Hinduism Index
Book 20 Index
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Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895], at
1May Sovran Indra come to the carousal, he who by holy Law is
strong and active.
The overcomer of all conquering forces with his great bull-like
power that hath no limit.
2Firm-seated is thy car, thy steeds are docile: thy hand, O King,
holds, firmly grasped, the thunder.
On thy fair path, O Lord of men, come quickly: we will increase
thy power when thou hast drunken.
3Let strong and mighty steeds who bear this mighty Indra, the
Lord of men, whose arm wields thunder,
Bring unto us, as shares of our banquet, the Bull of conquering
might, of real vigour.
4So like a bull thou rushest to the Lord who loves the trough,
the Sage, the prop of vigour, in the vat.
Prepare thine energies, collect them in thyself: be for our profit
as the Master of the wise.
5May precious treasures come to us,— so will I pray. Come to the
votary's gift offered with beauteous laud.
Thou art the Lord, as such sit on this holy grass: thy vessels
are inviolate as Law commands.
6Far went our earliest invocations of the Gods, and won us
glories that can never be surpassed.
They who could not ascend the ship of sacrifice sink down in
desolation, trembling with alarm.
7So be the others, evil-hearted, far away, whose horses difficult to
harness have been yoked.
Here in advance man stand anear to offer gifts, by whom full
many a work that brings reward is done.
8He firmly fixed the plains and mountains as they shook. Dyaus
thundered forth and made the air's mid-region quake.
He stays apart the two confronting bowls; he sings lauds in the
potent Soma's joy when he hath drunk.
9I bear this deftly-fashioned goad of thine wherewith thou,
Maghavan, shalt break the strikers with the hoof. p. 342
At the libation mayst thou be well satisfied. Partake the juice,
partake the banquet, Bounteous Lord.
10O Much-invoked, may we subdue all famine and evil want with
store of grain and cattle.
May we allied, as first in rank, with princes, obtain possessions
by our own exertions.
11Brihaspati protect us from the rearward, and from above, and
from below, from sinners!
May Indra from the front and from the centre, as friend to
friends, vouchsafe us room and freedom.