Prapāṭhaka 4

4.1 These soma draughts mixed with curds have been pressed out for Indra. Come to them, O thunderbolt-bearing one, for exhilaration and drinking — come home with your two bay horses.

4.2 These soma juices, O Indra, bright and rich in sacred verse, have been pressed for your delight. Having drunk of the sweet, hear our hymns and give bounty to our praise, O lover of song.

4.3 Today I call you who are born of the Gāyatrī hymn, you who are like a milch-cow yielding abundance — Indra, the divine milch-cow, another one yielding good milk, whose streams are broad and who is well prepared.

4.4 Not the great and solid mountains hold you back, O Indra. When you bestow wealth upon the one who praises you and worships you, no adversary diminishes your gift.

4.5 Who knows him drinking companionably at the soma pressing? Who has set him as a twin? He is this one who shatters cities with his strength, who grows exhilarated from the juice that touches his cheeks.

4.6 When, O Indra, you drive away from the seat the one who transgresses your command, O Maghavan, place our soma stalk — the one widely coveted — upon the sacrificial grass for the winning of wealth.

4.7 May Tvaṣṭṛ, Parjanya, and Brahmaṇaspati protect our divine speech. May Aditi with her sons and brothers protect us — our speech that is hard to cross and that is our refuge.

4.8 Never are you barren, O Indra, and you do not abandon the devout worshipper. O Maghavan, you become ever more abundant — truly, the gift of the divine one is extolled.

4.9 Yoke your two bay horses, O Indra, greatest destroyer of Vṛtra, from the distant realm. Come near, O Maghavan, come here with your great steeds to drink the soma, O mighty one.

4.10 You indeed, O thunderbolt-bearer, the men of abundant gifts enriched yesterday. So, O Indra, bearer of praise-songs, hear here — come to your own dwelling.

4.11 The great waters cover darkness with the eye of sight; the skilled one makes light.

4.12 These dawning invocations at daybreak call to you both, O Aśvins. I here invoke you both for help, O you rich in powers — for you go to every clan.

4.13 Where are you, O Aśvins? Which mortal burns for you, O gods? Striking with your stony weapon by night, pressing out the soma-stalk — thus indeed you have come to him.

4.14 This soma, most rich in sweetness, has been pressed for you both at the heavenly invocations. Drink it, O Aśvins, through the days and nights; bestow treasures upon the devout worshipper.

4.15 I, the bowstring, always seeking you by the stream of soma — I have made the fierce one, like a wild beast, angry at the soma pressings. Who would not entreat the sovereign one?

4.16 O Adhvaryu priest, pour out the soma swiftly — Indra thirsts. Now indeed he has yoked his two powerful bay horses and the Vṛtra-slayer has come here.

4.17 Bring then what surpasses that, O Indra — the greater beyond the lesser. For you have become Purūvasu, O Maghavan, and you are to be invoked in every battle and every conflict.

4.18 O Indra, if I were master of as much as you are master of, I would hold the praiser alone and I would not take delight in evil, O giver of wealth.

4.19 You, O Indra, surpass all rivals in swift attacks. You are the slayer of the slanderer, the creator, the swift one who breaks through Vṛtra — you are the swift one who overcomes the attacker.

4.20 He who has grown beyond the seats of heaven by his might — no earthly realm has encompassed you, O Indra; you have extended beyond all the universe.

4.21 We waken you, O lord of bay horses, with sacrifices; waken, as with a hymn, in the exhilarations of the soma juice.

4.22 Your seat, O Indra, has been made ready in the place of sacrifice — come forward thither with the men, O much-invoked one. Be our protector and our increaser; give us riches and be gladdened by the soma.

4.23 You burst open the fountains and released their streams; you set free the floods that were bound and confined. When you, O Indra, split open the great mountain and let the streams flow down, when you smote the Dānavas.

4.24 We who have pressed the soma, O Indra, praise you hoping to win the prize, O you whose wealth is prominently known. Bring to us good fortune whose shelter we may achieve with our bodies — may we be strengthened by your aid.

4.25 We have grasped your right hand, O Indra, longing for wealth, O lord of wealth. For we know you as the bull-lord of cattle, O hero — give us brilliant, bountiful riches.

4.26 The men invoke Indra with devoted worship when those prayers that are appointed are yoked. The hero who conquers men, who loves glory — give us a share in the cattle-pen full of cows.

4.27 The birds with beautiful wings, the beloved-wisdom sages, calling upon him, have approached Indra. Roll away the darkness, fill the eye with sight, release us as if we were bound in traps.

4.28 Upon the vault of heaven, as the beautiful-winged one flew, those longing in their hearts gazed upon you. The golden-winged bird, messenger of Varuṇa, the restless bird in the womb of Yama.

4.29 The first-born brahman from the east — the seeker revealed the shining one beyond the boundary. He, the highest, pervades all the foundations of this one; he opened the womb of both the existent and the nonexistent.

4.30 For him who is without precedent, the most manifold — for this great hero, the mighty, the swift — for the powerful one, the thunderbolt-bearer, the most beneficent, they have fashioned these words for him, the firm one.

4.31 Indra by his power drove away the one who was blowing — he, the man-minded one, blew away the sticky hindrance.

4.32 Frightened by Vṛtra's hissing, all the gods who were your companions abandoned you. Let friendship between you and the Maruts exist, O Indra — and thus you shall conquer all these armies.

4.33 The gray-haired one swallowed the vigorous youth who was trembling in the assembly of many. Behold the power of the divine sage — he died today who was alive yesterday in the same assembly.

4.34 You, O Indra, being born among the seven, became an enemy to those who had no enemy. You found heaven and earth in their hidden place and waged war with the wide-extended worlds.

4.35 Like a pillar — you, the thunderbolt-bearer, the sharp one, the manifoldly renowned, the bull, firm in nourishment — you make your enemies yield, O Indra who desires to serve; I sing of the brilliant Vṛtra-slayer.

4.36 Bring forth praise to the great one, the greatly increasing, the far-sighted one; render good thought. Go forward through the many peoples, O you who fills all living beings.

4.37 We would invoke for good fortune the bountiful Indra, the most manly in this battle, in the winning of prizes — the mighty one who listens, for our aid in conflicts, smiting the Vṛtras, winning wealth together.

4.38 Rise up, send forth the brahman prayers seeking glory; magnify Indra in the battle, O Vasiṣṭha. He who has stretched forth all things with his fame — may he hear my words as they approach.

4.39 The wheel set in the waters — let that sweet thing please him. The udder that is stretched upon the earth — the milk he placed in the cows and in the plants.

4.40 We invoke here for our well-being Tārkṣya, the swift one who goes into battle, whose wheel-rim is unharmed.

4.41 Indra the protector, Indra the helper, the easy-to-invoke warrior Indra in every invocation — I now invoke the mighty Indra, the much-invoked. May Indra the bountiful one take this oblation.

4.42 We worship Indra with the thunderbolt in his right hand, the charioteer of the bay steeds of many ways. He who shakes his beard upward and onward, becoming terrible with his armies, advancing with his bounties.

4.43 The all-smiting, the bold, the loud-voiced Indra, the great, the boundless, the bull, bearer of the fine thunderbolt — the slayer of Vṛtra who wins the prize, the bountiful Maghavan who gives riches, the excellent bestower.

4.44 Whatever mortal assails us wishing to harm us, whether thinking himself fierce or swift — destroy him in battle, or with your strength, O Indra; may we overcome him, protected by your heroic might.

4.45 He whom the peoples striving against Vṛtras invoke, whom those rushing in the yokings invoke, whom they invoke in the winning of heroes, whom the inspired ones urge on in the contest at the water's proximity — he is Indra.

4.46 O Indra and Parvata, bring here with your great chariot good nourishment, O you of good heroes. Enjoy the oblations at the sacrifice, O gods; grow great, gladdened with songs and praises.

4.47 For Indra, the songs unleashed like darting streams sent forth the waters from the bottom of the ocean. He who, like an axle by his powers, has everywhere propped up the earth and heaven.

4.48 Friends have turned you with friendship; you have gone across many floods indeed. The wise one should take hold of the father's grandson; shining more brightly in this dwelling.

4.49 Who today yokes the cattle of cosmic order to the yoke — the laboring, angry, ill-willed ones? The water-bearing one who brings welfare is near to them; he alone who paid the debt of their nurture shall live.

4.50 The singers of the Gāyatrī sing of you; those who chant the Arka-hymns adore you. The Brahmin priests, O you of a hundred powers, have stretched you upward like a bamboo pole.

4.51 All hymns have magnified Indra, ocean-wide in his expanse — the most chariot-worthy of charioteers, the true lord and master of prizes.

4.52 Drink this, Indra — the pressed soma, the foremost, the immortal exhilaration. The bright streams of sacred order pour toward you in the seat of Rita.

4.53 What gift of wonders, O wielder of the stone-bolt, is not yet given by you here? Knowing our bounty, O wealthy one, bring it with both hands.

4.54 Hear the call from afar, O Indra, of him who worships you. Fill him with wealth of good heroes and of cattle — you are truly great.

4.55 The soma has been pressed for you, O mightiest Indra — come boldly! May the sovereign power fill you, as the sun fills the sky with its rays.

4.56 Come, O Indra, with your bay steeds, to the excellent praise of Kaṇva. Directed from yonder heaven, travel through the sky, O guardian of the day.

4.57 Hymns have approached you like charioteers at the soma-pressings, O lover of song. They have lowed all around you as cows low about their calf.

4.58 Come now, let us praise Indra, the pure one, with a pure Sāman. May he, grown mighty with pure recitations, delight and be satisfied with pure blessings.

4.59 He who is richest in wealth among you, most glorious in brilliance — the pressed soma, O Indra, is your exhilaration, O lord of self-power.

4.60 Men have come to the one prepared and ready, to the one who travels on a pathless way.

4.61 Bring to us the great one who rests among the birds, the great one who dwells in the cavern, the first and foremost. You have smitten away fierce speech.

4.62 We turn your chariot as for help and for grace. O mightiest one, O true lord — Indra, the greatly active, the vanquisher of enemies.

4.63 He, the primal one, the longing of the great ones, has reached forth through his powers. Through whose doors Manu, the father, has reached forth his thoughts among the gods.

4.64 When the swift ones, resplendent, are harnessed in the chariots — drinking the intoxicating sweetness — there they win renown.

4.65 That one I praise for you, the unassailable, the lord of might — Indra, the overcomer of all, the hero most powerful in deeds, the all-knowing.

4.66 I have spoken in praise of Dadhikrāvan, the victorious, the horse of might. May he make our mouths fragrant; may he extend our life-spans.

4.67 The breaker of strongholds was born young, a seer of unlimited might. Indra, the upholder of all action, the wielder of the thunderbolt, praised by many.

4.68 He seeks to win you by thought and by the rich fullness of mind, for the sake of the sacrifice.

4.69 The two who are called the yoked pair of Kaśyapa, the heaven-finders — whose universal ordinance and sacrifice the wise, having considered, observe.

4.70 Sing, sing forth, O men; sing, O you of dear wisdom. Let the young sons also sing; boldly sing the stronghold that shines.

4.71 The recitation to be proclaimed for Indra, that which increases, for the ever-besought one — so that the mighty one may rejoice among us at the soma-pressings and in companionship.

4.72 The lord of all men, the lord of the unyielding might — by these same paths, I call on the aid of the peoples and of the chariots.

4.73 He indeed who, O divine men, calms the mortal by thought — with such aid he crosses not the great heaven's enmity nor adversity.

4.74 Your bounty, O Indra, is all-pervading; your gift is wide-reaching, O you of a hundred powers. So now, O one visible to all peoples, O good giver, bestow on us brilliance.

4.75 The birds that are of your mind, the flying ones, two-footed and four-footed in the bright space — at dawn they have sprung forward following the seasons, from the ends of heaven.

4.76 You gods who stand in the middle of the luminous realm of heaven — what is the sacred order for you? What is the immortal? What is your ancient oblation?

4.77 We worship the Ṛc and the Sāman, by means of which the ritual works are performed. The two that reign in their seat shall carry the sacrifice to the gods.

4.78 In wisdom, in choice, in firm standing, in the liberal, the most fiercely mighty, the swift, the courageous.

4.79 I place trust in his primary wrath, which smote the Dasyu and opened the manly waters. Both worlds ran after you; even the earth shrinks, O stone-bolt bearer, from your fury.

4.80 Come together, all, to the lord of heaven in his might — he alone who has been the abundant host of peoples. He, the primal one, desiring to conquer the new, has turned the paths about him — he alone.

4.81 We are yours, O Indra, O much-praised, we who move about relying on you, O most abundant wealthy one. For no other than you, O lover of song, can hold our hymns together — like the earth, accept our speech toward that.

4.82 The great hymns, the mighty chants, have bellowed toward Indra, the magnanimous, the sustainer of the peoples, the invocation-worthy — grown great with pure praises, called by many, immortal, aging day by day.

4.83 Toward Indra, all thoughts — heaven-seeking, unanimous, eager — have bellowed. They have embraced him all around as women embrace a husband, like a young hero, the magnanimous one, for aid.

4.84 With your hymns exhilarate that ram, Indra the much-invoked, the hymn-worthy, the ocean of riches. The heavens do not wander beyond his human understanding; sing to him, the most bountiful, the sage.

4.85 Magnify well that ram, the heaven-finder, with whose hundred of good beings they move together. Like a swift horse toward the prize, toward the chariot that heeds the call — may we turn Indra to our aid with pure praises.

4.86 Full of ghee, of all worlds the splendor, wide and broad, the two honey-yielding, beautifully formed ones — Heaven and Earth, propped apart by the law of Varuṇa, ageless and rich in seed.

4.87 When, O Indra, you filled both worlds as the dawns fill them — you, the great one, the sovereign king of the great ones and of peoples. The divine mother gave birth to him; the auspicious mother gave birth.

4.88 Recite the word rich in nourishment to the joyful one, who with his companion drove out the black-wombed one. Desiring aid, we call the bull, thunderbolt in his right hand, accompanied by Maruts, for fellowship.

4.89 The growing, skilled one is known — for he is truly great.

4.90 Sing forth toward him, the much-invoked, the much-praised. Seek to win mighty Indra with your hymns.

4.91 We sing of that your exhilaration, the bull, the conqueror in battles — and the world-maker, O stone-bolt bearer, glorious with bay steeds.

4.92 When, O Indra, you rejoice in the soma with Viṣṇu, or indeed with Trita Āptya, or when you delight among the Maruts together with the soma-drops.

4.93 Pour out more of the intoxicating sweetness from the plant-juice, O Adhvaryu. For thus the hero is praised — he who is ever-growing.

4.94 Pour the soma-drop for Indra — he drinks the soma sweetness. He urges on bounties with his greatness.

4.95 Come now, friends, let us praise Indra, the hero worthy of hymns — he alone who surpasses all peoples.

4.96 Sing the Sāman to Indra, the great to the great inspired one — to the maker of prayer, the wise, the praiseworthy.

4.97 He who alone knows how to bestow wealth on the mortal who gives — the ruling, unimpeded Indra, verily.

4.98 Friends, let us learn the prayer for Indra the thunderbolt-bearer. I shall praise well the most heroic, the bold one among you.