Atharva Veda · 458 of 724

HYMN II

Prayer and praise to Bhava, Sarva and Rudra 1. Bhava and Sarva, spare us, be not hostile. Homage to you, twin   Lords of beasts and spirits!   Shoot not the arrow aimed and drawn against us: forbear to    harm our quadrupeds and bipeds. 2. Cast not our bodies to the dog or jackal, nor, Lord of Beasts!    to carrion-kites or vultures.   Let not thy black voracious flies attack them; let not thy birds    obtain them for their banquet. 3. We offer homage to thy shout, Bhava! thy breath, thy racking    pains:   Homage, Immortal One! to thee, to Rudra of the thousand    eyes. 4. We offer reverence to thee from eastward, and from north and    south,   From all the compass of the sky, to thee and to the firmament. 5. Homage, O Bhava, Lord of Beasts, unto thy face and all thine    eyes,   To skin, and hue, and aspect, and to thee when looked at from    behind! 6. We offer homage to thy limbs, thy belly, and thy tongue, and    mouth we offer homage to thy smell. 7. Never may we contend with him, the mighty archer, thousand-    eyed. p. 47   Rudra who wears black tufts of hair, the slaughterer of   Ardhaka. 8. May he, may Bhava from all sides avoid us, avoid us even as    fire avoids the waters. Let him not threaten us. To him be    homage! 9. Four times, eight times be homage paid to Bhava, yea, Lord of   Beasts, ten times be reverence paid thee!   Thine are these animals, five several classes, oxen, and goats and    sheep, and men, and horses 10. Thine the four regions, thine are earth and heaven, thine,   Mighty One, this firmament between them;   Thine everything with soul and breath here on the surface of the    land. 11. Thine is this ample wealth-containing storehouse that holds with-    in it all these living creatures.   Favour us, Lord of Beasts, to thee be homage! Far from us go    ill-omens, dogs, and jackals, and wild-haired women with    their horrid shrieking! 12. A yellow bow of gold thou wieldest, slaying its hundred, tufted   God! smiting its thousand.   Weapon of Gods, far flies the shaft of Rudra: wherever it may    be, we pay it homage. 13. Thou, Rudra, followest close the foe who lies in wait to conquer    thee.   Even as a hunter who pursues the footsteps of the wounded    game. 14. Accordant and allies, Bhava and Rudra, with mighty strength ye    go to deeds of valour. Wherever they may be, we pay them    homage. 15. Be homage, Rudra, unto thee approaching and departing hence!   Homage to thee when standing still, to thee when seated and at    rest! 16. Homage at evening and at morn, homage at night, homage by    day .   To Bhava and to Sarva, both, have I paid lowly reverence, 17. Let us not outrage with our tongue far-seeing Rudra, thousand-    eyed,   Inspired with varied lore, who shoots his arrows forward, far    away. 18. Foremost we go to meet his car, the chariot of the long-haired   God,   Drawn by brown horses, dusky, black, o’erthrowing, slaying,    terrible. Let reverence be paid to him. 19. Cast not thy club at us, thy heavenly weapon. Lord of Beasts,    be not wroth with us. Let reverence be paid to thee.   Shake thy celestial branch above some others elsewhere, not o’er    us. 20. Do us no harm, but comfort us: avoid thou us, and be not    wroth. Never let us contend with thee. 21. Covet not thou our kine or men, covet not thou our goats or    sheep.   Elsewhither, strong One! turn thine aim: destroy the mockers’    family. 22. Homage to him whose weapon, Cough or Fever, assails one like    the neighing of a stallion; to him who draws one forth and    then another! 23. Homage be paid him with ten Sakvari verses who stands    established in the air’s mid-region, slaying non-sacrificing   God-despisers! 24. For thee were forest beasts and sylvan creatures placed in the    wood, and small birds, swans, and eagles.   Floods, Lord of Beasts! contain thy living beings: to swell thy    strength flow the celestial Waters. 25. Porpoises, serpents, strange aquatic monsters, fishes, and things    unclean at which thou shootest.   Nothing is far for thee, naught checks thee, Bhava! The whole    earth in a moment thou surveyest. From the east sea thou    smitest in the northern. 26. O’erwhelm us not with Fever or with poison, nor, Rudra! with    the fire that comes from heaven. Elsewhere, and not on us,    cast down this lightning. 27. Ruler of heaven and Lord of earth is Bhava: Bhava hath filled    the spacious air’s mid-region. Where’er he be, to him be paid    our homage! 28. King Bhava, favour him who offers worship, for thou art   Pasupati, Lord of victims.   Be gracious to the quadruped and biped of the believer in the   Gods’ existence. 29. Harm thou among us neither great nor little, not one who bears    us, not our future bearers.   Injure no sire among us, harm no mother. Forbear to injure our    own bodies, Rudra. 30. This lowly reverence have I paid to Rudra’s dogs with mighty    mouths,   Hounds terrible with bark and howl, who gorge unmasticated    food. 31. Homage to thy loud-shouting hosts and thy long-haired    followers!   Homage to hosts that are adored, homage to armies that enjoy   Homage to all thy troops, O God. Security and bliss be ours!