________________
74
VEDIC HYMNS.
MANDALA I, HYMN 71.
ASHTAKA I, ADHYÂYA 5, VARGA 15-16.
1. The loving (women) have (amorously) excited 1 their lover, as wives of the same nest (house) their own husband. The sisters have delighted in the dark and in the red (goddess), as the cows in the brightly shining dawn.
2. Our fathers, the Angiras, have broken even the strong fortresses by their hymns, the rock by their shouting. They have opened to us the path of the great heaven; they have obtained day and Isun and the shine of the dawn 2.
3
3. They founded the Rita; they set into motion the thought of it. Thus then the widely-spread (prayers) of the poor 3 which seek to obtain (wealth), which are free from thirst, the active, approach the tribe of the gods, strengthening them by offering them delight.
4. When Mâtarisvan had produced him by attrition, he, the reddish, the noble one, who was brought to many places', has come to every house. Then the Bhrigu-like has undertaken the messengership 3 (for the mortal) as for a mightier king, being attached to him.
2
3
5
5. When he had created sap to the great father Heaven, the knowing one stealthily approached the speckled (cows). The archer fiercely shot an arrow at him. The god turned his impetuous power against his daughter 1.
6. Augment, O Agni, twofold the strength of
Digitized by Google
