Verse 1

¹Nabhi wanted a child, and with Merudevi, who had borne none, he worshipped the Bhagavan, the Person of the sacrifice, holding his whole attention there. ²He sacrificed with trust and with a heart made clean, and while the pravargya rites were going forward the Bhagavan showed himself. He is hard to reach by any fitting together of substance and place and time and mantra and priest and fee and rule; but out of tenderness for those who are his own, fair to look at, his heart taken with the wish to do what his own people wanted, he made himself plain: unbeaten, going straight to the heart, lovely in every limb that gladdens the mind and the eye.

³He had shown two pairs of arms; he was golden, a Person unlike any other, wearing tawny silk, the Srivatsa shining on his chest, known by the conch, the fine lotus, the forest garland, the blade, the deathless jewel, the mace and the rest, and decked with a crown of clear rays, earrings, bracelets, waist-cord, necklace, armlets, anklets and other ornaments. The priests, the men of the assembly and the master of the house came before him with their heads bowed and their offerings and great honour, like poor men who have come into the highest wealth.