{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/av/av11002.htm","path":"hin/av/av11002.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av11002.htm","text":"Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895]\n1Bhava and Sarva, spare us, be not hostile. Homage to you, twin\n \u00a0\u00a0Lords of beasts and spirits!\n \u00a0\u00a0Shoot not the arrow aimed and drawn against us: forbear to\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0harm our quadrupeds and bipeds.\n 2Cast not our bodies to the dog or jackal, nor, Lord of Beasts!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to carrion-kites or vultures.\n \u00a0\u00a0Let not thy black voracious flies attack them; let not thy birds\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0obtain them for their banquet.\n 3We offer homage to thy shout, Bhava! thy breath, thy racking\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0pains:\n \u00a0\u00a0Homage, Immortal One! to thee, to Rudra of the thousand\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eyes.\n 4We offer reverence to thee from eastward, and from north and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0south,\n \u00a0\u00a0From all the compass of the sky, to thee and to the firmament.\n 5Homage, O Bhava, Lord of Beasts, unto thy face and all thine\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eyes,\n \u00a0\u00a0To skin, and hue, and aspect, and to thee when looked at from\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0behind!\n 6We offer homage to thy limbs, thy belly, and thy tongue, and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mouth we offer homage to thy smell.\n 7Never may we contend with him, the mighty archer, thousand-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eyed. p. 47\n \u00a0\u00a0Rudra who wears black tufts of hair, the slaughterer of\n \u00a0\u00a0Ardhaka.\n 8May he, may Bhava from all sides avoid us, avoid us even as\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0fire avoids the waters. Let him not threaten us. To him be\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0homage!\n 9Four times, eight times be homage paid to Bhava, yea, Lord of\n \u00a0\u00a0Beasts, ten times be reverence paid thee!\n \u00a0\u00a0Thine are these animals, five several classes, oxen, and goats and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sheep, and men, and horses\n 10Thine the four regions, thine are earth and heaven, thine,\n \u00a0\u00a0Mighty One, this firmament between them;\n \u00a0\u00a0Thine everything with soul and breath here on the surface of the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0land.\n 11Thine is this ample wealth-containing storehouse that holds with-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in it all these living creatures.\n \u00a0\u00a0Favour us, Lord of Beasts, to thee be homage! Far from us go\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ill-omens, dogs, and jackals, and wild-haired women with\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0their horrid shrieking!\n 12A yellow bow of gold thou wieldest, slaying its hundred, tufted\n \u00a0\u00a0God! smiting its thousand.\n \u00a0\u00a0Weapon of Gods, far flies the shaft of Rudra: wherever it may\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be, we pay it homage.\n 13Thou, Rudra, followest close the foe who lies in wait to conquer\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0thee.\n \u00a0\u00a0Even as a hunter who pursues the footsteps of the wounded\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0game.\n 14Accordant and allies, Bhava and Rudra, with mighty strength ye\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0go to deeds of valour. Wherever they may be, we pay them\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0homage.\n 15Be homage, Rudra, unto thee approaching and departing hence!\n \u00a0\u00a0Homage to thee when standing still, to thee when seated and at\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0rest!\n 16Homage at evening and at morn, homage at night, homage by\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0day .\n \u00a0\u00a0To Bhava and to Sarva, both, have I paid lowly reverence,\n 17Let us not outrage with our tongue far-seeing Rudra, thousand-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0eyed,\n \u00a0\u00a0Inspired with varied lore, who shoots his arrows forward, far\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0away. p. 48\n 18Foremost we go to meet his car, the chariot of the long-haired\n \u00a0\u00a0God,\n \u00a0\u00a0Drawn by brown horses, dusky, black, o'erthrowing, slaying,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0terrible. Let reverence be paid to him.\n 19Cast not thy club at us, thy heavenly weapon. Lord of Beasts,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0be not wroth with us. Let reverence be paid to thee.\n \u00a0\u00a0Shake thy celestial branch above some others elsewhere, not o'er\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0us.\n 20Do us no harm, but comfort us: avoid thou us, and be not\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0wroth. Never let us contend with thee.\n 21Covet not thou our kine or men, covet not thou our goats or\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sheep.\n \u00a0\u00a0Elsewhither, strong One! turn thine aim: destroy the mockers'\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0family.\n 22Homage to him whose weapon, Cough or Fever, assails one like\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the neighing of a stallion; to him who draws one forth and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0then another!\n 23Homage be paid him with ten Sakvari verses who stands\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0established in the air's mid-region, slaying non-sacrificing\n \u00a0\u00a0God-despisers!\n 24For thee were forest beasts and sylvan creatures placed in the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0wood, and small birds, swans, and eagles.\n \u00a0\u00a0Floods, Lord of Beasts! contain thy living beings: to swell thy\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0strength flow the celestial Waters.\n 25Porpoises, serpents, strange aquatic monsters, fishes, and things\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0unclean at which thou shootest.\n \u00a0\u00a0Nothing is far for thee, naught checks thee, Bhava! The whole\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0earth in a moment thou surveyest. From the east sea thou\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0smitest in the northern.\n 26O'erwhelm us not with Fever or with poison, nor, Rudra! with\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the fire that comes from heaven. Elsewhere, and not on us,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0cast down this lightning.\n 27Ruler of heaven and Lord of earth is Bhava: Bhava hath filled\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the spacious air's mid-region. Where'er he be, to him be paid\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0our homage!\n 28King Bhava, favour him who offers worship, for thou art\n \u00a0\u00a0Pasupati, Lord of victims.\n \u00a0\u00a0Be gracious to the quadruped and biped of the believer in the\n \u00a0\u00a0Gods' existence. p. 49\n 29Harm thou among us neither great nor little, not one who bears\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0us, not our future bearers.\n \u00a0\u00a0Injure no sire among us, harm no mother. Forbear to injure our\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0own bodies, Rudra.\n 30This lowly reverence have I paid to Rudra's dogs with mighty\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mouths,\n \u00a0\u00a0Hounds terrible with bark and howl, who gorge unmasticated\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0food.\n 31Homage to thy loud-shouting hosts and thy long-haired\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0followers!\n \u00a0\u00a0Homage to hosts that are adored, homage to armies that enjoy\n \u00a0\u00a0Homage to all thy troops, O God. Security and bliss be ours!","title":"Atharva Veda: Book 11: Hymn 2: Prayer and praise to Bhava, Sarva and Rudra","type":"page"}