Sukta 95

Mantra 1

हये जाये मनसा तिष्ठ घोरे वचांसि मिश्रा कृणवावहै नु । न नौ मन्त्रा अनुदितास एते मयस्करन्परतरे चनाहन् ॥

Come, O wife, stand in mind in this difficult hour; now let us make our words a mingled harmony. These our mantras are not unspoken or unfounded; they bring sweetness and they strike even farther days with their power.

Mantra 2

किमेता वाचा कृणवा तवाहं प्राक्रमिषमुषसामग्रियेव । पुरूरवः पुनरस्तं परेहि दुरापना वात इवाहमस्मि ॥

What shall I do with this speech of yours? I have gone forth like the first of the Dawns. O Purūravas, go back again to your home; hard to be grasped am I, like the wind.

Mantra 3

इषुर्न श्रिय इषुधेरसना गोषाः शतसा न रंहिः । अवीरे क्रतौ वि दविद्युतन्नोरा न मायुं चितयन्त धुनयः ॥

Like an arrow for splendor, like a quiver’s store, like cattle-winnings, like the speed of hundreds—so flashed our purpose. Yet without the hero in the will, the shaking powers do not heed the cry, nor do they recognize the anguished striving.

Mantra 4

सा वसु दधती श्वशुराय वय उषो यदि वष्ट्यन्तिगृहात् । अस्तं ननक्षे यस्मिञ्चाकन्दिवा नक्तं श्नथिता वैतसेन ॥

She, bearing the inner wealth, seeks at dawn the vital increase for the elder power; then she returns homeward—toward that goal in which, day and night, the bonds are broken by Vaitasena.

Mantra 5

त्रिः स्म माह्नः श्नथयो वैतसेनोत स्म मेऽव्यत्यै पृणासि । पुरूरवोऽनु ते केतमायं राजा मे वीर तन्वस्तदासीः ॥

Thrice in the day the Vaitasena breaks the knot; and you fill me for the unbroken continuance. O Purūravas, I have come following your light-sign; you were then my king, my hero, the strength of my embodied being.

Mantra 6

या सुजूर्णिः श्रेणिः सुम्नआपिर्ह्रदेचक्षुर्न ग्रन्थिनी चरण्युः । ता अञ्जयोऽरुणयो न सस्रुः श्रिये गावो न धेनवोऽनवन्त ॥

Those swift-streaming ranks, rich in blessing, with vision in the heart, not knotted but freely moving—like ruddy ointments they flow; for the sake of beauty and increase they come on, like cows, like milch-kine that do not fail.

Mantra 7

समस्मिञ्जायमान आसत ग्ना उतेमवर्धन्नद्यः स्वगूर्ताः । महे यत्त्वा पुरूरवो रणायावर्धयन्दस्युहत्याय देवाः ॥

At your very birth the bright powers were present, and the rivers too increased you, rightly guided. For a great work, O Purūravas, the gods strengthened you for the battle—for the slaying of the dark disruptors.

Mantra 8

सचा यदासु जहतीष्वत्कममानुषीषु मानुषो निषेवे । अप स्म मत्तरसन्ती न भुज्युस्ता अत्रसन्रथस्पृशो नाश्वाः ॥

But when among those unhuman movements the human tries to dwell, as they abandon the mortal frame, they do not endure—fleeing from me in fear, like chariot-touching horses that shy away.

Mantra 9

यदासु मर्तो अमृतासु निस्पृक्सं क्षोणीभिः क्रतुभिर्न पृङ्क्ते । ता आतयो न तन्वः शुम्भत स्वा अश्वासो न क्रीळयो दन्दशानाः ॥

When the mortal, untouched, does not blend with the immortals by the grounded powers and discerning wills, then those impulsions do not adorn his embodied being—like playful horses, biting and restless, they remain his own yet unharmonized.

Mantra 10

विद्युन्न या पतन्ती दविद्योद्भरन्ती मे अप्या काम्यानि । जनिष्टो अपो नर्यः सुजातः प्रोर्वशी तिरत दीर्घमायुः ॥

Like a lightning-flash in flight she gleams, bringing to me the hidden desirable things. ‘He is born,’—the manly, well-born child of the Waters; may Urvāśī carry him forward across to a long life.

Mantra 11

जज्ञिष इत्था गोपीथ्याय हि दधाथ तत्पुरूरवो म ओजः । अशासं त्वा विदुषी सस्मिन्नहन्न म आशृणोः किमभुग्वदासि ॥

You were born thus, and therefore you set that strength in me for protection. Yet, O Purūravas, though I know, I did not command you that day; you did not heed me—why do you speak as one who has not shared the joy?

Mantra 13

प्रति ब्रवाणि वर्तयते अश्रु चक्रन्न क्रन्ददाध्ये शिवायै । प्र तत्ते हिनवा यत्ते अस्मे परेह्यस्तं नहि मूर मापः ॥

As I answer, the tears turn back; he weeps, yet not for the higher peace. I urge forth what is yours with us—go away, depart to the setting; do not, bewildered one, come near me.

Mantra 14

सुदेवो अद्य प्रपतेदनावृत्परावतं परमां गन्तवा उ । अधा शयीत निॠतेरुपस्थेऽधैनं वृका रभसासो अद्युः ॥

Today the well-favored one may fly forth, not turning back, to the farthest distance, to the supreme beyond. Then he would lie in the lap of Dissolution; and then the fierce wolves would seize him.

Mantra 15

पुरूरवो मा मृथा मा प्र पप्तो मा त्वा वृकासो अशिवास उ क्षन् । न वै स्त्रैणानि सख्यानि सन्ति सालावृकाणां हृदयान्येता ॥

O Purūravas, do not perish; do not fall forward into ruin. Let not the wolves of hostile impulses tear you. For the alliances that are merely ‘of the outward nature’ do not endure; such are the hearts of the sālāvṛkas—those who seem friendly but are inwardly predatory.

Mantra 16

यद्विरूपाचरं मर्त्येष्ववसं रात्रीः शरदश्चतस्रः । घृतस्य स्तोकं सकृदह्न आश्नां तादेवेदं तातृपाणा चरामि ॥

When I, the many-shaped (power), moved among mortals and dwelt through nights and four seasons, tasting but once a day a drop of the clarified sweetness—by that alone, by this measure, I move satisfied.

Mantra 17

अन्तरिक्षप्रां रजसो विमानीमुप शिक्षाम्युर्वशीं वसिष्ठः । उप त्वा रातिः सुकृतस्य तिष्ठान्नि वर्तस्व हृदयं तप्यते मे ॥

I, Vasiṣṭha, seek to instruct (and win back) Urvaśī who ranges in the mid-region and measures the worlds of space. The offering of well-done inner work stands near you; turn back—my heart burns with the heat of seeking.

Mantra 18

इति त्वा देवा इम आहुरैळ यथेमेतद्भवसि मृत्युबन्धुः । प्रजा ते देवान्हविषा यजाति स्वर्ग उ त्वमपि मादयासे ॥

So have these gods spoken to you, O Aiḷa: thus you become one whose companion is death (bound to mortality). Yet your offspring will worship the gods with the offering; and you too, in the luminous heaven, may partake of the divine delight.