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1. I BALM with oil the mighty
Raksas-slayer; to the most famous Friend I come for shelter
Enkindled, sharpened by our rites, may Agni
protect us in the day and night from evil.
2 O Jatavedas with the teeth
of iron, enkindled with thy flame attack the demons.
Seize with thy longue the foolish gods'
adorers: rend, put within thy mouth the raw-flesh caters.
3 Apply thy teeth, the upper
and the lower, thou who hast both, enkindled and destroying.
Roam also in the air, O King, around us, and
with thy jaws assail the wicked spirits.
4 Bending thy shafts through
sacrifices, Agni, whetting their points with song as if with whetstones,
Pierce to the heart therewith the Yatudhanas,
and break their arms uplifed to attack thee.
5 Pierce through the
Yatudhana's skin, O Agni; let the destroying dart with fire consume him.
Rend his joints, Jatavedas, let the cater of
flesh, flesh-seeking, track his mangled body.
6 Where now thou seest Agni
Jatavedas, one of these demons standing still or roaming,
Or flying on those paths in air's midregion,
sharpen the shaft and as an archer pierce him.
7 Tear from the evil spirit,
Jatavedas, what he hath seized and with his spears hath captured.
Blazing before him strike him down, O Agni; let
spotted carrion-eating kites devour him.
8 Here tell this forth, O Agni:
whosoever is, he himself, or acteth as, a demon,
Him grasp, O thou Most Youthful, with thy fuel.
to the Mati-seer's eye give him as booty.
9 With keen glance guard the
sacrifice, O Agni: thou Sage, conduct it onward to the Vasus.
Let not the fiends, O Man-beholder, harm thee
burning against the Raksasas to slay them.
10 Look on the fiend mid men,
as Man-beholder: rend thou his three extremities in pieces.
Demolish with thy flame his ribs, O Agni, the
Yatudhana's root destroy thou triply.
11 Thrice, Agni, let thy noose
surround the demon who with his falsehood injures Holy Order.
Loud roaring with thy flame, O Jatavedas, crush
him and cast him down before the singer.
12 Lead thou the worshipper
that eye, O Agni, wherewith thou lookest on the hoof-armed demon.
With light celestial in Atharvan's manner burn
up the foot who ruins truth with falsehood.
13 Agni, what curse the pair
this day have uttered, what heated word the worshippers have spoken,
Each arrowy taunt sped from the angry
spirit,-pierce to the heart therewith the Yatudhanas.
14 With fervent heat
exterminate the demons; destroy the fiends with burning flame, O Agni.
Destroy with fire the foolish gods' adorers;
blaze and destrepy the insatiable monsters.
15 May Gods destroy this day
the evil-doer may each hot curse of his return and blast him.
Let arrows pierce the liar in his vitals, and
Visva's net enclose the Yatudhana.
16 The fiend who smears
himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of horses and of human bodies,
Who steals the milch-cow's milk away, O
Agni,-tear off the heads of such with fiery fury.
17 The cow gives milk each
year, O Man-regarder: let not the Yatudhana ever taste it.
If one would glut him with the biesting, Agni,
pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee.
18 Let the fiends drink the
poison of the cattle; may Aditi cast off the evildoers.
May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and
be their share of plants and herbs denied them.
19 Agni, from days of old thou
slayest demons: never shall Raksasas in fight o'ercome thee.
Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers:
let none of them escape thine heavenly arrow.
20 Guard us, O Agni, from
above and under, protect us fl-om behind us and before us;
And may thy flames, most fierce and never
wasting, glowing with fervent heat, consume the sinner.
21 From rear, from front, from
under, from above us, O King, protect us as a Sage with wisdom.
Guard to old age thy friend, O Friend, Eternal:
O Agni, as Immortal, guard us mortals.
22 We set thee round us as a
fort, victorious Agni, thee a Sage,
Of hero lineage, day by day, destroyer of our
treacherous foes.
23 Burn with thy poison turned
against the treacherous brood of Raksasas,
O Agni, with thy sharpened glow, with lances
armed with points of flame.
24 Burn thou the paired
Kimidins, brun, Agni, the Yatudhana pairs.
I sharpen thee, Infallible, with hymns. O Sage,
be vigilant.
25 Shoot forth, O Agni, with
thy flame demolish them on every side.
Break thou the Yatudhana's strength, the vigour
of the Raksasa.
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