Sacred Texts  Hinduism  Index 
Book 10 Index
  Previous  Next 
Buy this Book at Amazon.com

Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895], at sacred-texts.com


p. 33

HYMN IX

The Sataudanā or Hundredfold Oblation

1Binding the mouths of those who threaten mischief, against my
   rivals cast this bolt of thunder,
  Indra first gave the Hundredfold Oblation, welfare of him who
   worships, foe-destroying.
2Thy skin shall be the Altar; let thine hair become the Sacred
  Grass.
  This cord hath held thee firmly: let this pressing-stone dance
   round on thee:
3The holy water be thy hair: let thy tongue make thee clean, O
  Cow.
  Go, Hundredfold Oblation, made bright and adorable, to hea-
   ven. p. 34
4He who prepares the Hundredfold Oblation gains each wish
   thereby:
  For all his ministering priests, contented, move as fitteth them.
5He rises up to heaven, ascends to younder third celestial
   height.
  Whoever gives the Hundredfold Oblation with the central
   cake.
6That man completely wins those worlds, both of the heavens
   and of the earth,
  Whoever pays the Hundredfold. Oblation with its golden light.
7Thine Immolators, Goddess! and the men who dress thee for
   the feast, all these will guard thee, Hundredfold Oblation!
  Have no fear of them.
8The Vasus from the South will be thy guards, the Maruts from
   the North,
  Ādityas from the West; o'ertake and pass the Agnishtoma,
   thou!
9The Gods, the Fathers, mortal men, Gandharvas, and Apsara-
   ses,
  All these will be the guards: o'ertake and pass the Atirātra,
   thou!
10The man who pays the Hundredfold Oblation winneth all the
   worlds,
  Air, heaven, and earth, Ādityas, and Maruts, and regions of the
   sky.
11Sprinkling down fatness, to the Gods will the beneficent God-
   dess go.
  Harm not thy dresser, Cow! To heaven, O Hundredfold Obla-
   tion, speed!
12From all the Gods enthroned in heaven, in air, from those who
   dwell on earth,
  Draw forth for evermore a stream of milk, of butter, and of
   mead.
13Let thy head, let thy mouth, let both thine ears, and those two
   jaws of thine.
  Pour for the giver mingled curd, and flowing butter, milk, and
   mead.
14Let both thy lips, thy nostrils, both thy horns, and these two
   eyes of thine. p. 35
  Pour for the given, etc.
15Let heart and pericardium, let thy lungs with all the bronchial
   tubes, etc.
16Let liver, and let kidneys, let thine entrails, and the parts within,
   etc.
17Let rectum and omentum, let thy belly's hollows, and thy skin,
   etc.
18Let all thy marrow, every bone, let all thy flesh, and all thy
   blood, etc.
19Let both thy shoulders and thy hump, thy forelegs, and their
   lower parts, etc.
20Let neck and nape and shoulder-joints, thy ribs and inter-costal
   parts, etc.
21So let thy thighs and thy knee-bones, thy hinder quarters, and
   thy hips, etc.
22So let thy tail and all the hairs thereof, thine udder, and thy
   teats, etc.
23Let all thy legs, the refuse of thy feet, thy heelropes, and thy
   hooves.
  Pour for the giver mingled curd, and flowing butter milk, and
   mead.
24Let all thy skin, Sataudanā! let every hair thou hast, O Cow,
  Pour for the giver mingled curd, and flowing butter, milk, and
   mead.
25Sprinkled with molten butter, let the two meal-cakes be sport
   for thee.
  Make them thy wings, O Goddess, and bear him who dresses
   thee to heaven.
26Each grain of rice in mortar or on pestle, all on the skin or in
   the winnowing-basket,
  Whatever purifying Mātarisvan, the Wind, hath sifted, let the
  Hotar Agni make of it an acceptable oblation.
27In the priest's hands I lay, in separate order, the sweet celestial
  Waters, dropping fatness.
  As here I sprinkle them may all my wishes be granted unto me
   in perfect fulness. May we have ample wealth in our posses-
   sion.


Next: Hymn 10: A glorification of the sacred Cow as representing the radiant heavens