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1. COME, be thou Mitra,
Varuna, or Pusan, come, O Brhaspati, to mine oblation:
With Maruts, Vasus, or Adityas, make thou
Parjanya pour for Santanu his rain-drops.
2 The God, intelligent, the
speedy envoy whom thou hast sent hath come to me, Devapi:
Address thyself to me and turn thee hither
within thy lips will I put brilliant language.
3 Within my mouth, Brhaspati,
deposit speech lucid, vigorous, and free from weakness,
Thereby to win for Santanu the rain-fall. The
meath-rich drop from heaven hath passed within it.
4 Let the sweet drops descend
on us, O Indra: give us enough to lade a thousand wagons.
Sit to thy Hotar task; pay worship duly, and
serve the Gods, Devapi, with oblation.
5 Knowing the God's good-will,
Devapi, Rsi, the son of Rstisena, sate as Hotar.
He hath brought down from heaven's most lofty
summit the ocean of the rain, celestial waters.
6 Gathered together in that
highest ocean, the waters stood by deities obstructed.
They burried down set free by Arstisena, in
gaping clefts, urged onward by Devapi.
7 When as chief priest for
Santanu, Devapi, chosen for Hotar's duty, prayed beseeching,
Graciously pleased Brhaspati vouchsafed him a
voice that reached the Gods and won the waters.
8 O Agni whom Devapi
Arstisena, the mortal man, hath kindled in his glory,
Joying in him with all the Gods together, urge
on the sender of the rain, Parjanya.
9 All ancient Rsis with their
songs approached thee, even thee, O Much-invoked, at sacrifices.
We have provided wagon-loads in thousands: come
to the solemn rite, Lord of Red Horses.
10 The wagon-loads, the nine-and-ninety
thousand, these have been offered up to thee, O Agni.
Hero, with these increase thy many bodies, and,
stimulated, send us rain from heaven.
11 Give thou these ninety
thousand loads, O Agni, to Indra, to the Bull, to be his portion.
Knowing the paths which Deities duly travel,
set mid the Gods in heaven Aulana also.
12 O Agni, drive afar our
foes, our troubles chase malady away and wicked demons.
From this air-ocean, from the lofty heavens,
send down on us a mighty flood of waters.
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