Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897], at sacred-texts.com

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MANDALA III, HYMN 13.

ASHTAKA III, ADHYÂYA 1, VARGA 13.

1. To this god Agni I sing 1 for you most powerfully. May he come to us with the gods; may he, the best sacrificer, sit down on the sacrificial grass.

2. The righteous one to whose skill the two worlds (Heaven and Earth) and (all) blessings cling—Him the men rich in offerings magnify, Him those who long for gain, that they may obtain his blessing.

3. He, the priest, is the guide of these (men) 1, and he indeed (is the guide) of sacrifices. Praise ye this Agni who is the giver, the winner of wealth.

4. May this Agni give us most blissful shelter for our (sacrificial) feast, whence he may shower wealth on us in heaven, the (human) dwellings 1, and in the waters.

5. The singers kindle Agni, the Hotri, the lord of the tribes, the brilliant, the wonderful, with his excellent thoughts 1.

6. And mayst thou, the best invoker of the gods, help us in our spell, in our hymns. Shine bliss on us, Agni whom the Maruts strengthen 1, the greatest winner of thousandfold (wealth).

7. Now bestow on us thousandfold wealth with offspring and prosperity, splendid, most powerful, and undecaying abundance in heroes, O Agni!

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NOTES.

The Rishi is Rishabha Vaisvâmitra. The metre is Anushtubh.—Verses 6, 7 = MS. IV, 11, 2.—Comp. concerning this hymn, Aitareya Brâhmana II, 40.

Verse 1.

Note 1. Arka (arkâ) may be first or second person. Comp., for instance, VI, 16, 22. prá vah sakhâyah agnáye stómam … árka gâ´ya ka vedháse; X, 50, 1. prá vah mahé … árka (Samhitâp. árkâ) visvâ´narâya visvabhúve, and see Benfey, Die Quantitätsverschiedenheiten in den Samhitâ-und Pada-Texten der Veden, III, p. 8.—On the metre of the second Pâda, comp. my Prolegomena, p. 188.

Verse 3.

Note 1. Perhaps we should supply, on account of the preceding nominative, víprah ('priest'): of these (priests).

Verse 4.

Note 1. Kshitíbhyah seems to me to be co-ordinated with diví and apsú â´; comp. X, 89, 11. The locative kshitíshu would not have suited the metre as well as the dative. Prof. Max Müller proposes to translate: 'Whence he may shower wealth on our dwelling, whether he be in the sky or in the waters.'

Verse 5.

Note 1. Comp. X, 172, 2. â´ yâhi vásvyâ dhiyâ´.

Verse 6.

Note 1. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana Srautasûtra VIII, 16. indrah marutvân … marutstotrah marudganah marudvridhah marutsakhâ.