Rig-Veda, Book 5: HYMN LXXVIII. Aśvins.

HYMN LXXVIII. Aśvins.

1. YE Aśvins, hither come to us: Nāsatyas, be not disinclined.
Fly hither like two swans unto the juice we shed.
2 O Aśvins, like a pair of deer, like two wild cattle to the mead:
Fly hither like two swans unto the juice we shed.
3 O Aśvins rich in gifts, accept our sacrifice to prosper it:
Fly hither like two swans unto the juice we shed.
4 As Atri when descending to the cavern called on you loudly like a wailing woman.
Ye came to him, O Aśvins, with the freshest and most auspicious fleetness of a falcon.
5 Tree, part asunder like the side of her who bringeth forth a child.
Ye Aśvins, listen to my call: loose Saptavadhri from his bonds.
6 For Saptavadhri, for the seer affrighted when he wept and wailed,
Ye, Aśvins, with your magic powers rent up the tree and shattered it.
7 Like as the wind on every side ruffles a pool of lotuses,
So stir in thee the babe unborn, so may the ten-month babe descend.
8 Like as the wind, like as the wood, like as the sea is set astir,
So also, ten-month babe, descend together with the after-birth.
9 The child who hath for ten months' time been lying in his mother's side,—
May he come forth alive, unharmed, yea, living from the living dame.