Page:A history of Sanskrit literature (1900), Macdonell, Arthur Anthony.djvu/212

 exiled king, for the attainment of lustre and glory, and in particular for victory in battle. The following is a specimen of spells intended to strike terror into the enemy:—


 * Arise and arm, ye spectral forms,
 * Followed by meteoric flames;
 * Ye serpents, spirits of the deep,
 * Demons of night, pursue the foe! (xi. 10, 1).

Here is a stanza from a hymn (v. 21, 6) to the battle-drum meant to serve the same purpose:—


 * As birds start back affrighted at the eagle's cry,
 * As day and night they tremble at the lion's roar:
 * So thou, O drum, shout out against our enemies,
 * Scare them away in terror and confound their minds.

Among the cosmogonic and theosophic hymns the finest is a long one of sixty-three stanzas addressed to the earth (xii. 1). I translate a few lines to give some idea of its style and contents:—


 * The earth, on whom, with clamour loud,
 * Men that are mortal sing and dance,
 * On whom they fight in battle fierce:
 * This earth shall drive away from us our foemen,
 * And she shall make us free from all our rivals.


 * In secret places holding treasure manifold,
 * The earth shall riches give, and gems and gold to me:
 * Granting wealth lavishly, the kindly goddess
 * Shall goods abundantly bestow upon us.

The four hymns of Book XIII. are devoted to the praise of Rohita, the "Red" Sun, as a cosmogonic power. In another (xi. 5) the sun is glorified as a primeval principle under the guise of a Brahman disciple (brahmachārin). In others Prāṇa or Breath (xi. 4), Kāma or Love (ix. 2), and Kāla or Time (xix. 53-54),