In the beginning, the sages beheld the sacred waters, recognizing in them the very essence of ambrosia and healing. They praised the waters, invoking their blessings so that swift horses and strong cattle might arise, nourished by the waters’ gifts. Turning to the waters with reverence, they addressed them as bringers of happiness, asking for nourishment and strength to gain clear vision, especially in the midst of battle. The sages prayed to partake of the waters’ most auspicious essence, just as loving mothers share their nourishment with their children. Approaching the waters with humility, they sought increase and renewal, asking the waters to generate them anew. They honored the waters as mistresses of treasures and sustainers of peoples, requesting healing from their inexhaustible bounty. With devotion, the sages wished that the divine waters would bring happiness and blessings for drinking, desiring that their streams flow only with well-being. Within these sacred waters, Soma spoke, revealing that all medicines reside within them, and that Agni, the bringer of blessings, is also present. The sages asked the waters to fill them with healing and protection, so that their bodies might remain strong, allowing them to see the Sun for many years. They prayed for happiness from all forms of water—the rivers, the streams, the waters drawn from the earth, and those carried in jars. They invoked the rains, wishing that all waters would be auspicious for them. Turning their prayers to Agni, the sages called upon him to bring forth the sorcerer and the fiend who bore enmity, for Agni, praised by the wise, had become the slayer of enemies. They invoked Jātavedas, lord of clarified butter and dweller within the body, to consume the sorcerer of Taulasa and scatter all fiends. They prayed that all who hated them, be they fiends or poisoners, would be scattered, and that Agni and Indra would accept their offerings. They asked Agni to lead the way and for mighty Indra to drive away the enemy, inviting every sorcerer to reveal themselves. They longed to witness Agni’s power, asking the all-seeing one to reveal the fiends, and with his scorching might, to bring them forth confessing. The sages urged Jātavedas to fulfill his purpose, to serve as their messenger and scatter the fiends. They called upon Agni to bring the bound fiends, so that Indra, with his thunderbolt, might cut off their heads. The sages offered oblations to carry away the Yātudhānas, just as a river bears off its foam. They wished that whoever had caused harm, whether man or woman, might be transformed into one who offers praise. Welcoming those who praised, they invoked Bṛhaspati, asking that Agni and Soma might strike apart their foes. They beseeched the gods to destroy the offspring of the Yātudhāna, to lead them away, and to cause the one who praised to fall from the highest to the lowest. They asked Agni, who knows all hidden origins, to destroy the fiends wherever they might be found, growing strong through prayer. The sages then turned to the gods to sustain their wealth—Indra, Pūṣan, Varuṇa, Mitra, and Agni. They invoked the Ādityas and all the gods to uphold their prosperity in the highest light. They prayed that the gods would place light before them—be it the Sun, Agni, or gold—and that their rivals would be beneath them, elevating themselves to the highest heaven. With the same power that nourished Indra, they asked Jātaveda to increase their fortunes and raise them to the foremost rank among their kin. They offered sacrifice, radiance, wealth, prosperity, and thoughts to Agni, again wishing their rivals be beneath them and that they rise to the highest heaven. Then, the sages honored the lord of the gods, who shines forth by the sovereign commands of true Varuṇa. Through prayer and seeking favor, they guided themselves away from the wrath of the mighty. They saluted the night, praying for Varuṇa’s anger to be appeased, acknowledging his discernment of all wrongdoing. They offered a thousand acts of devotion, wishing for a long life. If any falsehood or evil had been spoken, they sought release from the king of true law, from Varuṇa himself. They asked to be freed from Vaiśvānara and the great depths, urging the mighty one to speak among his kin, to declare prayer, and to act on their behalf. In sacred rites, they called on Pūṣan to utter the holy ‘vaṣaṭ’ at the pressing, Aryaman to officiate, and the creator to arrange all. They asked the righteous-born women to proceed, to cross the stages and press onward. The gods gathered the embryo from all directions—sky and earth—and wrapped it for the pressing. They prayed for the wrapper to enclose it and, at the right time, to loosen and release it in fragments. They recognized that the placenta was found neither in flesh nor fat nor marrow, and so they invoked the spotted one, sending the placenta to the dog, wishing for it to fall away. They separated urine, womb, and enclosure, dividing mother and child, and freeing the boy from the placenta, wishing for its release. As the wind, the mind, and birds fly, so may the ten-month child, together with the placenta, be freed. The sages then praised the first-born among those in the womb, the roaring bull clothed in wind and cloud, who comes with rain and shatters both straight and crooked paths, striding with single might in threefold ways. They honored him with offerings, worshipping his radiant limbs, and recalling that he first grasped the joints of the seasons. They prayed for release from headache, cough, and harsh pain, asking that wind-born, cloud-born, and fever, along with the forces of trees and mountains, depart from the afflicted. They sought peace for every limb and for the whole body. With reverence, they offered homage to lightning, to thunder, and to the stone by which the gods strike down. They honored the offspring of the mountain, whose heat gathers the clouds, asking for grace upon their bodies and happiness for their children. Thus, in all their prayers and offerings, the sages wove together blessings from the waters, the fire, the gods, and the forces of nature, seeking health, strength, prosperity, and peace for themselves and their descendants.