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KANDA IV
THE PILING OF THE FIRE ALTAR
PRAPATHAKA II
The Preparation Of The Ground For The Fire
1. The Placing Of The Fire-Pan On The Throne
iv. 2. 1.
Thou art the step of Visnu, overcoming hostility, mount the Gayatri metre, step along the earth, excluded is he whom we hate. Thou art the step of Visnu, overcoming imprecations, mount the Tristubh metre, step along the atmosphere, excluded is he whom we hate. Thou art the step of Visnu, overcomer of the enemy, mount the Jagati metre, step along the sky, excluded is he whom we hate. Thou art the stop of Visnu [1], overcomer of the foe, mount the Anustubh metre, step along the quarters, excluded is he whom we hate. Agni hath cried, like Dyaus thundering,
Licking the earth, devouring the plants
Straightway on birth he shone aflame,
He blazeth with his light within the firmaments. O Agni, returner, to us return
With life, with radiance, with gain, with wisdom, with offspring, with wealth. O Agni [2], O Angiras, a hundred be thy returns,
A thousand thy movements;
With the increase of their increase
Do thou bring back for us what is lost,
Bring back to us wealth. Return with strength,
Return, O Agni, with food and life;
Again guard us on all sides. Return with wealth,
O Agni, fatten with the stream,
All-gaining on every side. Unloose from us, O Varuna, the highest,
The lowest, the midmost knot [3];
Then may we, O Aditya, in thy rule,
Be guiltless before Aditi. I have drawn thee, thou hast become within,
Be thou firm and motionless,
Lot all the folk desire thee;
In him establish the kingship. In greatness hath he arisen erect in the van of the dawns;
Emerging from the darkness, he hath come with the light;
Agni, with radiant brilliance, fair limbed,
On birth hath filled every seat. Do thou sit down in the lap of this mother [4],
O Agni, knowing all the ways;
Consume her not with light nor with heat,
Within her shine with pure radiance. O Agni, with glow
Within thine own seat of the pan,
Heating with her blaze,
Be thou, O all-knower, auspicious. Becoming auspicious to me, O Agni,
Do thou sit down auspicious;
Having made all the quarters auspicious,
Sit here on thine own birthplace. The gander seated in purity, the bright one seated in the atmosphere,
The Hotr seated at the altar, the guest seated in the house,
Seated among men, seated in the highest, seated in holy order, seated in the firmament,
Born of the waters, born of the cows, born of holy order, born of the mountain, the great holy order.
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