HYMN XIII

A charm against snakes

Varuna, Sage of heaven, hath given me the gift: with spells of
mighty power I draw thy poison out.
Dug up, not dug, adherent, I have seized it fast: low hath thy
venom sunk like water in the sands.
All the non-fluid portion of thy venom, I receive in these.
I take thy middlemost, thy highest, lowest juice: may it be
spent and lest by reason of thy fear.
Strong is my cry like thunder with the rainy cloud: with power-
ful incantation let thy strength be stayed.
I, with the men to aid, have seized that juice of his; as light
from out the gloom, let Surya rise on high
I with this eye destroy thine eye, and with this poison conquer
thine.
Live not, O Snake, but die the death: back go thy venom on
thyself.
Listen to me, Black Snakes and hateful creatures, Lurker-in-
Grass, Karait, and Brown, and Spotty,
Approach not near the house my friend inhabits: give warning,
and rest quiet with your poison.
Even as the cord that strings the bow, I slacken, as it were, the
cars.
Of the All-conquering serpent's wrath, of the fierce rage of
Black, and Brown, Taimata, and Apodaka.
And Aligi and Viligi, their father and the mother too,--
What will ye do? Your venomed sap, we know, is utterly
powerless.
Daughter of Urugula, she-fiend whom the black, skinned mother
bare--
All female serpents poison who crept swiftly near is impotent.
Dwelling beside the mountain's slope, the quick-eared porcupine
exclaimed:
Of all these she-snakes homed in earth the poison is most
powerless.
Tabuva or not Tabuva, thou verily art not Tabuva: poison is
killed by Tabuva.
Tastuva or not Tastuva, thou verily art not Tastuva: poison is
killed by Tastuva.