3. Thou, horse, art YAMA: thou art A’DITYA: thou art TRITA by a mysterious act: thou art associated with SOMA. The sages have said there are three bindings of thee in heaven. 4. They have said that three are thy bindings in heaven; three upon earth; and three in the firmament. Thou declarest to me, Horse, who art (one with) VARUN̂A, that which they have called thy most excellent birth. 5. I have beheld, Horse, these thy purifying (regions); these impressions of the feet of thee, who sharest in the sacrifice; and here thy auspicious reins, which are the protectors of the rite that preserve it. 6. I recognise in my mind thy form afar off, going from (the earth) below, by way of heaven, to the sun. I behold thy head soaring aloft, and mounting quickly by unobstructed paths, unsullied by dust. 7. I behold thy most excellent form coming eagerly to (receive) thy food in thy (holy) place of earth; when thy attendant brings thee nigh to the enjoyment (of the provender), therefore greedy, thou devourest the fodder. 8. The car follows thee, O Horse: men attend thee; cattle follow thee; the loveliness of maidens (waits) upon thee; troops of demi-gods following thee have sought thy friendship; the gods themselves have been admirers of thy vigour. 9. His mane is of gold; his feet are of iron; and fleet as thought, INDRA is his inferior (in speed). The gods have come to partake of his (being offered as) oblation; the first who mounted the horse was INDRA. 10. The full-haunched, slender-waisted, high-spirited, and celestial coursers (of the sun), gallop along like swans in rows, when the horses spread along the heavenly path. 11. Thy body, horse, is made for motion; thy mind is rapid (in intention) as the wind; the hairs (of thy mane) are tossed in manifold directions; and spread beautiful in the forests. 12. The swift horse approaches the place of immolation, meditating with mind intent upon the gods; the goat bound to him is led before him; after him follow the priests and the singers. 13. The horse proceeds to that assembly which is most excellent: to the presence of his father and his mother (heaven and earth). Go, (Horse), to-day rejoicing to the gods, that (the sacrifice) may yield blessings to the donor. Many passages in this hymn, such as those in verse 3 referring to Trita and Soma, may suggest corroborative astronomic observations,[126] but I would here especially refer to the description, verse 1, of the horse possessing “the wings of the falcon,” and in verse 6 to the words, “I behold _thy head soaring aloft_, and mounting quickly by unobstructed paths, unsullied by dust.” [126] V. pp. 176, 177. As I read these hymns I cannot think merely of an actual horse led to sacrifice, but of the winged celestial Pegasus; nor is it easy to think of that celestial horse as it is at present depicted, _reversed_ in the sky.