utter overthrow; as she is tended and stirred, she is the venomous serpent drawn forth, unconsciousness by her very smell.
16.144.4 As she is brought near she is non-being — when brought near she is complete destruction; as she is minced, she is Śarva in his wrath — when minced to pieces she is demon-slaughter minced.
16.144.5 As she is eaten she is affliction — when eaten she is utter dismemberment; eaten, the brahmacārin cuts the brahmin-wronger off from this world and from yonder world.
16.145.1 The kṛtyā strikes her blow; the meni is her curse; the valaga is the noose; she wanders without a horse, hemmed in on all sides. Having become the flesh-devouring fire, the brahman-cow, upon entering, devours the one who has wronged a brahman.
16.145.2 She cuts and severs the roots of all his limbs; she causes his father's kinsmen to perish, and his mother's kinsmen as well. The brahman-cow, when not returned by the kṣatriya, burns away all his relatives by marriage and all his kin.
16.145.3 She renders him homeless, without cattle, without progeny; he becomes unable to pass beyond and wastes away — the kṣatriya who thus takes the cow of a knowing brahman.
16.145.4 Soon indeed at the striking of him do vultures perform the ailava rite. The dishevelled ones dance around his burning place, beating their breasts with their hands, performing the evil ailava.
16.145.5 Wolves howl in his homesteads. Soon they ask of him: what was there once — where now is it, O father?
16.146.1 Cut, cut through, cut to pieces; burn down, burn utterly away. O Āṅgirasī, make subservient the brahman-wronger who seizes.
16.146.2 For you are called the Vaiśvadevī, the kṛtyā enveloped in kūlbajā plants, burning and consuming utterly — the thunderbolt of the brahman.
16.146.3 Having become Death with a razor's edge, she pursues him. She takes away the radiance of those who conquer, along with the fruit of oblations and charitable gifts and their blessings.
16.146.4 Having taken what is won, you hand it over to the victorious in that other world. O Aghniyā, follow the path; be the curse of the brahman-wronger.
16.146.5 Become the meni, become the arrow; become the deadly poison of evil. O Aghniyā, smite off the head of the brahman-wronger who has committed transgression.
16.146.6 Let fire burn the silver set in motion by you, the evil deed of the god-scorner and the ungrateful one. Hack, hack through; cut, cut apart; slash, slash to pieces; tear, tear asunder; scorch, scorch completely; burn, burn utterly. O goddess Aghniyā, burn the brahman-wronger from the root throughout.
16.147.1 Whatever ill-fortune is clinging to your head, lodged in your hair, placed upon your forehead — let this Apāmārga, the universal healer, wipe that away.
16.147.2 Whatever ill-fortune is seated in your eyebrows, placed in your ears and eyes — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.3 Whatever ill-fortune is in your face and nostrils, in your speech and lips — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.4 Whatever ill-fortune is placed in your teeth, in your tongue, in your chin — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.5 Whatever ill-fortune is deposited in your mind and intention, in your vital breath — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.6 Whatever ill-fortune is spread through your jaws, in your throat and lungs — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.7 Whatever ill-fortune is in your shoulders and neck, in your vertebrae and spine — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.8 Whatever ill-fortune is in your forearms, in your shoulders and armpits — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.9 Whatever ill-fortune is in your upper arms, along your elbows and wrists — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.147.10 Whatever ill-fortune is in your hands, along your palms and fingers — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.1 Whatever ill-fortune lodged in your back, placed in your haunches and buttocks — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.2 Whatever ill-fortune in your chest, placed in your flanks and breasts — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.3 Whatever ill-fortune in your heart, along the navel and the belly — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.4 Whatever ill-fortune in your spleen, or in the liver and the kidneys — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.5 Whatever ill-fortune in your bowels and intestines, placed in the belly — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.6 Whatever ill-fortune in your bladder, deposited in the vaniṣṭhau and the plāśau — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.7 Whatever ill-fortune in your pudendum, or in the seminal vesicles and testicles — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.8 Whatever ill-fortune in your hips, placed in the avacālūśa joints — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.9 Whatever ill-fortune in your posterior, placed in your thighs and knees — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.148.10 Whatever ill-fortune in your calves, placed in the shin-bones and heels — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.1 Whatever ill-fortune in your ankles, along the feet and toes — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.2 Whatever ill-fortune in your joints, in your flesh, bones, and marrow — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.3 Whatever ill-fortune, in whatever limb it has settled, or that is lodged in the hairs — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.4 Whatever ill-fortune in your dice-play, in the game of chance and gambling — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.5 Whatever ill-fortune in your cattle, placed in the field and in [loss through] thunderbolt — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.6 That ill-luck of yours born of fetus-slaying, and likewise your sonlessness — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.7 Whatever of yours has been fated by sitting with the Fathers, and likewise your [ill] destiny unfulfilled — [let Apāmārga wipe that away].
16.149.8 Whatever evil fortune is yours, and likewise your lack of livestock — let this Apāmārga, the all-healer, wipe all that away.
16.149.9 Whatever guilt toward the gods has accrued to those throat-deep, to those tormented by the serpent — let these waters carry that defilement away; let the hundred-streamed purifier purify me.
16.149.10 Bathe off all defilement and impurity; having deposited sin in dark garments, forsake adversity, Nirṛti, and the snares of death — come forward to the light of Sūrya, to Agni.
16.149.11 Rising up from the great ocean, being released from distress and from sin — may mind return to us, may life-force return to us; let not the Paṇis and Yātudhānas deceive me.
16.149.12 We wash off the defilement, the ill-spoken word from ourselves. Let brilliance be placed in me, let radiance be placed in me; let prāṇa and apāna not forsake me — may I attain full life-span.
16.150.2 Brahman, blazing, has risen up into the atmosphere and heaven; Brahman has shaken off death with amṛta; Brahman, overseer, is the direct witness of good deeds — may Brahman drive away from us impurity and darkness.
16.150.3 Westward-stretching, spread out, extended — we see them; that iron [net] of the Asuras, placed in the ocean, in the waters.
16.150.4 The tawny Suparṇa has climbed to heaven with his flame. O Jātavedas, those who seek to harm you as you fly up to heaven — strike them down with your blaze; fearless and mighty, mount heaven with your flame, O Sūrya.
16.150.5 The Asuras are iron-netted sorcerers, those who roam marked with iron fetters; I subject them to your consuming fire, O Jātavedas — go, O Vajra of a thousand edges, crushing my rivals.
16.150.6 The hot-drink offering, lord of the gods, proceeds, blazing with ṛta, beholding the immortal; golden-hued, divine Sūrya, the Gharma blazing with light traverses the ends of heaven with lightning.
16.150.7 The lightnings flash, flame-tongued, golden-hued, immortal, dwelling within the waters, within the ocean; the swift lightning of Rudra amid the thunder — may the weapon of that Vaiśvānara encircle and protect us.
16.150.8 Blazing with lightning, Agni goes to the heart, where the terrible tigers lurk in the waters; Rudra moves with the strides of Viṣṇu, thundering, driving back enemies and battling foes — may he make my quarters free of rivals.
16.150.9 Clothed in the waters, he comes together with the atmosphere and with heaven; the kindled, celestial, heat-bearing Agni — Vaiśvānara, O cool-formed one, bring calm; the eagle of the waters goes along the back of the sky.
16.150.10 Vaiśvānara traverses the ocean, bright, the Gharma blazing, shining with splendor; driving away enemies, burning my rivals, the wise Āditya has mounted the sky.
16.151.1 Vaiśvānara burns together the atmosphere and heaven; the divine fire, blazing, born of fervent heat. May they render service to him — they who press the soma; shining by sacred order (ṛta), he clothes himself in immortality as a garment.
16.151.2 The two awe-inspiring forms of him — the cold and the hot — gleam and do not rest. He goes about assuming many forms, robing himself in diverse shapes, concealing his bodies in secret, turning them away to remote places.
16.151.3 Upon the five-spoked wheel revolving, all the worlds mount together. Its axle, bearing the immense burden, grows hot; from of old it is never severed together with its hub.
16.151.4 Heated by the five, he burns in turn; they attend upon him of a thousand abodes. The seven bay mares draw thee, O Sūrya; Āditya, with Brahman, with the triple-twined mouth.
16.151.5 He flashes apart, he flashes, and he flashes back — the immortal Gharma (heat-vessel) rising within the waters. The slayer of Vṛtra, the host of the bay ones, the bodies of Sūrya — unassailable.
16.151.6 The Gharma from behind and the Gharma from before — we set them against the iron-fanged foe who hates us. Vaiśvānara, robing himself in cold and in heat, let him smite all my rivals who bear enmity toward me.
16.151.7 He cooks the seasons by means of the seasons; the Gharma, the solitary hero of Brahman, purified, kindled with sacrificial fuel. The Brahmin sacrificer heats thee with sacred formula and with fiery splendour.
16.151.8 Brahman (the sacred power), born first, was taken together — that which is coming into being was not split apart and is not split. That which moves in the limbs speaks to the father; its veins are stretched out, spread wide — stretched indeed are they.
16.151.9 From the existent he bore away that which was unborn; he who begot it — he indeed is its sustainer. Prajāpati, coming to understanding with his creatures, holds the three lights — the immature one does not.
16.151.10 Prajāpati moves within the womb; being born, he is born manifold. The wise (vedhas) behold his footstep; upon him all the worlds are strung.
16.152.1 In whom gods, ancestors, and men are rested like spokes at the hub — thee, the flower of the waters, I ask: where is it deposited by māyā (creative power)?
16.152.2 Where the flower of the waters is placed, set exceedingly by māyā in a hidden place — he who would know that directly, he would know the great Brahman.
16.152.3 The jewel threaded on three (threads), set in place, the heaven-knower — upright, across-turned, may it enter, being aware. That virile one, generating from the man by sacred order, let him reach all the ends straightway.
16.152.4 May Āditya wholly burn through the entire night together with Jātavedas (fire). Mounting up to heaven above the fire, let him anoint me with life-span; may he unite me with vital lustre (varcas).
16.152.5 The Gharma of a thousand (fires), kindled with sacrificial fuel — let it make the quarters of the sky free of rivals for me. Let Sūrya, Vaiśvānara, the tawny one, smite all my rivals.
16.152.6 The Gharma, made hot, let it utterly burn the rivals, those who hate me. Let Āditya, Sūrya rising, give over to (our keeping) the enemies who wage battle.
16.152.7 Vaiśvānara the bull, let him utterly burn the rivals, those who hate (me). The brilliant Āditya rising, Sūrya — let him crush and smite my adversaries.
16.152.8 The brilliant, fair-winged, tawny Brahman — the unfailing, shining light stretched out through heaven. The tawny fair-winged one, swift, ever ready to smite — let him strike down rivals with his great weapon.
16.152.9 The tawny fair-winged one, bringer of fair days, maker of fearlessness, of golden hue, hard to overcome, swift — Sūrya, Āditya, let him smite all my rivals with his rays.
16.152.10 Let him straightway encompass the great goal — the brilliant one rising, distributing day and night. Let Sūrya, Vaiśvānara burning, go against all my rivals.
16.152.11 "Rising today, O great Mitra" — thus (goes) the one (verse, cited by incipit).
16.152.12 You bear fiery splendour and austerities before your face; bliss, prosperity, and the standing-ground of greatness. Moving all around, you go toward glory from every side — unfailing, true is the fame raised aloft that is yours.
16.153.1 The fiery brahmacārin (student of sacred knowledge) moves through both worlds, the earth and heaven; in him the gods become of one mind. He upheld this earth and yonder heaven — let him by austerity sustain the teacher.
16.153.2 The teacher, initiating the brahmacārin, makes him an embryo within. Three nights he carries him in his belly; the gods come together to behold him when born. The ancestors, men, divine beings, and gandharvas — all of them follow after this brahmacārin.
16.153.3 He nourishes by austerity all the gods — the thirty-three, the three hundred, the six thousand. This earth is (his) fuel-stick, heaven the second — and the atmosphere he fills with sacrificial fuel. The brahmacārin, fuel-laden, girded with the sacred cord, nourishes the worlds by toil and by austerity.
16.153.4 Born first of Brahman, the brahmacārin, robing himself in the Gharma (heat), stood supreme over austerity. From him was born the brahmaṇa, the eldest Brahman — and all the gods together with immortality.
16.153.5 The brahmacārin, kindled with sacrificial fuel, wearing a black antelope skin, consecrated (dīkṣita), long-bearded — he goes straightway from the eastern to the western ocean, grasping the worlds, roaming about repeatedly.
16.153.6 The brahmacārin generating Brahman, the waters, the world, Prajāpati, Parameṣṭhin, and Virāj — having become an embryo in the womb of immortality, having become Indra, he crushed the asuras.
16.153.7 The brahmacārin, first of all, bore alms from this earth and from heaven. They who make Brahman and tend the (sacred fire) with fuel — upon those two all the worlds are strung.
16.153.8 The teacher fashioned the two firmaments — the two vast, deep (spaces) — the earth and the heaven. The brahmacārin guards both of them with austerity; upon those two the gods rejoice together in exhilaration.
16.153.9 One (treasure) is this side, another is beyond — two hidden hoards set in the hidden place of the brahmaṇa. The brahmacārin guards both of them with austerity; the one who knows makes that Brahman entire and sole.
16.154.1 One fire is on this side, below the back of heaven; another is here, above the earth — the two meet in the midspace between the two worlds. Upon them the firm rays are arrayed; the brahmacārī ascends to them by means of his austerity.
16.154.2 Ruddy and dark-necked, great-membered, roaring — he bore his seed along upon the earth. The brahmacārī pours seed upon her ridge; by that the four quarters live upon the earth.
16.154.3 Parjanya, Mṛtyu, Varuṇa, Soma, the herbs, and the milk — these were the mighty ones, the vigorous beings; by them they brought forth this heavenly light.
16.154.4 In Agni, in Sūrya, in the moon, in Mātariśvan, in the waters — the brahmacārī places the fuel-offering. Their flames move separately in the cloud; their clarified butter is Man, their horse is the rain.
16.154.5 He renders the clarified butter pure at home; having become the ācārya, whatever Varuṇa desired from Prajāpati — that the brahmacārī delivered; Mitra from his own self bestowed it.
16.154.6 The ācārya is the brahmacārī; the brahmacārī is Prajāpati. Prajāpati reigns supreme; Virāj became Indra, the sovereign.
16.154.7 By brahmacarya and austerity the king protects his realm. By brahmacarya the ācārya seeks out the brahmacārī.
16.154.8 By brahmacarya a maiden wins a young husband. The draft-ox, by brahmacarya, and the horse strive to obtain their fodder.
16.154.9 By brahmacarya and austerity the gods drove away Death. Indra indeed by brahmacarya brought forth the immortal heavenly light.
16.154.10 The herbs, what has been and what shall be, day and night, the forest trees, the year together with its seasons — these were born as brahmacārīs.
16.155.1 The cattle of the earth and of the sky, those of the forest and those of the village, and those without wings and those winged — these too were born as brahmacārīs.
16.155.2 All beings of Prajāpati, each separately, bear the vital breaths within themselves. Brahman, sustained in the brahmacārī, protects all of them.
16.155.3 The brahmacārī bears the blazing brahman; in him all the gods have assembled together. He, the snātaka — tawny and ruddy-brown — shines brilliantly upon the earth.
16.155.4 This, pressed out by the gods, unascended, moves resplendently. In him are all cattle, in him the sacrifices, in him food together with the divine powers.
16.155.5 Generating prāṇa and apāna, then vyāna, generating sight and hearing, O brahman, and intelligence — set in us the highest speech and glory.
16.155.6 Food, seed, blood, and the womb — shaping these, the brahmacārī stood performing austerity upon the back of the waters, glowing with heat in the ocean.