CHAPTER II

DECADE I Soma Pavamana

1. For first possession of your juice. for the exhilarating drink,

Drive ye away the dog, my friends, drive ye the long-tongued dog away!

2. As Pushan. Fortune, Bhaga, comes this Soma while they make him pure.

He, Lord of all the multitude, hath looked upon the earth and heaven.

3. The Somas, very rich in sweets, for which the sieve is destined,. flow

Effused, the source of Indra's joy: may your strong juices reach the Gods!

4. For us the Soma juices flow, the drops best furtherers of weal,

Effused as friends, without a spot, benevolent, finders of the. light.

5. Stream on us riches that are craved by hundreds, best at winning spoil,

Riches, O Indu, thousandfold, most splendid, that surpass the light!

6. The guileless ones are singing praise to Indra's well-beloved friend,

As, in the morning of its life, the mothers lick the new-born calf.

7. They for the bold and lovely one ply manly vigour like a bow;

Bright, glad, in front of songs they spread to form a vesture for the Lord.

8. Him with ths fleece they purify, brown, golden-hued, beloved of all,

Who with exhilarating juice goes forth to all the deities.

9. Let him, as mortal, crave this speech, for him who presses, of the juice,

As Bhrigu's sons chased Makha, so drive ye the niggard hound away!