II. PRAYERS FOR LONG LIFE AND HEALTH (ÂYUSHYÂNI).
III, 11. Prayer for health and long life.
1. I release thee unto life by means of (my) oblation, from unknown decline, and from consumption. If Grâhi (seizure) has caught hold (gagrâha) of this person here, may Indra and Agni free him from that!
2. If his life has faded, even if he has passed away, if he has been brought to the very vicinity of death, I snatch him from the lap of Nirriti (the goddess of destruction): I have freed him unto a life of a hundred autumns.
3. I have snatched him (from death) by means of an oblation which has a thousand eyes, hundredfold strength, and -ensures a hundredfold life, in order that Indra may conduct him through the years across to the other side of every misfortune.
4. Live thou, thriving a hundred autumns, a hundred winters, and a hundred springs! May Indra, Agni, Savitar, Brihaspati (grant) thee a hundred years! I have snatched him (from death) with an oblation that secures a life,of a hundred years.
5. Enter ye, O in-breathirig and out-breathing, as two bulls a stable! Away shall go the other deaths, of which, it is said, there are a hundred more!
6. Remain ye here, O in-breathing and out-breathing, do not go away from here; do ye car anew to old age his body and his limbs!
7. To old age I make thee over, into old age I urge thee; may a happy old age guide thee! Away shall go the other deaths, of which, it is said, there are a hundred more!
8. Upon thee (life unto) old age has been deposited, as a rope is tied upon a bull. That death which has fettered thee at thy birth with a firm rope, Brihaspati with the hands of the truth did strip off from thee.
II, 28. Prayer for long life pronounced over a boy.
1. For thee alone, O (death from) old age, this (boy) shall grow up: the other hundred kinds of death shall not harm him! Like a provident mother in her lap Mitra shall befriend him, shall save him from misfortune!
2. May Mitra or Varuna, the illustrious, cooperating, grant him death from old age! Then Agni, the priest, who knows the ways, promulgates all the races of the gods.
3. Thou, (O Agni), rulest over all the animals of the earth, those which have been born, and those which are to be born: may not in-breathing leave this one, nor yet out-breathing, may neither friends nor foes slay him!
4. May father Dyaus (sky) and mother Prithivi (earth), co-operating, grant thee death from old age, that thou mayest live in the lap of Aditi a hundred winters, guarded by in-breathing and outbreathing!
5. Lead this dear child to life and vigour, O Agni, Varuna, and king Mitra! As a mother afford him protection, O Aditi, and all ye gods, that he may attain to old age!
III, 31. Prayer for health and long life.
1. The gods are free from decrepitude; thou, O Agni, art removed from the demon of hostility. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
2. (Vâyu), the purifying (wind), shall free thee from misfortune, Sakra (Indra) from evil sorcery! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
3. The tame (village) animals are separate from the wild (forest animals); the water has flowed apart from thirst. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
4. Heaven and earth here go apart; the paths go in every direction. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
5. ‘Tvashtar is preparing a wedding for his daughter,’ thus (saying) does this whole world pass through. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
6. Agni unites (life’s) breaths, the moon is united with (life’s) breath. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
7. By means of (life’s) breath the gods aroused the everywhere mighty sun. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
8. Live thou by the (life’s) breath of them that have life, and that create life; do not die! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
9. Breathe thou with the (life’s) breath of those that breathe; do not die! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
10. Do thou (rise) up with life, unite thyself with life, (rise) up with the sap of the plants! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
11. From the rain of Parganya we have risen up, immortal. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.
VII, 53. Prayer for long life.
1. When, O Brihaspati, thou didst liberate (us) from existence in yonder world of Yama, (and) from hostile schemes, then did the Asvins, the physicians of the gods, with might sweep death from us, O Agni!
2. O in-breathing and out-breathing, go along with the body, do not leave it: may they be thy allies here! Live and thrive a hundred autumns; Agni shall be thy most excellent shepherd and overseer!
3. Thy vital force that has been dissipated afar, thy in-breathing and thy out-breathing, shall come back again! Agni has snatched them from the lap of Nirriti (the goddess of destruction), and I again introduce them into thy person.
4. Let not his in-breathing desert him, nor his out-breathing quit him and depart! I commit him to the Seven Rishis: may they convey him in health to old age!
5. Enter, O in-breathing and out-breathing, like two bulls into a stable: this person shall here flourish, an unmolested repository for old age!
6. Life’s breath we do drive into thee, disease we do drive away from thee. May this excellent Agni endow us with life from every source!
7. Ascending from the darkness of death to the highest firmament, to Sûrya (the sun), the god among gods, we have reached the highest light.
VIII, 1. Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death.
1. To the ‘Ender,’ to Death be reverence! May thy in-breathing and thy out-breathing remain here! United here with (life’s) spirit this man shall be, sharing in the sun, in the world of immortality (amrita)!
2. Bhaga has raised him up, Soma with his rays (has raised) him up, the Maruts, the gods, (have raised) him up, Indra and Agni (have raised) him up unto well-being.
3. Here (shall be) thy (life’s) spirit, here thy inbreathing, here thy life, here thy mind! We rescue thee from the toils of Nirriti (destruction) by means of our divine utterance.
4. Rise up hence, O man! Casting off the footshackles of death, do not sink down! Be not cut off from this world, from the sight of Agni and the sun!
5. The wind, Mâtarisvan, shall blow for thee, the waters shall shower amrita (ambrosia) upon thee, the sun shall shine kindly for thy body! Death shall pity thee: do not waste away!
6. Thou shalt ascend and not descend, O man! Life and alertness do I prepare for thee. Mount, forsooth, this imperishable, pleasant car; then in old age thou shalt hold converse with thy family!
7. Thy mind shall not go thither, shall not disappear! Do not become heedless of the living, do not follow the Fathers! All the gods shall preserve thee here!
8. Do not long after the departed, who conduct (men) afar! Ascend from the darkness, come to the light! We lay hold of thy hands.
9. The two dogs of Yama, the black and the brindled one, that guard the road (to heaven), that have been despatched, shall not (go after) thee! Come hither, do not long to be away; do not tarry here with thy mind turned to a distance!
10. Do not follow this path: it is terrible! I speak of that by which thou hast not hitherto gone. Darkness is this, O man, do not enter it! Danger is beyond, security here for thee.
11. May the fires that are within the waters gLiard thee, may (the fire) which men kindle guard thee, may Gâtavedas Vaisvânara (the fire common to all men) guard thee! Let not the heavenly (fire) together with the lightning burn, thee!
12. Let not the flesh-devouring (fire) menace thee: move afar from the funeral pyre! Heaven shall guard thee, the earth shall guard thee, the sun and moon shall guard thee, the atmosphere shall guard thee against the divine missile!
13. May the alert and the watchful divinities guard thee, may he that sleeps not and nods not guard thee, may he that protects and is vigilant guard thee!
14. They shall guard thee, they shall protect thee. Reverence be to them. Hail be to them!
15. Into converse with the living Vâyu, Indra, Dhâtar, and saving Savitar shall put thee; breath and strength shall not leave thee! Thy (life’s) spirit do we call back to thee.
16. Convulsions that draw the jaws together, darkness, shall not come upon thee, nor (the demon) that tears out the tongue (?)! How shalt thou then waste away? The Âdityas and Vasus, Indra and Agni shall raise thee up unto well-being!
17. The heavens, the earth, Pragâpati, have rescued thee. The plants with Soma their king have delivered thee from death.
18. Let this man remain right here, ye gods, let him not depart hence to yonder world! We rescue him from death with (a charm) of thousandfold strength.
19. I have delivered thee from death. The (powers) that furnish strength shall breathe upon thee. The (mourning women) with dishevelled hair, they that wail lugubriously, shall not wail over thee!
20. 1 have snatched thee (from death), I have obtained thee; thou hast returned with renewed youth. O thou, that art (now) sound of limb, for thee sound sight, and sound life have I obtained.
21. It has shone upon thee, light has arisen, darkness has departed from thee. We remove from thee death, destruction, and disease.
