us.

Through Agni can one wealth acquire,
Prosperity from day to day,
And fame of heroes excellent.

O, Agni! whatsoe'er the rite
That thou surround'st on every side,
That sacrifice attains the gods.

May Agni, who oblation gives--
The wisest, true, most famous priest--
This god with (all) the gods approach I

Thou doest good to every man
That serves thee, Agni; even this
Is thy true virtue, Angiras.

To thee, O Agni, day by day,
Do we with prayer at eve and dawn,
Come, bringing lowly reverence;

To thee, the lord of sacrifice,
And shining guardian of the rite,[5]
In thine own dwelling magnified.

As if a father to his son,
Be easy of access to us,
And lead us onward to our weal.

This is mechanical enough to have been made for an established ritual,
as doubtless it was. But it is significant that the ritualistic gods
are such that to give their true character hymns of this sort must be
cited. Such is not the case with the older gods of the pantheon.
Ritualistic as it is, however, it is simple. Over against it may be
set the following (vi. 8): "Now will I praise the strength of the
variegated red bull (Agni), the feasts of the Knower-of-beings[6]
(Agni); to Agni, the friend of all men, is poured out a new song,
sweet to him as clear _soma_. As soon as he was born in highest
heaven, Agni began to protect laws, for he is a guardian of law (or
order). Great in strength, he, the friend of all men, measured out the
space between heaven and earth, and in greatness touched the zenith;
he, the marvellous friend, placed apart heaven and earth; with light
removed darkness; separated the two worlds like skins. Friend of all
men, he took all might to himself.... In the waters' lap the mighty
ones (gods) took him, and people established him king. M[=a]taricvan,
messenger of the all-shining one, bore him from afar, friend of all
men. Age by age, O Agni, give to poets new glorious wealth for feasts.
O ever-youthful king, as if with a ploughshare, rend the sinner;
destroy him with thy flame, like a tree! But among our lords bring, O
Agni, power unbent, endless strength of heroes; and may we, through
thy assistance, conquer wealth an hundredfold, a thousandfold, O Agni,
thou friend of all; with thy sure protection protect our royal lords,
O helper, thou who hast three habitations; guard for us the host of
them that have been generous, and let them live on, friend of all, now
t