carnage arise, may the arrow not fly when the day of Indra has arrived!
VI, 64. Charm to allay discord.
1. Do ye agree, unite yourselves, may your minds
be in harmony, just as the gods of old in harmony
sat down to their share!
2. Same be their counsel, same their assembly,
same their aim, in common their thought! The
‘same’ oblation do I sacrifice for you: do ye enter
upon the same plan!
3. Same be your intention, same your hearts!
Same be your mind, so that it may be perfectly in
common to you!
VI, 42. Charm to appease anger.
1. As the bowstring from the bow, thus do I take
off thy anger from thy heart, so that, having become
of the same mind, we shall associate like friends!
2. Like friends we shall associate—I take off thy
anger. Under a stone that is heavy do we cast
thy anger.
3. I step upon thy anger with my heel and my
fore-foot, so that, bereft of will, thou shalt not speak,
shalt come up to my wish!
Vi. Charms to Secure Harmony, Etc. 137
VI, 43. Charm to appease anger.
1. This darbha-grass removes the anger of both
kinsman and of stranger. And this remover of
wrath, ‘appeaser of wrath’ it is called.
2. This darbha-grass of many roots, that reaches
down into the ocean, having risen from the earth,
‘appeaser of wrath’ it is called.
3. Away we take the offensiveness that is in thy
jaw, away (the offensiveness) in thy mouth, so that,
bereft of will, thou shalt not speak, shalt come up
to my wish!
II, 27. Charm against opponents in debate, undertaken with the pa/a-plant.
1. May the enemy not win the debate! Thou art
mighty and overpowering. Overcome the debate
of those that debate against us, render them devoid
of force, O plant!
2. An eagle found thee out, a boar dug thee out
with his snout. Overcome the debate of those
that debate against us, render them devoid of force,
O plant!
3. Indra placed thee upon his arm in order to
overthrow the Asuras. Overcome the debate of
those that debate against us, render them devoid
of force, O plant!
4. Indra did eat the pa/4-plant, in order to over-
throw the Asuras. Overcome the debate of those
that debate against us, render them devoid of force,
O plant!
5. By means of thee I shall conquer the enemy,
138 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
as Indra (conquered) the Salavvzkas. Overcome
the debate of those that debate against us, render
them devoid of force, O plant!
6. O Rudra, whose remedy is the urine, with
black crest of hair, performer of (strong) deeds—
overcome thou the debate of those that debate
against us, render them devoid of force, O plant!
7. Overcome thou the debate of him that is
hostile to us, O Indra! Encourage us with thy
might! Render me superior in debate!
VII, 12. Charm to procure influence in the assembly..
1. May assembly and meeting, the two daughters
of Pragapati, concurrently aid me! May he with
whom I shall meet co-operate with me; may I, O ye
Fathers, speak agreeably to those assembled !
2. We know thy name, O assembly: ‘mirth,
verily, is thy name; may all those that sit assem-
bled in thee utter speech in harmony with me!
3. Of them that are sitting together I take to
myself the power and the understanding: in this
entire gathering render, O Indra, me successful !
4. If your mind has wandered to a distance, or
has been enchained here or there, then do we turn
it hither: may your mind take delight in me!
VI, 94. Charm to bring about submission to one’s will.
1. Your minds, your purposes, your plans, do we
cause to bend. Ye persons yonder, that are devoted
to other purposes, we cause you to comply!
2. With my mind do I seize your minds: do ye
Vi. Charms to Secure Harmony, Etc. 139
with your thoughts follow my thought! I place
your hearts in my control: come ye, directing your
way after my course!
3. I have called upon heaven and earth, I have
called upon the goddess Sarasvati, I have called
upon both Indra and ge may we succeed in this,
O Sarasvatt!
VII.
CHARMS TO SECURE PROSPERITY IN HOUSE, FIELD,
CATTLE, BUSINESS, GAMBLING, AND KINDRED
MATTERS.
III, 12. Prayer at the building of a house.
1. Right here do I erect a firm house: may it
stand upon a (good) foundation, dripping with ghee!
Thee may we inhabit, O house, with heroes all,
with strong heroes, with uninjured heroes!
2. Right here, do thou, O house, stand firmly,
full of horses, full of cattle, full of abundance! Full
of sap, full of ghee, full of milk, elevate thyself unto
oreat happiness!
3. A supporter art thou, O house, with broad
roof, containing purified grain! To thee may the
calf come, to thee the child, to thee the milch-cows,
when they return in the evening !
4. May Savitar, Vayu, Indra, Brzhaspati cunningly
erect this house! May the Maruts sprinkle it with
moisture and with ghee; may king Bhaga let our
ploughing take root!
5. O mistress of dwelling, as a sheltering and
kindly goddess thou wast erected by the gods in
the beginning; clothed in grass, be thou kindly dis-
posed; give us, moreover, wealth along with heroes!
6. Do thou, O cross-beam, according to regulation
ascend the post, do thou, mightily ruling, hold off
the enemies! May they that approach thee rever-
Vii. Charms to Secure Prosperity. 141
ently, O house, not suffer injury, may we with all our heroes live a hundred autumns!
7. Hither to this (house) hath come the tender
child, hither the calf along with (the other) domestic
animals; hither the vessel (full) of liquor, together
with bowls of sour milk!
8. Carry forth, O woman, this full jar, a stream
of ghee mixed with ambrosia! Do thou these
drinkers supply with ambrosia; the sacrifice and
the gifts (to the Brahmans) shall it (the house)
protect !
9g. These waters, free from disease, destructive of
disease, do I carry forth. The chambers do I enter
in upon together with the immortal Agni (fire).
VI, 142. Blessing during the sowing of seed.
1. Raise thyself up, grow thick by thy own might,
O grain! Burst every vessel! The lightning in the
heavens shall not destroy thee!
2. When we invoke thee, god grain, and thou
dost listen, then do thou raise thyself up like the
sky, be inexhaustible as the sea! |
3. Inexhaustible shall be those that attend to
thee, inexhaustible thy heaps! They who give thee
as a present shall be inexhaustible, they who eat
thee shall be inexhaustible !
VI, 79. Charm for procuring increase of grain.
1. May this bounteous Nabhasaspati (the lord of
the cloud) preserve for us (possessions) without
measure in our house!
2. Do thou, O Nabhasaspati, keep strengthening
I42 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
food in our house, may prosperity and goods come hither ! 3
3. O bounteous god, thou dost command thou-
sandfold prosperity: of that do thou bestow upon
us, of that do thou give us, in that may we share
with thee!
VI, 50. Exorcism of vermin infesting grain in the field.
1. Slay ye the tarda (‘borer’), the samanka
(‘hook’), and the mole, O Asvins; cut off their
heads, and crush their ribs! Shut their mouths, that
they shall not eat the barley; free ye, moreover,
the grain from danger !
2. Ho tarda (‘borer’), ho locust, ho gabhya
(‘snapper’), upakvasa! As a Brahman (eats not) an
uncompleted sacrifice, do ye, not eating this barley,
without working injury, get out!
3. O husband of the tarda (-female), O husband
of the vagha (-female), ye of the sharp teeth, listen
to me! The vyadvaras (‘rodents’) of the forest,
and whatever other vyadvaras (there are), all these
we do crush.
VII, 11. Charm to protect grain from lightning.
With thy broad thunder, with the beacon, elevated
by the gods that pervade this all, with the lightning
do thou not destroy our grain, O god; nor do thou
destroy it with the rays of the sun!
II, 26. Charm for the prosperity of cattle.
1. Hither shall come the cattle which have strayed to a distance, whose companionship Vayu
Vii. Charms to Secure Prosperity. 143
(the wind) enjoys! (The cattle) whose structure of
form Tvashzar knows, Savitar shall hold in place in
this stable! |
2. To this stable the cattle shall flow together,
Brzhaspati skilfully shall conduct them hither!
Sinivali shall conduct hither their van: do thou,
O Anumati, hold them in place after they have
arrived !
3. May the cattle, may the horses, and may the
domestics flow together; may the increase of the
grain flow together! I sacrifice with an oblation
that causeth to flow together!
4. I pour together the milk of the cows, I pour |
together strength and sap with the ghee. Poured
together shall be our heroes, constant shall be the
cows with me the owner of the cows!
5. | bring hither the milk of the cows, I have
brought hither the sap of the grain. Brought
hither are our heroes, brought hither to this house
are our wives!
III, 14. Charm for the prosperity of cattle.
1. With a firmly founded stable, with wealth, with
well-being, with the name of that which is born on
a lucky day do we unite you (O cattle) !
2. May Aryaman unite you, may Pishan, Bvz-
haspati, and Indra, the conqueror of booty, unite
you! Do ye prosper my possessions!
3. Flocking together without fear, making ordure
in this stable, holding honey fit for soma, free from
disease, ye shall come hither !
4. Right here come, ye cows, and prosper here
like the saka-bird! And right here do ye beget
(your young)! May ye be in accord with me!
144 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
5. May your stable be auspicious to you, prosper
ye like the sari-birds and parrots! And right
here do ye beget (your young)! With us do we
unite you.
6. Attach yourselves, O cows, to me as your pos-
sessor; may this stable here cause you to prosper!
Upon you, growing numerous, and living, may we,
increasing in wealth, alive, attend !
VI, 59. Prayer to the plant arundhati for pro- tection to cattle.
1. Thy foremost protection, O Arundhati, do thou
bestow upon steer and milch-kine, upon (cattle of)
the age when weaned from their mother, upon (all)
four-footed creatures !
2. May Arundhati, the herb, bestow protection
along with the gods, render full of sap the stable,
free from disease our men!
3. [he variegated, lovely, life-giving (plant) do
I invoke. May she carry away for us, far from the
cattle, the missile hurled by Rudra!
VI, 70. Charm to secure the attachment of a cow to her calf.
1. As meat, and liquor, and dice (abound) at the
gambling-place, as the heart of the lusty male
hankers after the woman, thus shall thy heart, O
cow, hanker after the calf!
2. As the elephant directs his steps after the
steps of the female, as the heart of the lusty male
hankers after the woman, thus shall thy heart, O
cow, hanker after the calf!
3. As the felloe, and as the spokes, and as the
Vii. Charms to Secure Prosperity. 145
nave (of the wheel is joined) to the felloe, as the
heart of the lusty male hankers after the woman,
thus shall thy heart, O cow, hanker after the calf!
III, 28. Formula in expiation of the birth of twin-calves.
1. Through one creation at a time this (cow) was
born, when the fashioners of the beings did create
the cows of many colours. (Therefore), when a
cow doth beget twins portentously, growling and
cross she injureth the cattle.
2. This (cow) doth injure our cattle: a flesh-eater,
devourer, she hath become. Hence to a Brahman
he shall give her; in this way she may be kindly
and auspicious!
3. Auspicious be to (our) men, auspicious to (our)
cows and horses, auspicious to this entire field,
auspicious be to us right here!
4. Here be prosperity, here be sap! Be thou
here one that especially gives a_ thousandfold!
Make the cattle prosper, thou mother of twins!
5. Where our pious friends live joyously, having
left behind the ailments of their bodies, to that
world the mother of twins did attain: may she not
injure our men and our cattle!
6. Where is the world of our pious friends, where
the world of them that sacrifice with the agnihotra,
to that world the mother of twins did attain: may
she not injure our men and our cattle!
V1, 92. Charm to endow a horse with swiftness.
1, Swift as the wind be thou, O steed, when
joined (to the chariot); at Indra’s urging go, fleet as
[42] L
146 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
the mind! The Maruts, the all-possessing, shall har- ness thee, TvashZar shall put fleetness into thy feet!
2. With the fleetness, O runner, that has been
deposited in thee in a secret place, (with the fleetness)
that has been made over to the eagle, the wind, and
moves in them, with that, O steed, strong with
strength, do thou win the race, reaching the goal in
the contest !
3. Thy body, O steed, leading (our) body, shall
run, a pleasure to ourselves, delight to thyself!
A god, not stumbling, for the support of the great,
he shall, as if upon the heaven, found his own light!