Summary: be propitious to us, and devote the malevolent spirits, or if this axe really sacrifices animals, may it be kind to the worshippers by keeping away evil influences or enemies. He begets children and wealth to him who worships him.” This hymn of the Atharva-Veda reveals the mystical and animistic facets of the Vedic religious belief in personifying natural phenomena and elements. It entreats divine favors from the deities for fertility, protection from enemies, and bountiful prosperity and invokes Agni, God of Fire, and Indra for blessings, sustenance, and victory, employing elaborate metaphors from nature and religious metaphysics.