by Roshen Dalal
Red, like a mare, and beautiful, holy, the mother of the cows, the Dawn became the Ashvins’ friend.
Yes, and you are the Ashvins’, friend, you are the mother of the cows; O Dawn, you rule over wealth.
(2.8.3.6)
Ashvins
Now Morning with her earliest light shines forth, dear daughter of the Sky:
High, Ashvins, I extol your praise
Children of the Ocean, mighty ones, discoverers of riches, Gods,
Finders of treasure through our prayer!
Your lofty coursers hasten over the everlasting realm, when your chariot flies with winged steeds.
(2.8.3.7)
Gods
Praise to the friends who sit in front! to those seated together, praise
I use the hundred-footed speech.
I use the hundred-footed speech, I sing what has a thousand paths,
Gayatri, Trishtup, Jagat hymn.
Gayatri, Trishtup, Jagat hymn, the forms united and complete,
Have the Gods made familiar friends.
(2.9.2.7)
NOTE: Gayatri, Trishtup (same as Trishtubh), and Jagat are metres; ‘friends who sit in front’ refers to friendly gods who sit at the front of the sacrifice; these verses are not from the Rig Veda.
Agni
Agni, is light, light is Agni, Indra is light, light is Indra
Surya is light, light is Surya.
O Agni, turn again with strength, turn you again with food and life:
Save us again from grief and woe!
O Agni, turn again with wealth; sprinkle us from every side, with your own, all-supporting stream!
(2.9.2.8)
NOTE: This is not from the Rig Veda; the second and third verses are in the Yajur Veda.
Apah: The Waters
Yes, Waters, you bring health and bliss: so help us to have energy.
That we may look on great delight!
Give us a portion of the rasa (dew, rain or divine moisture), the most auspicious that you have,
Like mothers in their longing love!
For you we gladly go to him to whose abode you speed us on,
And, Waters, give us procreant strength!
(2.9.2.10)
Vata
May Vata breathe his balm on us, healthful, delightful to our heart:
May he prolong our days of life!
You are our father, Vata, yes, you are our brother and our friend:
So give us strength that we may live!
The store of amrita (divine nectar, the drink of immortality) that laid away yonder, O Vata, in your home—
Give us strength that we may live!
(2.9.2.11)
Atharva Veda
In this section, most of the hymns chosen are not related to diseases or healing. For an idea of those, see Chapter 11. In most of the hymns below, Brahma/Brahman is used in neuter form, indicating prayer or spiritual power or exaltation, developing into the later meaning of Brahman, as the absolute.
Prayer for earthly and heavenly success
Upon this (person) the Vasus, Indra, Pushan, Varuna, Mitra, and Agni, shall bestow goods (vasu)! The Adityas, and, further, all the gods shall hold him in the higher light!
Light, you gods, shall be at his bidding: Surya, Agni, or even gold! Inferior to us shall be our rivals! Cause him to ascend to the highest heaven
With that most potent charm with which, O Jatavedas (Agni), you did bring to Indra the (Soma) drink, with that, O Agni, do you here strengthen this one; grant him supremacy over his kinsmen!
Their sacrifice and their glory, their increase of wealth and their thoughtful plans, I have usurped, O Agni. Inferior to us shall be our rivals! Cause him to ascend to the highest heaven!
(1.9; based on the translation by M. Bloomfield)
A charm to ensure success in gambling
Lord of the World, divine gandharva, only he should be
honoured in the clans and worshipped.
Fast with my spell, celestial God, I hold you. Homage to you!
Your home is in the heavens.
Sky-reaching, like the Sun in brightness, holy, he who averts
from us the Gods’ displeasure.
Lord of the World, may the gandharva bless us, the friendly
god who only must be worshipped.
I came, I met these faultless, blameless beings; among the
apsaras was the gandharva.
Their home is in the sea—so men have told me—from where they
come quickly here and vanish.
You, Cloudy! you who follow the Gandharva Vishvavasu, you,
Starry! Lightning-Flasher!
You, O ye Goddesses, I truly worship.
Haunters of darkness, shrill in voice, dice-lovers, maddeners of
the mind
To these have I paid homage, the gandharva’s wives, apsaras.
(2.2; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
A charm against fear
As heaven and earth are not afraid, and never suffer loss or harm,
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
As day and night are not afraid, and never suffer loss or harm,
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
As sun and moon are not afraid, nor ever suffer loss or harm.
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
As Brahmanhood and princely power fear not, and never suffer loss, or
harm,
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
As truth and falsehood have no fear, nor ever suffer loss or harm,
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
As what has been and what shall be fear not, nor suffer loss or harm,
Even so, my spirit, do not fear.
(2.15; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
A benediction on homeward-coming cattle
Let them come home, the cattle that have wandered, whom Vayu
has delighted to attend on,
Whose forms and figures are well known to Tvashtr. These cows
let Savitr drive within this stable.
Let the beasts stream together to this cow pen. Brihaspati who
knows lead them here!
Let Sinivali guide the foremost homeward. When they have
come, Anumati! enclose them.
Together let the cattle flow! flow together horses and the
men!
Let the increase of grain too flow this way! I offer sacrifice with mixed
oblation.
I pour together milk of cows, with ghee blending strength and
juice.
Well sprinkled be our men, as true to me as cows are to their
herd!
Here I bring the milk of cows, here have brought the juice
of grain.
Here have our men been brought, here to this house our wives.
(2.26; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
A prayer for a boy’s long and happy life
This child, Old Age! shall grow to meet you only; none of
the hundred other deaths shall harm him.
From trouble caused by friends let Mitra guard him, as a kind
mother guards the son she nurses.
May Mitra or Varuna the foe-destroyer, cooperating, grant him death
in course of nature!
Then Agni, hotr-priest, skilled in high statutes, declares all
the deities’ generations.
You (Agni) are the Lord of all animals of the earth, of animals born and to
be born hereafter.
Let not his in-breath or his out-breath fail him. Let not his
friends, let not his foes slay him.
Let Dyaus (sky or heaven), the father and let Prithivi, (earth) the mother, cooperating, give
death in course of nature,
That you may live on Aditi’s bosom, guarded, a hundred
winters, through your respirations.
Lead him to life, O Agni, and to splendour, this d
ear child,
Varuna! and you King Mitra!
Give him protection, Aditi! As a mother; and all you gods, that his be a
life of long duration.
(2.28; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith and M. Bloomfield)
A prayer to secure a husband for a marriageable girl
To please us may the suitor come, O Agni, seeking this maid and bringing us good fortune.
Agreeable to suitors, lovely in assemblies, may she be soon
made happy with a husband.
As bliss beloved by Soma, dear to spiritual power (Brahman), and stored by Aryaman,
With the god Dhatr’s truthfulness I work the bridal oracle.
O Agni, may this woman find a husband. Then truly King Soma
makes her happy.
May she bear sons, chief lady of the household, and blessed, rule beside her consort.
As this cave, Maghavan! that is fair to look on, was dear to wild
things as a pleasant dwelling,
So may this woman here be Bhaga’s darling. Loved by her lord
and prizing his affection.
Mount up, embark on Bhaga’s ship, the full, the inexhaustible,
On this, bring here to us the lover whom you
Would like to wed.
Call out to him, O Lord of Wealth! Make the suitor well-inclined.
Set each on your right hand, who is a lover worthy of her choice.
Here is the bdellium and the gold, the auksha (balsam) and the bliss are
here;
These bring you to the husbands, so to find the man whom you
would have.
May Savitr lead and bring to you the husband whom your heart
desires.
O Plant, be this your gift to her!
(2.36; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
NOTE: Maghavan: Indra; Bhaga: (here) good fortune.
A rishi’s morning prayer
Agni at dawn, and Indra we invoke at dawn, and Varuna and
Mitra, and the Ashvins two;
Bhaga at dawn, Pushan and Brahmanaspati, Soma at dawn, and
Rudra we invoke at dawn.
We all invoke strong Bhaga, conqueror in the morning, the son of
Aditi, the great disposer,
Whom each who thinks of himself as poor, or as strong and mighty, a king,
addresses thus, grant you my portion!
Bhaga, our guide, Bhaga whose gifts are faithful, favour this
hymn and give us wealth, O Bhaga.
Bhaga, increase our store of cattle and horses. Bhaga, may we be
rich in men and heroes.
So may felicity be ours at present, and when the Sun advances,
and at noontide;
And may we still, O Bounteous One, at sunset be happy in the
Gods’ protecting favour.
May Bhaga truly be a bliss-bestower, and through him, gods,
may happiness attend us.
As such with all my might I call and call you; as such be you
our leader here, O Bhaga.
To this our sacrifice may the Dawns incline them, and come to
the pure place like Dadhikravan.
As strong steeds draw a chariot may they bring me toward
Bhaga who discovers treasure.
May the kind Mornings dawn on us for ever, with wealth of
cattle, of horses, and of heroes.
Streaming with all abundance, pouring fatness,
Do preserve us evermore with blessings!
(3.16; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
Vena
Eastward at first the prayer was generated: Vena disclosed bright
flashes from the summit,
Disclosed his deepest, nearest revelations, womb of the nonexistent
and existent.
Let this Queen come in front, her Father’s daughter, found in
the worlds for earliest generation.
For him they set this radiant vault in motion. Let them prepare
warm milk for him who first would drink.
He who was born as his all-knowing kinsman declares all the
deities’ generations.
He from the midst of prayer, his prayer has taken. On high,
below, spread forth his godlike nature.
For he, true to the law of Earth and Sky (Prithivi and Dyaus), established both
the mighty worlds securely.
Mighty when born, he propped apart the mighty, the sky, our
earthly home, and air’s mid-region.
He from the depth has been reborn for ever, Brihaspati the
world’s sole Lord and Ruler.
From light was born the Day with all its lustre; through this
let sages live endowed with splendour.
The sage and poet truly advances the statute of that mighty primeval
god.
He was born here with many more beside him; they slumbered
when the foremost side was opened.
The man who seeks the friend of gods, Atharvan the father,
and Brihaspati, with worship,
Crying to him, You are the creator of all! Him, the wise god, self
dependent, never injures.
(4.1; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
To the Rivers, for the cure of heart disease and related illnesses
Forth from Himavant, the Hills of Snow they stream, and meet in Sindhu here or there.
To me the sacred waters gave the balm that heals the heart’s
disease.
Whatever rupture I have had that injured eyes or heels or toes.
All this the waters, most skilful physicians, shall make well again,
All Rivers who have Sindhu for your Lady, Sindhu for your
Queen,
Give us the balm that heals this ill: this boon let us enjoy from you.
(6.24; based on the translation by R.T.H. Griffith)
Prayer for lustre and power
The brilliancy that is in the lion, the tiger, and the serpent; in Agni, the brahmana, and in Surya (shall be ours)! May the lovely goddess that bore Indra come to us, endowed with lustre!
(The brilliancy) that is in the elephant, panther, and in gold; in the waters, cattle, and men (shall be ours)! May the lovely goddess that bore Indra come to us, endowed with lustre!
(The brilliancy) that is in the chariot, the dice, in the strength of the bull; in the wind, Parjanya, and in the fire of Varuna (shall be ours)! May the lovely goddess that bore Indra come to us, endowed with lustre!
(The brilliancy) that is in the man of royal caste, in the stretched drum, in the strength of the horse, in the shout of men (shall be ours)! May the lovely goddess that bore Indra come to us, endowed with lustre!
(6.38; based on the translation by M. Bloomfield)
Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death
To the ‘Ender,’ to Death be reverence! May your in-breathing and your out-breathing remain here! United here with (life’s) spirit this man shall be, sharing in the sun, in the world of immortality (amrita)!
Bhaga has raised him up, Soma with his rays (has raised) him up, the Maruts, the gods, (have raised) him up, Indra and Agni (have raised) him up unto well-being.
Here (shall be) your (life’s) spirit, here your in-breathing, here your life, here your mind! We rescue you from the toils of Nirriti (destruction) by means of our divine utterance.
Rise up hence, O man! Casting off the foot shackles of death, do not sink down! Be not cut off from this world, from the sight of Agni and the sun!
The wind, Matarishvan, shall blow for you, the waters shall shower amrita (ambrosia) upon you, the sun shall shine kindly for your body! Death shall pity you; do not waste away!
You shall ascend and not descend, O man! Life and alertness do I prepare for you. Mount, immediately, this imperishable, pleasant chariot; then in old age you shall converse with your family!
Your
mind shall not go thither, shall not disappear! Do not become heedless of the living, do not follow the Fathers! All the gods shall preserve you here!
Do not long after the departed, who conduct (men) afar! Ascend from the darkness, come to the light! We lay hold of your hands.
The two dogs of Yama, the black and the brindled one, that guard the road (to heaven), that have been despatched, shall not (go after) you! Come here, do not long to be away; do not stay here with your mind turned to a distance!
Do not follow this path: it is terrible! I speak of that by which you have not yet gone. Darkness is this, O man, do not enter it! Danger is beyond, security is here for you.
May the fires that are within the waters guard you, may (the fire) which men kindle guard you, may Jatavedas Vaishvanara (the fire common to all men) guard you! Let not the heavenly (fire) together with the lightning, burn you!
Let not the flesh-devouring (fire) menace you: move far from the funeral pyre! Heaven shall guard you, the earth shall guard you, the sun and moon shall guard you, the atmosphere shall guard you against the divine missile!
May the alert and the watchful divinities guard you, may he that sleeps not and nods not guard you, may he that protects and is vigilant guard you!
They shall guard you, they shall protect you. Reverence be to them. Hail be to them!
Into converse with the living Vayu, Indra, Dhatr, and saving Savitr shall put you; breath and strength shall not leave you! Your (life’s) spirit do we call back to you.
Convulsions that draw the jaws together, darkness, shall not come upon you, nor (the demon) that tears out the tongue! How shall you then waste away? The Adityas and Vasus, Indra and Agni shall raise you up unto well-being!
The heavens, the earth, Prajapati, have rescued you. The plants with Soma their king have delivered you from death.
Let this man remain right here, ye gods, let him not depart hence to yonder world! We rescue him from death with (a charm) of thousandfold strength.
I have delivered you from death. The (powers) that furnish strength shall breathe upon you. The (mourning women) with dishevelled hair, they that wail lugubriously, shall not wail over you!
I have snatched you (from death), I have obtained you; you have returned with renewed youth. O you, that are (now) sound of limb, for you sound sight, and sound life have I obtained.