A prayer to God against demons and false accusers.

1 O God, the Mighty (Indra), the Bountiful, burn, destroy the demon foe! Send downward those who add gloom to gloom. Annihilate the fools, slay them and burn them up: chase them away from us, pierce the voracious fiends.

2 Let sin, O God, boil round the wicked, like a caldron set amid the flames of fire. Against the foe of prayer, eater of gory flesh, the fearful-eyed devourer, keep perpetual hate.

3 O God, plunge the wicked in the depth, yea, cast them into darkness that hath no support, so that not one of them may ever thence return: so may thy wrathful might prevail and conquer them.

4 O God, hurl thy deadly crushing bolt down on the wicked fiend from heaven and from the earth. Yea, fashion from the big clouds thy celestial dart wherewith thou burnest to death the waxing demon race.

5 O God, cast downward from the sky thy deadly bolts of stone burning with fiery flame, eternal, scorching darts. Plunge the voracious fiends within the depth, and let them pass without a sound.

6 O God, let this hymn reach thee, even as the girth encompasses a vigorous steed: the song of praise which I with wisdom offer thee. Lord of men, animate these my prayers.

7 In thy impetuous manner think thereon: destroy those evil spirits, kill the treacherous fiends. O God, let the wicked have no bliss, whoso at any time attacks and injures us.

8 Whoso accuses me with words of falsehood when I pursue my way with guileless spirit, may he, the speaker of untruth, be, O Mighty One, like water which the hollowed hand compresses.

9 Those who destroy, as is their wont, the simple, and with their evil natures harm the righteous, may God give them over to the serpent, or to the lap of destruction consign them.

10 O God, whosoever seeks to injure the essence of our food, kine, steeds, or bodies, may he, the adversary, thief, and robber, sink to destruction, both himself and offspring.

11 May he be swept away, himself and children; may all the three earths press him down beneath them. O God, may his fair glory be blighted, who in the day or night would fain destroy us.

12 The prudent finds it easy to distinguish the true and false: their words oppose each other. Of these two that which is the true and honest God protects, and brings the false to nothing.

13 Never doth God aid and guide the wicked or him who falsely claims the Warrior's title. He slays the fiend and him who speaks untruly: both lie entangled in the noose of the Mighty.

14 As if I worshipped false gods, or thought vain thoughts about God! Why art thou angry with us, All-Knowing? Destruction fall on those who lie against thee!

15 So may I die this day if I have harassed any man's life, or if I be a demon. Yea, may he lose all his ten sons together who with false tongue hath called me a sorcerer.

16 May God slay him with a mighty weapon, and let the vilest of all creatures perish, the fiend who says that he is pure, who calls me a demon though devoid of demon nature.

17 She too who wanders like an owl at night-time, hiding her body in her guile and malice, may she fall downward into endless caverns. May press-stones with loud ring destroy the demons.

18 Spread out, ye angels, search among the people: seize ye and grind the fiends to pieces, who fly abroad, transformed to birds, at night-time, and sully and pollute our holy worship.

19 Hurl down from heaven thy bolt of stone, O God the Mighty: sharpen it, O Bountiful One. Forward, behind, and from above and under, smite down the demons with thy rocky weapon.

20 They fly, the demon dogs, and, bent on mischief, fain would they stir against the Invincible. The Powerful One makes sharp his weapon for the wicked: now let him cast his bolt at fiendish wizards.

21 God hath ever been the fiends' destroyer, who spoil the oblations of those who call upon Him. Yea, the Powerful, like an axe that splits the timber, assails and smashes them like earthen vessels.

22 Destroy the fiend shaped like an owl or owlet, destroy him in the form of dog or cuckoo. Destroy him shaped as eagle or as vulture: as with a stone, O God, crush the demon.

23 Let not the fiend of witchcraft-workers reach us. By God's command may the dawn drive off the evil couples. Earth keep us safe from earthly woe and trouble! From grief that comes from heaven may mid-air preserve us!

24 O God, destroy the demon, male and female, joying and triumphing in arts of magic! Let the foolish worshippers of false gods with bent necks fall and perish, and see no more the sun when he arises.

25 Look, each one, hither, look around. O God, watch thou well. Cast forth thy weapon at the fiends: against the sorcerers hurl thy bolt.