Atharvaveda 18.2

For Yama the soma purifies itself; for Yama is made the oblation; to Yama goes the sacrifice, messengered by Agni, made satisfactory.

Offer ye to Yama what is most honeyed, and stand forth; this homage to the former-born, the former, the path-making seers.

Unto Yama the king offer ye an oblation, milk rich in ghee; he furnishes (ā-yam) to us among the living a long life-time, for living on.

Do not, O Agni, burn him up; do not be hot upon (abhi-çuc) him; do not warp (kṣip) his skin, nor his body; when thou shalt make him done, O Jātavedas, then send him forward unto the Fathers.

When thou shalt make him done, O Jātavedas, then commit him to the Fathers; when he shall go to that other life (ásunīti), then shall he become a controller (? vaçanī́) of the gods.

With the trikadrukas it purifies itself; six wide ones, verily one great one; triṣṭúbh, gāyatrī́, the meters: all those [are] set in Yama.

Go thou to the sun with thine eye, to the wind with thy soul (ātmán); go both to heaven and to earth with [their] due shares (? dhárman); or go to the waters, if there it is acceptable (hitá) to thee; in the herbs stand firm with thy bodies.

The goat is the share of the heat (tápas); heat thou that; that let thine ardor (çocís) heat, that thy flame (arcís); what propitious bodies (tanū́) are thine, O Jātavedas, with them carry him to the world of the well-doing.

What ardors (çocí), swiftnesses (ráṅhi) are thine, O Jātavedas, with which thou fillest the sky, the atmosphere, let them collect (sam-ṛ) after the goat as he goes; then with other most propitious ones make him propitious.

Release again, O Agni, to the Fathers him who goes (car) offered to thee, with svadhā́; clothing himself in life (ā́yus), let him go unto [his] posterity (? çéṣas); let him be united with a body, very splendid.

Run thou past the two four-eyed, brindled dogs of Saramā, by a happy (sādhú) road; then go unto the beneficent Fathers, who revel in common revelry with Yama.

What two defending dogs thou hast, O Yama, four-eyed, sitting by the road, men-watching, with them, O king, do thou surround him; assign to him well-being and freedom from disease.

Broad-nosed, feeding on lives (? asutṛ́p), copper-colored, Yama's two messengers go about after men (jána); let them give us back here today excellent life (ásu), to see the sun.

Soma purifies itself for some; some wait upon (upa-ās) ghee; for whom honey runs forward (?), unto them do thou go.

They who of old were won by right, born of right, increasers of right—to the seers rich in fervor (tápas-), born of fervor, O Yama, do thou go.

They who by fervor are unassailable, who by fervor have gone to heaven (svàr), who made fervor their greatness, unto them do thou go.

They who fight in the contests (pradhána), who are self-sacrificing (tanūtyáj) heroes, or who give thousand-fold sacrificial gifts, unto them do thou go.

Poets (kaví) of a thousand lays (-nīthá), who guard the sun—to the seers rich in fervor, born of fervor, O Yama, do thou go.

Be pleasant to him, O earth, a thornless resting-place; furnish him broad refuge.

In the unoppressive wide space (loká) of earth be thou deposited; what svadhā́s thou didst make when living, be they dripping with honey for thee.

I call thy mind hither with mind; come unto these houses, enjoying [them]; unite thyself with the Fathers, with Yama; let pleasant, helpful (? çagmá) winds blow thee unto [them].

Let the water-carrying, water-floating Maruts carry thee up, making [thee] cool by the goat, let them sprinkle [thee] with rain, splash!

I have called up life-time unto life-time, unto ability (krátu), unto dexterity, unto life; let thy mind go to its own ⌊pl.⌋; then run unto the Fathers.

Let nothing whatever of thy mind, nor of thy life (ásu), nor of thy members, nor of thy sap, nor of thy body, be left here.

Let not the tree oppress thee, nor the great divine earth; having found a place (loká) among the Fathers, thrive (edh) thou among those whose king is Yama.

What limb of thine is put over at a distance, and what expiration [or] breath has gone forth upon the wind (?), let the associated (sánīḍa) Fathers, assembling, make that enter thee again, bit (ghāsá) from bit.

The living have excluded this man from their houses; carry ye him out, forth from this village; death was the kindly messenger of Yama; he made his life-breaths (ásu) go to the Fathers.

What barbarians (dásyu), having entered among the Fathers, having faces of acquaintances, go about, eating what is not sacrificed, who bear parāpúr [and] nipúr—Agni shall blast (dham) them forth from this sacrifice.

Let there enter together (sam-viç) here our own Fathers, doing what is pleasant, lengthening [our] life-time; may we be able to reach them with oblation, living long for numerous autumns.

What milch-cow I set down (ni-pṛ) for thee, and what rice-dish for thee in milk (kṣīrá)—with that mayest thou be the supporter of the person (jána) who is there (átra) without a living.

Pass forward [over a stream] rich in horses, which is very propitious, or, further on, an ṛkṣā́ka, more new; he who slew thee, be he one to be killed; let him not find any other portion.

Yama beyond, below Vivasvant—beyond that do I see nothing whatever; into Yama has entered my sacrifice; Vivasvant stretched after the worlds (bhū́).

They hid away the immortal one (f.) from mortals; having made one of like color, they gave her to Vivasvant; what that was carried also the two Açvins; and Saraṇyū deserted two twins.

They that are buried, and they that are scattered (vap) away, they that are burned and they that are set up (úddhita)—all those Fathers, O Agni, bring thou to eat the oblation.

They who, burned with fire, [and] who, not burned with fire, revel on svadhā́ in the midst of heaven—them thou knowest, if thine, O Jātavedas; let them enjoy with svadhā́ the sacrifice, the svádhiti.

Burn (tap) thou propitiously (çám); do not burn overmuch; O Agni, do not burn the body; be thy vehemence (çúṣma) in the woods; on the earth be what is thy violence (háras).

I give this release to him who hath thus come and hath become mine here—thus replies the knowing Yama—let this one approach (upa-sthā) my wealth here.

This measure do we measure, so that one may not measure further; in a hundred autumns, not before.

This measure do we measure forth, so that etc. etc.

This measure do we measure off, so that etc. etc.

This measure do we measure apart, so that etc. etc.

This measure do we measure out, so that etc. etc.

This measure do we measure up, so that etc. etc.

This measure do we measure together, so that etc. etc.

I have measured the measure, I have gone to heaven (svàr); may I be long-lived; so that etc. etc.

Breath, expiration, through-breathing (vyāná), life-time, an eye to see the sun: by a road not beset with enemies (-pára) go thou to the Fathers whose king is Yama.

They that departed unmarried [but] assiduous, abandoning hatreds, having no progeny—they, going up to heaven (div), have found a place (loká), ⌊they,⌋ shining (? dī́dhyāna) upon the back of the firmament.

Watery is the lowest heaven (dív), full of stars (? pīlu-) is called the midmost; the third is called the fore-heaven (pradív), in which the Fathers sit.

They that are our father's fathers, that are [his] grandfathers, that entered the wide atmosphere, they that dwell upon earth and heaven (dív)—to those Fathers would we pay worship with homage.

This time, verily, not further (áparam), seest thou the sun in the heaven (dív); as a mother her son with her hem (síc), do thou cover him, O earth.

This time, verily; not further; in old age another further than this; as a wife her husband with her garment, do thou cover him, O earth (bhū́mi).

I cover thee excellently with the garment of mother earth; what is excellent among the living, that with me; svadhā́ among the Fathers, that with thee.

O Agni-and-Soma, makers of roads, ye have distributed (vi-dhā) to the gods a pleasant treasure [and] world; send ye unto [us] Pūshan, who shall carry by goat-traveled roads him that goes thither.

Let Pūshan, knowing, urge thee forth from here—he, the shepherd of creation (bhúvana) who loses no cattle; may he commit thee to those Fathers, [and] Agni to the beneficent gods.

May life-time, having all life-time, protect thee about; let Pūshan protect thee in front on the forward road; where sit the well-doers, whither they have gone, there let god Savitar set thee.

I yoke for thee these two conveyers ⌊váhni⌋, to convey (vah) thee to the other life; with them to Yama's seat and to the assemblies go thou down (áva).

This garment hath now come first to thee; remove (apa-ūh) that one which thou didst wear here before; knowing, do thou follow along with what is offered and bestowed, where it is given thee variously among them of various connection (? víbandhu).

Wrap about thee of kine a protection from the fire; cover thyself up with grease and fatness, lest the bold one, exulting with violence (háras), shake thee strongly (dadṛ́ḥ) about, intending to consume thee.

Taking the staff from the hand of the deceased man (gatā́su), together with hearing, splendor, strength—thou just there, here may we, rich in heroes, conquer all scorners [and] evil plotters.

Taking the bow from the hand of the dead man, together with authority (kṣatrá), splendor, strength—take thou hold upon much prosperous good; come thou hitherward unto the world of the living.