Book 6: Hymn 46: A charm against evil dreams

HYMN XLVI

A charm against evil dreams

1Thou, neither quick nor dead, O Sleep, art fraught with Amrit
of the Gods.
Thy name is Araru: thy sire is Yama; Varunāni bare thee.
2We know thy birth, O Sleep, thou art son of the sisters of the
Gods; the minister of Yama thou, thou art Antaka, thou art
Death.
So well we know thee who thou art. Sleep, guard us from the
evil dream.
3As men discharge a debt, as they pay up an eighth and half-an-
eighth,
So the whole evil dream do we pay and assign unto our foe.