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I KÂNDA, 4 ADHYAYA, I BRÂHMANA, 16.
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verses of the Rig-veda, "We kindle thee at the sacrifice, O wise Agni, thee the radiant, the mighty caller to the sacrificial feast (Rig-veda V, 26, 3)!O Videgha!'
12. He (the king) did not answer. (The priest went on), Upwards, O Agni, dart thy brilliant, shining rays, thy flames, thy beams (Rig-veda VIII, 44, 16)!-O Videgha-a-a!'
13. Still he did not answer. (The priest continued), 'Thee, O butter-sprinkled one, we invoke! (Rig-veda V, 26, 2);' so much he uttered, when at the very mentioning of butter, Agni Vaisvânara flashed forth from the (king's) mouth: he was unable to hold him back; he issued from his mouth, and fell down on this earth.
14. Mathava, the Videgha, was at that time on the (river) Sarasvati'. He (Agni) thence went burning along this earth towards the east; and Gotama Råhägana and the Videgha Mathava followed after him as he was burning along. He burnt over (dried up) all these rivers. Now that (river), which is called
Sadânira,'flows from the northern (Himalaya)mountain: that one he did not burn over. That one the Brâhmans did not cross in former times, thinking, 'it has not been burnt over by Agni Vaisvânara.
15. Now-a-days, however, there are many Brâhmans to the east of it. At that time it (the land east of the Sadânira) was very uncultivated, very marshy, because it had not been tasted by Agni Vaisvânara.
16. Now-a-days, however, it is very cultivated, for the Brâhmans have caused (Agni) to taste it through
Or, according to Sayana, he was then in the Sarasvati, plunged into the river in order to quench the heat produced by Agni.
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