THE HYMNS OF THE VEDA OF CHANTS original: "Sâmaveda".

PART THE FIRST.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

Fire Agni.

Come, Fire original: "Agni", praised with song, to feast and sacrificial offering: sit
As the Calling Priest original: "Hotar" on the holy grass!

The introductory blessing is a modern addition. OmA sacred syllable representing the absolute; used to begin and end prayers. is a sacred exclamation that may be uttered—inaudibly to profane In this context, "profane" refers to the uninitiated or those outside the priestly class. ears—at the beginning and end of a reading of the VedasThe primary ancient scriptures of Hinduism. or before a prayer. Ganeshaoriginal: "Gaṇeṣa", Lord of the Divine Hostsoriginal: "Gaṇas" or troops of secondary deities, is a god from the period following the early Vedas, regarded as the remover of obstacles and hence propitiated at the beginning of important undertakings and invoked at the start of books.

The poetic meter of the hymn is the Gayatrioriginal: "Gâyatrî", where each stanza consists of three eight-syllable verse-feetoriginal: "Pâdas" or divisions, two of which form the first line and one the second.

1 Fire original: "Agni": the physical element of fire and the God of fire. Fire is, next to Indra The King of the Gods, the most prominent of the deities of the Veda of Versesoriginal: "Rigveda". He is the messenger and mediator between earth and heaven, announcing to the Gods the hymns, and conveying to them the offerings of their worshippers. Sacrificial offering: an oblation of clarified butteroriginal: "ghṛitam" or "ghî", sprinkled upon the sacrificial fire. Calling Priestoriginal: "Hotar," "hotṛi," or "hotâ": (from the root hu, to sacrifice), the Presenter, the ministering priest who offers the oblation; or (from the root hve, to call) the priest who invites the Gods to the sacrifice, the invoker or Herald. The God of Fire concentrates in himself the various sacrificial duties of the different classes of human priests, and is more