Atharva Veda: Book 11: Hymn 2: Prayer and praise to Bhava, Sarva and Rudra

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HYMN II

Prayer and praise to Bhava, Sarva and Rudra

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.
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.
We offer homage to thy shout, Bhava! thy breath, thy racking
pains:
Homage, Immortal One! to thee, to Rudra of the thousand
eyes.
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.
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!
We offer homage to thy limbs, thy belly, and thy tongue, and
mouth we offer homage to thy smell.
Never may we contend with him, the mighty archer, thousand-
eyed.
Rudra who wears black tufts of hair, the slaughterer of
Ardhaka.
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!
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
Accordant and allies, Bhava and Rudra, with mighty strength ye
go to deeds of valour. Wherever they may be, we pay them
homage.
Be homage, Rudra, unto thee approaching and departing hence!
Homage to thee when standing still, to thee when seated and at
rest!
Homage at evening and at morn, homage at night, homage by
day .
To Bhava and to Sarva, both, have I paid lowly reverence,
Let us not outrage with our tongue far-seeing Rudra, thousand-
eyed,
Inspired with varied lore, who shoots his arrows forward, far
away.
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.
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.
Do us no harm, but comfort us: avoid thou us, and be not
wroth. Never let us contend with thee.
Covet not thou our kine or men, covet not thou our goats or
sheep.
Elsewhither, strong One! turn thine aim: destroy the mockers'
family.
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!
Homage be paid him with ten Sakvari verses who stands
established in the air's mid-region, slaying non-sacrificing
God-despisers!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
This lowly reverence have I paid to Rudra's dogs with mighty
mouths,
Hounds terrible with bark and howl, who gorge unmasticated
food.
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!