7 To thee, dispeller of the night, O Agni, day by day with prayer
Bringing thee reverence, we come;
8 Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Law eternal, radiant One,
Increasing in thine own abode.
9 Be to us easy of approach, even as a father to his son:
Agni, be with us for our weal.
BEAUTIFUL Vayu, come, for thee these Soma drops have been prepared:
Drink of them, hearken to our call.
2 Knowing the days, with Soma juice poured forth, the singers glorify
Thee, Vayu, with their hymns of praise.
3 Vayu, thy penetrating stream goes forth unto the worshipper,
Far-spreading for the Soma draught.
8 Law eternal. The word used to denote the conception of the order of the world is rita. Everything in the universe which is conceived as showing regularity of action may be said to have the rita for its principle. In its most general application the conception expressed by the word occupied to some extent the place of natural and moral law, fate, or the will of a supreme God. See Wallis, The Cosmoloqy of the Rigveda, p. 92.
In thine own abode: své dáme, suâ domo, in the sacrificial hall or chamber in which fire-worship is performed, and in which the fire (Agni) increases as the oblations of clarified butter are poured upon it by the priest.
1 Vayu: God of the wind.
Soma drops: libations of the juice of the Soma, or Moon-plant, said to be the Acid Asclepias or Sarcostema Viminalis. The plant was gathered by moonlight on certain mountains, stripped of its leaves, and then carried to the place of sacrifice; the stalks having been there crushed by the priests were sprinkled with water and placed on a sieve or strainer, whence, after further pressure, the acid juice trickled into a vessel called Drona: after which it was mixed with flour etc., made to ferment, and then offered in libations to the Gods or drunk by the Brahmans, by both of whom its exhilarating qualities were supposed to be highly prized. This famous plant has remained unidentified till recently (see Max Müller, Biographies of Words, Appendix III.) ‘Dr. Aitchison has lately stated that Soma must be the Ephedra pachyclade, which in the Harirud valley is said to bear the name of hum, huma, and yahma. This supposition is confirmed by Dr. Joseph Bornmüller, a botanist long resident in Kerman, who identifies the Soma plant with some kind of Ephedra, probably Ephedra distachya, but who remarks that different varieties of Ephedra are to be found from Siberia to the Iberian peninsula, so that we must give up the hope of determining original home of the Aryas by means of the habitat of the Sc (text not understandable here) terly Review, No. 354, October 1894, p. 455).
2. Knowing the days: knowing the proper days for sacrifices; or perhaps, knowing or marking the time of daybreak, the exact time for the commencement of sacrificial rites.
3 Hymns of praise: ukthas, lauds recited or spoken, in opposition to verses that are chanted or sung.
