vHYMN IX.
1. WE as thy friends have chosen thee, mortals a God, to be our help,
The Waters’ Child, the blessed, the resplendent One, victorious and beyond compare.
2. Since thou delighting in the woods hast gone unto thy mother streams,
Not to be scorned, Agni, is that return of thine when from afar thou now art here.
3. O’er pungent smoke host thou prevailed, and thus art thou benevolent.
Some go before, and others round about thee sit, they in whose friendship thou hast place.
4. Him who had passed beyond his foes, beyond continual pursuits, Him the unerring Ones, observant, found in floods, couched like a lion in his lair.
5. Him wandering at his own free will, Agni here hidden from our view,
Him Matarisvan brought to us from far away produced by friction, from the Gods.
6. O Bearer of Oblations, thus mortals received thee from the Gods,
Whilst thou, the Friend of man, guardest each sacrifice with thine own power, Most Youthful One.
7. Amid thy wonders this is good, yea, to the simple is it clear,
When gathered round about thee, Agni, lie the herds where thou art kindled in the morn.
8. Offer to him who knows fair rites, who burns with purifying glow,
Swift envoy, active, ancient, and adorable: serve ye the God attentively.
9. Three times a hundred Gods and thrice a thousand, and three times ten and nine have worshipped Agni,
For him spread sacred grass, with oil bedewed him, and stablished him as Priest and Sacrificer.
HYMN X. Agni.
1. THEE Agni, God, Imperial Lord of all mankind, do mortal men
With understanding kindle at thesacrifice.
2. They laud thee in their solemn rites, Agni, as Minister and Priest,
Shine forth in thine own home as guardian of the Law.
3. He, verily, who honours thee with fuel, Knower of all life,
He, Agni! wins heroic might, he prospers well.
4. Ensign of sacrifices, he, Agni, with Gods is come to us,
Decked by the seven priests, to him who bringeth gifts.
5. ToAgni, the Invoking Priest, offer your best, your lofty speech,
To him Ordainer-like who brings the light of songs.
6. Let these our hymns make Agni grow, whence, meet for laud, he springs to life,
To mighty strength and great possession, fair to see.
7. Best Sacrificer, bring the Gods, O Agni, to the pious man:
A joyful Priest, thy splendour drive our foes afar
8. As such, O Purifier, shine on us heroic glorious might:
Be nearest Friend to those who laud thee, for their weal.
9. So, wakeful, versed in sacred hymns, the holy singers kindly thee.
Oblation-bearer, deathless, cherisher of strength.
HYMN Xl. Agni.
1. AGNI is Priest, the great High Priest of sacrifice, most swift in act:
He knows the rite in constant course.
2. Oblation-bearer, deathless, well inclined, an eager messenger,
Agni comes nigh us with the thought.
3. Ensign of sacrifice from of old, Agni well knoweth with his thought
To prosper this man’s aim and hope.
4. Agni, illustrious from old time, the Son of Strength who knows all life,
The Gods have made to their Priest.
5. Infallible is Agni, he who goes before the tribes of men,
A chariot swift and ever new.
6. Strength of the Gods which none may harm, subduing all his enemies,
Agni is mightiest in fame.
7. By offering sacred food to him the mortal worshipper obtains.
A home from him whose light makes pure.
8. From Agni, by our hymns, may we gain all things that bring happiness,
Singers of him who knows all life.
9. O Agni, in our deeds of might may we obtain all precious things:
Tle Gods are centred all in thee.
HYMN XII. Indra-Agni.
1. MOVED, Indra-Agni, by our hymn, come to the juice, the precious dew:
Dr.ink ye thereof, impelled by song.
2. O Indra-Agni, with the man who lauds you comes the wakening rite:
So drink ye both this juice assured.
3. Through force of sacrifice I choose Indra-Agni who love the wise:
With Sorna let these sate them here.
4. Indra and Agni I invoke, joint-victors, bounteous, unsubdued,
Foe-slayers, best to win the spoil.
5. Indra and Agni, singers skilled in melody hymn you, bringing lauds:
I choose you for the sacred food.
6. Indra and Agni, ye cast down the ninety forts which DAsas held,
Together, with one mighty deed.
7. To Indra-Agni eeverent thoughts go forward from the holy task
Along the path of sacred Law.
8. O Indra-Agni, powers are yours, and dwellings and delightful food
Good is your readiness to act.
9. Indra and Agni, in your deeds of might ye deck heaven’s lucid realms:
Famed is that hero strength of yours.
HYMN XIII. Agni.
1. To Agni, to this God of yours I sing aloud with utmost power.
May he come to us with the Gods, and sit, best Offerer, on the grass.
2. The Holy, whose are earth and heaven, and succour waits upon his strength;
Him men who bring oblations laud, and they who wish to gain, for grace.
3. He is the Sage who guides these men, Leader of sacred rites is he.
Him your own Agni, serve ye well, who winneth and bestoweth wealth.
4. So may the gracious Agni grant most goodly shelter for our use;
Whence in the heavens or in the floods he shall pour wealth upon our lands.
5. The singers kindle him, the Priest, Agni the Lord of tribes of men,
Resplendent and without a peer through his own excellent designs.
6. Help us, thou Brahman, best of all invokers of the Gods in song.
Beam, Friend of Maruts, bliss on us, O Agni, a most liberal God.
7. Yea, grant us treasure thousandfold with children and with nourishment,
And, Agni, splendid hero strength, exalted, wasting not away.
HYMN XIV. Agni.
1. THE pleasant Priest is come into the synod, true, skilled in sacrifice, most wise, Ordainer.
Agni, the Son of Strength, whose car is lightning, whose hair is flame, hath shown on earth his lustre.
2. To thee I offer reverent speech: accept it: to thee who markest it, victorious, faithful!
Bring, thou who knowest, those who know, and seat thee amid the sacred grass, for help, O Holy.
3. The Two who show their vigour, Night and Morning, by the wind’s paths shall haste to thee O Agni.
When men adorn the Ancient with oblations, these seek, as on two chariot-seats, the dwelling.
4. To thee, strong Agni! Varuna and Mitra and all the Maruts sang a song of triumph,
What time unto the people’s lands thou camest, spreading them as the Sun of men, with lustre.
5. Approaching with raised hands and adoration, we have this day fulfilled for thee thy longing.
Worship the Gods with most devoted spirit, a Priest with no unfriendly thought, O Agni.
6. For, Son of Strength, from thee come many succours, and powers abundant that a God possesses.
Agni, to us with speech that hath no falsehood grant riches, real, to be told in thousands.
7. Whatever, God, in sacrifice we mortals have wrought is all for thee, strong, wise of purpose!
Be thou the Friend of each good chariot’s master. All this enjoy thou here, immortal Agni.
