Atharvaveda 12.4

I give [her]—thus should he say, if they have noticed (? anu-budh) her—[I give] the cow (vaçā́) to the priests (brahmán) that ask for her; that brings progeny, descendants.

He bargains away his progeny and becomes exhausted of cattle who is not willing to give the cow (gó) of the gods to the sons of seers that ask for her.

By a hornless one they are crushed for him; by a lame one he falls (? ard) into a pit; by a crippled one his houses are burned; by a one-eyed one his possessions are taken away (?).

Anæmia (vilohitá) from the station of the dung visits (vid) the master of kine; so is the agreement (?) of the cow; for door-damaging (?) art thou called.

From the station of the two feet of her, soaking (? viklíndu) namely visits [him]; unexpectedly (?) are they crushed who snuff at her with the mouth.

Whoever punches (ā-sku) the two ears of her, he falls under the wrath of the gods; if he thinks "I am making a mark," he makes his possessions less.

If, for any one's advantage, any one cuts off the tail-tuft of her, then his colts die, and the wolf slays his calves.

If of her, while being with her master, a crow hath vexed (hīḍ) the hair, then his boys die, [and] the yákṣma visits him unexpectedly (?).

If the lye, the dung of her a barbarian woman flings together, then is born what is deformed, what will not escape from that sin.

When being born, the cow (vaçā́) is born for (abhí) the gods together with the Brahmans; therefore she is to be given to the priests (brahmán); that people call the guarding (gópana) of one's possessions.

They who come to the winning (vaní) of her, theirs is the god-made cow ⌊vaçā́⌋; they called it bráhman-scathing, if anyone keeps her to himself.

Whoever is not willing to give the cow (gó) of the gods to the sons of seers that ask for her, he falls under the wrath of the gods and the fury of the Brahmans.

Whatever may be his use for the cow (vaçā́-), he should then seek another [cow]; she, ungiven, harms a man, if he is not willing to give her when asked for.

As a deposited treasure (çevadhí), so of the Brahmans is the cow (vaçā́); accordingly ⌊etát⌋ they come unto her, in whosesoever possession she is born.

They come thus unto their own property, namely the Brahmans unto the cow; as one might scathe them in any other respect (?), so is the keeping back of her.

She may go about until ⌊ā́⌋ the space of three years, being of unrecognized (vi-jñā) speech (-gada); should he know the cow, O Nārada, then the Brahmans are to be sought.

Whoever declares her to be not the cow, the deposited deposit of the gods, at him Bhava-and-Çarva, both, striding about, hurl the arrow.

Whoever knows not the udder of her, and likewise the teats of her, to him she yields milk with both, if he has been able to give the cow.

Door-damaging (?) lies she on him, if he is not willing to give her when asked for; he does not succeed in the desires which, without having given her, he would fain accomplish (cikīrṣa-).

The gods asked for the cow, having made the Brahman their mouth; the wrath (héḍa) of them all incurs (ni-i) the man (mā́nuṣa) who gives not.

He incurs the wrath of cattle (paçú) who gives not the cow to the Brahmans—if a mortal keeps to himself the deposited portion of the gods.

If a hundred other Brahmans should ask the cow of its master, yet (átha) the gods said of her: the cow is his who knoweth thus.

Whoever, not having given her to one who knoweth thus, then shall give the cow to others, hard to go upon for him in his station is the earth with its deity.

The gods asked the cow [of him] in whose possession she was first (ágre) born; that same one may Nārada know; together with the gods he drove her away.

The cow makes a man (pū́ruṣa) destitute of descendants, poor in cattle, if, when she is asked for by the Brahmans, then he keeps her to himself.

For Agni-and-Soma, for Love (kā́ma), for Mitra and for Varuṇa—for these the Brahmans ask her; under their wrath falls he who gives not.

So long as the master of her should not himself overhear the verses (ṛ́ç), so long may she go about among his kine (gó); she may not abide in his house after he has heard.

If any one, having overheard the verses of her, has then made her go about among his kine (gó), both the life-time and the growth of him do the gods, made wrathful, cut off (vraçc).

The cow, going about variously, the deposited deposit of the gods, manifests her forms, when she desires to go (?) to her station (sthā́man).

She manifests herself when she desires to go to her station; then the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ makes up her mind for the asking of the priests (brahmán).

She plans (sam-kḷp) [it] with her mind; then she goes unto the gods; thence the priests (brahmán) go on to ask for the cow.

By offering of svadhā́ to the Fathers, by sacrifice to the deities, by giving of the cow, the noble (rājanyà) does not incur (gam) the mother's wrath.

The cow is mother of the noble; so came it (n.) into being in the beginning; they call it a non-abandonment (? ánarpaṇa) of her that she is presented to the priests (brahmán).

As one might snatch (? ā-lup) from the spoon sacrificial butter held forth for the fire, so he who gives not the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ ⌊to the priests⌋ falls under the wrath of Agni.

With the sacrificial cake as calf, milking well, she draws near to him in the world; she yields (duh) to him all his desires—[namely,] the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ to him who has presented her.

All his desires, in Yama's realm, does the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ yield to him who has presented her; likewise they call hell the world of him who keeps her back when asked for.

Being impregnated, the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ goes about angry at her master: thinking me barren, let him be bound in the fetters of death.

And he who, thinking her barren, cooks the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ at home (amā́)—his sons and sons' sons also does Brihaspati cause to be asked for.

She sends down great heat, going about a cow (gó) among kine; further, to the master who has not given her the cow (vaçā́) milks poison.

It is a thing dear to the cattle that she is presented to the priests (brahmán); further, that is a thing dear to the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, that she be an oblation to the gods.

What cows the gods shaped out (ut-kḷp), rising up from the sacrifice, of them Nārada selected for himself the fearful viliptī́.

The gods questioned (mīmāṅs-) about her: is this a cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, or not a cow.' Of her Nārada said: she is of cows the most truly cow (vaçátama).

How many, pray (nú), Nārada, are the cows which thou knowest, born among men (manuṣyà-)? those I ask of thee who knowest; of which may a non-Brahman not partake (aç)?

The viliptī́, O Brihaspati, and the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ that has given birth to [such] a cow—of that one a non-Brahman who should hope for prosperity (bhū́ti) may not partake.

Homage be to thee, O Nārada; [be] the cow to him who at once knows it. Which one of them is the most fearful, not having given which, one would perish?

She that is viliptī́, O Brihaspati, further the cow that has given birth to [such] a cow—of that one a non-Brahman who should hope for prosperity may not partake.

Three verily are the kinds of cow: the vilipti, she that has given birth to [such] a cow, the [simple] cow yagd; these one should present to the priests (brahman), [then] he falls not under the wrath of Prajapati.

This, O Brahmans, is your oblation—so, when asked ⌊therefor⌋, should he think, if they should ask of him the cow, which in the house of him who has not given her is fearful.

The gods talked about the cow in wrath, saying: he hath not given it to us; with these verses (ṛ́c) [they talked about] Bheda; therefore indeed he perished.

And Bheda gave her not, when asked by Indra for the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋; for that offense the gods cut him off in the contest for superiority.

They who, wheedling, advise (vad) to the non-giving of the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, the villains fall under the fury of Indra through ignorance.

They who, leading away her master, then say: do not give—they, through ignorance, go to meet the hurled missile of Rudra.

If as offered (hu) and if as unoffered one cooks the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ in private (amā́), coming into collision with the gods accompanied by the Brahmans, he goes supine (jihmá) out of the world.
⌊Here ends the fourth anuvāka, with 1 hymn and 53 verses. The quoted Anukr. says saptabhir ūnā tu “vaçāḥ," i.e. 'the cows[-hymn] is a [sixty] deficient by seven.'⌋