MANDALA I, HYMN 13.

ASHTAKA I, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 24-25.

APRI HYMN.

1 . Being well lighted, O Agni, bring us hither the gods to the man rich in sacrificial food, O Hotri, purifier, and perform the sacrifice.

2. Tanunapat ! make our sacrifice rich in honey and convey it to-day to the gods, O sage, that they may feast.

3. I invoke here at this sacrifice Narasamsa , the beloved one, the honey-tongued preparer of the sacrificial food.

4. O magnified Agni! Conduct the gods hither in an easy-moving chariot. Thou art the Hotri instituted by Manus .

5. Strew, O thoughtful men, in due order the sacrificial grass, the back (or surface) of which is sprinkled with butter, on which the appearance of immortality (is seen).

6. May the divine gates open, the increasers of Rita, which do not stick together, that to-day, that now the sacrifice may proceed.

7. I invoke here at this sacrifice Night and Dawn, the beautifully adorned goddesses, that they may sit down on this our sacrificial grass.

8. I invoke these two divine Hotris , the sages with beautiful tongues. May they perform this sacrifice for us.

9. Ila ('Nourishment'), Sarasvati, and Mahi ('the great one') , the three comfort-giving goddesses, they who do not fail, shall sit down on the sacrificial grass.

10. I invoke hither the foremost, all-shaped Tvashtri to come hither; may he be ours alone.

11. O tree , let the sacrificial food go, O god, to the gods. May the giver's splendour be foremost.

12. Offer ye the sacrifice with the word Svaha to Indra in the sacrificer's house. Thereto I invoke the gods.

NOTES.

The hymn is ascribed, as the whole collection to which it belongs, to Medhatithi Kanva (see the note on the preceding hymn). Its metre is Gayatri. Verses 1-4 = SV. II, 697-700. Verse 9 = RV. V, 5, 8. Verse 10 = TS. III, 1, 11, 1; TB. III, 5, 12, 1; MS. IV, 13, 10.