SUKTA 11

1. O Fire, thou art the guardian of the law of all workings, thou art the divine in mortals; thou art one to be prayed in the sacrifices.

2. O forceful one, it is thou who art to be expressed in the findings of knowledge; O Fire, thou art the charioteer of the pilgrim-sacrifices.

3. So do thou remove away from us the enemies, O knower of all things born, even the undivine and hostile forces, O Fire.

4. Even when it is near, O surely thou comest not to the sacrifice of our mortal foe, O knower of all things born.

5. Mortals illumined we meditate on the many names of thee the immortal, the knower of all things born.

6. We call the Fire with our words, illumined we call the illumined for our guard, mortals we call the god for our protection.

7. Vatsa compels thy mind even from the supreme world of thy session, O Fire, by his Word that longs for thee.

8. Thou art the equal lord of all peoples in many lands; we call to thee in the battles.

9. We call to the Fire to guard us in our battles, we who seek the plenitudes; in the plenitudes richly manifold is his achievement.

10. For thou art of old one to be prayed in the pilgrim-sacrifices, and from time eternal thou sittest as the ever-new Priest of the call; O Fire, gladden thy own body and bring happiness to us by the sacrifice.

SOBHARI KANWA

SUKTA 19

1. Affirm that godhead of the sun-world, the gods set the divine traveller to his race, they brought the offering to the world of the gods.

2. O illumined seer, pray the Fire opulent in his gifts, rich in his lustres; the guide of this Soma-sacrifice pray, O Sobhari, for the rite of the path, the Ancient One.

3. We have chosen thee the mightiest for sacrifice, the divine in the divine, the immortal as the Priest of call of this sacrifice, the strong of will, --

4. the Son of Energy, the Fire, happy and radiant and most glorious in his light; may he win for us by sacrifice the bliss in heaven of Mitra and Varuna and the bliss of the waters.

5. The mortal who with the fuel and the oblation, with knowledge and with surrender has given to the Fire, who is perfect in the pilgrim-rite, --

6. swift gallop his war-horses, most luminous is his glory, neither calamity wrought by the gods nor evil wrought of men can come to him from any part.

7. High of fire may we be with your fires, O son of force, O lord of Energies! for thou hast the hero-strength and thy desire is towards us.

8. As our friendly guest finding our expression for us, Fire must be known, and as our chariot; in thee are all-accomplishing foundations of ease, thou art the king of the Treasures.

9. That mortal is sure in the giving of his pilgrim-sacrifice, O happy Fire, he is one to be proclaimed, may he be a conqueror by his thoughts, --

10. one for whom thou standest high exalted over his pilgrim-sacrifice, he is a master and hero and accomplishes, -- he conquers by the war-horses, by the luminous seers, by the heroes, wins his work achieved.

11. He in whose house Fire, in whom are all desirable things, maintains his body and his affirming laud and his delight and the offerings, he occupies the field of his occupancy.

12. O son of force, for the illumined seer who lauds thee and is most swift in his givings, create for that seeker of knowledge, O Shining One, [[Or, O lord of the Riches,]] the word in which the mortal is above the godhead below.

13. He who by his gifts of the oblations or by prostrations of surrender, or by his word illumines the Fire, who brings his right judgment, and the swift action of his light, --

14. he who with his stimulation by the fuel serves with the seats of the session of the Fire, the Boundless, that happy mortal exceeding men by his thoughts and by his lights passes beyond all things as one who crosses over waters.

15. Bring, O Fire, that light which overcomes in the house whatever devourer or wrath of any being with evil thoughts.

16. The light by which Mitra sees and Varuna and Aryaman, by which lords of the journey and Bhaga, that light may we worship, we made by thy force perfect knowers of the path guarded by the lordship of the Puissant.

17. O Fire, those are perfect in their thought who, themselves illumined, have set thee within them, O illumined seer, thee, O godhead, divine in vision and strong in will.

18. They have made their altar and their offering, O happy Fire, and their libation of the wine in heaven, they have conquered by their plenitudes a mighty wealth who have cast into thee their desire.

19. O felicitous god, happy to us art thou fed with the offerings, happy thy giving, happy the pilgrim-sacrifice, happy our utterances.

20. Create for us a happy mind in the piercing of the Coverers by which thou mayst overcome in the battles; lay prostrate many firm positions of those who challenge us, may we conquer them by thy attacks.

21. I pray with the word the Fire set in man whom the god sent in as the messenger and traveller, the carrier of offerings, strong to sacrifice.

22. To the ever-young Fire shining with his sharp tusks of flame, thou singest delight, Fire who fed with the offerings of light forms by true words a great strength.

23. When he is fed with the offerings of light the Fire like one full of might, works his blade upwards and downwards and carves for himself a shape.

24. The godhead set in man who speeds the offerings in its fragrant mouth, perfect in the pilgrim-sacrifice illumines all desirable things, the divine and immortal Priest of the call.

25. O Fire, fed with the offerings, O son of force, O friendly light, if thou wert the mortal and I the immortal, --

26. I would not give thee over to the Assailant or to sinfulness, O benignant, O shining one; he who lauded me would not be one without understanding or miserable nor one plagued by guilt, O Fire.

27. He is like a son well nourished in the house of his father; may our offerings reach the gods.

28. O Fire, O shining one, by thy closest guardings may I, the mortal, be ever companioned by the favour of the god.

29. By thy will may I conquer, O Fire, by thy gifts, by thy revealing utterances; for of thee they speak as the guiding Thought in me. O Fire, have joy for the giving.

30. By thy guardings in which is the strength of the heroes and the bringing of the plenitudes, he drives forward on his way with whom thou hast chosen friendship, O shining one.

31. .... [[Sisno not translated.]] the blue stream of thee with its cry is faithful to the law of its Truth, even as it is kindled it takes what is cast in it; thou art beloved of the great Dawns and thou shinest in the dwelling places of the night.

32. We the sons of Sobhari have come to the Fire with its thousandfold mass of flame, strong in its approach for protection, imperial, the Fire of the Terror of the Destroyer. [[Or, Fire of Trasadasyu.]]

33. O Fire, other fires dwell dependent on thee as on a tree its branches; I annex to me the illuminations of men and their lights, increasing so thy warrior forces.

34. O sons of the boundless mother, you who betray not, great givers, the mortal whom out of all possessors of riches you lead to the other shore, --

35. for you, the kings, who have power over seeing men, choose one or another to have mastery in the human ways, -- such may we be, O Varuna, O Mitra, O Aryaman, charioteers, indeed, of the Truth.

36. The Terror of the Destroyers, son of the master of wide vision, has given me the brides five hundred, he is a bounteous giver, the noble, a lord of beings.

37. And so, for me at the ford of the wide-flowing and forward streaming river of the happy dwelling places, [[Or, the river Suvastu,]] came the bay horse, leader of the three seventies. May he become an opulent master of the things that are to be given.

VISHWAMANAS VAIYASHWA

SUKTA 23

1. Pray the Fire as he fronts you, worship with sacrifice the knower of all things born, Fire with his driving smoke and his unseizable light, --

2. fire who is like the string of speeding chariots to a competitor in the race; O all-seeing universal mind, laud him with the word.

3. Those on whom he presses, possessor of the word of illumination and seizes on their impulsions and their satisfactions, by their approach to knowledge the Fire finds the Treasure.

4. Up stands his ageless light as he flames out with his burning tusks, in his beautiful splendour, in the glory of his companies.

5. Even so, stand up as they laud thee, O doer of the pilgrim-rite, shining out with thy divine light, with thy vast all- regarding lustre.

6. Go, O Fire, with perfect utterances of the word offering uninterruptedly the oblations, since thou hast become the messenger and the carrier of the offerings.

7. I call for you the ancient Fire, the Priest of the call of seeing men; him with this word I declare, him for you I laud.

8. Fire whom with the sacrifices, with the light verily they speed like a friend firmly established in the man who possesses the Truth.

9. To Fire the possessor of the Truth, the accomplisher of the sacrifice, the seekers of the Truth have come with the word and cleave to him in the seat of the adoration.

10. Let our sacrifices go towards him united in their effort, to him most fiery-wise of the Angirasas who is the Priest of the call in men and most glorious.

11. O ageless Fire, those lights of thine kindling the Vast are like male and mighty horses;

12. So do thou, O Lord of Energies, give us the wealth, hero- might, protect us in our battles, in the Son of our begetting.

13. Since, indeed, the lord of the peoples, keen and glad in the house of man, wards off all demon-powers, --

14. O Fire, with thy hearing of my new laud, with thy burning flame, consume utterly the demon magicians, O hero, O lord of the peoples.

15. Not even by magic can the mortal foe master the man who offers worship to the Fire with his gifts of the oblation.

16.*Translation not found in MSS.

17. Thee Ushana of the inspired wisdom set within for men as the Priest of the call, the doer of sacrifice, the knower of all things born.

18. For all the gods with one mind made thee the messenger; O godhead, thou becamest by inspired knowledge supreme and a lord of sacrifice.

19. Him immortal let the mortal hero make his envoy, the purifying Fire with his black path, vast in his wideness.

20. Him let us call putting forth the ladle, the luminous, the brilliant in light, one to be prayed by men, the ancient and unaging Fire.

21. For the mortal who performs sacrifice to him by his gifts of the offering he founds much increase and a glory of his hero-strengths.

22. To the Fire, the ancient, the first and supreme, the knower of all things born in the sacrifices with the obeisance comes the ladle full of the oblation.

23. May we offer sacrifice as did Vyashwa with these greatest and richest thinkings to Fire, the brilliant in light.

24. O Rishi, son of Vyashwa, now sing the word of illumination as did Sthurayupa, to the Fire, vast in his wideness, the dweller in the house.

25. The guest of men, the son of the Trees, the illumined seers praise for his protection, the ancient Fire.

26. Turned towards all the great beings, turned towards our human offerings, by our obeisance, O Fire, thou takest thy seat on the sacred grass.

27. Conquer for us many desirable things, take possession of the wealth that brings us our many longings and hero-energy and the offspring and the glory.

28.*Translation not found in MSS.

29. Thou art he who breaks through, [[Or, he who overcomes,]] thou openest to us the luminous impulsions; open to us the conquest of the great Riches, O Fire.

30. O Fire, thou art the glorious one; bring to us Varuna and Mitra, the all- rulers who possess the Truth and have the purified judgment.

SHYAVASHWA ATREYA

SUKTA 38

l. You (two) are the ritual-priests of the sacrifice, conquerors in our plenitudes and our works; to this awake, O Indra, O Fire.

2. O smiters who journey in the chariot, slayers of the coverer, ever unconquered -- to this awake, O Indra, O Fire.

3. Men have pressed out for you by the stones this rapturous honey-wine -- to this awake, O Indra, O Fire.

4. Take pleasure in the sacrifice, for the sacrifice come to the Soma-wine pressed out, gods to whom rises the common laud, O Indra, O Fire.

5. May you take pleasure in these Soma-pressings by them who have the offering, -- O gods come to us, O Indra, O Fire.

6. May you take pleasure in this laud of mine, this path of song, O gods, come to us, O Indra, O Fire.

7. Come for the drink of the Soma-wine with the gods who arrive at dawn, you who have the victor-riches, [[Or, you who have the riches which are for the victor, or the true riches,]] O Indra, O Fire.

8. Hear the call of the Atris, of Shyavashwa [[He who has the bay-horse.]] pressing the wine,come for the drinking of the Soma, O Indra, O Fire.

9. Thus have I called you for protection as the wise have ever called you, for the drinking of the Soma (wine), O Indra, O Fire.

10. I choose the protection of Indra and the Fire with Saraswati at their side, for whom the sacred song breaks into light. [[Or, is chanted.]]

NABHAKA KANWA

SUKTA 39

1. To Fire I give laud, the possessor of the illumined word, to worship the Fire with the speech of revelation; let the Fire reveal the gods to us, for he is the seer who goes on his embassy between the two worlds in the knowledge, -- let all that are hostile be rent asunder.

2. O Fire, destroy with a new word the expression of these within in the bodies, destroy within us the beings hostile to those who give thee, let all the enemy forces, the hostile spirits depart from here who would do hurt to us, -- let all that are hostile be rent asunder.

3. O Fire, to thee I offer my thoughts as if an offering of light [[Ghrtam, clarified butter or light.]] cast into thy mouth; so do thou awake to knowledge in the gods, for thou art the ancient and benign messenger of the Sun, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

4. He founds growth upon growth of the being even as one [[Or, he]] desires; offered the oblation of offered energy for every call to the gods he founds both the peace and the movement of the Shining Ones, he founds the bliss, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

5. He awakes to knowledge by his forceful and many-sided works; he is the Priest of the call of many powers surrounded by lights of discernment and he takes possession of all that faces him, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

6. The Fire knows the births of the gods and the secret thing of mortals; this is the Fire that gives the treasures, the Fire when there is cast into him as offering that is new uncovers the hidden doors, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

7. Fire is the companion dwelling in the gods, dwelling in the beings who are masters of sacrifice; he increases by his rapture many seer-wisdoms, even as all that is large, he is a god in the gods and a lord of sacrifice, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

8. Fire is the sevenfold human, he is lodged in all the rivers; to him we have come, the dweller in the triple abode, the Fire of the thinker, slayer of the Destroyers, ancient and supreme in the sacrifices, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

9. Fire is the seer who takes up his dwelling in his three abodes of knowledge of three kinds; may he sacrifice to the Three and Thirty and satisfy us, perfected, the illumined thinker and messenger, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

10. O ancient and supreme Fire, thou art in us who are mortals, thou in the gods, one and sole thou rulest over the Treasures; around thee the wide-flowing waters go each with its own bridge, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

SUKTA 40

1. O Indra, O Fire, forceful you give to us the treasure by which we shall overcome in our battles even all that is firm and strong, as Fire the trees in a wind, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

2. May we not shut you away from us, then may we truly worship Indra with sacrifice, the god most potent of the gods; may he sometime come to us with the war-horse, may he come to us for the winning of the plenitudes, for the winning of the purity, [[Or, for the getting of sacrifices,]] -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

3. For they, Indra and Fire, dwell in the midst of mellays; gods, seers, questioned, they by their seerhood gain for one who seeks their friendship the knowledge won by the thought, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

4. To Indra and the Fire sing the illumined chant even as Nabhaka, doing them homage with sacrifice and speech, whose is all this world and this heaven and great earth bear for them in their lap the treasures, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

5. Even as Nabhaka direct towards Indra and Fire the Words who uncovered the sea of the seven foundations with its dim [[ Or, oblique]] doors, -- even Indra ruling all by his might, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

6. Even as of old cleave like clustering mass of a creeper, crush the might of the demon; that wealth amassed by him may we by Indra share, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

7. When, O Indra, O Fire, these who are here call you with speech and act, may we overcome by our men those who battle against us, may we conquer those who would conquer us, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

8. White gods are they who from below ascend to the heavens by their lights; according to the law of the working of Indra and Fire, flowing move the Rivers whom they loosed from bondage to every side, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

9. O Indra, O thou of the bright horses, O begetter of the shining hero, the shooter who strikes into his mark, many are thy measurings of things, many thy expressions of the truth which accomplish [[Or bring to perfection]] our thoughts, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

10. Intensify him by your purifications, the brilliant warrior with the illumined word, even him who with might breaks the serpent-eggs of Shushna, may he conquer the waters that bear the light of the Sun-world, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

11. Intensify him who is perfect in the rite of the path, the true warrior who follows the law of the Truth; it is he who observes, who breaks the serpent-eggs of Shushna, conquers the waters that bear the light of the Sun-world, -- let all that are alien be rent asunder.

12. So has the new word been spoken to Indra and to Fire, even as by my father, by Mandhata, by the Angiras; protect us with triple peace, may we be masters of the riches.

VIRUPA ANGIRASA

SUKTA 43

1. Him pray our words, even these lauds of Fire, the illumined seer, the creator, invincible in his sacrifice.

2. Such art thou for whom I bring to birth perfect laud and glad is thy response, O seeing Fire, O knower of all things born!

3. Oh, like jets of light thy keen energies of flame devour with their teeth the woods.

4. Bright, with smoke for their flag against heaven, urged by the winds, labour separate thy fires.

5. These are those separate fires of thine that kindled are seen like rays of the Dawns.

6. Black is the dust under his feet in the march of the knower of all things born when Fire sprouts upon the earth.

7. Making his foundation, consuming the herbs Fire wearies not but goes even to the young shoots.

8. Oh, laying all low with his tongues of flame, flashing out with his ray Fire shines in the woodlands.

9. In the waters, O Fire, is thy seat, [[Or, goal,]] thou besiegest the plants; thou becomest a child in the womb and art born again.

10. O Fire, that ray of thine fed with the oblation rises up shining from the offering of light, [[Or, clarified butter,]] licking the mouth of the ladle.

11. May we ordain sacrifice with the lauds to Fire, the ordainer of things, Fire who makes the ox and the cow his food and he bears on his back the Soma-wine.

12. O Fire, we come to thee with prostration and with the fuel, O Priest of the call, O supreme will!

13. O pure Flame, fed with offerings we call thee as did Bhrigu, as did Manu, as did Angiras.

14. For thou art kindled, O Fire, by the fire, thou who art the illumined seer art kindled by one who is illumined, as a comrade thou art kindled by thy comrade.

15. So do thou to the illumined who gives to thee give the thousandfold wealth and the hero-force.

16. O Fire, my brother, created by my force, drawn by thy red horses, pure in the law of thy workings, take pleasure in this laud of mine.

17. My lauds reach thee, O Fire, as to the calf lowing in glad response the cows reach their stall.

18. For thee, O most luminous Angiras, all those worlds of happy dwelling, each in its separate power, labour for thy desire, O Flame.

19. In thinkers the wise, the illumined seers urged by their thoughts the Fire to dwell in their house.

20. So thee as the horse in its gallopings performing the pilgrim sacrifice, O Fire, they desire as the carrier of the offering and the Priest of the call.

21. Thou art the lord who looks with equal eyes on all the peoples in many lands; we call to thee in our battles.

22. Pray the Fire who fed with the pouring of the clarities blazed wide; may he hear this our call.

23. Such art thou whom we call, Fire, the knower of all things born who hears our cry and smites away from us the foe.

24. I pray this Fire, the marvellous king of the peoples who presides over the laws of their action, may he hear.

25. Fire who illumines the universal life like a male horse urged to its gallop, we speed like a racer to the goal.

26. Smiting away the foes and things that hurt, burning the Rakshasas, on every side, O Fire, shine out with thy keen flame.

27. Thou whom men kindle as the human thinker, [[Or, like Manu,]] O most luminous Angiras, O Fire, become aware of my word.

28. Because, O Fire, created by our force thou art the flame born in heaven, or the flame born in the waters, as such we call thee with our words.

29. To thee, verily, these beings born and these worlds of a happy dwelling each separately in its place, lay a foundation where thou canst devour thy food. [[Or, cast nourishment for thy eating.]]

30. O Fire, may we be those who have the right thought and the divine vision, and through all the days, pass safe beyond the danger.

31. We seek with rapturous hearts Fire, the rapturous, in whom are many things that are dear to us, -- Fire with his intense and purifying light.

32. O Fire, shining with thy light, loosing forth thy lustre like the sun with its rays, thou puttest forth thy force and slayest the darknesses.

33. We seek from thee, O forceful Fire, that gift of thine, -- the desirable wealth which never fails.

SUKTA 44

1. Set to his action by the fuel, awaken the guest by the offerings of the clarities; cast in him the offerings.

2. O Fire, take pleasure in my laud, grow by this thought; let thy joy respond to our utterances.

3. I set in front Fire, the messenger, and speak to the carrier of the offerings; may he bring to their session here the gods.

4. O luminous Fire, vast and bright thy rays upwards ascend as thou art kindled high.

5. O joyful Flame, to thee may my ladles go bright with the clarities; O Fire, take pleasure in our offerings.

6. I pray the Fire, the rapturous Priest of the call, the sacrificant, shining with his light, rich in his lustres, may he hear.

7. The ancient Priest of the call, desirable and accepted, Fire the seer-will, joiner of the pilgrim-rites.

8. O most luminous Angiras, taking pleasure in these offerings lead the sacrifice uninterruptedly in the way of the Truth, [[Or, according to the rule of the rites,]] O Fire.

9. High-kindled, O Right and True, O brilliant light, awakened to knowledge bring here the divine people.

10. The illumined seer and Priest of the call, free from harms, shining with light, carrying his banner of smoke, him we seek, the ray of intuition of the sacrifices.

11. O Fire, made by our force, protect us against the doers of harm, pierce the hostile power.

12. Fire by the ancient thought making beautiful his own body, a seer, grows by each illumined sage.

13. I call to me the Child of Energy, Fire of the purifying light in this sacrifice which is perfect rite of the path.

14. So do thou, O Fire, O friendly light, with thy brilliant flame sit with the gods on the sacred grass.

15. The mortal who serves the divine Fire in the house of the body, to him he gives the Riches.

16. Fire is the head and peak of heaven and lord of earth and he sets moving the waters.

17. O Fire, upward dart blazing thy pure and brilliant tongues; make to shine out thy lights.

18. Thou art the lord of the Sun-world, O Fire, and hast power for the gifts desirable; may I who laud thee abide in thy peace.

19. Thee, O Fire, the thinkers urge on thy road, thee by their perceivings of knowledge; may our words increase thee.

20. We choose the comradeship of the Fire inviolate in the law of his nature, the ever-chanting messenger.

21. Most pure in his workings is the Fire, he is the pure illumined sage, the pure seer of Truth; pure he shines out fed by our offerings.

22. So thee may my thinkings and my words increase always; O Fire, awake to the comradeship between us.

23. O Fire, if I wert thou and thou wert I, then would thy longings here become true.

24. O Fire, thou art the shining one, shining with thy lustres, lord of the shining riches; may we abide in thy right thinking. [[Or, thy grace.]]

25. O Fire, to thee holding firmly the law of thy workings, move my words like lowing cattle, as rivers move towards the sea.

26. Fire the youth, the lord of the peoples, the seer, the all consuming, Fire of the many illuminations I glorify with my thoughts.

27. May we strive towards the Fire by our lauds, the charioteer of the sacrifices, Fire with his solid strength, his sharp tusks of flame.

28. May this thy worshipper, O Fire, abide in thee; on him have grace, O Right and True, O purifying Flame.

29. For thou art the wise thinker seated in the house, like an illumined sage ever awake; O Fire, thou shinest out in heaven.

30. Before the stumblings come, O Fire, before the spoilers arrive, O seer, carry forward our life, O Shining One.

BHARGA PRAGATHA

SUKTA 60

1. Come, O Fire, with thy fires, we choose thee as the Priest of the call, may the ladles extended, full of the offering anoint thee, strongest for sacrifice when thou sittest on the sacrificial seat.

2. For, towards thee, O Son of force, O Angiras, the ladles move in the rite of the path; we seek the child of Energy with his hair of light, the supreme fire in the sacrifices.

3. O Fire, thou art the seer and the ordainer, the Priest of the call, the purifier to whom must be given sacrifice, rapturous, strong for sacrifice, one to be prayed in the pilgrim-rites with illumined thoughts, O brilliant Flame!

4. Bring to me who betray not, O youngest, O unceasing Flame, the gods that desire for the advent; come to our well-founded pleasant things, O shining One, rejoice established by our thinkings.

5. O Fire, O deliverer, thou art very wide, the true, the seer, thou who shinest out, O high-kindled Fire, thee the sages, the ordainers illumine.

6. Flame out, O most luminous Flame, shine out for man, give to him who lauds thee the bliss, for thou art great; may my luminous seers abide in the peace of the gods, high in fire may they overcome the foe.

7. As, O Fire, thou consumest old dry wood on the earth so burn, O friendly Light, whosoever comes with evil mind, our hurter.

8. Deliver us not to the mortal foe, to the demoniac, to him who gives expression to evil; guard us with thy unfailing and benignant, guardian and rescuer fires, O ever-youthful Flame!

9. Guard, O Fire, with the single word, guard with the second, guard with the words that are three, O master of Energies; O shining One, guard with the fourth.

10. Guard us from every hostile demon, protect us in the plenitudes; for we come to thee as the closest of the gods and our ally for our increase.

11. O purifying Fire, bring to us and give a wealth that increases our growth, the wealth that has to be expressed in us, O measurer of our formations, by thy right leading a wealth full of many longed-for things and very great in its self glory, --

12. by which we may conquer those who challenge us in our battles, breaking through the designs of the foe; so do thou increase us with thy delight, O luminous in might, speed on their way the thoughts that find the treasure.

13. Fire is like a bull that sharpens its horns and tosses its head, his flaming jaws are too bright and keen to gaze at; strong-tusked is the Son of force.

14. O Fire, O Bull, thy tusks of flame cannot be challenged by the gaze when thou rangest abroad; so do thou, O Priest of the call, make that our offering is well cast, conquer for us many desirable things.

15. In the forest thou sleepest in the two mothers, mortals kindle thee into a blaze; then sleepless thou carriest the offerings of the giver of the oblation and now thou shinest in the gods.

16. Thee pray the seven priests of the call, thee the unhesitant, shooting well thy shafts; thou breakest asunder the hill with thy heat and thy light: O Fire, go forth beyond men.

17. The Fire, the fire, let us call for you having placed the sacred grass and placed the gifts of our pleasure, on day after day, Fire of the unseizable ray, Priest of the call of seeing men.

18. O Fire, to thee constant in the peace of a deep calm I come with the intuition that awakes to knowledge; by our impulsion bring to us for our protection wealth of many forms that is most close.

19. O Fire, O god, for thy adorer thou art the lord of creatures, thou art the master of his house who departs not from him, afflicting the demons; great art thou, the guardian of heaven who comes to his gated home.

20. O blazing light, let not the demon enter into us; let not the witchcraft of the goblin sorcerers take possession; O Fire, push calamity and hunger far beyond the pastures of our herds, ward the demon-possessed away from us.

SUDITI AND PURUMILHA ANGIRASA

SUKTA 71

l. O Fire, guard us by thy lights [[Or, by thy greatnesses]] from every hostile force and from mortal foe.

2. O beloved in thy birth, mortal wrath has no power over you: thou art master of the nights.

3. So do thou with all the gods, O child of Energy, O happy light, give us the wealth in which are all boons.

4. The hostile forces, O Fire, cannot divorce from the Riches the mortal giver whom thou rescuest.

5. O Fire, O illumined seer, he whom thou in the winning of the purity speedest towards the Riches, by thy protection reaches among the Ray-Cows.

6. Thou bringest, O Fire, the wealth in which are the many strengths to the mortal giver; lead us towards greater riches.

7. Protect us, deliver us not, O knower of all things born, to the mortal, the evil-thoughted who would bring on us calamity.

8. O Fire, let none undivine take away from us what was given by thee, the divine; thou hast power over the riches.

9. Thou art the measurer to us, thy adorers of a mighty wealth, O child of Energy, O Friend, O shining One.

10. May our words go towards thee with thy keen light and thy vision, our sacrifice to thee with surrender for our protection, thee the widely proclaimed, the master of many riches, --

11. to the Fire, the Son of force, the knower of all things born, for the gift of our desirable things; twofold he becomes the immortal in the mortals, the rapturous Priest of the call in man.

12. Fire for you by the worship to the gods, Fire in the journeying of the pilgrim-sacrifice, Fire in the thoughts first and chief, Fire in the war-horse, Fire for perfection in our field.

13. May the Fire give us force in his comradeship, he who has power for the desirable things; Fire we seek continually in the son of our begettings as the shining one and the guardian of the body.

14. Pray with your chants Fire of the keen flame for the protection, O Purumilha! Fire for the Treasure, -- the Fire men pray for the inspired knowledge, a house for a splendid light.

15. Fire we hymn with our words that he may remove from us the hostile power, Fire to give to us the peace and the movement; he is in all men like a protector to whom they may call, he is the daylight of the wise.

HARYATA PRAGATHA

SUKTA 72

1. Do you make the offering, the Priest of the pilgrim-rite has come and he conquers again, for he knows the commandment of the Fire.

2. Let him sit within close to the keen burning ray the Priest of the call in thinking man accepting the comradeship of the Fire.

3. Within they wish him to be in a man the "terrible one", beyond the thinking mind; by his tongue they seize the peace.

4. High burnt the companion bow, a founder of the growth he climbed to woodland, he smote the rock with his tongue.

5. He is the shining calf who wanders and finds none to bind him here, to one who lauds him he manifests the mother. [[Or, for one who lauds him he goes to the mother.]]

6. And now is the great and vast yoking as if of the Horse, the rope of the chariot is seen.

7. Seven milk the one, two let loose the five at the ford of the River upon the cry of the waters.

8. By the ten of the sun Indra made fall the covering sheath of heaven with his triple mallet.

9. A new adoration moves round the triple pilgrim-sacrifice, the priests of the call anoint with the honey-wine.

10. With surrender they pour out the inexhaustible pervading well whose wheel is on high and its opening below.

11. Close by are the stones and the honey-wine is poured in the lotus in the discharging of the well.

12. O Ray-Cows, come to the well; here is the great wine-jar of the sacrifice, here are both the golden handles.

13. Pour into the wine that is pressed, a joining splendour, the glory of earth and heaven; by the juice of the wine sustain the Bull.

14. They know their own home; like calves with their mothers they met with each other as companions.

15. In the jaws of the eater they made their foundation in heaven, their prostrations of surrender to Indra and the Fire made the Sun- world.

16. The warrior milked out the seven-planed nourishing force and energy by the seven rays of the sun.

17. O Mitra and Varuna, in the rising of the moon he received it on the sun; it is the healing draught for him who suffers.

18. And now let him stretch out [[Or, form]] with his tongue of flame around heaven that plane of him in his full delight which is to be laid as a foundation.

GOPAVANA ATREYA

SUKTA 74

1. All kinds of beings replenish the guest domiciled in your house in whom are the many pleasant things; I laud him with my thoughts with the word of bliss.

2. He to whom men bringing the offering pour the stream of the libation and by their words that give expression to him proclaim as the friend, --

3. the wonderful, [[Or, the great doer,]] the knower of all things born, who in the formation of the godheads sends up the offerings uplifted in heaven, --

4. we have come to the Fire, strongest to slay the Coverers, eldest and ever new in whose force of flame Shrutarvana, son of Riksha, grows to vastness.

5. The immortal, the knower of all things born who is seen [[Or, who sees]] across the darkness, one to be prayed to, one to whom are offered the clarities.

6. The Fire whom men here oppressed pray with their offerings casting their libations with the ladles at work. [[Or, with outstretched ladles.]]

7. Thine, O Fire, is the new thought founded in us, O rapturous and well- born guest, strong of will, wise and powerful for action.

8. May that thought, O Fire, become pleasant and full of peace and gladness; grow by it, well-affirmed by our lauds.

9. May it be luminous with many lights, and uphold in its inspiration a vast inspired knowledge in the piercing of the Coverers.

10. He is the Horse of power and the Cow of light, it is he who fills our chariots, he is brilliant and like Indra the lord of beings; you shall cross through his inspiration, O men! and find each wonderful.

11. Thou whom Gopavana gladdens with his word, O Fire, O Angiras, O purifying Flame, hear his call.

12. Thou whom men oppressed pray for the winning of the plenitudes, awake in the piercing of the Coverers.

13. As if calling armed forces in Shrutarvan, son of Riksha, from whom drips the rapturous inspiration, I comb the shaggy-maned head of the four.

14. Me the swift and galloping four of that most strong one, well-charioted, bore [[Or, let them bear me]] towards the delight as if birds flying to water. [[Or, as the birds carried Tugrya.]]

15. O great river Parushni, I have marked out (with them) thy true course. O waters, than this most strong one no mortal man is a greater giver of the Horses of power. [[Note on Riks 13,14 and 15: As is shown by the "Shravansi", "Turvatha" and the name "Smutarvan" -- the Rishi is giving a symbolic turn to the name as well as to the horses and the waters.]]

VIRUPA ANGIRASA

SUKTA 75

1. O Fire, yoke like a charioteer the horses most powerful for the calling of the gods; take thy seat, O ancient Priest of the call!

2. And now, since thou hast the knowledge, speak for us towards the gods, make true to our aspiration all desirable things.

3. For thou, O Fire, O most youthful son of force, thou in whom are cast the offerings, art the possessor of the Truth to be worshipped with sacrifice.

4. This Fire is the lord of the hundredfold and thousandfold plenitude, the seer who is the head of the treasures.

5. O Angiras, by words which bear in them the invocation, bring down nearer that sacrifice as the heaven's craftsmen brought down the rim of the wheel.

6. To him now, O Virupa, by the eternal word give the impulse of the high laud to the luminous Bull.

7. By the army of the Fire who has the eye that sees from afar [[Or, who has the eye of wisdom]] may we lay low whatever miser Trafficker and enter among the shining herds.

8. May the peoples of the gods abandon us not, even as the unslayable luminous herds full of milk leave not a calf that is lean.

9. Let not calamity from every evil-thoughted hostile around smite us like a billow smiting a ship.

10. O divine Fire, men declare their prostration of surrender to thee that they may have force; crush by thy might the foe.

11. Once and again for our search for the Ray-Cow thou hast entered wholly into the riches, O Fire; O maker of wideness, make for us a wideness.

12. Abandon us not in the winning of this great wealth as if one who bears a heavy burden; conquer this massed treasure.

13. O Fire, may this mischief cling to another than us for his terror; increase for us a forceful might.

14. The man in whose work he takes pleasure, one who offers the prostration of surrender and is not poor in sacrifice, him the Fire protects with increase.

15. From thy place in the supreme region break through [[Or, descend]] to those who are below; here where I am, them protect.

16. For we know from of old of thy protection like a father's, O Fire, now we seek thy bliss.

USHANAS KAVYA

SUKTA 84

1. Your guest most beloved I laud who is like a beloved friend, Fire who is as if the chariot of our journey, the one whom we must know.

2. He whom as the seer and thinker the gods have now set within twofold in mortals.

3. O thou ever-young, guard men who give, hear our words; protect the son by the Self.

4. O divine Fire, O Angiras, O child of energy, by what word, the laud, for thy supreme thinking?

5. By the mind of what master of sacrifice shall we give, O son of force; how shall I word this prostration of my surrender?

6. Mayst thou thyself create for us all worlds of a happy dwelling, make our words a source of the plenitude and the riches.

7. In whose wide-moving thought dost thou take delight, O master of the house; thou from whom come our words in the conquest of the Light?

8. Him they make bright the strong of will and he goes in front in the race; [[Or, in the contests;]] he is a master of plenitude in his own abodes.

9. He dwells safe on perfect foundations and there are none to slay him, it is he who slays; O Fire, he is a mighty hero and prosperous.

PRAYOGA BHARGAVA

SUKTA 102

1. Thou, O divine Fire, foundest a vast expansion for the giver, thou art the seer, the youth, the master of the house.

2. Do thou, O Fire of the wide light, who art awake to knowledge, go with our word of prayer and of works and call the gods.

3. With thee indeed as an ally, most strong in thy urge, we overcome for the conquest of the plenitude.

4. Even as the Flame-Seer, Son of the Wideness, even as the Doer of Works I invoke the pure ocean-dwelling Fire.

5. I call the force which has the sound of the wind and the cry of the rain,-the ocean-dwelling Fire.

6. I call like the creation of the Creator-Sun, like the delight of the Lord of Delight, the ocean-dwelling Fire.

7. For the forceful offspring of the pilgrim-sacrifices towards Fire as he grows in his multitudes, --

8. so that he may come to be with us like the Form-Maker coming to the forms he has to carve, us made glorious by his will at work.

9. This Fire travels in the gods towards all glories; may he come to us with the plenitudes.

10. Laud here the most glorious of priests of the call, the supreme [[Or, the ancient]] Fire in the sacrifices.

11. The intense Fire with its purifying light who dwells eldest in our homes, shines out as one who hears from afar.

12. Declare him, O illumined sage, as the powerful and conquering war-horse, as the friend who takes man to the goal of his journey.

13. Towards thee come the words of the giver of the offerings marking thee out and stand firm as companions in the might of the wind.

14. Thou whose triple-seat of sacrifice is untied and unconfined and the waters also have established thy abode, --

15. the abode of the bounteous godhead with its inviolate safeties, like a happy regard of the Sun.

16. O divine Fire, by our thinkings of the light, burning with thy flame, bring to us the gods and do them sacrifice.

17. The mothers bore thee, the gods brought thee to birth as the seer, the immortal, the carrier of offering, O Angiras.

18. O Fire, O seer, they set thee within as the thinker, the desirable messenger, carrier of the offerings.

19. Mine is not the cow unslayable, I have no axe at hand, so I bring to thee this little that I have.

20. What we place for thee, a few chance logs, them accept, O ever-young Fire.

21. What is eaten by the ant, what the white ant overruns, let all that be to thee as if thy food of light. [[Or, as if clarified butter.]]

22. Kindling the Fire let mortal man cleave with his mind to the Thought; by things luminous [[Or, by the shining ones]] I kindle the Fire.

SOBHARI KANWA

SUKTA 103

1. He is seen, the great path- finder in whom they have founded the laws of our action; to the Fire well-born, increaser of the Aryan, go our words.

2. Fire lit by the Servant of Heaven travels in his might towards the gods along our mother earth and on heaven's peak he takes his stand.

3. Fire because of whom men doing the works that have to be done, grow luminous, him conqueror of the thousands as if in the winning of the purities they serve by the self, [[Or, of themselves,]] by their thoughts.

4. He whom thou willst to lead to the Riches, the mortal who gives to thee, O shining One, he holds in himself, O Fire, the hero, who utters the word, who increases the thousands.

5. He rends open the plenitude even in the strong place by the war-horse, he founds an imperishable inspired knowledge; O thou of the many riches, in thee we ever hold in the godheads all beautiful things.

6. He who gives to us all treasures, men's rapturous Priest of the call, to him our lauds go forth as if supreme vessels of the honey-wine.

7. The lavish givers, the seekers of the godhead, make him bright by their words as if currying a chariot- horse. O powerful for action, O lord of peoples, in the son of our begettings thou carriest achievement of the possessors of riches beyond both the firmaments.

8. Chant to the most bounteous, the possessor of the Truth, the brilliant in light, coming with the laud, to the Fire.

9. High-kindled, fed with the offering full of light, the lord of riches conquers a heroic glory; often may his new right thinking come towards us with the plenitudes, --

10. O thou who pressest the wine, laud the Fire, the guest most beloved of the beloved, the controller of the chariots, --

11. the master of sacrifice who turns towards us the hidden treasures now risen and known, he in whose downward descent is a rush as of waves hard to cross, when he conquers by the thought the plenitudes.

12. May not Fire, the guest, the shining One widely proclaimed, be wroth with us; this is he who is the perfect Priest of the call perfect in the pilgrim- rite.

13. May they not come to harm by any of their movements who approach thee with invocation, O Fire, O shining One; for the singer of the hymn [[Or, the doer of works]] who has given the offering and does well the pilgrim-rite demands of thee the office of the messenger.

14. Come, O Fire, with the Rudras, comrade of the life-gods, for the drinking of the Soma-wine, to the laud of Sobhari and take thy rapture in the godhead of the Sun-world.