BRAHMANS who have kept their vows for a year, the frogs have raised their chorus, Inspired by Parjanya’s might, the music of the frogs blends with the cows’ lowing.
WHEN the rains pour down as if they were falling on a dry skin lying in the pool, The frogs sing in harmony, just like the cows with their calves beside them.
WHEN the rains come and the water pours upon them, quenching their thirst and longing, They seek each other out, greeting with joy as a son would greet his father.
EACH of these two embraces the other, reveling in the waters’ flow, As the frog moistened by the rain leaps forward, and Green and Spotty sing together.
WHEN one speaks the other’s language, as a student learns from his teacher, Your limbs grow stronger as you converse on the waters with eloquence.
ONE is Cow-bellow, the other Goat-bleat; one is Green, the other Spotty. Though they share a common name, their voices vary, and they sing differently.
AS BRAHMANS sit around the full vessel, reciting the Soma ritual of Atiratra, So, Frogs, you gather round the pool to honor this first day of the rainy season.
THESE BRAHMANS drink the Soma juice, performing their year-long rite, And these Adhvaryus, sweating with their kettles, come forth and show themselves, none hidden.
THEY keep the twelve months’ appointed order, and men never neglect the seasons. As soon as the rainy season returns in the year, the heated kettles gain their freedom.
COW-BELLOW and GOAT-BLEAT grant riches, and GREEN and SPOTTY bestow us treasure. The FROGS, giving us cows in hundreds, extend our lives in this most fertile season.