HYMN IX: Rig Veda – Book 3 – Ralph T.H. Griffith, Translator
सखायस्त्वा वव्र्महे देवं मर्तास ऊतये |
अपां नपातंसुभगं सुदीदितिं सुप्रतूर्तिमनेहसम ||
कायमानो वना तवं यन मातॄरजगन्नपः |
न तत तेग्ने परम्र्षे निवर्तनं यद दूरे सन्निहाभवः ||
अति तर्ष्टं ववक्षिथाथैव सुमना असि |
पर-परान्ये यन्ति पर्यन्य आसते येषां सख्ये असि शरितः ||
ईयिवांसमति सरिधः शश्वतीरति सश्चतः |
अन्वीमविन्दन निचिरासो अद्रुहो.अप्सु सिंहमिव शरितम ||
सस्र्वांसमिव तमनाग्निमित्था तिरोहितम |
ऐनं नयन मातरिश्वा परावतो देवेभ्यो मथितं परि ||
तं तवा मर्ता अग्र्भ्णत देवेभ्यो हव्यवाहन |
विश्वान यद्यज्ञानभिपासि मानुष तव करत्वा यविष्ठ्य ||
तद भद्रं तव दंसना पाकाय चिच्छदयति |
तवां यदग्ने पशवः समासते समिद्धमपिशर्वरे ||
आ जुहोता सवध्वरं शीरं पावकशोचिषम |
आशुं दूतमजिरं परत्नमीड्यं शरुष्टी देवं सपर्यत ||
तरीणि शता तरी सहस्राण्यग्निं तरिंशच्च देवा नवचासपर्यन |
औक्षन घर्तैरस्त्र्णन बर्हिरस्मा आदिद धोतारं नयसादयन्त ||
sakhāyastvā vavṛmahe devaṃ martāsa ūtaye |
apāṃ napātaṃsubhaghaṃ sudīditiṃ supratūrtimanehasam ||
kāyamāno vanā tvaṃ yan mātṝrajaghannapaḥ |
na tat teaghne pramṛṣe nivartanaṃ yad dūre sannihābhavaḥ ||
ati tṛṣṭaṃ vavakṣithāthaiva sumanā asi |
pra-prānye yanti paryanya āsate yeṣāṃ sakhye asi śritaḥ ||
īyivāṃsamati sridhaḥ śaśvatīrati saścataḥ |
anvīmavindan nicirāso adruho.apsu siṃhamiva śritam ||
sasṛvāṃsamiva tmanāghnimitthā tirohitam |
ainaṃ nayan mātariśvā parāvato devebhyo mathitaṃ pari ||
taṃ tvā martā aghṛbhṇata devebhyo havyavāhana |
viśvān yadyajñānabhipāsi mānuṣa tava kratvā yaviṣṭhya ||
tad bhadraṃ tava daṃsanā pākāya cicchadayati |
tvāṃ yadaghne paśavaḥ samāsate samiddhamapiśarvare ||
ā juhotā svadhvaraṃ śīraṃ pāvakaśociṣam |
āśuṃ dūtamajiraṃ pratnamīḍyaṃ śruṣṭī devaṃ saparyata ||
trīṇi śatā trī sahasrāṇyaghniṃ triṃśacca devā navacāsaparyan |
aukṣan ghṛtairastṛṇan barhirasmā ādid dhotāraṃ nyasādayanta ||
English Translation
Translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith
1. WE as thy friends have chosen thee, mortals a God, to be our help,
The Waters’ Child, the blessed, the resplendent One, victorious and beyond compare.
2 Since thou delighting in the woods hast gone unto thy mother streams,
Not to be scorned, Agni, is that return of thine when from afar thou now art here.
3 O’er pungent smoke host thou prevailed, and thus art thou benevolent.
Some go before, and others round about thee sit, they in whose friendship thou hast place.
4 Him who had passed beyond his foes, beyond continual pursuits, Him the unerring Ones, observant, found in floods, couched like a lion in his lair.
5 Him wandering at his own free will, Agni here hidden from our view,
Him Mātariśvan brought to us from far away produced by friction, from the Gods.
6 O Bearer of Oblations, thus mortals received thee from the Gods,
Whilst thou, the Friend of man, guardest each sacrifice with thine own power, Most Youthful One.
7 Amid thy wonders this is good, yea, to the simple is it clear,
When gathered round about thee, Agni, lie the herds where thou art kindled in the morn.
8 Offer to him who knows fair rites, who burns with purifying glow,
Swift envoy, active, ancient, and adorable: serve ye the God attentively.
9 Three times a hundred Gods and thrice a thousand, and three times ten and nine have worshipped Agni,
For him spread sacred grass, with oil bedewed him, and stablished him as Priest and Sacrificer.