Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/71

Rh drives his horses wheresoever he will. The reins restrain the horses from behind. Sing of their glory.

"The horses raise the dust with their hoofs and career over the field with the chariots, with loud neighings. They do not retreat, but trample the marauding enemies under their feet.

"The arrow is feathered; the deer (horn) is its teeth. Well pulled and sent by the cow-leather string, it falls on the enemy. Wherever men stand together or are separate, there the shafts reap advantage.

"The leather guard protects the arm from the abrasion of the bow-string, and coils round the arm like a snake in its convolutions. It knows its work, and is efficient, and protects the warrior in every way.

"We extol the arrow which is poisoned, whose face is of iron and whose stem is of Parjanya."

Before concluding our extracts, we will make one more from a hymn about the coronation of victorious kings. It is commonly regarded as a later hymn, but it has an interest for the student of history and of customs.

"O king! I place you in the station of a king. Be the lord of this country! Be immovable and fixed! Let all your subjects cherish you! Let not your kingdom be destroyed!

"Remain here fixed as the mountain; do not be dethroned! Remain fixed like Indra and support the kingdom!

"Indra has received the sacrificial offerings and supports the newly crowned king! Soma blesses him.