________________
MANDALA III, HYMN 9.
257
thou hast been kindled, O Agni, at the approach of darkness
8. Make your offerings in (Agni), the best performer of worship, the sharp one who purifies with his flames!. Serve ye obediently the god, the quick messenger, the agile, the old, the adorable.
9?. Three hundred and three thousand gods and thirty and nine did service to Agni. They sprinkled him with ghee and spread out for him the sacrificial grass: then they made him sit down as a Hotri.
NOTES. The same Rishi. The metre is Brihatî ; the last verse is Trishtubh.-Verse i=SV. I, 62. Verse 2=SV. I, 53. Verse 9=VS. XXXIII, 7; TB. II, 7, 12, 2.
Verse 1. Note 1. For this expression, compare I, 30, 7; VIII, 21, 2. 9.
Note 2. Comp. VIII, 19, 4. subhágam sudiditim.
Verse 3. Note 1. Comp. 1, 81, 5. áti vísvam vavakshitha ; 102, 8. áti idám vísvam bhuvanam vavakshitha.
Note 2. The different officiating priests seem to be alluded to.
Verse 4. Note 1. Comp. 1, 42, 7. áti nah saskátah naya ; VII, 97,4. párshat nah áti saskátah; Lanman, Noun-Inflection, 467.
Note 2. The gods who searched for Agni.
Verse 6. Note 1. For devébhyah havyaváhana, comp. X, 118, 5; 119, 13 ; 150, 1.
[46]
S
Diglized by Google
