To the one upon whom you, the jewel that enhances sacrifice, have bestowed auspiciousness—may you, jewel of a hundred gifts, grant him supremacy. O Agni, who delights in this carefully prepared fuel, accept it with our offerings; in you, Jātavedas, kindled by the priest, may we establish good fortune, offspring, vision, and cattle. Now, seeking deeper understanding, the sages inquire: On which part of him does ascetic heat abide? Where is truth established? Where does observance dwell, where does faith stand, and upon what is his truthfulness founded? From which part of him does Agni blaze forth? From which does Mātariśvan blow? From which part is the moon measured out, as one measures a great limb of Skambha? On which part does the earth rest? Where does the atmosphere stand? Where is the sky established, and where is the highest heaven set? Where, aspiring, does the upward fire blaze? Where, aspiring, does Mātariśvan blow? Where do the aspiring rivers flow together? Tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? Where do the half-months and months, joined with the year, go? Where do the seasons and their periods pass? Tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? Where do the two youthful, differing forms, day and night, run together in union? Where do the flowing waters converge? Tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? In whom, having been established, Prajāpati upheld all the worlds—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? That which is highest, lowest, and middle, which Prajāpati fashioned in all forms—how much of Skambha entered there, and what remained outside, how much was left? How much of Skambha entered into what has been and what will be, following after him? When he made one limb into a thousand, how much of Skambha entered there? Where people know the worlds, the sheaths, the waters, and Brahman; where the existent and the non-existent meet—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? Where ascetic heat, having reached its peak, upholds observance; where truth and faith, waters and Brahman, are gathered—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? In whom earth, atmosphere, and sky are established; where fire, moon, sun, and wind are set—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? In whose limb all the thirty-three gods are gathered—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? Where the first-born seers, the Ṛc, Sāman, and Yajus, and the great earth are set; where the single seer is established—tell us of Skambha—who indeed is that god? Where both immortality and death are established within the person, whose channels are like an ocean gathered in the person—tell us, which god is that Skambha? In whom the four cardinal directions stand as the foremost channels, where the sacrifice has advanced—tell us, which god is that Skambha? Those who know the Brahman in the person, they know the Supreme Lord; whoever knows the Supreme Lord and whoever knows Prajapati—those Brahmins who know the eldest, they truly know Skambha. Whose head became Vaiśvānara, whose eyes became the Angirases, whose limbs became the Yātavas—tell us, which god is that Skambha? Whose mouth, they say, is Brahman, whose tongue is honey-sweet, whose intellect, they say, is Virāj—tell us, which god is that Skambha? From whom the Ṛc verses were uttered, from whom the Yajus were uttered, whose hairs are the Sāman chants, whose mouth is Atharvan and Angiras—tell us, which god is that Skambha? People know the unsubstantial branch as the highest; yet others, who are lower, consider that branch as real and worship it. Where the Ādityas, Rudras, and Vasus are established, where both the past and the future, all worlds are set—tell us, which god is that Skambha? Whose treasure the thirty-three gods always guard—who today knows that treasure which you gods protect? Where the gods who know Brahman worship the eldest Brahman—whoever knows them directly, he would be the knower of Brahman. Those gods called Bṛhants who were born from the non-existent—people say that one limb of Skambha is the non-existent. Where Skambha, generating offspring, turned away the ancient—people know that one limb of Skambha as the ancient. In whose limb the thirty-three gods divided the body—some who know Brahman know those thirty-three gods. People know the golden germ as the highest, unexcelled; Skambha at first poured out that gold within the world. In Skambha are the worlds, in Skambha is austerity, in Skambha is the established order; Skambha, I know you directly—within you, Indra, all is established. In Indra are the worlds, in Indra is austerity, in Indra is the established order; Indra, I know you directly—in Skambha all is set firm. He called out the name by its name before, from the sun, from the dawn; when the Unborn first came into being, he attained that sovereignty of sound, beyond which there is nothing higher, nothing that has been. To whom the earth, the broad midspace, and the womb belong, who made the sky his head—to that eldest Brahman I offer homage. He whose eye is the sun and whose moon is ever renewed, who made fire his mouth—to that eldest Brahman, homage. He whose breath is the wind, whose inhalation and exhalation are Angiras, who made the directions his wisdom—to that eldest Brahman, homage. Skambha upheld both heaven and earth; Skambha upheld the wide atmosphere; Skambha upheld the six broad regions; Skambha entered this entire world of beings. He who was born from toil and heat, who is equal throughout all worlds, who made Soma alone—to that eldest Brahman, homage. How does the wind not settle? How does the mind not delight? Why do the waters, seeking truth, never settle at any time? The great lord in the midst of the world, established in austerity, on the surface of the waters—upon him rest all the gods, like branches around the trunk of a tree.