MANDALA III, HYMN 13.

ASHTAKA III, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 13.

1. To this god Agni I sing 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) , 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 , and in the waters.

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

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 , 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!

NOTES.

The Rishi is Rishabha Vaisvamitra. The metre is Anushtubh.--Verses 6, 7 = MS. IV, 11, 2.--Comp. concerning this hymn, Aitareya Brahmana II, 40.

Verse 1.

Note [3:13:1:1]1. Arka (arka) may be first or second person. Comp., for instance, VI, 16, 22. pra vah sakhayah agnaye stomam ... arka ga'ya ka vedhase; X, 50, 1. pra vah mahe ... arka (Samhitap. arka) visva'naraya visvabhuve, and see Benfey, Die Quantitatsverschiedenheiten in den Samhita-und Pada-Texten der Veden, III, p. 8.--On the metre of the second Pada, comp. my Prolegomena, p. 188.

Verse 3.

Note [3:13:3:1]1. Perhaps we should supply, on account of the preceding nominative, viprah ('priest'): of these (priests).

Verse 4.

Note [3:13:4:1]1. Kshitibhyah seems to me to be co-ordinated with divi and apsu a'; comp. X, 89, 11. The locative kshitishu would not have suited the metre as well as the dative. Prof. Max Muller proposes to translate: 'Whence he may shower wealth on our dwelling, whether he be in the sky or in the waters.'

Verse 5.

Note [3:13:5:1]1. Comp. X, 172, 2. a' yahi vasvya dhiya'.

Verse 6.

Note [3:13:6:1]1. Comp. Sankhayana Srautasutra VIII, 16. indrah marutvan ... marutstotrah marudganah marudvridhah marutsakha.