Page:Atharva-Veda samhita volume 2.djvu/115

571 26. Atharvan, having sewed together his head, and also (yát) his heart—aloft from the brain the purifying one sent [them] forth, out of the head.

27. Verily that head of Atharvan [is] a god-vessel, pressed together; breath defends that, the head, food, also mind.

28. Was he now created upward (ūrdhvá)? [or] was he now created crosswise? did man grow unto (ā-bhū) all the quarters?—he who knoweth the bráhman's stronghold, from which man is [so] called.

29. Whoever indeed knoweth that bráhman's stronghold, covered with amṛ́ta—unto him both the bráhman and the Brahmans have given sight, breath, progeny.

30. Him verily sight doth not desert, nor breath, before old age, who knoweth the bráhman's stronghold (púr), from which man (púruṣa) is [so] called.

31. Eight-wheeled, nine-doored, is the impregnable stronghold of the gods; in that is a golden vessel, heaven-going (svargá), covered with light.

32. In that golden vessel, three-spoked, having three supports—what soul-possessing monster (yakṣá) there is in it, that verily the knowers of the bráhman know.