[0601201] I, As the Sun goes round the heaven, have travelled round the Serpents race.
I ward thy poison off, as Night parts all else living from the Sun.

[0601202] With this, discovered in the days of old by Brahmans, Rishis, Gods, With this I ward thy poison off, thou Biter! formed and form ing now.

[0601203] With mead I mingle flowing streams: the hills and mountains shall be mead.
Parushni and Sipala mead. May it be well with mouth and heart.

HYMN XIII (13)

Homage to death

[0601301] Worship to weapons of the Gods! worship to weapons of the Kings! Then worship to the people s arms! worship, O Death, be paid to thee!

[0601302] Let worship be to thy defence and to thine accusation paid.
Death! be this worship paid to thy good will and thy malevo lence!

[0601303] Worship to thy physicians, to thy sorcerers be worship paid! Death! let this reverence be done unto thy Brahmans and thy roots.

[p. a205]

HYMN XIV (14)

A charm against consumption

[0601401] Remove thou all Decline that lurks within the members and the joints, The firmly settled heart disease that racks the bones and rends the limbs.

[0601402] From the consumptive man I pluck Decline as it were a severed part.
I cut the bond that fetters him, even as a root of cucumber.

[0601403] Begone, Consumption, hence away, like a young foal that runs.
at speed.
Then, not pernicious to our men, flee, yearly visitant like grass!

HYMN XV (15)

A charm for power and preeminence

[0601501] Most excellent of all the plants art thou: thy vassals are the trees.
Let him be subject to our power, the man who seeks to injure us.

[0601502] Whoever seeks to injure us, with kinsmen or no kin to aid, May I be uppermost of all, even as this Plant is queen of trees.

[0601503] As Soma hath been made the best of all oblations amid the plants, So, as Talasa is the queen of trees, may I be chief of all.

[p. a206]

HYMN XVI (16)

A medical charm

[0601601] O Abayu, non Abayu, dire is thy juice, O Abayu; we eat the gruel made of thee.

[0601602] Vihalha is thy father s name, thy mother s is Madavati.
Yea, verily thou art not he, thou who hast well protected life.

[0601603] Go thou to rest, Tauvilika! This noisy cry hath sunk to rest.
Go hence, depart, Nirala, thou! the tawny and the tawny eared.

HYMN XVII (17)

A charm to ensure conception

[0601701] Even as this mighty Earth conceived the germ of all the things that be, So may the germ of life be laid in thee that thou mayst bear a son.

[0601702] Even as this mighty Earth hath borne and bears the stately forest trees, So may the germ of life be borne in thee that thou mayst bear a son.

[0601703] Even as this mighty Earth hath borne and bears the mountains and the hills, So may the germ of life be borne in thee that thou mayst bear a son. [p. a207]

[0601704] Even as this mighty Earth supports the moving world that dwells thereon, So may the germ of life be borne in thee that thou mayst bear a son.

HYMN XVIII (18)

A charm to banish jealousy

[0601801] The first approach of Jealousy, and that which followeth the first, The pain, the fire that burns within thy heart we quench and drive away.

[0601802] Even as the earth is dead to sense, yea, more unconscious than the dead, Even as a corpse s spirit is the spirit of the jealous man.

[0601803] The thought that harbours in thy heart, the fluttering doubt that dwells therein.
Yea, all thy jealousy, like heat born of the dance, I banish thence.