BOOK VIII
HYMN I
A charm to recover a dying man
1Homage to Death the Ender! May thy breathings, inward and
outward, still remain within thee.
Here stay this man united with his spirit in the Sun's realm, the
world of life eternal!
2Bhaga hath lifted up this man, and Soma with his filaments,
Indra and Agni, and the Gods the Maruts, raised him up to
health.
3Here is thy spirit, here thy breath, here is thy life, here is thy
soul:
By a celestial utterance we raise thee from Destruction's bonds.
4Up from this place, O man, rise! sink not downward, casting
away the bonds of Death that hold thee.
Be not thou parted from this world, from sight of Agni and the
Sun.
5Purely for thee breathe Wind and Mātarisvan, and let the
Waters rain on thee their nectar.
The Sun shall shine with healing on thy body; Death shall have
mercy on thee: do not leave us!
6Upward must be thy way, O man, not downward: with life and
mental vigour I endow thee.
Ascend this car eternal, lightly rolling; then full of years shalt
thou address the meeting.
7Let not thy soul go thither, nor be lost to us: slight not the
living, go not where the Fathers are.
Let all the Gods retain thee here in safety.
8Yearn not for the departed ones, for those who lead men far
away.
Rise up from darkness into light: come, both thy hands we
clasp in ours.
9Let not the black dog and the brindled seize thee, two warders
of the way sent forth by Yama.
Come hither; do not hesitate: with mind averted stay not there. p. a323
10Forbear to tread this path, for it is awful: that path I speak of
which thou hast not travelled.
Enter it not, O man; this way is darkness: forward is danger,
hitherward is safety.
11Thy guardians be the Fires within the Waters, thy guardian be
the Fire which men enkindle.
Thy guardian be Vaisvānara Jātavedas; let not celestial Fire with
lightning burn thee.
12Let not the Flesh-Consumer plot against thee: depart thou far
away from the Destroyer.
Be Heaven and Earth and Sun and Moon thy keepers, and from
the dart of Gods may Air protect thee.
13May Vigilance and Watchfulness protect thee, Sleepless and
Slumberless keep guard above thee!
Let Guardian and let Wakeful be thy warders.
14Let these be thy preservers, these thy keepers. All hail to these,
to these be lowly worship!
15May saving Savitar, Vāyu, Indra, Dhātar restore thee to com-
munion with the living.
Let not thy vigour or thy breath forsake thee: we recall thy life.
16Let not the fiend with snapping jaws, nor darkness find thee:
tongue, holy grass: how shouldst thou perish?
May the Ādityas and the Vasus, Indra and Agni raise thee and
to health restore thee.
17The Sky hath raised thee, and the Earth, Prajāpati hath raised
thee up.
The Plants and Herbs with Soma as their King have rescued
thee from Death.
18Here let this man, O Gods, remain: let him not go to yonder
world.
We rescue him from Mrityu with a charm that hath a thousand
powers.
19I have delivered thee from Death. Strength-givers smelt and
fashion thee!
Let not she-fiends with wild loose locks, or fearful howlers yell
at thee.
20I have attained and captured thee: thou hast returned restored
to youth.
Perfect in body: so have I found all thy sight and all thy life. p. a324
21Life hath breathed on thee; light hath come: darkness hath past
away from thee.
Far from thee we have buried Death, buried Destruction and:
Decline.
The same
1Seize to thyself this trust of life for ever: thine be longevity
which nothing shortens.
Thy spirit and thy life again I bring thee: die not, nor vanish
into mist and darkness.
2Come to the light of living men, come hither: I draw thee to a
life of hundred autumns.
Loosing the bonds of Death, the curse that holds thee, I give thee
age of very long duration.
3Thy breath have I recovered from the Wind, thy vision from the
Sun.
Thy mind I stablish and secure within thee: feel in thy members,.
use thy tongue, conversing.
4I blow upon thee with the breath of bipeds and quadrupeds, as
on a fire new-kindled.
To thee, O Death, and to thy sight and breath have I paid
reverence.
5Let this man live, let him not die: we raise him, we recover him.
I make for him a healing balm. O Death, forbear to slay this
man. p. a325
6Here for sound health I invocate a living animating plant,
Preserving, queller of disease, victorious, full of power and
might.
7Seize him not, but encourage and release him: here let him stay,
though thine, in all his vigour.
Bhava and Sarva, pity and protect him: give him full life and
drive away misfortunes.
8Comfort him, Death, and pity him: let him arise and pass away,
Unharmed, with all his members, hearing well, with old, may he
through hundred years win profit with his soul.
9May the Gods' missile pass thee by. I bring thee safe from the
mist: from death have I preserved thee.
Far have I banished flesh-consuming Agni: I place a rampart
for thy life's protection.
10Saving him from that misty path of thine which cannot be
defined.
From that descent of thine, O Death, we make for him a shield
of prayer.
11I give thee both the acts of breath, health, lengthened life, and
death by age.
All Yama's messengers who roam around, sent by Vaivasvata,
I chase away.
12Far off we drive Malignity, Destruction, Pisāchas banqueters on
flesh, and Grāhi.
And all the demon kind, the brood of sin, like darkness, we
dispel.
13I win thy life from Agni, from the living everlasting Jātavedas.
This I procure for thee, that thou, undying, mayst not suffer
harm, that thou mayst be content, that all be well with thee.
14Gracious to thee be Heaven and Earth, bringing no grief, and
drawing nigh!
Pleasantly shine the Sun for thee, the Wind blow sweetly to
thy heart!
Let the celestial Waters full of milk flow happily for thee.
15Auspicious be the Plants to thee! I have upraised thee, borne
thee from the lower to the upper earth:
Let the two Sons of Aditi, the Sun and Moon, protect thee there.
16Whatever robe to cover thee or zone thou makest for thyself,
We make it pleasant to thy frame: may it be soft and smooth
to touch. p. a326
17When, with a very keen and cleasing razor, our hair and beards
thou shavest as a barber,
Smoothing our face steal not our vital forces.
18Auspicious unto thee be rice and barley, causing no painful sick-
ness or consumption, these deliver from calamity.
19Thy food, thy drink, whate'er they be corn grown by cultivation,
milk,
Food eatable, uneatable, I make all poisonless for thee.
20We give thee over as a charge to Day and Night, in trust to
both.
Keep him for me from stingy fiends, from those who fain would
feed on him.
21A hundred, yea, ten thousand years we give thee, ages two,
three, four.
May Indra, Agni, all the Gods, with willing favour look on thee.
22To Autumn we deliver thee, to Winter, Spring and Summer's
care.
We trust thee with auspicious years wherein the plants and herbs
grow up.
23Death is the lord of bipeds, Death is sovran lord of quadrupeds.
Away I bear thee from that: Death the ruler: be not thou
afraid.
24Thou, still uninjured, shalt not die: be not afraid; thou shalt
not die.
Here where I am men do not die or go to lowest depths of
gloom.
25Here verily all creatures live, the cow, the horse, the man, the
beast,
Here where this holy prayer is used, a rampart that protecteth
life.
Let it preserve thee from thy peers, from incantation, from thy
friends.
26Live very long, be healthy, be immortal: let not the vital breath
forsake thy body.
27One and a hundred modes of death, dangers that may be over-
come,
May Gods deliver thee from this when Agni, dear to all men,
bids.
28Body of Agni prompt to save, slayer of fiends and foes art thou,
Yea, banisher of malady, the healing balm called Pūtudru.
