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HYMN VII. Agni.

1. OFFER to Agni, O my friends, your seemly food, your seemly praise;
To him supremest o'er the folk, the Son of Strength, the mighty Lord:
2 Him in whose presence, when they meet in full assembly, men rejoice;
Even him whom worthy ones inflame, and living creatures bring to life.
3 When we present to him the food and sacrificial gifts of men,
He by the might of splendour grasps the holy Ordinance's rein.
4 He gives a signal in the night even to him who is afar,
When he, the Bright, unchanged by eld, consumes the sovrans of the wood.
5 He in whose service on the ways they offer up their drops of sweat,
On him is their high kin have they mounted, as ridges on the earth.
6 Whom, sought of many, mortal man hath found to be the Stay of all;
He who gives flavour to our food, the home of every man that lives.
7 Even as a herd that crops the grass he shears the field and wilderness,
With flashing teeth and beard of gold, deft with his unabated might.
8 For him, to whom, bright as an axe he, as to Atri, hath flashed forth,
Hath the well-bearing Mother borne, producing when her time is come.
9 Agni to whom the oil is shed by him thou lovest to support,
Bestow upon these mortals fame and splendour and intelligence.
10 Such zeal hath he, resistless one: he gained the cattle given by thee.
Agni, may Atri overcome the Dasyus who bestow no gifts, subdue the men who give no food.

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