Philosophy and Religion / White Yajurveda (Vâjasaneyi-Sanhitâ)

The White Yajurveda (Vâjasaneyi-Sanhitâ)

Book the first

1. THEE for food. Thee for vigour. Ye are breezes.
To noblest work God Savitar impel you. Inviolable! swell his share for Indra.
No thief, no evil-minded man shall master you rich in off-spring, free from pain and sickness.
Be constant, numerous to this lord of cattle. Guard thou the cattle of the Sacrificer.

2. Strainer of Vasu art thou. Thou art heaven. Earth art thou. Thou art Mâtarisvan's caldron.
Thou art the All-container. Stand thou firmly, secure by Law Supreme, and do not totter.
Nor be thy Lord of Sacrifice unsteady.

3. Thou art the strainer, hundred-streamed, of Vasu.
Thou art the strainer, thousand-streamed, of Vasu.
May Savitar the God with Vasu's strainer, thousand-streamed, rightly cleansing, purify thee.

4. Which didst thou milk? This is the cow Visvâyu. This Visvakarman. This is Visvadhâyas.
Thee, Indra's share, with Soma do I curdle. Be thou protector of the oblation, Vishnu.

5. I will observe the vow, Lord of Vows, Agni! May I have strength therefor. Success attend me.
Now into truth from untruth do I enter.

6. Who is it that unites thee? He unites thee. For what doth he yoke thee? For that he yokes thee.
You two for work, you two for its completion.

7. Scorched are the fiends, scorched the malignant beings.
Burnt out are fiends, burnt out malignant beings.
Throughout the spacious middle air I travel.

8. Thou art the yoke. Injure thou him who injures. Harm him who harm us. Harm the man we injure.
Thou art the Gods’ best carrier, bound most firmly, filled fullest, welcomest, Gods’ best invoker.

9. Thou art unbent, receiver of oblations. Stand firmly in thy place and do not totter.
Nor be thy Lord of sacrifice unsteady.
Let Vishnu mount thee. To the wind lie open. The demons are expelled. Let the five grasp it.

10. By impulse of God Savitar I take thee with arms of Asvins, with the hands of Pûshan,
Thee dear to Agni, dear to Agni-Soma.

11. Thee for abundance, not for evil spirit. May mine eye look upon the light of heaven.
May those with doors stand on the earth securely. Throughout the spacious middle air I travel.
Upon the navel of the earth I place thee, on Aditi's lap.
Protect the oblation, Agni!

12. Ye two are strainers that belong to Vishnu. By Savitar's impulse, with this flawless strainer I purify you with the rays of Sûrya.
Bright Waters, flowing forward, foremost drinkers, lead forward now this sacrifice, lead forward the Sacrifice's Lord, the God-devoted Lord of the Sacrifice, the liberal giver.

13. Indra elected you in fight with Vritra: in fight with Vritra you elected Indra.
By over-sprinkling are ye consecrated. I sprinkle thee agreeable to Agni. I sprinkle thee welcome to Agni-Soma.
Pure for the work divine be ye, and holy, pure for the sacrifice to Gods. Whatever of yours the impure have by their touch polluted, hereby I cleanse for you from all defilement.

14. Giver art thou of happiness. Rejected are fiends, rejected are malignant beings.
Aditi's akin art thou. May Aditi receive thee. A wooden stone art thou. Thou art a broad-based stone. May the skin of Aditi receive thee.

15. Body of Agni art thou, the releaser of speech. I seize thee for the Gods’ enjoyment.
A mighty stone art thou, formed out of timber.
Make ready for the Deities this oblation: with careful preparation make it ready.
Havishkrit, come! Havishkrit, come! Havishkrit, come!

16. Thou art a cock whose tongue is sweet with honey. Call to us hither sap and manly vigour.
May we with thee in every fight be victors. Rain-grown art thou. May the rain-grown receive thee.
Cleared off are fiends, cleared off are evil beings. Expelled are fiends. May Vâyu separate you. May Savitar the God, the golden-handed, with flawless hand unto himself receive you.

17. Bold art thou. Cast away the Corpse-consumer. Drive off the fire that eats raw flesh, O Agni.
That which makes offerings to the Gods bring hither.
Firm art thou. Make earth firm. For the foe's slaughter I set thee on, devoted to the priesthood, devoted to the nobles and the kinsmen.

18. Agni, do thou accept our holy service.
Keeper art thou: make firm the Air's mid-region. For the foe's death I set thee on, devoted to priesthood and nobility and kinsmen.
Thou art a stay: uphold the sky securely. For the foe's death, etc.
I set thee on for sake of all the regions. Formers of layers are ye, and heap-formers, With Bhrigus’ and Angirases’ heat be heated.

19. Giver of happiness art thou. Rejected are fiends, rejected are malignant beings. Aditi's skin art thou, May Aditi receive thee.
Bowl, rock art thou. May Aditi's skin receive thee.
Thou art the sky's supporting pillar.
Bowl from the rock art thou. The rock receive thee.

20. Grain art thou. Please the Gods. Thee for in-breathing.
For out-breath thee. Thee for diffusive breathing. May I impart to life a long extension.
May Savitar the God, the golden-handed, with flawless hand unto himself receive you.
Thee for the eye. Juice art thou of the Great Ones.

21. By impulse of God Savitar I strew thee, with arms of Asvins, with the hands of Basilan.
With plants let waters, plants with sap he mingled. United be the rich ones with the moving. The sweet ones and the sweet be joined together.

22. For generation's sake I join thee. This is Agni's. This Agni-Soma's.
Thee for food.
Thou art the caldron, life of all that liveth. Spread thyself widely forth, thou, widely spreading. So may thy Lord of sacrifice spread widely.
Thy skin let Agni harm not. In highest heaven let the God Savitar hake thee.

23. Fear not. Shrink not. Let not the sacrifice be languid, not languid he the Sacrificer's offspring.
For Trita thee. For Dvita thee. For Ekata thee.

24. By impulse of God Savitar I take thee, with arms of Asvins, with the hands of Pûshan, thee who for Gods performest sacred service.
Indra's right arm art thou: sharp with a thousand spikes, a hundred edges. The keen-edged Wind art thou, the foeman's slayer.

25. O Earth, whereon men serve the Gods with worship, let me not do thy plant's root any damage.
Go to the pen, the cowstall. Heaven rain for thee.
On this earth's farthest end, God Savitar, bind him, with hundred fetters bind the man who hates us and whom we hate. Thence do not thou release him.

26. May I drive Araru away from Earth, the seat of men's oblations to the Gods. Go to the pen . . . . . . . release him (as in verse 25).
O Araru, thou shalt not soar to heaven. Let not thy drop mount upward to the sky.
Go to the pen . . . . . . . release him (as in verse 25).

27. I with the metre Gâyatrî enclose thee. I lay the Trishtup metre round about thee. With Jagatî metre I confine and gird thee.
Sprung from good soil art thou, and bliss-bestowing. Pleasant art thou, and a fair seat to rest on. Thou hast both strengthening food and drink in plenty.

28. Before the cruel foe's secret departure, Mighty One, raising high earth, life-bestower, which to the Moon they lifted by oblations, that earth the sages still point out and worship.
Deposit in its place the sprinkling-water, Thou art the slayer of the man who hates us.

29. Scorched are the demons, scorched the evil beings. Burnt out are fiends, burnt out malignant creatures.
Unsharpened, thou art slayer of the foemen. Thee, rich in food, I cleanse for the food's kindling.
Scorched . . . . . creatures (as above).
Thee rich in food, I cleanse for the food's kindling.

30. A zone for Aditi art thou. Pervader of Vishnu art thou.
For great strength I take thee. I look upon thee with an eye uninjured.
Thou art the tongue of Agni. Good invoker of Gods be thou at every holy station, at every sacrificial text I utter.

31. By Savitar's impulsion do I cleanse thee, with flawless strainer, with the rays of Sûrya.
By Savitar's impulsion do I cleanse you, with flawless strainer, with the rays of Sûrya.
Light art thou; thou art splendid; thou art Amrit. Thou, truly, art the Gods’ beloved station, inviolable means of holy worship.

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