I, 34. Charm with licorice, to secure the love of a woman.
1. This plant is born of honey, with honey do we
dig for thee. Of honey thou art begotten, do thou
make us full of honey !
2. At the tip of my tongue may I have honey, at my tongue’s root the sweetness of honey! In my
100 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
power alone shalt thou then be, thou shalt come up to my wish!
3. Sweet as honey is my entrance, sweet as honey
my departure. With my voice do I speak sweet as
honey, may I become like honey!
4. I am sweeter than honey, fuller of sweetness
than licorice. Mayest thou, without fail, long for
me alone, (as a bee) for a branch full of honey!
5. I have surrounded thee with a clinging sugar-
cane, to remove aversion, so that thou shalt not be
averse to me!
II, 30. Charm to secure the love of a woman.
1. As the wind tears this grass from the surface
of the earth, thus do I tear thy soul, so that thou,
woman, shalt love, shalt not be averse to me!
2. If ye, O two Asvins, shall unite and bring
together the loving pair—united are the fortunes of
both of you (lovers), united the thoughts, united the
purposes !
3. When birds desire to chirp, lustily desire to
chirp, may my call go there, as an arrow-point upon
the shaft !
4. What is within shall be without, what is with-
out shall be within! Take captive, O herb, the
soul of the maidens endowed with every charm!
5. Longing for a husband this woman hath come,
I have come longing for a wife. As a loudly neigh-
ing horse I have attained to my good fortune!
VI, 8. Charm to secure the love of a woman.
1, As the creeper embraces the tree on all sides, thus do thou embrace me, so that thou, woman,
Iv. Charms Pertaining to Women. Ioi
shalt love me, so that thou shalt not be averse to me!
2. As the eagle when he flies forth presses his
wings against the earth, thus do I fasten down thy
mind, so that thou, woman, shalt love me, so that
thou shalt not be averse to me.
3. As the sun day by day goes about this heaven
and earth, thus do I go about thy mind, so that
thou, woman, shalt love me, so that thou shalt not
be averse to me.
VI, 9. Charm to secure the love of a woman.
1. Hanker thou after my body, my feet, hanker
after my eyes, my thighs! The eyes of thee, as
thou lustest after me, and thy hair shall be parched
with love!
2. | make thee cling to my arm, cling to my
heart, so that thou shalt be in my power, shalt come
up to my wish!
3. The cows, the mothers of the ghee, who lick
their young, in whose heart love is planted, shall
make yonder woman bestow love upon me!
VI, 102. Charm to secure the love of a woman.
1. As this draught animal, O ye Asvins, comes
on, and proceeds, thus may thy soul come on, and
proceed to me!
2. I draw to myself thy mind, as the leading
stallion the female side-horse. As the stalk of
grass torn by the wind, thus shall thy mind fasten
itself upon me!
3. A coaxing mixture of salve, of sweet wood, of
kush//a, and of spikenard, do I deftly pick out with
the hands of Bhaga (good fortune).
102 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
III, 25. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a woman.
1. May (love), the disquieter, disquiet thee; do
not hold out upon thy bed! With the terrible -
arrow of Kama (love) do I pierce thee in the heart.
2. The arrow, winged with longing, barbed with
love, whose shaft is undeviating desire, with that,
well-aimed, K4ma shall pierce thee in the heart !
3. With that well-aimed arrow of Kama which
parches the spleen, whose plume flies forward, which
burns up, do I pierce thee in the heart.
4. Consumed by burning ardour, with parched
mouth, do thou (woman) come to me, pliant, (thy)
pride laid aside, mine alone, speaking sweetly and
to me devoted!
5. I drive thee with a goad from thy mother and
thy father, so that thou shalt be in my power, shalt
come up to my wish.
6. All her thoughts do ye, O Mitra and Varuza,
drive out of her! Then, having deprived her of her
will, put her into my power alone!
VI, 139. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a woman.
1. Clinging to the ground thou didst grow, (O
plant), that producest bliss for me; a hundred
branches extend from thee, three and thirty grow
down from thee: with this plant of a thousand
leaves thy heart do I parch.
2. Thy heart shall parch (with love) for me, and thy mouth shall parch (with love for me)! Languish.
Iv. Charms Pertaining to Women. 103
moreover, with love for me, with parched mouth pass thy days!
3. Thou that causest affection, kindlest (love),
brown, lovely (plant), draw (us) together; draw
together yonder woman and myself, our hearts make
the same!
4. As the mouth of him that hath not drunk dries
up, thus languish thou with love for me, with
patched mouth pass thy days!
5. As the ichneumon tears the serpent, and joins
him together again, thus, O potent (plant), join
together what hath been torn by love!
VII, 38. Charm to secure the love of a man.
1. This potent herb do I dig out: it draws toward
me the eye, causes (love’s) tears. It brings back
him who has gone to a distance, rejoices ‘him that
approaches me.
2. By (the plant) with which the Asuri allured
Indra away from the gods, by that do I subject thee,
that I may be well-beloved of thee!
3. Thy face is turned towards Soma (the moon),
thy face is turned towards Sadrya (the sun), thy face
is turned towards all the gods: ‘tis thee here that
we do invoke.
4. My speech, not thine, (in this matter) hath
weight: in the assembly, forsooth, do thou speak !
To me alone shalt thou belong, shalt not even
discourse of other women!
5. Whether thou art beyond the haunts of men,
or whether across the river, this very herb, as if
a captive bound, shall bring thee back to me!
104 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
VI, 130. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.
1. This yearning love comes from the Apsaras,
the victorious, imbued with victory. Ye gods, send
forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn
after me!
2. My wish is, he shall long for me, devoted he
shall long for me! Ye gods, send forth the yearning
love : may yonder man burn after me!
3. That yonder man shall long for me, (but) I for
him nevermore, ye gods, send forth the yearning
love: may yonder man burn after me!
4. Do ye, O Maruts, intoxicate him (with love) ;
do thou, O mid-air, intoxicate him; do thou, O Agni,
intoxicate him! May yonder man burn after me!
VI, 131. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.
1. From thy head unto thy feet do I implant
(love's) longing into thee. Ye gods, send forth the
yearning love: may yonder man burn after me!
_ 2. Favour this (plan), Anumati; fit it together,
Akati! Ye gods, send forth the yearning love:
may yonder man burn after me!
3. If thou dost run three leagues away, (or even)
five leagues, the distance coursed by a horseman,
from there thou shalt again return, shalt be the
father of our sons!
VI, 132. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.
1. Love's consuming longing, together with yearn-
Iv. Charms Pertaining to Women. to5
ing, which the gods have poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuza!
2. Love’s consuming longing, together with yearn-
ing, which the all-gods (visve deva#) have poured
into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law
of Varuza!
3. Love's consuming longing, together with yearn-
ing, which Indrazi has poured into the waters, that
do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuza!
4. Love’s consuming longing, together with yearn-
ing, which Indra and Agni have poured into the
waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of
Varuza ! |
5. Love's consuming longing, together with yearn-
ing, which Mitra and Varuza have poured into the
waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of
Varuza !
IV, 5. Charm at an assignation.
1. The bull with a thousand horns who rose out
of the sea, with the aid of him, the mighty one, do
we put the folks to sleep.
2. The wind blows not over the earth. No one
looks on. Do thou then, befriended of Indra, put
all women and dogs to sleep!
3. The women that lie upon couches and upon
beds, and they that rest in litters, the women all
that exhale sweet fragrance, do we put to sleep.
4. Every moving thing I have held fast. Eye
and breath | have held fast. I have held fast all
limbs in the deep gloom of the night.
5. Of him that sits, and him that walks, of him
that stands and looks about, of these the eyes we do
shut, just as these premises (are shut).
106 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
6. The mother shall sleep, the father shall sleep,
the dog shall sleep, the lord of the house shall sleep!
All her relations shall sleep, and these people round
about shall sleep!
7. O sleep, put thou to sleep all people with the
magic that induces sleep! Put the others to sleep
until the sun rises; may I be awake until the dawn
appears, like Indra, unharmed, uninjured!
VI, 77. Charm to cause the return of a truant woman.
1. The heavens have stood, the earth has stood,
all creatures have stood. The mountains have
stood upon their foundation, the horses in the stable
I have caused to stand.
2. Him that has control of departure, that has
control of coming home, return, and turning in, that
shepherd do I also call.
3. O Gatavedas (Agni), cause thou to turn in;
a hundred ways hither shall be thine, a thousand
modes of return shall be thine: with these do thou
restore us again!
VI, 18. Charm to allay jealousy.
1. The first impulse of jealousy, moreover the
one that comes after the first, the fire, the heart-.
burning, that do we waft away from thee.
2. As the earth is dead in spirit, in spirit more
dead than the dead, and as the spirit of him that
has died, thus shall the spirit of the jealous (man)
be dead!
3. Yon fluttering little spirit that has ‘been fixed
Iv. Charms Pertaining to Women. 107
into thy heart, from it the jealousy do I remove, as air from a water-skin.
VII, 45. Charm to allay jealousy.
1. From folk belonging to all kinds of people,
from the Sindhu (Indus) thou hast been brought
hither: from a distance, I ween, has been fetched
the -very remedy for jealousy.
2. As ifa fire is burning him, as if the forest-fire
burns in various directions, this jealousy of his do
thou quench, as a fire (is quenched) with water !
I, 14. A woman's incantation against her rival.
1. I have taken unto myself her fortune and her
glory, as a wreath off a tree. Like a mountain with
broad foundation may she sit a long time with her
parents !
2. This woman shall be subjected to thee as thy
wife, O king Yama; (till then) let her be fixed to
the house of her mother, or her brother, or her
father !
3. This woman shall be the keeper of thy house,
O king (Yama), and her do we make over to thee!
May she long sit with her relatives, until (her hair)
drops from her head!
4. With the incantation of Asita, of Kasyapa, and
of Gaya do I cover up thy fortune, as women cover
(something) within a chest.
III, 18. Charm of a woman against a rival or co-wife.
1. I dig up this plant, of herbs the most potent,
by whose power rival women are overcome, and
husbands are obtained.
108 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
2, O thou (plant) with erect leaves, lovely, do
thou, urged on by the gods, full of might, drive
away my rival, make my husband mine alone!
3. He did not, forsooth, call thy name, and thou
shalt not delight in this husband! To the very
farthest distance do we drive our rival.
4. Superior am I, O superior (plant), superior
truly, to superior (women). Now shall my rival b-
inferior to those that are inferior !
5. I am overpowering, and thou, (O plant), art
completely overpowering. Having both grown full
of power, let us overpower my rival!
6. About thee (my husband) I have placed the
overpowering (plant), upon thee placed the very
overpowering one. May thy mind run after me as
a calf after the cow, as water along its course !