1. Sing out some mightiest hymn to this divine Fire; may he come to us with the gods and, strong to sacrifice, sit upon the sacred grass.

2. He is the possessor of the Truth to whom belong earth and heaven and their guardings accompany his mind of discernment; for him the givers of the oblation pray, for him for their protection when they would win the riches.  

3. He is the illumined seer and regent of these sacrifices, he and always he; that Fire set to his work who shall win and give the plenitude.

4. May he, the Fire, give us all happy peace for our journeying there whence are rained the riches in heaven, from all the planes, in the Waters.

5. Men who have the light kindle into his flaming, incomparable, by the opulent thinkings of this being Fire, the Priest of the call, the lord of all the peoples.

6. Do thou, strong to call the gods, protect us in the Word, in all our utterances; increasing the life-powers powerful to win the thousands. Flame out blissfully for us, O Fire.

7. Now give us a thousandfold riches bringing the Son, bringing our growth, luminous, a hero-strength, abundant, inexhaustible.

SUKTA  14

1. The rapturous Priest of the call has reached the things of knowledge; he is the true, doer of sacrifice, a great seer, a creator. Fire the son of force, with his chariot of lightning and his hair of flaming light has attained to a massive strength on the earth.

2. I come to thee, accept my word of obeisance, O master of Truth and strength, to thee who givest knowledge. As the knower, bring those who know and sit in the midst on the sacred grass, O lord of sacrifice.

3. Let dawn and night full of their plenitude come running towards thee on paths of the wind, O Fire, when all around they anoint with oblation thee the first and supreme, as if two sides of a chariot-front they enter into the gated house.

4. To thee, O Forceful Fire, Mitra and Varuna and all the life-powers chant a hymn of bliss, when with thy flame of light, O son of Force, thou standest as the sun above the peoples shining wide upon men.

5. Today we give to thee thy desire, approaching thee with outstretched hands and with obeisance; worship the gods with a mind strong for sacrifice, an illumined seer, with thy unerring thought, O Fire.

6. For, from thee, O son of Force, go forth the many protections of the godhead, and his plenitudes. Do thou give us the thousandfold treasure, give by the word that betrays not the truth, O Fire. 

7. O understanding mind, O Seer-Will! now that all these things we who are mortals have done for thee, O god, in the pilgrim-sacrifice, do thou awake to the whole well-charioted action and taste, all That here, O immortal Fire.

UTKILA KATYA

SUKTA  15

1. Flaming out in a wide mass of strength press back the hostile powers that hurt and afflict. May I abide in the bliss of the all-blissful Vast, in the leading of the Fire who is swift to our call.

2. Thou in the dawning of this dawn, thou when the Sun has arisen wake for us and be our protector. Take pleasure in the Son as if in an eternal birth. Accept my affirmation of thee, O Fire, perfectly born in thy body.

3. Thou art the male with the divine vision, in the wake of many dawns shine out luminous in the black nights, O Fire.
O prince of the riches, lead and carry us over beyond the evil;  

4. Shine out, O Fire, the invincible male, conquering all the cities, all the felicities; thou art the knower of the births, O perfect guide on the way, thou art the leader of the first, the Vast all-protecting sacrifice.

5. O Fire of worship, towards homes of bliss many and without a gap, towards the gods shining out wise in understanding, like a conquering chariot bring the plenitude; O Fire, do thou make earth and heaven firmly established for us.  

6. O Bull of the herds, nourish us, move towards us with plenitudes, make heaven and earth good milk-cows for us, O Fire;  O god, come with the gods glowing in the beauty of thy splendour. Let not the evil mind of mortal besiege us.  

7. O Fire, achieve at my call the Revealing Speech the many-actioned, the lasting conquest of the Light. May there be for us a Son of our begetting pervading in his birth ;¹ O Fire, may there be created in us that true thinking of thine.

SUKTA  16

1. This is the Fire that is lord of the hero-energy and the great felicity, lord of the wealth of the shining herds, and of good   

     ¹Or, himself a begetter;

2. O gods, O life-powers, you cleave to this Fire of increase, in whom are the treasures that make our happiness to grow. Through all the days they have destroyed the enemies, the evil-thoughted who attack us in our battles.

3. So do thou, O bounteous Fire, with thy many lights bestow on us the greatest and griefless wealth, full of the hero-strength, of progeny and of force.

4. He who puts forth his force and is the doer in all the worlds, he who is the doer of works in the gods, labours in the gods and in all mights and in the self-expression of men.

5. O Fire, deliver us not to unconsciousness, nor to the lack of the strength of the hero, nor to the absence of the Light,¹ nor to the bondage,² O son of force, put away from us the hostile powers.

6. O felicitous Fire, have power in the pilgrim-rite for the fruitful plenitude, for the Vast; O thou of the many lights,  

     ¹Literally, “the Cow”,    ²Or, to the Censurer,

join us to the large and glorious riches that create the Bliss.  

  kata vaishwamitra

SUKTA  17

1. He is kindled and blazes out according to the first and supreme laws and is united with the Rays, he in whom are all desirable things. Fire with his tresses of flame and his raiment of light, the purifier, perfect in sacrifice, for sacrifice to the gods.

2. O Fire, as thou hast accomplished in sacrifice thy priesthood for the earth, awaking to knowledge, O knower of the births, as thou hast accomplished it for heaven¹ so with this oblation do sacrifice to the gods, carry yet further beyond the sacrifice with the human being today.

3. Three are thy lives, O knower of all things born, three are the dawns that are thy births, O Fire ;² by them win through sacrifice the protection of the gods, thou as the knower become for the doer of sacrifice the peace and the movement.

     ¹Or, as thou hast offered in sacrifice the oblation of the earth, as thou hast offered the oblation of heaven,

       ²Or, that gave thee birth, O Fire;

4. We hymn thee by our words, O knower of all things born, as the Fire perfect in light, perfect in vision, the object of our prayer and offer to thee our obeisance; thee the gods made the Messenger, the Traveller, the carrier of offerings, the navel-centre of Immortality.

5. O Fire, he who was before thee and was the Priest of the call and mighty for sacrifice and was dual entity and by the law of
his nature the creator of the Bliss, by his law of action carry on the sacrifice, thou who art awake to knowledge, thou establish our pilgrim-rite in the advent of the gods.

SUKTA  18

1. O Fire, in our coming to thee become right-minded accomplishing our aim as a friend to a friend, as father and mother to their child; for these worlds of beings born are full of harm: burn to ashes the hostile forces that come against us.

2. Wholly consume our inner foes, consume the self-expression of the enemy who would war against us, O lord of the riches, consume, conscious in knowledge, the powers of ignorance; let them range wide thy ageless marching fires.

3. I desire and offer the oblation, O Fire, with the fuel, with

the pouring of the clarity, for speed, for strength. Until I have the mastery,¹ adoring with the Word I lift to thee for the conquest of the hundreds this thought divine.

4. Affirmed by our lauds rise up with thy flame of light, O son of force, found the vast expansion in us who labour at the work, found opulently in the Vishwamitras the peace and the movement, O Fire. We make bright many times over thy body.

5. O conqueror of the riches, create for us the ecstasy, such thou becomest when thou art high kindled. Opulently in the gated house of thy felicitous adorer thou upholdest thy gliding bodies streaming their radiance.

GATHIN KAUSHIKA

SUKTA  19

1. Fire I choose the Priest of the call in the sacrifice, the wise, the seer, the omniscient, free from ignorance: he shall do worship for us strong for sacrifice, in the formation of the godheads; for the wealth, for the plenitude he wins all kinds of amassings.

     ¹Or, as long as I have the power,

2. O Fire, I mission towards thee a power of giving bearing my oblation, luminous, full of lustres. May he come to the sacrifice with his givings, with his treasures turning round it and widening the formation of the godheads.  

3. So, am I guarded by thee with a mind of shining energy; then do thou teach us of the riches that teach and that give us good children of our works. O Fire, may we become affirmers of thee by our lauds and rich in the power of a wealth most full of the strength of the gods.

4. For, many name-forces they have founded in thee, O Fire, men who have the will to sacrifice to the godhead. So, bring to us the formation of the godhead, O youthful god, when thou worshippest with sacrifice the divine host today. 

5. Since the gods seating thee for sacrifice have anointed thee as Priest of the call in the rite, so do thou, O Fire, awake here as our protector and found thy inspirations in our bodies. 

SUKTA  20

1. Fire and dawn and the two riders of the horse and Dadhikravan the Carrier of the offerings calls by his words in the dawnings. May the gods full of the Light hear us; may they desire and accept with a common pleasure our sacrifice. 

2. O Fire, three are thy steeds, three the worlds of thy session;  three are thy tongues, O thou born from the Truth, they are many: three too are thy bodies desired by the gods, with them protect   

3. Many are the names of thee, the Immortal, O Fire, O knower of the births, O god who bearest with thee the self-law of nature; all the manifold magic of the Lords of magic they have combined in thee, O all-ruler, O builder of the levels.

4. The Fire is as the Enjoyer the leader of the divine worlds, he is the divine guardian of the fixed time of things, and with him is the Truth. He is the slayer of the Coverer, the Eternal, the Omniscient; may he carry one who hymns him with the word beyond all the difficulty and stumbling.

5. Dadhikravan, I call here, and the Fire, and the divine dawn, Brihaspati and the god Savitri, the two riders of the horse, and Mitra and Varuna and Bhaga, the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas.

SUKTA  21

1. Found this our sacrifice in the immortals, accept these offerings, O knower of things born. O Priest of the call sitting as first and supreme, taste of the drops of understanding¹ and light.

2. O purifying Fire, full of light there drip for thee drops of understanding; give us the supreme desirable thing in thy self-law for the advent of the gods.

3. To thee, the illumined seer, come these drops dripping light, O right and true, O Fire; then thou blazest up as the supreme Rishi. Become the protector of our sacrifice.

4. On thee they fall, the drops of understanding and light, O unseizable² Ray! O thou with whom is the puissance! Declared by the seers of truth thou hast come with the vast light. Accept our offerings, O wise intelligence!

5. Most full of energy is the understanding held up in the middle for thee, this is our gift to thee. The drops drip over thy skin, O shining,one,³ take them to thee in the way of the gods.

     ¹Or, strength    ²Or, uncontrollable    ³Or, Lord of riches,