Sukta 9

Mantra 1

त्वामग्ने हविष्मन्तो देवं मर्तास ईळते । मन्ये त्वा जातवेदसं स हव्या वक्ष्यानुषक् ॥

O Agni, mortals who bear the offering aspire to you, the God. I hold you to be Jātavedas; therefore carry our oblations continually, following the human path again and again.

Mantra 2

अग्निर्होता दास्वतः क्षयस्य वृक्तबर्हिषः । सं यज्ञासश्चरन्ति यं सं वाजासः श्रवस्यवः ॥

Agni is the Hotṛ of the giver’s dwelling, where the sacred seat is well-prepared. To him the movements of sacrifice converge, and to him converge the plenitudes of force sought for fame—powers that build the soul’s worthy hearing.

Mantra 3

उत स्म यं शिशुं यथा नवं जनिष्टारणी । धर्तारं मानुषीणां विशामग्निं स्वध्वरम् ॥

And indeed, him whom the two araṇīs beget like a newborn child—Agni, the upholder of the human communities—him, the one of good sacrifice, they establish for the right rite.

Mantra 4

उत स्म दुर्गृभीयसे पुत्रो न ह्वार्याणाम् । पुरू यो दग्धासि वनाग्ने पशुर्न यवसे ॥

And yet you are hard to seize, like a son among the wayward; you burn many forests, O Agni, like a beast set loose for pasture. Thus the power that must be mastered can also become a devouring force when not rightly held.

Mantra 5

अध स्म यस्यार्चयः सम्यक्संयन्ति धूमिनः । यदीमह त्रितो दिव्युप ध्मातेव धमति शिशीते ध्मातरी यथा ॥

Then indeed, when his smoke-laden flames gather themselves into right order, as we seek him—Trita in the heaven blows upon him like a blower; he sharpens and brightens, as one polishes in the act of blowing. Thus the inner fire is intensified by a higher impulsion.

Mantra 6

तवाहमग्न ऊतिभिर्मित्रस्य च प्रशस्तिभिः । द्वेषोयुतो न दुरिता तुर्याम मर्त्यानाम् ॥

O Agni, upheld by thy powers of help and by Mitra’s harmonizing affirmations, may I, freed from the yoke of hostility, overpass the difficult crossings that beset mortal nature.

Mantra 7

तं नो अग्ने अभी नरो रयिं सहस्व आ भर । स क्षेपयत्स पोषयद्भुवद्वाजस्य सातय उतैधि पृत्सु नो वृधे ॥

That wealth of being bring to us, O Agni, for our human kind; bring it with victorious force. May it cast down the adverse, may it foster our increase; may it become for us the winning of plenitude of power, and be our growth in the battles.