Sacred Texts Hinduism Index Previous Next
1. Take hold of this (charm) that subjects to immortality (life), may thy life unto old age not be cut off! I bring to thee anew breath and life: not to mist and darkness, do not waste away!
2. Come hither to the light of the living; I rescue thee unto a life of a hundred autumns! Loosing the bands of death and imprecation, I bestow upon thee long life extended very far.
3. From the wind thy breath I have obtained, from the sun thine eye; thy soul I hold fast in thee: be together with thy limbs, speak articulating with thy tongue!
4. With the breath of two-footed and four-footed creatures I blow upon thee, as on Agni when he is born (as on fire when kindled). I have paid reverence, O death, to thine eye, reverence to thy breath.
5. This (man) shall live and shall not die: we rouse this man (to life)! I make for him a remedy: O death, do not slay the man!
6. The plant gîvalâ (quickening'), na-ghâ-rishâ ('forsooth-no-harm'), and gîvantî ('living), a victorious, mighty saviour-plant do I invoke, that he may be exempt from injury.
7. Befriend him, do not seize him, let him go, (O death); though he be thy very own, let him abide here with unimpaired strength! O Bhava and Sarva, take pity, grant Protection; misfortune drive away, and life bestow!
8. Befriend him, death, and pity him: may he from here arise! Unharmed, with sound limbs, hearing perfectly, through old age carrying a hundred years, let him get enjoyment by himself (unaided)!
9. The missile of the gods shall pass thee by! I pass thee across the mist (of death); from death I have rescued thee. Removing far the flesh-devouring Agni, a barrier do I set around thee, that thou mayest live.
10. From thy misty road that cannot be withstood, O death, from this path (of thine) we guard this (man), and make our charm a protection for him.
11. In-breathing and out-breathing. do I prepare for thee, death in old age, long life, and prosperity. All the messengers of Yama, that roam about, dispatched by Vivasvant's son, do I drive away.
12. Arâti (grudge), Nirriti (destruction), Grâhi (seizure), and the flesh-devouring Pisâkas (do we drive) away to a distance, and hurl all wicked Rakshas away into darkness as it were.
13. I crave thy life's breath from the immortal, life-possessing Agni Gâtavedas. That thou shalt not take harm, shalt be immortal in (Agni's) company, that do I procure for thee, and that shall be fulfilled for thee!
14. May heaven and earth, the bestowers of happiness, be auspicious and harmless to thee; may the sun-shine, and the wind blow comfort to thy heart; may the heavenly waters, rich in milk, flow upon thee kindly!
15. May the plants be auspicious to thee! I have raised thee from the lower to the upper earth: there may both the Âdityas, the sun and the moon, . protect thee.
16. Whatever garment for clothing, or whatever girdle thou makest for thyself, agreeable to thy body do we render it; not rough to thy touch shall it be!
17. When thou, the barber, shearest with thy sharp well-whetted razor our hair and beard, do not, while cleansing our face, rob us of our life!
18. Rice and barley shall be auspicious to thee, causing no balâsa, inflicting no injury! They two drive away disease, they two release from calamity.
19. Whatever thou eatest or drinkest, the grain of the plough-land or milk, whatever is or is not to be eaten, all that food do I render for thee free from poison.
20. To day and to night both do we commit thee: from the demons that seek to devour, do ye preserve this (man) for me!
21. A hundred years, ten thousand years, two, three, four ages (yuga) do we allot to thee; Indra and Agni, and all the gods without anger shall favour thee!
22. To autumn thee, to winter, spring and summer, do we commit; the rains in which grow the plants shall be pleasant to thee!
23. Death rules over bipeds, death rules over quadrupeds. From that death, the lord of cattle, do I rescue thee: do not fear!
24. Free from harm thou shalt not die; thou shalt not die: do not fear! Verily, they do not die there, they do not go to the nethermost darkness;--
25. Verily, every creature lives there, the cow, the horse, and man, where this charm is performed, as the (protecting) barrier for life.
26. May it preserve thee from sorcery, from thy equals and thy kin! Undying be, immortal, exceedingly vital; thy spirits shall not abandon thy body!
27. From the one and a hundred deaths, from the dangers that are surmountable, from that Agai Vaisvânara (the funeral pyre?) may the gods deliver thee!
28. Thou, the remedy called p6tudru, art the body of Agni, the deliverer, slayer of Rakshas, slayer of rivals, moreover thou chasest away disease.