n Make firm the straps,

Fasten the buckets;

We shall drain the well full of water,

That never is exhausted, never fails.

o The well with buckets fastened,

With strong straps, that yields abundantly,

Full of water, unexhausted, I drain.

p The sages yoke the ploughs;

They stretch apart the yokes,

Wise with goodwill among the righteous.

q Yoke the ploughs, stretch apart the yokes,

Here sow in the womb made ready the seed

Through our song be there audience with profit for us;

May the ripe grain be brought low by the sickle.

r The plough, of keen share,

Propitious, with well-polished handle,

Ploughs up a cow, a sheep,

And a fat blooming maid,

A chariot support with a platform.

s With prosperity may our ploughs cleave the ground,

With prosperity may the ploughers go round the yokes;

Prosperity may the rain-giver give with honey and milk,

And grant prosperity to us, O God, by the plough and the furrow.

t Wishes, O milker of wishes, do Thou milk

For the Friend and the All-Seeing;

For the Mighty One, for the Radiant One, for the Nourisher,

For the plants, and for offspring.

u The furrow anointed with ghee, with honey,

Approved by the angels, the Maruts,

Full of strength, swelling with milk,

Do thou, O furrow, turn towards us with milk.

4.2.6

a The plants born

Three generations before the angels,

Of the brown ones I celebrate

The seven and a hundred abodes.

b A hundred, O mother, are your abodes,

A thousand too your shoots,

Therefore do ye, with a hundred powers,

Make him whole for me.

c With flowers, with shoots,

Fruit-bearing and without fruit,

Like steeds victorious

The plants are strong to help.

d 'Plants', O ye mothers,

I hail you, as blessings of God;

Go bearing away defilement,

Defilement destroying.

e In the Asvattha is your seat,

In the Parna is your dwelling made;

Cows shall in truth be your share

If ye shall gain this man.

f In that in strength I seize

These plants in my hand,

The soul of the disease perishes,

As before one that takes alive.

g When the plants come together

Like princes at the assembly,

Sage is the physician called,

Slayer of evil spirits, overpowerer of diseases.

h Remover is your mother by name,

And ye are helpers;

Ye are winged streams;

Remove whatever is unwell.

i Let one of you aid another,

Let one be of assistance to another;

All the plants in unison

Do ye further this speech of mine.

k The strength of the plants has arisen

Like cows from the pasturage,

Of them that are fain to win gain,

To the self of thee, O man.

l Beyond all obstacles,

Like the thief the pen, they have strode,

The plants have shaken away

Every defilement in the body.

m Those that have mounted thy self,

That have entered every limb,

May they repel thy disease,

Like a dread intercessor.

n O disease, do thou fly forth

With the eagle, the blue jay,

With the rush of the wind,

With the whirlwind do thou disappear.

o Rich in steeds, rich in provision,

Full of strength, full of power,

I have found all the plants

For his safety.

p The fruitful, the fruitless,

The flowering, the flowerless,

Impelled by the Lord of Prayer,

May they free us from tribulation.

q The plants whose king is the provision of God,

And which have entered the earth,

Of them thou art the highest,

Impel us to long life.

r Falling from the sky

The plants said,

'He, whom we reach while in life,

Shall not come to ill.'

s Those that hear now

And those that are gone far away,

Coming all together here

Give ye him healing.

t May the digger of you come to no ill,

Nor he for whom I dig you;

May all our bipeds and quadrupeds

Be free from disease.

u The plants hold converse

With the king of provision,

'The man for whom the scholar prepares us,

We, O king, bring to safety.'

4.2.7

a May He not harm us who is the Sustainer of earth,

Or who, of true law, created the sky,

And He who created the great bright waters;

To what God shall we offer with oblation?

b Turn towards us, O earth,

With the sacrifice, with milk;

Over thy caul let the flame, aroused, creep.