MANDALA V, HYMN 13.

ASHTAKA IV, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 5.

1. Praising we call thee; praising let us kindle thee, Agni, praising, for thy help.

2. Desirous of riches, we devise to-day an effective song of praise, of Agni the heaven-touching god .

3. May Agni take pleasure in our prayers, he who is the Hotri among men. May he sacrifice to the divine host.

4. Thou, O Agni, art widely extended, the gladly accepted, desirable Hotri; through thee they spread out the sacrifice.

5. The priests make thee grow, O Agni, the greatest acquirer of wealth, the highly praised one. Bestow thou on us abundance of heroes.

6. Agni! Thou encompassest the gods as the felly (encompasses) the spokes (of a wheel). Thou strivest for brilliant wealth.

NOTES.

The same Rishi. The metre is Gayatri.--Verse 2 = MS. IV, 10, 2 (cf. TS. V, 5, 6, 1). Verses 2-4 = SV. II, 755-757. Verse 4 = TB. II, 4, 1, 6; MS. IV, 10, 2. Verse 5 = TS. I, 4, 46, 3; MS. IV, 11, 4. Verse 6 = TS. II, 5, 9, 3. As the Sama-veda forms a Trika of the verses 2-4, not 1-3 or 4-6, we have here an instance of those liberties which the arrangers of the Sama-veda not unfrequently took with regard to the Rig-veda text (see H. O., Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, XXXVIII, 469 seq.);

we have no reason, in such a case, to resort to such an expedient as changing the traditional order of verses in the Rig-veda text.

Verse 1.

Note [5:13:1:1]1. We have first the indicative, then the optative.

Verse 2.

Note [5:13:2:1]1. Divisprisah no doubt is genitive sing. referring to Agni, not nominative pl. referring to the worshippers.

Verse 3.

Note [5:13:3:1]1. Ludwig is right in observing here: 'eigentlich er spreche die yagyas als einladung fur die gotter.'

Verse 6.

Note [5:13:6:1]1. On ringase, comp. Bartholomae, Indogermanische Forschungen, II, 281; Neisser, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XX, 59. I take the form here as 2nd singular.