9 Since Thou, Maker, hast made beauty perfect, since Thou hast been the Angirases' Companion,

Willing, most wealthy, Giver of possessions, grant us the assembly of the righteous, Thou who knowest.

10 Well-knowing, binding with Thy cord, bring hither, Lord of the Wood, the assembly of the righteous.

Prepare and season our offerings: may Heaven and Earth be gracious to my calling.

11 O Radiant One, bring hither the All-Seeing to help us, the Mighty from heaven, from air's mid-realm the winds.

On sacred grass let all the righteous be seated and let them rejoice in what is offered for God's sake.

HYMN LXXI. Knowledge.

1 When men, O Lord of Prayer, giving names to objects, sent out Speech's first and earliest utterances,

All that was excellent and spotless, treasured within them, was disclosed through their affection.

2 Where, like men cleansing corn-flour in a sieve, the wise in spirit have created language,

Friends see and recognize the marks of friendship: their speech retains the blessed sign imprinted.

3 With worship the trace of Speech they followed, and found her harbouring within the seers.

They brought her, dealt her forth in many places: seven singers make her tones resound in concert.

4 One man hath ne'er seen Speech, and yet he seeth: one man hath hearing but hath never heard her.

But to another hath she shown her beauty as a fond well-dressed woman to her husband.

5 One man they call a laggard, dull in friendship: they never urge him on to deeds of valour.

He wanders on in profitless illusion: the Voice he heard yields neither fruit nor blossom.

6 No part in Speech hath he who hath abandoned his own dear friend who knows the truth of friendship.

Even if he hears her still in vain he listens: naught knows he of the path of righteous action.

7 Unequal in the quickness of their spirit are friends endowed alike with eyes and hearing.

Some look like tanks that reach the mouth or shoulder, others like pools of water fit to bathe in.

8 When friendly scholars worship together with mental impulse which the heart hath fashioned,

They leave one far behind through their attainments, and some who count as scholars wander elsewhere.

9 Those men who step not back and move not forward, nor scholars nor preparers of offerings,

Having attained to Speech in sinful fashion spin out their thread in ignorance like spinsters.

10 All friends are joyful in the friend who cometh in triumph, having conquered in assembly.

He is their blame-averter, food-provider, prepared is he and fit for deed of vigour.

11 One plies his constant task reciting verses, one sings the holy psalm in measured metre.

One more, the scholar, tells the lore of being, and one lays down the rules of worship.

HYMN LXXII. Creation.

1 Let us with tuneful skill proclaim the creation of the Lord's servants, that one may see them when these hymns are chanted in a future age.

2 The Lord of Prayer produced these with blast and smelting, like a smith.

Existence, in an earlier age, from non-existence sprang.

3 Existence, in the earliest age, from non-existence sprang.

Thereafter were the regions born. This sprang from the Productive Power.

4 Earth sprang from the Productive Power, the regions from the earth were born.

6 When ye, O servants of the Lord, in yonder deep close-clasping one another stood,

Thence, as of dancers, from your feet a thickening cloud of dust arose.

7 When, O ye servants, like ascetics, ye caused all existing things to grow,

Then ye brought forward the sun which was lying hidden in the sea.

HYMN LXXIII. The Mighty.

1 Thou wast born mighty for victorious valour, exulting, strongest, full of pride and courage.

There, even there, the winds strengthened the Mighty One when his most rapid mother stirred the hero.

3 High are Thy feet when on Thy way Thou goest: the strength Thou foundest here hath lent Thee vigour.

O Mighty One, mayst Thou turn the twin healers hither.

4 Speeding at once to worship Thou comest, for friendship Thou art bringing both healers.

Thou hadst a thousand treasures in possession. The twin healers, O Thou Hero, gave Thee riches.

5 Glad, for the race that rests on holy Order, with friends who hasten to their goal, hath the Mighty One

With these His powers assailed the enemy: He cast away the gloomy mists, the darkness.

6 With Thy beloved lofty friends Thou camest, and with the assurance of Thine heart Thou slewest.

7 War-loving Namuci Thou smotest, robbing the foe of his magic for the seer.

For man Thou madest ready pleasant pathways, paths leading as it were directly Godward.

8 These names of Thine Thou hast fulfilled completely: as Lord, Thou holdest in Thine arm, O Mighty One.

In Thee, through Thy great might, the righteous are joyful: the roots of trees hast Thou directed upward.

9 May the sweet juices make him happy to cast his quoit that lies in depth of waters.

Thou from the udder which o'er earth is fastened hast poured the milk into the kine and herbage.

10 When others call Him offspring of the Courser, my meaning is that Mighty Power produced Him.

He came from Wrath and remained in houses: whence He hath sprung is known to God only.

11 Like birds of beauteous wing the Priyamedhas, seers, imploring, have come nigh to the Mighty:

Dispel the darkness and fill full our vision, deliver us as men whom snares entangle.

HYMN LXXIV. The Mighty.

1 I am prepared to laud with song or worship the noble ones who are in earth and heaven, or coursers who have triumphed in the contest, or those who famed have won the prize with glory.

2 Their call, the call of the righteous, went up to heaven: they kissed the ground with glory-seeking spirit, there where the righteous look on for happy fortune, and like the kindly heavens bestow their bounties.

3 This is the song of those who long for treasures in their full perfection. May these, completing prayers and worship, bestow upon us wealth where naught is wanting.

4 Those living men extolled Thy deed, O Mighty One, those who would fain burst through the stall of cattle, fain to milk her who bare but once, great, lofty, whose sons are many and her streams past number.

5 Win to your assistance the Mighty One who never bends, who overcomes his foemen, the upholder of the hymn, who, rich in food, bears man's kind friend, the thunder.

6 Since He who won of old anew hath triumphed, the Mighty hath earned His name of Slayer of the Foe. He hath appeared, the mighty Lord of Conquest. What we would have Him do let Him accomplish.

HYMN LXXV. The Rivers.

1 The singer, O ye Waters, shall tell your grandeur forth that is beyond compare.

The Rivers have come forward triply, seven and seven. The Indus in might surpasses all the streams that flow.

2 The All-Seeing cut the channels for thy forward course, O Indus, when thou rannest on to win the race.

Thou speedest o'er precipitous ridges of the earth, when thou art Lord and Leader of these moving floods.

3 His roar is lifted up to heaven above the earth: he puts forth endless vigour with a flash of light.

Like floods of rain that fall in thunder from the cloud, so the Indus rushes on bellowing like a bull.

4 Like mothers to their calves, like milch kine with their milk, so, Indus, unto thee the roaring rivers run.

Thou leadest as a warrior king thine army's wings what time thou comest in the van of these swift streams.

5 Favour ye this my praise, O Ganga, Yamuna, O Sutudri, Parusni and Sarasvati:

With Asikni, Vitasta, O Marudvrdha, O Arjikiya with Susoma, hear my call.

6 First with Trstama thou art eager to flow forth, with Rasa, and Susartu, and with Svetya here,

With Kubha; and with these, Indus, and Mehatnu, thou seekest in thy course Krumu and Gomati.

7 Flashing and whitely-gleaming in her mightiness, she moves along her ample volumes through the realms,

Most active of the active, the Indus unrestrained, like to a dappled mare, beautiful, fair to see.

8 Rich in good steeds is the Indus, rich in cars and robes, rich in gold, nobly fashioned, rich in ample wealth.

Blest Silamavati and young Urnavati invest themselves with raiment rich in store of sweets.

9 The Indus hath yoked her car, light-rolling, drawn by steeds, and with that car shall she win booty in this fight.

So have I praised its power, mighty and unrestrained, of independent glory, roaring as it runs.

HYMN LXXVI. Press-stones.

1 When power and strength begin to dawn: bedew ye, O Mighty One, the winds, Heaven and Earth,

That Day and Night, in every hall of worship, may wait on us and bless us when they first spring forth.

2 Press the offering out, most excellent of all: the pressing-stone is grasped like a hand-guided steed.

So let it win the valour that subdues the foe, and the fleet courser's might that speeds to ample wealth.

3 The juice that this stone pours out removes defect of ours, as in old time it brought prosperity to man.

At times of worship they established holy rites on the milk-blent juice bright with the hue of steeds.

4 Drive ye the treacherous evil ones far away from us: keep calamity afar and banish penury.

Pour riches forth for us with troops of hero sons, and bear ye up, O stones, the song that rises to God.

5 To you who are more mighty than the heavens themselves, who, finishing your task with more than the speed of the skilful,

More rapidly than the wind seize the juice, better than fire give us food, to you I sing.

6 Stirred be the glorious stones: let it press out the juice, the stone with heavenly song that reaches up to heaven,

There where the men draw forth the sweet drink for which they long, sending their voice around in rivalry of speed.

7 The stones press out the juice, swift as car-borne men, and, eager for the spoil, drain forth the sap thereof.

To fill the beaker, they exhaust the udder's store, as the men purify offerings with their lips.

8 Ye, present men, have been most skilful in your work, even ye, O stones who pressed the juice.

May all ye have of fair go to the heavenly race, and all your treasure to the earthly worshipper.

HYMN LXXVII. The Winds.

1 As with their voice from cloud they sprinkle treasure, so are the wise man's liberal offerings.

I praise their company that merits honour, as the good priest of the storm-winds, to pay them honour.

2 The youths have wrought their ornaments for glory through many nights, this noble band of storm-winds.

Like stags the sons of the sky have striven onward, the sons of the Boundless grown strong like pillars.

3 They who extend beyond the earth and heaven, by their own mass, as from the cloud spreads the sun;

Like mighty heroes covetous of glory, like heavenly gallants who destroy the wicked.

4 When ye come nigh, as in the depth of waters, the earth is loosened, as it were, and shaken.

This your all-feeding worship approaches: come all united, fraught, as 'twere with viands.

5 Ye are like horses fastened to the chariot poles, luminous with your beams, with splendour as at dawn;

Like self-bright falcons, punishers of wicked men, like hovering birds urged forward, scattering rain around.

6 When ye come forth, O storm-winds, from the distance, from the great treasury of rich possessions,

Knowing, O bountiful ones, boons that should be granted, even from afar drive back the men who hate us.

7 He who, engaged in the rite's final duty, brings, as a man, his offering for the storm-winds,

Wins life's wealthy fulness, blest with heroes: he shall be present, too, where the righteous drink of bliss.

8 For these are helps adored at worship, bringing good fortune by their name of bounteous givers.

Speeding on cars let them protect our praises, delighting in our worship.