By means of Agni as Hotr the gods defeated the Asuras. Recite for Agni as he is kindled', he says, for the overcoming of foes. He recites seventeen kindling-verses; Prajapati is seventeenfold; (verily it serves) to win Prajapati. He recites seventeen; there are twelve months and seven seasons, that is the year; offspring are born in the course of the year; (verily it serves) for the propagation of offspring. The gods, after reciting the kindling-verses, could not discern the sacrifice; Prajapati silently performed [1] the libation of ghee; then did the gods discern the sacrifice; in that silently he performs the libation of ghee, (it serves) for the revelation of the sacrifice. The sacrifice was with the Asuras; the gods took it by the silent offering; in that silently he performs the libation of ghee, he takes away the sacrifice of his foe. He rubs the enclosing-sticks; verily he purifies them. Thrice each he rubs them, for the sacrifice is thrice repeated; also (it serves) to smite away the Raksases. They make up twelve; the year has twelve [2] months; verily he delights the year, verily also he endows him with the year, for the gaining of the world of heaven. The libation of ghee is the head of the sacrifice, the fire is all the gods; in that he performs the libation of ghee, verily the sacrificer at the beginning of the sacrifice wins all the gods. The libation of ghee is the head of the sacrifice, the beast is the body; having performed the libation of ghee he anoints the beast; verily on the body of the sacrifice [3] he places the head. 'Let thy breath be united with the wind', he says; the breath has the wind for its deity; verily he offers its breath in the wind. 'Thy limbs with the sacrificers, the lord of the sacrifice with his prayer', he says; verily he causes the lord of the sacrifice to obtain its blessing. Vievarupa, Tvastr's son, vomited over the beast from above; therefore they do not cut off (portions) from the beast above; in that he anoints the beast from above, verily he makes it pure [4]. He chooses the priests, verily he chooses the metres, he chooses seven; there are seven tame animals, seven wild; there are seven metres, (and so it serves) to win both. He offers eleven fore-sacrifices; ten are the vital airs of the beast, the body is the eleventh; verily his fore-offerings are of the same size as the beast. One (of them) lies around the omentum; verily the body lies around the body. The axe is a thunderbolt, the splinter of the sacrificial post is a thunderbolt, the gods by making a thunderbolt of the ghee smote Soma. 'Anointed with ghee, do ye guard the beast', he says; verily, overpowering it by means of the thunderbolt, he offers it.