iv. 6. 7.

a When first thou didst cry on birth,
Arising from the ocean or the dust,
The wings of the eagle, the limbs of the gazelle,
That is thy famed birth, O steed.
b The steed given by Yama hath Trita yoked,
It Indra first mounted,
The bridle of it the Gandharva grasped;
O Vasus, from the sun ye fashioned the steed.
c Thou art Yama, O steed, thou art Aditya;
Thou art Trita by secret ordinance;
Thou art entirely separated from Soma [1];
Three, they say, are thy bonds in the sky.
d Three, they say, are thy bonds in the sky,
Three in the waters, three within the ocean
And like Varuna to me thou appearest, O steed,
Where, say they, is thy highest birthplace.
e These, O swift one, are thy cleansings,
These the placings down of thy hooves in victory;
Here I have seen thy fair ropes,
Which the guards of holy order guard.
f The self of thee with my mind I perceived from afar,
Flying with wings from below through the sky [2];
Thy head I saw speeding with wings
On paths fair and dustless.
g Here I saw thy highest form,
Eager to win food in the footstep of the cow;
When a mortal man pleaseth thy taste,
Then most greedily dost thou consume the plants.
h Thee follows the chariot, thee the lover, O steed,
Thee the kine, thee the portion of maidens;
Thy friendship the companies have sought;
The gods have imitated thy strength [3].
i Golden his horns, iron his feet;
Swift as thought, Indra was his inferior;
The gods came to eat his oblation
Who first did master the steed.
k Full haunched, of slender middle,
The heroic divine steeds,
Vie together like cranes in rows,
When the horses reach the divine coursing-place
1 Thy body is fain to fly, O steed;
Thy thought is like the blowing wind;
Thy horns are scattered in many places,
They wander busy in the woods.
m To [4] the slaughter the swift steed hath come,
Pondering with pious mind;
The goat, his kin, is led before,
Behind him come the sages to sing.
n To his highest abode hath the steed come,
To his father and his mother;
To-day do thou go, most welcome, to the gods;
Then boons shall he assign to the generous.