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

Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895] 1Bhava 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. 2Cast 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. 3We offer homage to thy shout, Bhava! thy breath, thy racking pains: Homage, Immortal One! to thee, to Rudra of the thousand eyes. 4We offer reverence to thee from eastward, and from north and south, From all the compass of the sky, to thee and to the firmament. 5Homage, 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! 6We offer homage to thy limbs, thy belly, and thy tongue, and mouth we offer homage to thy smell. 7Never may we contend with him, the mighty archer, thousand- eyed. p. 47 Rudra who wears black tufts of hair, the slaughterer of Ardhaka. 8May 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! 9Four 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 10Thine 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. 11Thine 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! 12A 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. 13Thou, Rudra, followest close the foe who lies in wait to conquer thee. Even as a hunter who pursues the footsteps of the wounded game. 14Accordant and allies, Bhava and Rudra, with mighty strength ye go to deeds of valour. Wherever they may be, we pay them homage. 15Be homage, Rudra, unto thee approaching and departing hence! Homage to thee when standing still, to thee when seated and at rest! 16Homage at evening and at morn, homage at night, homage by day . To Bhava and to Sarva, both, have I paid lowly reverence, 17Let us not outrage with our tongue far-seeing Rudra, thousand- eyed, Inspired with varied lore, who shoots his arrows forward, far away. p. 48 18Foremost 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. 19Cast 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. 20Do us no harm, but comfort us: avoid thou us, and be not wroth. Never let us contend with thee. 21Covet not thou our kine or men, covet not thou our goats or sheep. Elsewhither, strong One! turn thine aim: destroy the mockers' family. 22Homage to him whose weapon, Cough or Fever, assails one like the neighing of a stallion; to him who draws one forth and then another! 23Homage be paid him with ten Sakvari verses who stands established in the air's mid-region, slaying non-sacrificing God-despisers! 24For 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. 25Porpoises, 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. 26O'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. 27Ruler 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! 28King 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. p. 49 29Harm 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. 30This lowly reverence have I paid to Rudra's dogs with mighty mouths, Hounds terrible with bark and howl, who gorge unmasticated food. 31Homage 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!