Page:A history of Sanskrit literature (1900), Macdonell, Arthur Anthony.djvu/209

 :Just as the sun-god's shooting rays
 * Swift to a distance fly away,
 * So even thou, O cough, fly forth
 * Along the ocean's surging flood.

Here is a spell for the cure of leprosy by means of a dark-coloured plant:—


 * Born in the night art thou, O herb,
 * Dark-coloured, sable, black of hue:
 * Rich-tinted, tinge this leprosy,
 * And stain away its spots of grey! (i. 23, 1).

A large number of imprecations are directed against demons, sorcerers, and enemies. The following two stanzas deal with the latter two classes respectively:—


 * Bend round and pass us by, O curse,
 * Even as a burning fire a lake.
 * Here strike him down that curses us,
 * As heaven's lightning smites the tree (vi. 37, 2).


 * As, rising in the east, the sun
 * The stars' bright lustre takes away,
 * So both of women and of men,
 * My foes, the strength I take away (vii. 13, 1).

A considerable group of spells consists of imprecations directed against the oppressors of Brahmans and those who withhold from them their rightful rewards. The following is one of the threats held out against such evil-doers:—


 * Water with which they bathe the dead,
 * And that with which they wet his beard,
 * The gods assigned thee as thy share,
 * Oppressor of the Brahman priest (v. 19, 14).

Another group of charms is concerned with women, being intended to secure their love with the aid of