VIII, 8. Battle-charm.
1. May Indra churn (the enemy), he, the churner,
Sakra (mighty), the hero, that pierces the forts, so
that we shall slay the armies of the enemies a
thousandfold !
2. May the rotten rope, wafting itself against
yonder army, turn it into a stench. When the
enemies see from afar our smoke and fire, fear shall
they lay into their hearts !
3. Tear asunder those (enemies), O asvattha
11S HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
(ficus religiosa), devour (khada) them, O khadira
(acacia catechu) in lively style! Like the tagad-—
bhanga (ricinus communis) they shall be broken
(bhagyantam), may the vadhaka (a certain kind of
tree) slay them with his weapons (vadhaiZ) !
4. May the knotty 4hva-plant put knots upon
yonder (enemies), may the vadhaka slay them with
his weapons! Bound up in (our) great trap-net,
they shall quickly be broken as an arrow-reed!
5. Ihe atmosphere was the net, the great regions
(of space) the (supporting) poles of the net: with
these Sakra (mighty Indra) did surround and scatter
the army of the Dasyus.
6. Great, forsooth, is the net of great Sakra, who
is rich in steeds: with it infold thou all the enemies,
so that not one of them shall be released !
7. Great is the net of thee, great Indra, hero, that
art equal to a thousand, and hast hundredfold might.
With that (net) Sakra slew a hundred, thousand,
ten thousand, a hundred million foes, having sur-
rounded them with (his) army.
8. This great world was the net of great Sakra :
with this net of Indra I infold all those (enemies)
yonder in darkness.
9. With great dejection, failure, and irrefragable
misfortune; with fatigue, lassitude, and confusion,
do I surround all those (enemies) yonder.
10. To death do I hand them over, with the.
fetters of death they have been bound. To the evil
messengers of death do I lead them captive.
11. Guide ye those (foes), ye messengers of death; ye messengers of Yama, infold them! Let more
than thousands be slain; may the club of Bhava crush them !
V. Charms Pertaining to Royalty. Ii9
12. The Sadhyas (blessed) go holding up with
might one support of the net, the Rudras another,
the Vasus another. (Still) another is upheld by the
Adityas.
13. All the gods shall go pressing from above
with might; the Angiras shall go on the middle (of
the net), slaying the mighty army!
14. The trees, and (growths) that are like trees,
the plants and the herbs as well; two-footed and
four-footed creatures do I impel, that they shall slay
yonder army |! 3
15. [he Gandharvas and Apsaras, the serpents
and the gods, holy men and (deceased) Fathers, the ©
visible and invisible (beings), do I impel, that they
shall slay yonder army!
16. Scattered here are the fetters of death; when
thou steppest upon them thou shalt not escape!
May this hammer slay (the men) of yonder army by
the thousand!
17. The gharma (sacrificial hot drink) that has
been heated by the fire, this sacrifice (shall) slay
thousands! Do ye, Bhava and Sarva, whose arms
are mottled, slay yonder army!
18. Into the (snare of) death they shall fall, into
hunger, exhaustion, slaughter, and fear! O Indra and
Sarva, do ye with trap and net slay yonder army!
19. Conquered, O foes, do ye flee away; repelled
by (our) charm, do ye run! Of yonder host, re-
pulsed by Brzhaspati, not one shall be saved!
20. May their weapons fall from their (hands),
may they be unable to lay the arrow on (the bow)!
And then (our) arrows shall smite them, badly
frightened, in their vital members!
21. Heaven and earth shall shriek at them, and
I20 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
the atmosphere, along with the divine powers!
Neither aider, nor support did they find; smiting
one another they shall go to death!
22. The four regions are the she-mules of the
god’s chariot, the purodasas (sacrificial rice-cakes)
the hoofs, the atmosphere the seat (of the wagon).
Heaven and earth are its two sides, the seasons
the reins, the intermediate regions the attendants,
Vaz (speech) the road.
23. The year is the chariot, the full year is the
body of the chariot, Virag the pole, Agni the front
part of the chariot. Indra is the (combatant) stand-
ing on the left of the chariot, Kandramas (the moon)
the charioteer.
24. Do thou win here, do thou conquer here,
overcome, win, hail! These here shall conquer,
those yonder be conquered! Hail to these here,
perdition to those yonder! Those yonder do I
envelop in blue and red!
I, 19. Battle-charm against arrow-wounds.
1. The piercing (arrows) shall not hit us, nor
shall’ the striking arrows hit us! Far away from
us, O Indra, to either side, cause the arrow-shower
to fall!
2. To either side of us the arrows shall fall, those
that have been shot and shall be shot! Ye divine
and ye human arrows, pierce ye mine enemies!
3. Be he our own, or be he strange, the kinsman,
or the foreigner, who bear enmity towards us, those
enemies of mine Rudra shall pierce with a shower
of arrows !
4. Him that rivals us, or does not rival us, him
V. CHARMS PERTAINING TO ROYALTY. r21
that curses us with hate, may all the gods injure: my charm protects me from within !
III, 1. Battle-charm for confusing the enemy.
1. Agni shall skilfully march against our oppo-
nents, burning against their schemes and _ hostile
plans; GAtavedas shall confuse the army of our
opponents and deprive them (of the use) of their
hands !
2. Ye Maruts are migtiey in such matters: ad-
vance ye, crush ye, conquer ye(the enemy)! These
Vasus when implored did crush (them). Agni,
verily, as their vanguard shall skilfully attack!
3. O Maghavan, "the hostile army which contends
against us—do ye, O Indra, Vvztra’s slayer, and
Agni, burn against them!
4. Thy thunderbolt, O Indra, who hast been
driven forward swiftly by thy two bay steeds,
shall advance, crushing the enemies. Slay them
that resist, pursue, or flee, deprive their schemes of
fulfilment!
5. O Indra, confuse the army of the enemy; with
the impact of the fire and the wind scatter them to
either side!
6. Indra shall confuse the army, the Maruts shall
slay it with might! Agni shall rob it of its sight ;
vanquished it shall turn about!
III, 2. Battle-charm for confusing the enemy.
1. Agni, our skilful vanguard, shall attack, burn-
ing against their schemes and hostile plans! GAta-
vedas shall bewilder the plans of the enemy, and
deprive them (of the use) of their hands!
2. This fire has confused the schemes that are in
your mind; it shall blow you from your home, blow you away from everywhere !
3. O Indra, bewildering their schemes, come
hither with thy (own) plan: with the impact of the
fire and the wind scatter them to either side!
4. Oye plans of theirs, fly ye away; O ye schemes,
be ye confused! Moreover, what now is in their
mind, do thou drive that out of them!
5- Do thou, O (goddess) Apvd, confusing their
plans, go forth (to them), and seize their limbs!
Attack them, burn with flames into their hearts;
strike the enemy with fits, (strike our) opponents
with darkness!
6. That army yonder of the enemy, that comes
against us fighting with might, do ye, O Maruts,
strike with planless darkness, that one of them shall
not know the other!
VI, 97. Battle-charm of a king upon the eve of battle.
I. Superior is the sacrifice, superior Agni, superior
Soma, superior Indra. To the end that I shall be
superior to all hostile armies do we thus, offering
the agnihotra, reverently present this oblation !
2. Hail be, ye wise Mitra and Varuza: with
honey swell ye our kingdom here, (so that it shall)
abound in offspring! Drive far to a distance mis-
fortune, strip off from us sin, even after it has been
committed !
3. With inspiration follow ye this strong hero;
cling close, ye friends, to Indra (the king), who
conquers villages, conquers cattle, has the thunder-
bolt in his arm, overcomes the host arrayed (against
him), crushing it with might!
Ms CHARMS PERTAINING TO ROYALTY. 123
VI, 99. Battle-charm of a king on the eve of battle.
1. I call upon thee, O Indra, from afar, upon thee
for protection against tribulation. I call the strong
avenger that has many names, and is of unequalled
birth.
2. Where the hostile weapon now rises against us,
threatening to slay, there do we place the two arms
of Indra round about. |
3. Ihe two arms of Indra, the protector, do we
place round about us: let him protect us! O god.
Savitar, and king Soma, render me of confident
mind, that I may prosper!
XI, 9. Prayer to Arbudi and Nyarbudi for help in battle.
1. The arms, the arrows, and the might of the
bows; the swords, the axes, the weapons, and the
artful scheme that is in our mind; all that, O Arbudi,
do thou make the enemies see, and spectres also
make them see!
2. Arise, and arm yourselves; friends are ye, O
divine folk! May our friends be perceived and
protected by you, O Arbudi (and Nyarbudi) !
3. Arise (ye two), and take hold! With fetters
and shackles surround ye the armies of the enemy,
O Arbudi (and Nyarbudi)!
4. The god whose name is Arbudi, and the lord
Nyarbudi, by whom the atmosphere and this great
earth has been infolded, with these two companions
of Indra do I pursue the conquered (king) with my
army.
I24 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
5. Arise, thou divine person, O Arbudi, together
with thy army! Crushing the army of the enemy,
encompass them with thy embraces!
6. Thou, Arbudi, makest appear the sevenfold
spectral brood. Do thou, when the oblation has
been poured, rise up with all these, together with
the army!
7. (The female mourner), beating herself, with
tear-stained face, with short (mutilated ?) ears, with
dishevelled hair, shall lament, when a man has been
slain, pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
8. She curves her spine while longing in her
heart for her son, her husband, and her kin, when
(a man) has been pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
g. The aliklavas and the gdshkamadas, the vul-
tures, the strong-winged hawks, the crows, and the
birds (of prey) shall obtain their fill! Let them
make evident to the enemy, when (a man) has been
pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
10, Then, too, every wild beast, insect, and worm
shall obtain his fill on the human carcass, when
(a man) has been pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
II, Seize ye, and tear out in-breathing and out-
breathing, O Nyarbudi (and Arbudi): deep-sounding
groans shall arise! Let them make it evident to
the enemy, when (a man) has been pierced by thee,
O Arbudi!
12. ‘Scare them forth, let them tremble; bewilder
the enemies with fright! With thy broad embrace,
with the clasp of thy arms crush the enemies, O
Nyarbudi!
13. May their arms, and the artful scheme that is
in their mind be confused! Nota thing shall remain
of them, pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
V. Charms Pertaining to Royalty. 125
14. May (the mourning women) beating them-
selves, run together, smiting their breasts and their
thighs, not anointed, with dishevelled hair, howling,
when a man has been slain, has been pierced by
thee, O Arbudi!
15. The dog-like Apsaras, and also the Riaipakds
(phantoms), the plucking sprite, that eagerly licks
within the vessel, and her that seeks out what has
been carelessly hidden, all those do thou, O Arbudi,
make the enemies see, and spectres also make
them see!
16. (And also make them see) her that strides
upon the mist, the mutilated one, who dwells with ©
the mutilated ; the vapoury spooks that are hidden,
and the Gandharvas and Apsaras, the serpents, and
other brood, and the Rakshas !
17. (And also) the spooks with fourfold teeth,
black teeth, testicles like a pot, bloody faces, who
are inherently frightful, and terrifying!
18. Frighten thou, O Arbudi, yonder lines of the
enemy; the conquering and the victorious (Arbudi
and Nyarbudi), the two comrades of Indra, shall
conquer the enemies !
19. Dissolved, crushed, slain the enemy shall lie,
O Nyarbudi! May victorious sprites, with fiery
tongues and smoky crests, go with (our) army!
20. Of the enemies repulsed by this (army), O
Arbudi, Indra, the spouse of Safi, shall slay each
picked man: not a single one of those yonder shall
escape |
21. May their hearts burst, may their life’s breath
escape upward! May dryness of the mouth over-
take (our) enemies, but not (our) allies!
22. Those who are bold and those who are
126 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
cowardly, those who turn (in flight) and those who
are deaf (to danger ?), those who are (like) dark
goats, and those, too, who bleat like goats, all those,
do thou, O Arbudi, make the enemies see, and
spectres also make them see!
23. Arbudi and Trishawdhi shall pierce our
enemies, so that, O Indra, slayer of Vvztra, spouse
of Safi, we may slay the enemy by thousands!
24. The trees, and (growths) that are like trees,
the plants and the herbs as well, the Gandharvas
and the Apsaras, the serpents, gods, pious men, and
(departed) Fathers, all those, O Arbudi, do thou
make the enemies see, and spectres also make
them see!
25. The Maruts, god Aditya, Brahmazaspati did
rule over you; Indra and Agni, Dhatar, Mitra, and
Pragapati did rule over you; the seers did rule over
you. Let them make evident to the enemies when
(a man) has been pierced by thee, O Arbudi!
26. Ruling over all these, rise ye and arm your-
selves! Ye divine folk are (our) friends: win ye
the battle, and disperse to your various abodes !