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CHAPTER I
Om. Glory to the Samaveda! To Lord Ganesa glory! Om.
DECADE I Agni
1 Come, Agni, praised with song, to feast and sacrificial offering:
sit As Hotar on the holy grass!
2 O Agni, thou hast been ordained Hotar
of every sacrifice,By Gods, among the race of men.
3 Agni we choose as
envoy, skilled performer of this holy rite,Hotar, possessor of all
wealth.
4 Served with oblation, kindled, bright, through love of song may
Agni, bent On riches, smite the Vritras dead!
5 I laud your most beloved
guest like a dear friend, O Agni, him Who, like a chariot, wins us
wealth.
6 Do thou, O Agni, with great might guard us from all
malignity,Yea, from the hate of mortal man!
7 O Agni, come; far other
songs of praise will I sing forth to thee.Wax mighty with these
Soma-drops!
8 May Vatsa draw thy mind away even from thy loftiest dwelling
place!Agni, I yearn for thee with song.
9 Agni, Atharvan brought thee
forth by rubbing from the sky, the head Of all who offer sacrifice.
10 O
Agni, bring us radiant light to be our mighty succour, for Thou art our
visible deity!
DECADE II Agni
1 O Agni, God, the people sing reverent praise to thee for strength:With
terrors trouble thou the foe
2 I seek with song your messenger,
oblation-bearer, lord of wealth,Immortal, best at sacrifice.
3 Still
turning to their aim in thee the sacrificer's sister hymns, Have come to thee
before the wind.
4 To thee, illuminer of night, O Agni, day by day with
prayer,Bringing thee reverence, we come.
5 Help, thou who knowest lauds,
this work, a lovely hymn in Rudra's praise,Adorable in every house!
6 To
this fair sacrifice to drink the milky draught art thou called forth:O Agni,
with the Maruts come!
7 With homage will I reverence thee, Agni, like a
long-tailed steed,Imperial lord of holy rites.
8 As Aurva and as Bhrigu
called, as Apnavana called, I call The radiant Agni robed with sea.
9
When he enkindles Agni, man should with his heart attend the song:I kindle
Agni till he glows.
10 Then, verily, they see the light refulgent of
primeval seed,Kindled on yonder side of heaven.
DECADE III Agni
1 Hither, for powerful kinship, I call Agni, him who prospers you,Most
frequent at our solemn rites.
2 May Agni with his pointed blaze cast down
each fierce devouring fiend:May Agni win us wealth by war!
3 Agni, be
gracious; thou art great: thou hast approached the pious man,Hast come to
sit on sacred grass.
4 Agni, preserve us,from distress consume our enemies,
O God,Eternal, with thy hottest flames
5 Harness, O Agni, O thou God,
thy steeds which are most excellent!The fleet ones bring thee rapidly.
6
Lord of the tribes, whom all must seek, we worshipped Agni set thee
down,Refulgent, rich in valiant men.
7 Agni is head and height of
heaven, the master of the earth is he, He quickeneth the waters' seed.
8 O
Agni, graciously announce this our good fortune of the Gods,And this our
newest hymn of praise!9, By song, O Agni, Angiras! Gopavana hath brought
thee forth, Hear thou my call, refulgent one!
10 Agni, the Sage, the Lord
of Strength, hath moved around the sacred gifts,Giving the offerer precious
things.
11 His heralds bear him up aloft, the God who knoweth all that
lives,The Sun, that all may look on him.12, Praise Agni in the
sacrifice, the Sage whose holy laws are true, The God who driveth grief
away.
13 Kind be the Goddesses to lend us help, and kind that we may
drink:May their streams bring us health and wealth
14 Lord of the brave,
whose songs dost thou in thine abundance now inspire,Thou whose hymns help
to win the kine?
DECADE IV Agni
1 Sing to your Agni with each song, at every sacrifice for
strength.Come, let us praise the wise and, everlasting God even as a
well-beloved friend,
2 Agni, protect thou us by one, protect us by the
second song,Protect us by three hymns, O Lord of power and might, bright
God, by four hymns guard us well!
3 O Agni, with thy lofty beams, with thy
pure brilliancy, O God,Kindled, most youthful one! by Bharadvaja's hand,
shine on us richly, holy Lord!
4 O Agni who art worshipped well, dear let
our princes be to thee,Our wealthy patrons who are governors of men, who
part, as gifts, the stall of kine!
5 Agni, praise-singer! Lord of men, God!
burning up the Rakshasas,Mighty art thou, the ever-present, household-lord!
home-friend and guardian from the sky.
6 Immortal Jatavedas, thou
bright-hued refulgent gift of Dawn,Agni, this day to him who pays oblations
bring the Gods who waken with the morn!
7 Wonderful, with thy favouring
help, send us thy bounties, gracious Lord.Thou art the charioteer, Agni, of
earthly wealth: find rest and safety for our seed!
8 Famed art thou, Agni,
far and wide, preserver, righteous, and a Sage.The holy singers, O enkindled
radiant one, ordainers, call on thee to come.
9 O holy Agni, give us wealth
famed among men and strengthening life!Bestow on us, O helper, that which
many crave, more glorious still through righteousness!
10 To him, who
dealeth out all wealth, the sweet-toned Hotar-priest of men, To him like the
first vessels filled with savoury juice, to Agni let the lauds go forth.
DECADE V Agni
1 With this mine homage I invoke Agni for you, the Son of Strength, Dear,
wisest envoy, skilled in noble sacrifice, immortal messenger of all.
2 Thou
liest in the logs that are thy mothers: mortals kindle thee. Alert thou
bearest off the sacrificer's gift, and then thou shinest to the Gods.
3 He
hath appeared, best prosperer, in whom men lay their holy acts:So may our
songs of praise come nigh to Agni who was born to give the Arya strength!
4
Chief Priest is Agni at the laud, as stones and grass at sacrifice.Gods!
Maruts! Brahmanaspati! I crave with song the help that is most excellent.
5
Pray Agni of the piercing flame, with sacred songs, to be our help;For
wealth, famed Agni, Purumilha and ye men! He is Suditi's sure defence.
6
Hear, Agni who hast ears to hear, with all thy train of escort Gods!With
those who come at dawn let Mitra, Aryaman sit on the grass at sacrifice.
7
Agni of Divodasa, God, comes forth like Indra in his might.Rapidly hath he
moved along his mother earth: he stands in high heaven's dwelling-place.
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8
Whether thou come from earth or from the lofty lucid realm of heaven,Wax
stronger in thy body through my song of praise: fill full all creatures, O most
wise!
9 If, loving well the forests, thou wentest to thy maternal
floods,Not to be scorned, Agni, is that return of thine when, from afar,
thou now art here.
10 O Agni, Manu stablished thee a light for all the race
of men:With Kanva hast thou blazed, Law-born and waxen strong, thou whom the
people reverence.
CHAPTER II
DECADE I Agni
1 The God who giveth wealth accept your full libation poured to,
him!Pour ye it out, then fill the vessel full again, for so the God
regardeth you.
2 Let Brahmanaspati come forth, let Sunrita the Goddess
come,And Gods bring to our rite which yields a fivefold gift the hero, lover
of mankind!
3 Stand up erect to lend us aid, stand up like Savitar the
God,Erect as strength-bestower when we call on thee with priests who balm
our offerings!
4 The man who bringeth gifts to thee, bright God who fain
wouldst lead to wealth,Winneth himself a brave son, Agni! skilled in lauds,
one prospering in a thousand ways.
5 With hymns and holy eulogies we
supplicate your Agni, Lord Of many families who duly serve the Gods, yea, him
whom others too inflame.
6 This Agni is the Lord of great prosperity and
hero, strength,Of wealth with noble offspring and with store of kine, the
Lord of battles with the foe.
7 Thou, Agni, art the homestead's Lord, our
Hotar-priest at sacrifice.Lord of all boons, thou art the Potar, passing
wise. Pay worship, and enjoy the good!
8 We as thy friends have chosen thee,
mortals a God, to be our help.The Waters' Child, the blessed, the most
mighty one, swift conqueror, and without a peer.
DECADE II Agni
1 Present oblations, make him splendid: set ye as Hotar in his place the
Home's Lord, worshipped With gifts and homage where they pour libations!
Honour him meet for reverence in our houses.
2 Verily wondrous is the tender
youngling's growth who never draweth nigh to drink his mother's milk.As soon
as she who hath no udder bore him, he, faring on his. great errand, suddenly
grew strong.
3 Here is one light for thee, another yonder: enter the third
and, be therewith united.Beautiful be thy union with the body, beloved in
the Gods' sublimest birthplace!
4 For Jatavedas, worthy of our praise, will
we frame with our mind this eulogy as 'twere a car;For good, in his
assembly, is this care of ours. Let us not, in thy friendship, Agni, suffer
harm!
5 Agni Vaisvanara, born in course of Order, the messenger of earth,
the head of heaven,The Sage, the sovran, guest of men, our vessel fit for
their mouth, the Gods have generated.
6 Even as the waters from the mountain
ridges, so sprang the; Gods, through lauds, from thee, O Agni.To thee speed
hymns and eulogies, as horses haste, bearing him who loves the song, to
battle.
7 Win to protect you, Rudra, lord of worship, priest of both worlds,
effectual sacrificer,Agni, invested with his golden colours, before the
thunder strike and lay you senseless!
8 The King whose face is decked with
oil is kindled with homage offered by his faithful servant.The men, the
priests adore him with oblations. Agni hath shone forth at the flush of
morning.
9 Agni advanceth with his lofty banner: through earth and heaven
the Bull hath loudly bellowed He hath come nigh from the sky's farthest
limit: the Steer hath waxen in the waters' bosom.
10 From the two
fire-sticks have the men engendered with thoughts, urged by the hand, the
glorious Agni,Far-seen, with pointed flame, Lord of the Homestead.
DECADE III Agni
1 Agni is wakened by the people's fuel to meet the Dawn who cometh like a
milch-cow.Like young trees shooting up on high their branches, his flames.
are mounting to the vault of heaven.
2 Set forth the gleaming one, the
song-inspirer, not foolish with. the foolish, fort-destroyer,Who leadeth
with his hymns to thought of conquest, gold-bearded, richly splendid with his
armour
3 Thou art like heaven: one form is bright, one holy, like Day and
Night dissimilar in colour.All magic powers thou aidest, self-dependent!
Auspicious be thy bounty here, O Pushan!
4 As holy food, Agni, to thine
invoker give wealth in cattle, lasting, rich in marvels!To us be born a son
and spreading offspring. Agni, be this thy gracious will to us-ward!
5
Stablished to fill the juice with vital vigour, giver of wealth, guard of his
servant's body,The great Priest, born, who knows the clouds, abider with
men, is seated in the waters' eddy.
6 Let the song, honouring the best, with
longing honour the Asura's most famous sovran,The deeds of him the mighty,
deeds like Indra's, the manly one in whom the folk must triumph!
7 In the
two kindling-blocks lies Jatavedas like the well-cherished germ in pregnant
women,--Agni who day by day must be entreated by men who watch provided with
oblations.
8 Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons: never shall
Rakshasas in fight o'ercome thee.Burn up the foolish ones, raw flesh
devourers: let none of them escape thine heavenly arrow!
DECADE IV Agni
1 Bring us most mighty splendour thou, Agni, resistless on thy
way:Prepare for us the path that leads to glorious opulence and
strength!
2 May the brave man, if full of zeal he serve and kindle Agni's
flame,Duly presenting sacred gifts, enjoy the Gods' protecting help.
3
Thy bright smoke lifts itself aloft, and far-extended shines in heaven,For,
Purifier! like the Sun thou beamest with thy radiant glow.
4 Thou, Agni,
even as Mitra, hast a princely glory of thine own.Bright, active God, thou
makest fame increase like means of nourishment.
5 At dawn let Agni,
much-beloved, guest of the house, be glorified,In whom, the everlasting one,
all mortals make their offerings blaze.
6 Most moving song be Agni's: shine
on high, O rich in radiant light!Like the chief consort of a King riches and
strength proceed from thee.
7 Exerting all our strength with thoughts of
power we glorify in speech Agni your dear familiar friend, the darling guest
in every house.
8 His beam hath lofty power of life: sing praise to Agni, to
the God Whom men have set in foremost place, like Mitra for their
eulogy!
9 To noblest Agni, friend of man, chief Vritra-slayer, have we
come-Who with Srutarvan, Riksha's son, in lofty presence is inflamed.
10
Born as the loftiest Law commands, comrade of those who grew with him.Agni,
the sire of Kasyapa by faith, the mother, Manu, Sage.
DECADE V Agni
1 We in King Soma place our trust, in Agni, and in Varuna,The Aditya,
Vishnu, Surya, and the Brahman-priest Brihaspati.
2 Hence have these men
gone up on high and mounted to the heights of heaven:On! conquer on the path
by which Angirasas travelled to the skies!
3 That thou mayst send us ample
wealth, O Agni, we will kindler thee:So, for the great oblation, Steer, pray
Heaven and Earth to come to us!
4 He runs when one calls after him, This is
the prayer of him who prays.He holds all knowledge in his grasp even as the
felly rounds the wheel.
5 Shoot forth, O Agni, with thy flame: demolish them
on every side!Break down the Yatudhana's strength, the vigour of the
Rakshasa!
6 Worship the Vasus, Agni! here, the Rudras and Adityas,
all Who know fair sacrifices, sprung from Mann, scattering blessings
down!
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