MANDALA IV, HYMN 9.

ASHTAKA III, ADHYAYA 5, VARGA 9.

1. Agni, have mercy! Thou art great, who hast come to this pious man to sit down on the sacrificial grass.

2. He who cannot be deceived, the zealous, the immortal has among men become the messenger of all.

3. He, the joy-giving Hotri, is led around the sacred seat at the heaven-aspiring sacrifices. And he sits down as the Potri also.

4. Agni sits down also as (the sacrificer's) wife at the sacrifice, and as the master of the house in the house, and as the Brahman .

5. Thou zealously approachest as the Upavaktri of the people who perform the sacrificial service, and (thou approachest) the offerings of men.

6. And thou zealously performest the messenger-ship for the man in whose sacrifice thou takest pleasure, in order to bear the mortal's offering (to the gods).

7. Find pleasure in our rites, in our sacrifice, O Angiras. Hear our call!

8. May thy unerring chariot, by which thou protectest the worshippers, encompass us from every side.

NOTES.

The same Rishi and metre.--Verse I = SV. I, 23. Verse 8 = VS. III, 36; MS. I, 5, 4. 5. 11.

Verse 4.

Note [4:9:4:1]1. 'Wir vermuten: utagna agnir adhvare ... die correctur durfte evident sein.' Ludwig. The same conjecture has been proposed already in 1868 by Prof. Max Muller (Chips, 2nd ed., vol. iii, p. 157). In my opinion the traditional text is correct.

Note [4:9:4:2]2. The Brahman very probably is not the Brahman of the later ritual, but the Brahmanakkhamsin. See H. O., Religion des Veda, p. 396.

Verse 5.

Note [4:9:5:1]1. The Upavaktri is identical with the Prasastri or Maitravaruna of the later ritual. H. O., Religion des Veda, p. 390.

Verse 7.

Note [4:9:7:1]1. On goshi, cf. Bartholomae, Studien zur Indog. Sprachgeschichte, I, 21.