VIII, 8. Battle-charm.
1. May Indra churn (the enemy), he, the churner, Sakra (mighty), the hero, that pierces the forts, so that we shall slay the armies of the enemies a thousandfold!
2. May the rotten rope, wafting itself against yonder army, turn it into a stench. When the enemies see from afar our smoke and fire, fear shall they lay into their hearts!
3. Tear asunder those (enemies), O asvattha (ficus religiosa), devour (khâda) them, O! khadira (acacia catechu) in lively style! Like the tâgadbhanga (ricinus communis) they shall be broken (bhagyantâm), may the vadhaka (a certain kind of tree) slay them with his weapons (vadhaih)!
4. May the knotty âhva-plant put knots upon yonder (enemies), may the vadhaka slay them with his weapons! Bound up in (our) great trap-net, they shall quickly be broken as an arrow-reed!
5. The atmosphere was the net, the great regions (of space) the (supporting) poles of the net: with these Sakra (mighty Indra) did surround and scatter the army of the Dasyus.
6. Great, forsooth, is the net of great Sakra, who is rich in steeds: with it infold thou all the enemies, so that not one of them shall be released!
7. Great is the net of thee, great Indra, hero, that art equal to a thousand, and hast hundredfold might. With that (net) Sakra slew a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million foes, having surrounded them with (his) army.
8. This great world was the net of great Sakra: with this net of Indra I infold all those (enemies) yonder in darkness,
9. With great dejection, failure, and irrefragable misfortune; with fatigue, lassitude, and confusion, do I surround all those (enemies) yonder.
10. To death do I hand them over, with the fetters of death they have been bound. To the evil messengers of death do I lead them captive.
11. Guide ye those (foes), ye messengers of death; ye messengers of Yama, infold them! Let more than thousands be slain; may the club of Bhava crush them!
12. The Sâdhyas (blessed) go holding up with might one support of the net, the Rudras another, the Vasus another, (Still) another is upheld by the Âdityas.
13. All the gods shall go pressing from above with might; the Angiras shall go on the middle (of the net), slaying the mighty army!
14. The trees, and (growths) that are like trees, the plants and the herbs as well; two-footed and four-footed creatures do I impel, that they shall slay yonder army!
15. The Gandharvas and Apsaras, the serpents and the gods, holy men and (deceased) Fathers, the visible and invisible (beings), do I impel, that they shall slay yonder army!
16. Scattered here are the fetters of death; when thou steppest upon them thou shalt not escape! May this hammer slay (the men) of yonder army by the thousand!
17. The gharma (sacrificial hot drink) that has been heated by the fire, this sacrifice (shall) slay thousands! Do ye, Bhava and Sarva, whose arms are mottled, slay yonder army!
18. Into the (snare of) death they shall fall, into hunger, exhaustion, slaughter, and fear! O Indra and Sarva, do ye with trap and net slay yonder army!
19. Conquered, O foes, do ye flee away; repelled by (our) charm, do ye run! Of yonder host, repulsed by Brihaspati, not one shall be saved!
20. May their weapons fall from their (hands), may they be unable to lay the arrow on (the bow)! And then (our) arrows shall smite them, badly frightened, in their vital members!
21. Heaven and earth shall shriek at them, and the atmosphere, along with the divine powers! Neither aider, nor support did they find; smiting one another they shall go to death!
22. The four regions are the she-mules of the god’s chariot, the purodâsas (sacrificial rice-cakes) the hoofs, the atmosphere the seat (of the wagon). Heaven and earth are its two sides, the seasons the reins, the intermediate regions the attendants, Vâk (speech) the road.
23. The year is the chariot, the full year is the body of the chariot, Virâg, the pole, Agni the front part of the chariot. Indra is the (combatant) standing on the left of the chariot, Kandramas (the moon) the charioteer.
24. Do thou win here, do thou conquer here, overcome, win, hail! These here shall conquer, those yonder be conquered! Hail to these here, perdition to those yonder! Those yonder do I envelop in blue and red!
I, 19. Battle-charm against arrow-wounds.
1. The piercing (arrows) shall not hit us, nor shall the striking arrows hit us! Far away fron, us O Indra, to either side, cause the arrow-shower to fall!
2. To either side of us the arrows shall fall, those that have been shot and shall be shot! Ye divine and ye human arrows, pierce ye mine enemies!
3. Be he our own, or be he strange, the kinsman, or the foreianer, who bear enmity towards us, those enemies of mine Rudra shall pierce with a shower of arrows!
4. Him that rivals us, or does not rival us, him that curses us with hate, may all the gods injure my charm protects me from within!
III, 1. Battle-charm for confusing the enemy.
1. Agni shall skilfully march against our opponents, burning against their schemes and hostile plans; Gâtavedas shall confuse the army of our opponents and deprive them (of the use) of their hands!
2. Ye Maruts are mighty in such matters: advance ye, crush ye, conquer ye (the enerny)! These Vasus when implored did crush (them). Agni, vily, as their vanauard shall skilfully attack!
3. O Maghavan, the hostile army which contends against us–do ye, O Indra, Vritra’s slayer, and Agni, burn against them!
4. Thy thunderbolt, O Indra, who hast been driven forward swiftly by thy two bay steeds, shall advance, crushing the enemies. Slay them that resist, pursue, or flee, deprive their schemes of fulfilment!
5. O Indra, confuse the army of the enemy; with the impact of the fire and the wind scatter them to either side!
6. Indra shall confuse the army, the Miaruts shall slay it with might! Agni shall rob it of its sight; vanquished it shall turn about!
III, 2. Battle-charm for confusing the enemy.
1. Agni, our skilful vanguard, shall attack, burning, against their schemes and hostile plans! Gâtavedas shall bewilder the plans of the enemy, and deprive them (of the use) of their hands!
2. This fire has confused the schemes that are in your mind; it shall blow you from your home, blow you away from everywhere!
3. O Indra, bewildering their schemes, come hither with thy (own) plan: with the impact of the fire and the wind scatter them to either side!
4. O ye plans of theirs, fly ye away; O ye schemes, be ye confused! Moreover, what now is in their mind, do thou drive that out of them!
5. Do thou, O (goddess) Apvi, confusing their plans, go forth (to them), and seize their limbs! Attack them, burn with flames into their hearts; strike the enemy with fits, (strike our) opponents with darkness!
6. That army yonder o( the enemy, that comes against us fighting with might, do ye, O Maruts, strike with planless darkness, that one of them shall not know the other!
VI, 97. Battle-charm of a king upon the eve of battle.
1. Superior is the sacrifice, superior Agni, superior Soma, superior Indra. To the end that I shall be superior to all hostile armies do we thus, offering the agnihotra, reverently present this oblation!
2. Hail be, ye wise Mitra and Varuna: with honey swell ye our kingdom here, (so that it shall) abound in offspring! Drive far to a distance misfortune, strip off from us sin, even after it has been committed!
3. With inspiration follow ye this strong hero; cling close, ye friends, to Indra (the king), who conquers villages, conquers cattle, has the thunderbolt in his arm, overcomes the host arrayed (against him), crushing it with might!
VI, 99. Battle-charm of a king on the eve of battle.
1. I call -upon thee, O Indra, from afar, upon thee for protection against tribulation. I call the strong avenger that has many names, and is of unequalled birth.
2. Where the hostile weapon now rises against us,threatening to slay, there do we place the two arms of Indra round about.
3. The two arms of Indra, the protector, do we place round about us: let him protect us! O god Savitar, and king Soma, render me of confident mind, that I may prosper!
