HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA

TOGTHER WITH

EXTRACTS FROM THE RITUAL BOOKS AND THE COMMENTARIES

TRANSLATED BY

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD

Sacred Books of the East, volume 42

[1897]

[Scanned at www.sacred-texts.com]

[Editors Note: this, the 42nd volume of the the Sacred Books of the East, is an anthology of representative texts from the Arthrva-veda, the fourth Veda. Since the order is not that of the original I have inserted a five digit number in wavy brackets in front of each hymn, where the first two digits are the book and the remaining three digits are the hymn number. For instance, {07044} is the 44th verse of the 7th book. This is to assist in searching if you know which verse you are looking for. Due to time considerations, I have omitted most of the introduction and the annotations.]

Excerpt from the Introduction

The present volume of translations comprises about one third of the entire material of the Atharva-veda in the text of the Saunaka-school. But it represents the contents and spirit of the fourth Veda in a far greater measure than is indicated by this numerical statement. The twentieth book of the Samhitâ, with the exception of the so-called kuntâpasûktini (hymns 127-136), seems to be a verbatim repetition of mantras contained in the Rig-veda, being employed in the Vaitâna-sûra at the sastras and stotras of the soma-sacrifice: it is altogether foreign to the spirit of the original Atharvan. The nineteenth book is a late addendum, in general very corrupt; its omission (with the exception of hymns 26, 34, 35, 38, 39, 53, and 54) does not detract much from the general impression left by the body of the collection. The seventeenth book consists of a single hymn of inferior interest. Again, books XV and XVI, the former entirely Brahmanical prose, the latter almost entirely so, are of doubtful quality and chronology. Finally, books XIV and XVIII contain respectively the wedding and funeral stanzas of the Atharvan, and are largely coincident with corresponding Mantras of the tenth book of the Rig-veda: they are, granted their intrinsic interest, not specifically Atharvanic. Of the rest of the Atharvan (books I-XIII) there is presented here about one half, naturally that half which seemed to the translator the most interesting and characteristic. Since not a little of the collection rises scarcely above the level of mere verbiage, the process of exclusion has not called for any great degree of abstemiousness.

These successive acts of exclusion have made it possible to present a fairly complete history of each of the hymns translated. The employment of the hymns in the Atharvanic practices is in closer touch with the original purpose of the composition or compilation of the hymns than is true in the case of the other collections of Vedic hymns. Many times, though by no means at all times, the practices connected with a given hymn present the key to the correct interpretation of the hymn itself. In any case it is instructive to see what the Atharvan priests did with the hymns of their own school, even if we must judge their performances to be secondary.

I do not consider any translation of the AV. at this time as final. The most difficult problem, hardly as yet ripe for final solution, is the original function of many mantras, after they have been stripped of certain adaptive modifications, imparted to them to meet the immediate purpose of the Atharvavedin. Not infrequently a stanza has to be rendered in some measure of harmony with its connection, when, in fact, a more original meaning, not at all applicable to its present environment, is but scantily covered up by the 'secondary modifications of the text. This garbled tradition of the ancient texts partakes of the character of popular etymology in the course of the transmission of wofds. New meaning is read into the mantras, and any little stubbornness on their part is met with modifications of their wording. The critic encounters here a very difficult situation: searching investigation of the remaining Vedic collections is necessary before a bridge can be built from the more original meaning to the meaning implied and required by the situation in a given Atharvan hymn. Needless to say the only correct and useful way to translate a mantra in the Atharvan, is to reproduce it with the bent which it has received in the Atharvan. The other Vedic collections are by no means free from the same taint. The entire Vedic tradition, the Rig-veda not excepted, presents rather the conclusion than the beginning of a long period of literary activity. Conventionality of subject-matter, style, form (metre), &c., betray themselves at every step: the 'earliest' books of the RV. are not exempt from the same processes of secondary grouping and adaptation of their mantras, though these are less frequent and less obvious than is the case in the Atharva-veda.

Obligations to previous translators: Weber, Muir, Ludwig, Zimmer, Grill', Henry, &c., are acknowledged in the introduction to each hymn. I regret that the work was in the hands of the printer prior to the appearance of Professor Henry's excellent version of books X-XII. The late lamented Professor Whitney kindly furnished me with the advance sheets of the late Shankar Pandurang Pandit's scholarly edition of the AV. with Sâyana's commentary, as also with many of the readings of the Cashmir text (the so-called Paippalâda-sâkhâ) of the AV. Neither the Paippalâda nor Sâyana sensibly relieves the task of its difficulty and responsibility.

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY,

BALTIMORE: April, 1896.

HYMNS

OF THE

ATHARVA-VEDA.

I.

CHARMS TO CURE DISEASES AND POSSESSION BY DEMONS OF DISEASE (BHAISHAGYKNI).

{05022}

V, 22. Charm against takman (fever) and related diseases.

1. May Agni drive the takman away from here, may Soma, the press-stone, and Varuna, of tried skill; may the altar, the straw (upon the altar), and the brightly-flaming fagots (drive him away)! Away to naught shall go the hateful powers!

2. Thou that makest all men sallow, inflarning them like a searing fire, even now, O takman, thou shalt become void of strength: do thou now go away down, aye, into the depths!

The takman that is spotted, covered Nvith spots, like reddish sediment, him thou, (O plant) of unremitting potency, drive away down below!

4. Having made obeisance to the takman, I cast him down below: let him, the champion of Sakambhara, return again to the Mahâvrishas!

5. His home is with the Mûgavants, his home with the Mahâvrishas. From the moment of thy birth thou art indigenous with the Balhikas.

6. O takman, vyãla, ví gada, vyánga, hold off (thy missile) far! Seek the gadabout slave-girl, strike her with thy bolt!

7. O takman, go to the Mûgavants, or to the Balhikas farther away! Seek the lecherous Sûdra female: her, O takman, give a good shaking-up!

8. Go away to the Mahâvrishas and the Mûgavants, thy kinsfolk, and consume them! Those (regions) do we bespeak for the takman, or these regions here other (than ours).

9. (If) in other regions thou dost not abide, mayest thou that art powerful take pity on us! Takman, now, has become eager: he will go to the Balhikas.

10. When thou, being cold, and then again deliriously hot, accompanied by cough, didst cause the (sufferer) to shake, then, O takman, thy missiles were terrible: from these surely exempt us!

11. By no means ally thyself with balâsa, cough and spasm! From there do thou not return hither again: that, O takman, do I ask of thee!

12. O takman, along with thy brother balâsa, along with thy sister cough, along with thy cousin pâman, go to yonder foreign folk!

13. Destroy the takman that returns on (each) third day, the one that intermits (each) third day, the one that continues without intermission, and the autumnal one; destroy the cold takman, the hot, him that comes in summer, and him that arrives in the rainy season!

14. To the Gandhâris, the Mâgavants, the Angas, and the Magadhas, we deliver over the takman, like a servant, like a treasure!

{06020}

VI, 20. Charm against takman (fever).

1. As if from this Agni (fire), that burns and flashes, (the takman) comes. Let him then, too, as a babbling drunkard, pass away! Let him, the impious one, search out some other person, not ourselves! Reverence be to the takman with the burning weapon!

2. Reverence be to Rudra, reverence to the takman, reverence to the luminous king Varuna! Reverence to heaven, reverence to earth, reverence to the plants!

3. To thee here, that burnest through, and turnest all bodies yellow, to the red, to the brown, to the takman produced by the forest, do I render obeisance.

{01025}

I, 25. Charm against takman (fever).

1. When Agni, having entered the waters, burned, where the (gods) who uphold the order (of the universe) rendered homage (to Agni), there, they say, is thy origin on high: do thou feel for us, and spare us, O takman!

2. Whether thou art flame, whether thou art heat, or whether from licking chips (of wood) thou bast arisen, Hrûdu by name art thou, O god of the yellow: do thou feel for us, and spare us, O takman!

3. Whether thou art burning, whether thou art scorching, or whether thou art the son of king Varuna, Hrûdu by name art thou, O god of the yellow: do thou feel for us, and spare us, O takman!

4. To the cold takman, and to the deliriously hot, the glowing, do I render homage. To hirn that returns on the morrow, to him that returns for two (successive) days, to the takman that returns on the third day, homage shall be!

{07116}

VII, 116. Charm against takman (fever).

1. Homage (be) to the deliriously hot, the shaking, exciting, impetuous (takman)! Homage to the cold (takman), to him that in the past fulfilled desires!

2. May (the takman) that returns on the morrow, he that returns on two (successive) days, the impious one, pass into this frog!

{05004}

V, 4. Prayer to the kushtha-plant to destroy takman (fever).

1. Thou that art born upon the mountains, as the most potent of plants, come hither, O kushtha, destroyer of the takman, to drive out from here the takman!

2. To thee (that growest) upon the mountain, the brooding-place of the eagle, (and) art sprung from Himavant, they come with treasures, having heard (thy fame). For they know (thee to be) the destroyer of the takman.

3. The asvattha-tree is the seat of the gods in the third heaven from here. There the gods procured the kushtha, the visible manifestation of amrita (ambrosia).

4. A golden ship with golden tackle moved upon the heavens. There the gods procured the kushtha, the flower of amrita (ambrosia).

5. The paths were golden, and golden were the oars; golden were the ships, upon which they carried forth the kushtha hither (to the mountain).

6. This person here, O kushtha, restore for me, and cure him! Render him free from sickness for me!

7. Thou art born of the gods, thou art Soma's good friend. Be thou propitious to my in-breathing and my out-breathing, and to this eye of mine!

8. Sprung in the north from the Himavant (mountains), thou art brought to the people in the east. There the most stiperior varieties of the kushtha were apportioned.

9. 'Superior,' O kushtha, is thy name; 'superior' is the name of thy father. Do thou drive out all disease, and render the takman devoid of strength!

10. Pain in the head, affliction in the eye, and ailment of the body, all that shall the kushtha heal-a divinely powerful (remedy), forsooth!

{19039}

XIX, 39. Prayer to the kushtha-plant to destroy takman (fever), and other ailments.

1. May the protecting god kushtha come hither from the Himavant: destroy thou every takman, and all female spooks!

2. Three names hast thou, O kushtha, (namely: kushtha), na-ghâ-mâra ('forsooth-no-death'), and na-ghâ-risha ('forsooth-no-harm'). Verily no harm shall suffer (na ghâ . . . rishat) this person here, for whom I bespeak thee morn and eve, aye the (entire) day!

3. Thy mother's name is gîvalâ ('quickening'), thy father's name is gîvanta ('living'). Verily no harm shall suffer this person here, for whom I bespeak thee morn and eve, aye the entire day!

4. Thou art the most superior of the plants, as a steer among cattle, as the tiger among beasts of prey. Verily no harm shall stiffer this person here, for whom I bespeak thee morn and eve, aye the entire day!

5. Thrice begotten by the Sâmbu Angiras, thrice by the Âdityas, and thrice by all the gods, this kushtha, a universal remedy, stands together with soma. Destroy thou every takman, and all female spooks!

6. The asvattha-tree is the seat of the gods in the third heaven from here. There came to sight the amrita (ambrosia), there the kushtha-plant was born.

7. A golden ship with golden tackle moved upon the heavens. There came to sight the amrita, there the kushtha-plant was born.

8. On the spot where the ship glided down, on the peak of the Himavant, there came to sight the ambrosia, there the kushtha-plant was born. This kushtha, a universal remedy, stands together with soma. Destroy thou every takman, and all female spooks!

9. (We know) thee whom Ikshvâku knew of yore, whom the women, fond of kushtha, knew, whom Vâyasa and Mâtsya knew: therefore art thou a universal remedy.

10. The takman that returns on each third day, the one that cominues without intermission, and the yearly one, ao thou, (O plant) of unremitting strength, drive away down below!

{01012}

I, 12. Prayer to lightning, conceived as the cause of fever, headache, and cough.

1. The first red bull, born of the (cloud-)womb, born of wind and clouds, comes on thundering with rain. May he, that cleaving moves straight on, spare our bodies; he who, a single force, has passed through threefold!

2. Bowing down to thee that fastenest thyself with heat upon every limb, we would reverence thee with oblations; we would reverence with oblations the crooks and hooks of thee that hast, as a seizer, seized the limbs of this person.

3. Free him from headache and also from cough, (produced by the lightning) that has entered his every joint! May the flashing (lightning), that is born of the cloud, and born of the wind, strike the trees and the mountains!

4. Comfort be to my upper limb, comfort be to my nether; comfort be to my four members, comfort to my entire body!

{01022}

I, 22. Charm against jaundice and related diseases.

1. Up to the sun shall go thy heart-ache and thy jaundice: in the colour of the red bull do we eovelop thee!

2. We envelop thee in red tints, unto long life. May this person go unscathed, and be free of vellow colour!

3. The cows whose divinity is Rohini, they who, moreover, axe (themselves) red (róhinin)-(in their) every form and every strength we do envelop thee.

4. Into the parrots, into the ropanâkâs (thrush) do we put thy jaundice, and, furthermore, into the hâridravas (yellow wagtail) do we put thy jaundice.

{06014}

VI, 14. Charm against the disease balâsa.

1. The internal disease that has set in, that crumbles the bones, and crumbles the joints, every balâsa do thou drive out, that which is in the limbs, and in the joints!

2. The balâsa of him that is afflicted with balâsa do I remove, as one gelds a lusty animal. Its connection do I cut off as the root of a pumpkin.

3. Fly forth from here, O balâsa, as a swift foal (after the mare). And even, as the reed in every year, pass away without slaying men!

{04105}

VI, 105. Charm against cough.

1. As the-soul with the soul's desires swiftly to a distance flies, thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the soul's course of flight!

2. As a well-sharpened arrow swiftly to a distance flies, thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the expanse of the earth!

3. As the rays of the sun swiftly to a distance fly, thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the flood of the sea!

{01002}

I, 2. Charm against excessive discharges from the body.

1. We know the father of the arrow, Parg-anya, who furnishes bountiful fluid, and well do we know his mother, Prithivi (earth), the multiform!

2. O bowstring, turn aside from us, turn my body into stone! Do thou firmly hold very far away the hostile powers and the haters!

3. When the bowstring, embracing the wood (of the bow), greets with a whiz the eaoer arrow, do thou, O Indra, ward off from us the piercing missile!

4. As the point (of the arrow) stands in the way of heaven and earth, thus may the muñga-grass unfailingly stand in the way of sickness and (excessive) discharge!

{02003}

II, 3. Charm against excessive discharges from the body, undertaken with spring-water.

1. The spring-water yonder which runs down upon the mountain, that do I render healing for thee, in order that thou mayest contain a potent remedy.

2. Then surely, yea quite surely, of the hundred remedies contained in thee, thou art the most superior in checking discharges and removing pain.

3. Deep down do the Asuras bury this great healer of wounds: that is the cure for discharges, and thal hath removed disease.

4. The ants bring the remedy from the sea: that is the cure for discharges, and that hath quieted disease.

5. This great healer of wounds has been gotten out of the earth: that is the cure for discharges, and

that hath removed disease.

6. May the waters afford us welfare, may the herbs be propitious to us I Indra's bolt shall beat off the Rakshas, far (from us) shall fly the arrows cast by the Rakshas!

{06044}

VI, 44. Charm against excessive discharges from the body.

1. The heavens have stood still, the earth has stood still, all creatures have stood still. The trees that sleep erect have stood still: may this disease of thine stand still!

2. Of the hundred remedies which thou hast, of the thousand that have been collected, this is the most excellent cure for discharges, the best remover of disease.

3. Thou art the urine of Rudra, the navel of amrita (ambrosia). Thy name, forsooth, is vishânakâ, (thou art) arisen from the foundation of the Fathers, a remover of diseases produced by the winds (of the body).

{01003}

I, 3. Charm against constipation and retention of urine.

1. We know the father of the arrow, Parganya, of hundredfold power. With this (charm) may I render comfortable thy body: make thy Outpouring upon the earth; out of thee may it come with the sound bâl!

2. We know the father of the arrow, Mitra, &c.

3. We know the father of the arrow, Varuna, &c.

4. We know the father of the arrow, Kandra, &c.

5. We know the father of the arrow, Sûrya, &c.

6. That which has accumulated in thy entralls. thy canals, in thy bladder-thus let thy urine be released, out completely, with the sound bâl!

7, I split open thy penis like the dike of a lake--thus let thy urine be released, out completely, with the sound bâl!

8. Relaxed is the opening of thy bladder like the ocean, the reservoir of water--thus let thy urine be released, out completely, with the sound bâl!

9. As an arrow flies to a distance when hurled from the bow-thus let thy urine be released, out completely, with the sound bâl!

{06090}

VI, 90. Charm against internal pain (colic), due to the missiles of Rudra.

1. The arrow that Rudra did cast upon thee, into (thy) limbs, and into thy heart, this here do we now draw out away from thee.

2. From the hundred arteries which are distributed along thy limbs, from all of these do we exorcise forth the poisons.

3. Adoration be to thee, O Rudra, as thou casteth (thy arrow); adoration to the (arrow) when it has been placed upon (the bow); adoration to it as it is being hurled; adoration to it when it has fallen down!

{01010}

I, 10. Charm against dropsy.

1. This Asura rules over the gods; the commands of Varuna, the ruler, surely come true. From this (trouble), from the wrath of the mighty (Varuna), do I, excelling in my incantation, lead out this man.

2. Reverence, O king Varuna, be to thy wrath, for all falsehood, O mighty one, clost thou discover. A thousand others together do I make over to thee: this thy (man) shall live a hundred autumns!

3. From the untruth which thou hast spoken, the abundant wrong, with thy tongue--from king, Varuna I release thee, whose laws do not fail.

4. I release thee from Vaisvânara (Agni), from the great flood. Our rivals, O mighty one, do thou censure here, and give heed to our prayer!

{07083}

VII, 83. Charm against dropsy.

1. Thy golden chamber, king Varuna, is built in the waters! Thence the king that maintains the laws shall loosen all shackles!

2. From every habitation (of thine), O king Varuna, from here do thou free us! In that we have said, 'ye waters, ye cows;' in that we have said, 'O Varuna,' from this (sin), O Varuna, free us!

3. Lift from us, O Varuna, the uppermost fetter, take down the nethermost, loosen the middlemost! Then shall we, O Âditya, in thy law, exempt from guilt, live in freedom!

4. Loosen from us, O Varuna, all fetters, the uppermost, the nethermost, and those imposed by Varuna! Evil dreams, and misfortune drive away from us: then may we go to the world of the pious!

{06024}

VI, 24. Dropsy, heart-disease, and kindred maladies cured by flowing water.

1. From the Himavant (mountains) they flow forth, in the Sindhu (Indus), forsooth, is their assembling-place: may the waters, indeed, grant me that cure for heart-ache!

2. The pain that hurts me in the eyes, and that which hurts in the heels and the fore-feet, the waters, the most skilled of physicians, shall put all that to rights!

3. Ye rivers all, whose mistress is Sindhu, whose queen is Sindhu, grant us the remedy for that: through this (remedy) may we derive benefit from you!

{06080}

VI, 80. An oblation to the sun, conceived as one of the two heavenly dogs, as a cure for paralysis.

1. Through the air he flies, looking down upon all beings: with the majesty of the heavenly dog, with that oblation would we pay homage to thee!

2. The three kâlakâñga that are fixed upon the sky like gods, all these I have called for help, to render this person exempt from injury.

3. In the waters is thy origin, upon the heavens thy home, in the middle of the sea, and upon the earth thy greatness. With the majesty of the heavenly dog, with that oblation would we pay homage to thee!

{02008}

II, 8. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease.

1. Up have risen the majestic twin stars, the vikritau ('the two looseners'); may they loosen the nethermost and the uppermost fetter of the kshetriya (inherited disease)!

2. May this night shine (the kshetriya) away, may she shine away the witches; may the plant, destructive of kshetriya, shine the kshetriya away!

3. With the straw of thy brown barley, endowed with white stalks, with the blossom of the sesame--may the plant, destructive of kshetriya, shine the: kshetriya away!

4. Reverence be to thy ploughs, reverence to thy wagon-poles and yokes! May the plant, destructive of kshetriya, shine the kshetriya away!

5. Reverence be to those with sunken eyes reverence to the indicenous (evils?), reverence to the lord of the field! May the plant, destructive of kshetriya, shine the kshetriya away!

{02010}

II, 10. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease.

1. From kshetriya (inherited disease), from Nirriti (the goddess of destruction), from the curse of the kinswoman, from Druh (the demon of guile), from the fetter of Varuna do I release thee. Guiltless do I render thee through my charm; may heaven and earth both be propitious to thee!

2. May Agni together with the waters be auspicious to thee, may Soma together with the plants be auspicious. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti, from the curse of the kinswoman, from the Druh, from the fetter of Varuna do I release thee. Guiltless do I render thee through my charm; may heaven and earth both be propitious to thee!

May the wind in the atmosphere auspiciously bestow upon thee strength, may the four quarters of the heaven be auspicious to thee. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

4. These four goddesses, the directions of space, the consorts of the wind, the sun surveys. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

5. Within these (directions) I assign thee to old age; forth to a distance shall go Nirriti and disease! Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

6. Thou hast been released from disease, from mishap, and from blame; out from the fetter of Druh, and from Grâhi (the demon of fits) thou hast been released. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

7. Thou didst leave behind Arâti (the demon of grudge), didst obtain prosperity, didst enter the happy world of the pious. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

8. The gods, releasing the sun and the ritam (the divine order of the universe) from darkness and from Grâhi, did take them out of sin. Thus from kshetriya, from Nirriti &c.

{03007}

III, 7. Charm against kshetriya, hereditary disease.

1. Upon the head of the nimble antelope a remedy grows! He has driven the kshetriya (inherited disease) in all directions by means of the horn.

2. The antelope has gone after thee with his four feet. O horn, loosen the kshetriya that is knitted into his heart!

3. (The horn) that glistens yonder like a roof with four wings (sides), with that do we drive out every kshetriya from thy limbs.

4. The lovely twin stars, the vikritau ('the two looseners') that are yonder upon the sky, shall loosen the nethermost and the uppermost fetter of the kshetriya!

5. The waters, verily, are healers, the waters are scatterers of disease, the waters cure all disease: may they. relieve thee from the kshetriya!

6. The kshetriya that has entered into thee from the prepared (magic) concoction, for that I know the remedy; I drive the kshetriya out of thee.

7. When the constellations fade away, and when the dawn does fade away, (then) shall he shine away from us every evil and the kshetriya!

{01023}

I, 23. Leprosy cured by a dark plant.

1. Born by night art thou, O plant, dark, black, sable. Do thou, that art rich in colour, stain this leprosy, and the gray spots!

2. The leprosy and the gray spots drive away from here--may thy native colour settle upon thee--the white spots cause to fly away!

3. Sable is thy hiding-place, sable thy dwelling-place, sable art thou, O plant: drive away from here the speckled spots!

4. The leprosy which has originated in the bones, and that which has originated in the body and upon the skin, the white mark begotten of corruption, I have destroyed with my charm.

{01024}

I, 24. Leprosy cured by a dark plant.

1. The eagle (suparna) that was born at first, his gall thou wast, O plant. The Âsurî having conquered this (gall) gave it to the trees for their colour.

2. The Âsurî was the first to construct this remedy for leprosy, this destroyer of leprosy. She has destroyed the leprosy, has made the skin of even colour.

3. 'Even-colour' is the name of thy mother; 'Even-colour' is the name of thy father; thou, O plant, producest even colour: render this (spot) of even colour!

4. The black (plant) that produces even colour has been fetched out of the earth. Do thou now, pray, perfect this, construct anew the colours!

{06083}

VI, 83. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apakit.

1. Fly forth, ye apakit (sores), as an eagle from the nest! Sûrya (the sun) shall prepare a remedy, Kandramâs (the moon) shall shine you away!

2. One is variegated, one is white, one is black, and two are red: I have gotten the names of all of them. Go ye away without slaying men!

3. The apakit, the daughter of the black one, without bearing offspring will fly away; the boil will fly away from here, the galunta (swelling) will perish.

4. Consume thy own (proper) oblation with gratification in thy mind, when I here offer svâhâ in my mind!

{07076}

VII, 76. A. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apakit.

1. Ye (sores) fall easily from that which falls easily, ye exist less than those that do not exist (at all); ye are drier than the (part of the body called) sehu, more moist than salt.

2. The apakit (sores) that are upon the neck, and those that are upon the shoulders; the apakit that are upon the vigâman (some part of the body) fall off of themselves.

B. Charm for curing tumours called gâyânya.

3. The gâyânya that crushes the ribs, that which passes down to the sole of the foot, and whichever is fixed upon the crown of the head, I have driven out every one.

4. The gâyânya, winged, flies; he settles down upon man. Here is the remedy both for sores not caused by cutting as well as for wounds sharply cut!

5. We know, O gâyânya, thy origin, whence thou didst spring. How canst thou slay there, in whose house we offer oblations?

C. Stanza sung at the mid-day pressure of the soma.

6. Drink stoutly, O Indra, slayer of Vritra, hero, of the soma in the cup, at the battle for riches! Drink thy fill at the mid-day pressure! Living in wealth, do thou bestow wealth upon us!

{07074}

VII, 74. A. Charm for curing scrofulous sores called apakit.

1. We have heard it said that the mother of the black Apakit (pustules) is red: with the root (found by) the divine sage do I strike all these.

2. I strike the foremost one of them, and I strike also the middlemost of them; this hindmost one I cut off as a flake (of wool).

B. Charm to appease jealousy.

3. With Tvashtar's charm I have sobered down thy jealousy; also thy anger, O lord, we have quieted.

C. Prayer to Agni, the lord of vows.

4. Do thou, O lord of vows, adorned with vows, ever benevolently here shine! May we all, adoring thee, when thou hast been kindled, O Gâtavedas, be rich in offspring!

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VI, 25. Charm against scrofulous sores upon neck and shoulders.

1. The five and fifty (sores) that gather together upon the nape of the neck, from here they all shall pass away, as the pustules of the (disease called) apakit!

2. The seven and seventy (sores) that gather together upon the neck, from here they all shall pass away, as the pustules of the (disease called) apakit!

3. The nine and ninety (sores) that gather together upon the shoulders, from here they all shall pass away, as the pustules of the (disease called) apakit!

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VI, 57. Urine (gâlâsha) as a cure for scrofulous sores.

1. This, verily, is a remedy, this is the remedy of Rudra, with which one may charm away the arrow that has one shaft and a hundred points!

2. With gâlâsha (urine) do ye wash (the tumour), with gâlâsha do ye sprinkle it! The gâlâsha is a potent remedy: do thou (Rudra) with it show mercy to us, that we may live!

3. Both well-being and comfort shall be ours, and nothing whatever shall injure us! To the ground the disease (shall fall): may every remedy be ours, may all remedies be ours!

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IV, 12. Charm with the plant arundhatî (lâkshâ) for the cure of fractures.

1. Rohan! art thou, causing to heal (rohanî), the broken bone thou causest to heal (rohanî): cause this here to heal (rohaya), O arundhatî!

2. That bone of thine which, injured and burst, exists in thy person, Dhâtar shall kindly knit together again, joint with joint!

3. Thy marrow shall unite with marrow, and thy joint (unite) with joint; the part of thy flesh that has fallen off, and thy bone shall grow together again!

4. Thy marrow shall be joined together with marrow, thy skin grow together with skin! Thy blood, thy bone shall grow, thy flesh grow together with flesh!

5. Fit together hair with hair, and fit together skin with skin! Thy blood, thy bone shall grow: what is cut join thou together, O plant!

6. Do thou here rise up, go forth, run forth, (as) a chariot with sound wheels, firm feloe, and strong nave; stand upright firmly!

7. If he has been injured by falling into a pit, or if a stone was cast and hurt him, may he (Dhâtar, the fashioner) fit him together, joint to joint, as the wagoner (Ribhu) the parts of a chariot!

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V, 5. Charm with the plant silâki (lâkshâ, arundhatî) for the cure of wounds.

1. The night is thy mother, the cloud thy father, Aryaman thy grandfather. Silâkî, forsooth, is thy name, thou art the sister of the gods.

2. He that drinks thee lives; (that) person thou dost preserve. For thou art the supporter of all successive (generations), the refuge of men.

3. Every tree thou dost climb, like a wench lusting after a man. 'Victorious,' 'firmly founded,' 'saving,' verily, is thy name.

4. The wound that has been inflicted by the club, by the arrow, or by fire, of that thou art the cure: do thou cure this person here!

5. Upon the noble plaksha-tree (ficus infectoria) thou growest up, upon the asvattha (ficus religiosa), the khadira (acacia catechu), and the dhava (grislea tomentosa); (thou growest up) upon the noble nyagrodha (ficus indica, banyan-tree), and the parna (butea frondosa). Come thou to us, O arundhatî!

6. O gold-coloured, lovely, sun-coloured, most handsome (plant), mayest thou come to the fracture, O cure! 'Cure,' verily, is thy name!

7. O gold-coloured, lovely, fiery (plant), with hairy stem, thou art the sister of the waters, O lâkshâ, the wind became thy very breath.

8. Silâkî is thy name, O thou that art brown as a goat, thy father is the son of a maiden. With the blood of the brown horse of Yama thou hast verily been sprinkled.

9. Having dropped from the blood of the horse she ran upon the trees, turning into a winged brook. Do thou come to us, O arundhatî!

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VI, 109. The pepper-corn as a cure for wounds.

1. The pepper-corn cures the wounds that have been struck by missiles, it also cures the wounds from stabs. Anent it the gods decreed: 'Powerful to secure life this (plant) shall be!'

2. The pepper-corns spake to one another, as they came out, after having been created: 'He whom we shall find (as yet) alive, that man shall not suffer harm!'

3. The Asuras did dig thee into the ground, the gods cast thee up again, as a cure for disease produced by wind (in the body), moreover as a cure for wounds struck by missiles.

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I, 17. Charm to stop the flow of blood.

1. The maidens that go yonder, the veins, clothed in red garments, like sisters without a brother, bereft of strength, they shall stand still!

2. Stand still, thou lower one, stand still, thou higher one; do thou in the middle also stand still! The most tiny (vein) stands still: may then the great artery also stand still!

Of the hundred arteries, and the thousand veins, those in the middle here have indeed stood still. At the same time the ends have ceased (to flow).

4. Around you has passed a great sandy dike: stand ye still, pray take your case!

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II, 31. Charm against worms.

1. With Indra's great mill-stone, that crushes all vermin, do I grind to pieces the worms, as lentils with a mill-stone.

2. I have crushed the visible and the invisible worm, and the kurûru, too, I have crushed. All the algandu and the saluna, the worms, we grind to pieces with our charm.

3. The algandu do I smite with a mighty weapon: those that have been burned, and those that have not been burned, have become devoid of strength. Those that are left and those that are not left do I destroy with my song, so that not one of the worms be left.

4. The worm which is in the entrails, and he that is in the head, likewise the one that is in the ribs: avaskava and vyadhvara, the worms, do we crush with (this) charm.

5. The worms that are within the mountains, forests, plants, cattle, and the waters, those that have settled in our bodies, all that brood of the worms do I smite.

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II. 32. Charm against worms in cattle.

1. The rising sun shall slay the worms, the setting sun with his rays shall slay the worms that are within the cattle!

2. The variegated worm, the four-eyed, the speckled, and the white--I crush his ribs, and I tear off his head.

3. Like Atri, like Kanva, and like Gamadagni do I slay you, ye worms! With the incantation of Agastya do I crush the worms to pieces.

4. Slain is the king of the worms, and their viceroy also is slain. Slain is the worm, with him his mother slain, his brother slain, his sister slain.

5. Slain are they who are inmates with him, slain are his neighbours; moreover all the quite tiny worms are slain.

6. I break off thy two horns with which thou deliverest thy thrusts; I cut that bag of thine which is the receptacle for thy poison.

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V, 23. Charm against worms in children.

1. I have called upon heaven and earth, I have called upon the goddess Sarasvatî, I have called upon Indra and Agni: 'they shall crush the worm,' (I said).

2. Slay the worms in this boy, O Indra, lord of treasures! Slain are all the evil powers by my fierce imprecation!

3. Him that moves about in the eyes, that moves about in the nose, that gets to the middle of the teeth, that worm do we crush.

4. The two of like colour, the two of different colour; the two black ones, and the two red ones; the brown one, and the brown-eared one; the (one like a) vulture, and the (one like a) cuckoo, are slain.

5. The worms with white shoulders, the black ones with white arms, and all those that are variegated, these worms do we crush.

6. In the east rises the sun, seen by all, slaying that which is not seen; slaying the seen and the unseen (worms), and grinding to pieces all the worms.

7. The yevâsha and the kashkasha, the egatka, and the sipavitnuka--the seen worm shall be slain, moreover the unseen shall be slain!

8. Slain of the worms is the yevâsha, slain further is the nadaniman; all have I crushed down like lentils with a mill-stone.

9. The worm with three heads and the one with three skulls, the speckled, and the white--I crush his ribs and I tear off his head.

10. Like Atri, like Kanva, and like Gamadagni do I slay you, ye worms! With the incantation of Agastya do I crush the worms to pieces.

11. Slain is the king of the worms, and their viceroy also is slain. Slain is the worm, with him his mother slain, his brother slain, his sister slain.

12. Slain are they who are inmates with him, slain are his neighbours; moreover all the quite tiny worms are slain.

13. Of all the male worms, and of all the female worms do I split the heads with the stone, I burn their faces with fire.

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IV, 6. Charm against poison.

1. The Brâhmana was the first to be born, with ten heads and ten mouths. He was the first to drink the soma; that did render poison powerless.

2. As great as heaven and earth are in extent, as far as the seven streams did spread, so far from here have I proclaimed forth this charm that destroys poison.

3. The eagle Garutmant did, O poison, first devour thee. Thou didst not bewilder him, didst not injure him, yea, thou didst turn into food for him.

4. The five-fingered hand that did hurl upon thee (the arrow) even from the curved bow--from the point of the tearing (arrow) have I charmed away the poison.

5. From the point (of the arrow) have I charmed away the poison, from the substance that has been smeared upon it, and from its plume. From its barbed horn, and its neck, I have charmed away the poison.

6. Powerless, O arrow, is thy point, and powerless is thy poison. Moreover of powerless wood is thy powerless bow, O powerless (arrow)!

7. They that ground (the poison), they that daubed it on, they that hurled it, and they that let it go, all these have been rendered impotent. The mountain that grows poisonous plants has been rendered impotent.

8. Impotent are they that dig thee, impotent art thou, O plant! Impotent is that mountain height whence this poison has sprung.

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IV, 7. Charm against poison.

1. This water (vâr) in the (river) Varanâvatî shall ward off (vârayâtai)! Amrita (ambrosia) has been poured into it: with that do I ward off (vâraye) poison from thee.

2. Powerless is the poison from the east, powerless that from the north. Moreover the poison from the south transforms itself into a porridge.

3. Having made thee (the poison) that comes from a horizontal direction into a porridge, rich in fat, and cheering, from sheer hunger he has eaten thee, that hast an evil body: do thou not cause injury!

4. Thy bewildering quality (madam), O (plant?) that art bewildering (madivati), we cause to fall like a reed. As a boiling pot of porridge do we remove thee by (our) charm.

5. (Thee, O poison) that art, as it were, heaped about the village, do we cause to stand still by (our) charm. Stand still as a tree upon its place; do not, thou that hast been dug with the spade, cause injury!

6. With broom-straw (?), garments, and also with skins they purchased thee: a thing for barter art thou, O plant! Do not, thou that hast been dug with the spade, cause injury!

7. Those of you who were of yore unequalled in the deeds which they performed-may the), not injure here our men: for this very purpose do I engage you!

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VI, 100. Ants as an antidote against poison.

1. The gods have given, the sun has given, the earth has given, the three Sarasvatîs, of one mind, have given this poison-destroying (remedy)!

2. That water, O ants, which the gods poured for you into the dry land, with this (water), sent forth by the gods, do ye destroy this poison!

3. Thou art the daughter of the Asuras, thou art the sister of the gods. Sprung from heaven and earth, thou didst render the poison devoid of strength.

{06013}

VI, 13 Charm against snake-poison.

1. Varuna, the sage of heaven, verily lends (power) to rne. With mighty charms do I dissolve thy poison. The (poison) which has been dug, that which has not been duo-, and that which is inherent, 1 have held fast. As a brook in the desert thy poison has dried up.

2. That poison of thine which is not fluid I have confined within these (serpents?). I hold fast the sap that is in thy middle, thy top, and in thy bottom, too. May (the sap) now vanish out of thee from fright!

3. My lusty shout (is) as the thunder with the cloud: then do I smite thy (sap) with my strong charm. With manly strength I have held fast that sap of his. May the sun rise as light from the darkness!

4. With my eye do I slay thy eye, with poison do I slay thy poison. O serpent, die, do not live; back upon thee shall thy poison turn!

5. O kairâta, speckled one, upatrinya (grass-dweller?), brown one, listen to me; ye black repulsive reptiles, (listen to me)! Do not stand upon the ground of my friend; cease with your poison and make it known (to people?)!

6. I release (thee) from the fury of the black serpent, the taimâta, the brown serpent, the poison that is not fluid, the all-conquering, as the bowstring (is loosened) from the bow, as chariots (from horses).

7. Both Âligî and Viligî, both father and mother, we know your kin everywhere. Deprived of your strength what will ye do?

8. The daughter of urugûlâ, the evil one born with the black--of all those who have run to their hiding-place the poison is devoid of force.

9. The prickly porcupine, tripping down from the mountain, did declare this: 'Whatsoever serpents, living in ditches, are here, their poison is most deficient in force.'

10. Tâbuvam (or) not tâbuvam, thou (O serpent) art not tâbuvam. Through tâbuvam thy poison is bereft of force.

11. Tastuvam (or) not tastuvam, thou (O serpent) art not tastuvam. Through tastuvarn thy poison is bereft of force.

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VI, 12. Charm against snake-poison.

1. As the sun (goes around) the heavens I have surrounded the race of the serpents. As night (puts to rest) all animals except the hamsa bird, (thus) do I with this (charm) ward off thy poison.

2. With (the charm) that was found of yore by the Brahmans, found by the Rishis, and found by the gods, with (the charm) that was, will be, and is now present, with this do I ward off thy poison.

3. With honey do I mix the rivers; the mountains and peaks are honey. Honey are the rivers Parushnî and Sîpalâ. Prosperity be to thy mouth, prosperity to thy heart!

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VII, 56. Charm against the poison of serpents, scorpions, and insects.

1. The poison infused by the serpent that is striped across, by the black serpent, and by the adder; that poison of the kankaparvan ('with limbs like a comb,' scorpion) this plant has driven out.

2. This herb, born of honey, dripping honey, sweet as honey, honied, is the remedy for injuries; moreover it crushes insects.

3. Wherever thou hast been bitten, wherever thou hast been sucked, from there do we exorcise for thee the poison of the small, greedily biting insect, (so that it be) devoid of strength.

4. Thou (serpent) here, crooked, without joints, and without limbs, that twisteth thy crooked jawsmayest thou, O Brihaspati, straighten them out, as

a (bent) reed!

5. The poison of the sarkota (scorpion) that creeps low upon the ground, (after he) has been deprived of his strength, I have taken away; moreover I have caused him to be crushed.

6. There is no strength in thy arms, in thy head, nor in the middle (of thy body). Then why dost thou so wickedly carry a small (sting) in thy tail?

7. The ants devour thee, pea-hens hack thee to pieces. Yea, every one of you shall declare the poison of the sarkota powerless!

8. Thou (scorpion) that strikest with both, with mouth as well as tail, in thy mouth there is no poison: then what can there be in the receptacle in thy tail?

{06016}

VI, 16. Charm against ophthalmia.

1. O âbayu, (and even if) thou art not âbayu, strong is thy juice, O âbayu! We eat a gruel, compounded of thee.

2. Vihalha is thy father's name, Madâvatî thy mother's name. Thou art verily not such, as to have consumed thy own self.

3. O Tauvilikâ, do be quiet! This howling one has become quiet. O brown one, and brown-eared one, go away! Go out, O âla!

4. Alasâlâ thou art first, silâñgalâlâ thou art the next, nîlâgalasâlâ (thou art third?)!

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VI, 21. Charm to promote the growth of hair.

1. Of these three earths (our) earth verily is the highest. From the surface of these I have now plucked a remedy.

2. Thou art the most excellent of remedies, the best of plants, as Soma (the moon) is the lord in the watches of the night, as Varuna (is king) among the gods.

3. O ye wealthy, irresistible (plants), ye do generously bestow benefits. And ye strengthen the hair, and, moreover, promote its increase.

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VI, 136. Charm with the plant nitatni to promote the growth of hair.

1. As a goddess upon the goddess earth thou wast born, O plant! We dig thee up, O nitatni, that thou mayest strengthen (the growth) of the hair.

2. Strengthen the old (hair), beget the new! That which has come forth render more luxurious!

3. That hair of thine which does drop off, and that which is broken root and all, upon it do I sprinkle here the all-healing herb.

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VI, 137. Charm to promote the growth of hair.

1. The (plant) that Gamadagni dug up to promote the growth of his daughter's hair, Vâtahavya has brought here from the dwelling of Asita.

2. With reins they had to be measured, with outstretched arms they had to be measured out. May thy hairs grow as reeds, may they (cluster), black, about thy head!

3. Make firm their roots, draw out their ends, expand their middle., O herb! May thy hairs grow as reeds, may they (cluster), black, about thy head!

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IV, 4. Charm to promote virility.

1. Thee, the plant, which the Gandharva dug up for Varuna, when his virility had decayed, thee, that causest strength[1], we dig up.

2. Ushas (Aurora), Sûrya, (the sun), and this charm of mine; the bull Pragâpati (the lord of creatures) shall with his lusty fire arouse him!

3. This herb shall make thee so very full of lusty strength, that thou shalt, when thou art excited, exhale heat as a thing on fire!

4. The fire of the plants, and the essence of the bulls shall arouse him! Do thou, O Indra, controller of bodies, place the lusty force of men into this person!

5. Thou (O herb) art the first-born sap of the waters and also of the plants. Moreover thou art the brother of Soma, and the lusty force of the antelope buck!

6. Now, O Agni, now, O Savitar, now, O goddess Sarasvatî, now, O Brahmanaspati, do thou stiffen the pasas as a bow!

7. I stiffen thy pasas as a bowstring upon the bow. Embrace thou (women) as the antelope buck the gazelle with ever unfailing (strength)!

8. The strength of the horse, the mule, the goat and the ram, moreover the strength of the bull bestow upon him, O controller of bodies (Indra)!

[1. The original, more drastically, sepaharshanîm. By a few changes and omissions in stanzas 3, 6, and 7 the direct simplicity of the original has been similarly veiled.]

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VI, 111. Charm against mania.

1. Release for me, O Agni, this person here, who, bound and well-secured, loudly jabbers! Then shall he have due regard for thy share (of the offering), when he shall be free from madness!

2. Agni shall quiet down thy mind, if it has been disturbed! Cunningly do I prepare a remedy, that thou shalt be freed from madness.

3. (Whose mind) has been maddened by the sin of the gods, or been robbed of sense by the Rakshas, (for him) do I cunningly prepare a remedy, that he shall be free from madness.

4. May the Apsaras restore thee, may Indra, may Bhaga restore thee; may all the gods restore thee, that thou mayest be freed from madness!

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IV, 37. Charm with the plant agasringi to drive out Rakshas, Apsaras and Gandharvas.

1. With thee, O herb, the Atharvans first slew the Rakshas, with thee Kasyapa slew (them), with thee Kanva and Agastya (slew them).

2. With thee do we scatter the Apsaras and Gandharvas. O agasringi (odina pinnata), goad (aga) the Rakshas, drive them all away with thy smell!

3. The Apsaras, Guggulil, I'lli, Naladi, Aukshagandhi, and Pramandani (by name), shall go to the river, to the ford of the waters, as if blown away! Thither do ye, O Apsaras, pass away, (since) ye have been recognised!

4. Where grow the asvattha (ficus religiosa) and the banyan-trees, the great trees with crowns, thither do ye, O Apsaras, pass away, (since) ye have been recognised!

5. Where your gold and silver swings are, where cymbals and lutes chime together, thither do ye, O Apsaras, pass away, (since) ye have been recog~ nised.

6. Hither has come the mightiest of the plants and herbs. May the agasringi arâtaki pierce with her sharp horn (tîkshmasringî)!

7. Of the crested Gandharva, the husband of the Apsaras, who comes dancing hither, I crush the two mushkas and cut off the sepas.

8. Terrible are the missiles of Indra, with a hundred points, brazen; with these he shall pierce the Gandharvas, who devour oblations, and devour the avakâ-reed.

9. Terrible are the missiles of Indra, with a hundred points, golden; with these he shall pierce the Gandharvas, who devour oblations, and devour the avakd-reed.

10. All the Pisâkas that devour the avakâ-reeds, that burn, and spread their little light in the waters, do thou, O herb, crush and overcome!

11. One is like a dog, one like an ape. As a youth, with luxuriant locks, pleasant to look upon, the Gandharva hangs about the woman. Him do we drive out from here with our powerful charm.

12. The Apsaras, you know, are your wives; ye, the Gandharvas, are their husbands. Speed away, ye immortals, do not go after mortals!

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II, 9. Possession by demons of disease, cured by an amulet of ten kinds of wood.

1. O (amulet) of ten kinds of wood, release this man from the demon (rakshas) and the fit (grâhi) which has seized upon.(gagrâha) his joints! Do thou, moreover, O plant, lead him forth to the world of the living!

2. He has come, he has gone forth, he has joined the community of the living. And he has become the father of sons, and the most happy of men!

3. This person has come to his senses, he has come to the cities of the living. For he (now) has a hundred physicians, and also a thousand herbs.

4. The gods have found thy arrangement, (O amulet); the Brahmans, moreover, the plants. All the gods have found thy arrangement upon the earth.

5. (The god) that has caused (disease) shall perform the cure; he is himself the best physician.

Let him indeed, the holy one, prepare remedies for thee, together with the (earthly) physician!

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IV, 6. Charm against demons (pisâka) conceived as the cause of disease.

1. May Agni Vaisvânara, the bull of unfailing strength, burn up him that is evil-disposed, and desires to harm us, and him that plans hostile deeds against us!

2. Between the two rows of teeth of Agni Vaisvânara do I place him that plans to injure us, when we are not planning to injure him; and him that plans to injure us, when we do plan to injure him.

Those who hound us in our chambers, while shouting goes on in the night of the new moon, and the other flesh-devourers who plan to injure us, all of them do I overcome with might.

4. With might I overcome the Pisâkas, rob them of their property; all evil-disposed (demons) do I slay: may my device succeed!

5. With the gods who vie with, and measure their swiftness with this sun, with those that are in the rivers, and in the mountains, do I, along with my cattle, consort.

6. I plague the Pisâkas as the tiger the cattle-owners. As dogs who have seen a lion, these do not find a refuge.

7. My strength does not lie with Pisâkas, nor with thieves, nor with prowlers in the forest. From the village which I enter the Pisâkas vanish away.

8. From the village which my fierce power has entered the Pisâkas vanish away; they do not devise evil.

9. They who irritate me with their jabber, as (buzzing) mosquitoes the elephant, them I regard as wretched (creatures), as small vermin upon people.

10. May Nirriti (the goddess of destruction) take hold of this one, as a horse with the halter! The fool who is wroth with me is not freed from (her) snare.

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II, 25. Charm with the plant prisniparnî against the demon of disease, called kanva.

1. The goddess Prisniparnî has prepared prosperity for us, mishap for Nirriti (the goddess of destruction). For she is a fierce devourer of the Kanvas: her, the mighty, have I employed.

2. The Prisniparnî was first begotten powerful; with her do I lop off the heads of the evil brood, as (the head) of a bird.

3. The blood-sucking demon, and him that tries to rob (our) health, Kanva, the devourer of our offspring, destroy, O Prisniparnî, and overcome!

4. These Kanvas, the effacers of life, drive into the mountain; go thou burning after them like fire, O goddess Prisniparnî!

5. Drive far away these Kanvas, the effacers of life! Where the dark regions are, there have I made these flesh-eaters go.

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VI, 32. Charm for driving away demons (Rakshas and Pisâkas).

1. Do ye well offer within the fire this oblation with ghee, that destroys the spook! Do thou, O Agni, burn from afar against the Rakshas, (but) our houses thou shalt not consume!

2. Rudra has broken your necks, ye Pisâkas: may he also break your ribs, ye spooks! The plant whose power is everywhere has united you with Yama (death).

3. Exempt from danger, O Mitra and Varuna, may we here be; drive back with your flames the devouring demons (Atrin)! Neither aider, nor support do they find; smiting one another they go to death.

{02004}

II, 4. Charm with an amulet derived from the gangida tree, against diseases and demons.

1. Unto long life and great delights, for ever unharmed and vigorous, do we wear the gangida, as an amulet destructive of the vishkandha.

2. From convulsions, from tearing pain, from vishkandha, and from torturing pain, the gangida shall protect us on all sides--an amulet of a thousand virtues!

3. This gangida conquers the vishkandha, and smites the Atrin (devouring demons); may this all-healing gangida protect us from adversity!

4. By means of the invigorating gangida, bestowed by the gods as an amulet, do we conquer in battle the vishkandha and all the Rakshas.

5. May the hemp and may gangida protect me against vishkandha! The one (gangida) is brought hither from the forest, the other (hemp) from the sap of the furrow.

6. Destruction of witchcraft is this amulet, also destruction of hostile powers: may the powerful gangida therefore extend far our lives!

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XIX, 34, Charm with an amulet derived from the gafigpida-tree, aoainst diseases and demons.

1. Thou art an Angiras, O gangida, a protector art thou, O gangida. All two-footed and four-footed creatures that belong to us the gangida shall protect!

2. The sorceries fifty-three in number, and the hundred performers of sorcery, all these having lost their force, the gangida shall render bereft of strength!

3. Bereft of strength is the gotten-up clamour, bereft of strength are the seven debilitating (charms). Do thou, O gangida, hurl away from here poverty, as an archer an arrow!

4. This gangida is a destroyer of witchcraft, and also a destroyer of hostile powers. May then the powerful gangida extend far our lives!

5. May the greatness of the gangida protect us about on all sides, (the greatness) with which he has overcome the vishkandha (and) the samskandha, (overcoming the powerful (disease) with power!

6. Thrice the gods begot thee that hast grown up upon the earth. The Brahmanas of yore knew thee here by the name of Angiras.

7. Neither the plants of olden times, nor they of recent times, surpass thee; a fierce slayer is the gahaida, and a happy refuge.

8 And when, O gangida of boundless virtue, thou didst spring up in the days of yore, O fierce (plant), Indra at first placed strength in thee.

9. Fierce Indra, verily, put might into thee, O lord of the forest! Dispersing all diseases, slay thou the Rakshas, O plant!

I o. The breaking disease and the tearing disease, the balâsa, and the pain in the limbs, the takman that comes every autumn, may the gangida render devoid of force!

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XIX, 35. Charm with an amulet derived from the gangida-tree, against diseases and demons.

1. While uttering Indra's name the seers bestowed (upon men) the gangida, which the gods in the beginning had made into a remedy, destructive of the vishkandha.

2 . May that gangida protect us as a treasurer his treasures, he whom the gods and the Brâhmanas made into a refuge that puts to naught the hostile powers!

3. The evil eye of the hostile-minded, (and) the evil-doer I have approached. Do thou, O thousandeyed one, watchfully destroy these! A refuge art thou, O gangida.

4. May the gangida protect me from heaven, protect me from earth, protect (me) from the atmosphere, protect me from the plants, protect me from the past, as well as the future; may he protect us from every direction of space!

5. The sorceries performed by the gods, and also those performed by men, may the all-healing gangida render them all devoid of strength!

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VI, 85. Exorcism of disease by means of an amulet from the varana-tree.

1. This divine tree, the varana, shall shut out (vârayâtai). The gods, too, have shut out (avîvaran) the disease that hath entered into this man!

2. By Indra's command, by Mitra's and by Varuna's, by the command of all the gods do we shut out thy disease.

3. As Vritra did bold fast these ever-flowing waters, thus do I shut out (vâraye) disease from thee with (the help of) Agni Vaisvânara.

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VI, 127. The kîpudru-tree as a panacea.

1. Of the abscess, of the balâsa, of flow of blood, O plant; of neuralgia, O herb, thou shalt not leave even a speck!

2. Those two boils (testicles) of thine, O balasa, that are fixed upon the arm-pits-I know the remedy for that: the kîpudru-tree takes care of it.

3. The neuralgia that is in the limbs, that is in the ears and in the eyes-we tear them out, the neuralgia, the abscess, and the pain in the heart. That unknown disease do we drive away downward.

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XIX, 38. The healing properties of bdellium.

1. [Neither diseases, nor yet a curse, enters this person, O arundhatî!] From him that is penetrated by the sweet fragrance of the healing bdellium, diseases flee in every direction, as antelopes and as horses run.

2. Whether, O bdellium, thou comest from the Sindhu (Indus), or whether thou art derived from the sea, I have seized the qualities of both, that this person shall be exempt from harm.

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VI, 91. Barley and water as universal remedies.

1. This barley they did plough vigorously, with yokes of eight and yokes of six. With it I drive off to a far distance the ailment from thy body.

2. Downward blows the wind, downward burns the sun, downward the cow is milked: downward shall thy ailment pass!

3. The waters verily are healing, the waters chase away disease, the waters cure all (disease): may they prepare a remedy for thee!

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VIII, 7. Hymn to all magic and medicinal plants, used as a universal remedy.

1. The plants that are brown, and those that are white; the red ones and the speckled ones; the sable and the black plants, all (these) do we invoke.

2. May they protect this man from the disease sent by the gods, the herbs whose father is the sky, whose mother is the earth, whose root is the ocean.

3. The waters and the heavenly plants are foremost; they have driven out from every limb thy disease, consequent upon sin.

4. The plants that spread forth, those that are busby, those that have a single sheath, those that creep along, do I address; I call in thy behalf the plants that have shoots, those that have stalks, those that divide their branches, those that are derived from all the gods, the strong (plants) that furnish

life to man.

5. With the might that is yours, ye mighty ones, with the power and strength that is yours, with that do ye, O plants, rescue this man from this disease!

I now prepare a remedy.

6. The plants givalâ ('quickening'), na-ghâ-rishâ ('forsooth-no-harm'), gîvanti ('living'), and the arundhatî, which removes (disease), is full of blossoms, and rich in honey, do I call to exempt him from injury.

7. Hither shall come the intelligent (plants) that understand my speech, that we may bring this man into safety out of misery!

8. They that are the food of Agni (the fire), the offspring of the waters, that grow ever renewing themselves, the firm (plants) that bear a thousand names, the healing (plants), shall be brought hither!

9. The plants, whose womb is the avaki (blyxa octandra), whose essence are the waters, shall with their sharp horns thrust aside evil!

10. The plants which release, exempt from Varuna (dropsy), are strong, and destroy poison; those, too, that remove (the disease) baldsa, and ward off witchcraft shall come hither!'

11. The plants that have been bought, that are right potent, and are praised, shall protect in this village cow, horse, man, and cattle!

12. Honied are the roots of these herbs, honied their tops, honied their middles, honied their leaves, honied their blossoms; they share in honey, are the food of immortality. May they yield ghee, and food, and cattle chief of all!

13. As many in number and in kind the plants here are upon the earth, may they, furnished with a thousand leaves, release me from death and misery!

14. Tiger-like is the amulet (made of) herbs, a saviour, a protector against hostile schemes: may it drive off far away from us all diseases and the Rakshas!

15. As if at the roar of the lion they start with fright, as if (at the roar) of fire they tremble before the (plants) that have been brought hither. The diseases of cattle and men have been driven out by the herbs: let them pass into navigable streams!

16. The plants release us from Agni Vaisvânara. Spreading over the earth, go ye, whose king is the tree!

17. The plants, descended from Angiras, that grow upon the mountains and in the plains, shall be for us rich in milk, auspicious, comforting to the heart!

18. The herbs which I know, and those which I see with my sight; the unknown, those which we know, and those which we perceive to be charged with (power),--

19. All plants collectively shall note my words, that we may bring this man into safety out of misfortune,--

20. The asvattha (ficus religiosa), and the darbha among the plants; king Soma, amrita (ambrosia) and the oblation; rice and barley, the two healing, immortal children of heaven!

21. Ye arise: it is thundering and crashing, ye plants, since Parganya (the god of rain) is favouring you, O children of Prisni (the spotted cloud), with (his) seed (water).

22. The strength of this amrita (ambrosia) do we crive this man to drink. Moreover, I prepare a remedy, that he may live a hundred years!

23. The boar knows, the ichneumon knows the healing plant. Those that the serpents and Gandharvas know, I call hither for help.

24. The plants, derived from the Angiras, which the eagles and the heavenly raghats (falcons) know, which the birds and the flamingos know, which all winged (creatures) know, which all wild animals know, I call hither for help.

25. As many plants as the oxen and kine, as many as the goats and the sheep feed upon, so many plants, when applied, shall furnish protection to thee!

26. As many (plants), as the human physicians know to contain a remedy, so many, endowed with every healing quality, do I apply to thee!

27. Those that have flowers, those that have blossoms, those that bear fruit, and those that are without fruit, as if from the same mother they shall suck sap, to exempt this man from injury!

28. 1 have saved thee from a depth of five fathoms, and, too, from a depth of ten fathoms; moreover, from the foot-fetter of Yama, and from every sin against the gods.

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VI, 96. Plants as a panacea.

1. The many plants of hundredfold aspect, whose king is Soma, which have been begotten by Brihaspati, shall free us from calamity!

2. May they free us from (the calamity) consequent upon curses, and also from the (toils) of Varuna; moreover, from the foot-fetter of Yama, and every sin against the gods!

3. What laws we have infringed upon, with the eye, the mind, and speech, either while awake, or asleep-may Soma by his (divine) nature clear these (sins) away from us!

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II, 32. Charm to secure perfect health.

1. From thy eyes, thy nostrils, ears, and chin--the disease which is seated in thy head--from thy brain and tongue I do tear it out.

2. From thy neck, nape of the neck, ribs, and spine--the disease which is seated in thy fore-arm--from thy shoulders and arms I do tear it out.

3. From thy heart, thy lungs, viscera, and sides; from thy kidneys, spleen, and liver we do tear out the disease.

4. From thy entrails, canals, rectum, and abdomen; from thy belly, guts, and navel I do tear out the disease.

5. From thy thighs, knees, heels, and the tips of thy feet--from thy hips I do tear out the disease seated in thy buttocks, from thy bottom the disease seated in thy buttocks.

6. From thy bones, marrow, sinews and arteries; from thy hands, fingers, and nails I do tear out the disease.

7. The disease that is in thy every limb, thy every hair, thy every joint; that which is seated in thy skin, with Kasyapa's charm, that tears out, to either side we do tear it out.

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IX, 8. Charm to procure immunity from all diseases.

1. Headache and suffering in the head, pain in the ears and flow of blood, every disease of the head, do we charm forth from thee.

2. From thy ears, from thy kankûshas the earpain, and the neuralgia--every disease of the head do we charm forth from thee.

3. (With the charm) through whose agency disease hastens forth from the ears and the mouth-every disease of the head do we charm forth from thee.

4. (The disease) that renders a man deaf and blind--every disease of the head do we charm forth from thee.

5. Pain in the limbs, fever in the limbs, the neuralgia that affects every limb-every disease of the head do we charm forth from thee.

6. (The disease) whose frightful aspect makes man tremble, the takman (fever) that comes every autumn, do we charm forth from thee.

7. The disease that creeps along the thighs, and then enters the canals, out of thy inner parts do we charm forth.

8. If from the heart, from love, or from disgust, it arises, from thy heart and from thy limbs the balâsa do we charm forth.

9. Jaundice from thy limbs, diarrhoea from within thy bowels, the core of disease from thy inner soul do we charm forth.

10. To ashes (âsa) the balâsa shall turn; what is diseased shall turn to urine! The poison of all diseases I have charmed forth from thee.

11. Outside the opening (of the bladder) it shall run off; the rumbling shall pass from thy belly! The poison of all diseases I have charmed forth from thee.

12. From thy belly, lungs, navel, and heart-the poison of all diseases I have charmed forth from thee.

13. (The pains) that split the crown (of the head), pierce the head, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

14. They that pierce the heart, creep along the ribs, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

15. They that pierce the sides, bore along the ribs, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

16. They that pierce crosswise, burrow in thy abdomen, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

17. They that creep along the rectum, twist the bowels, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

18. They that suck the marrow, and split the joints, without doing injury, without causing disease, they shall run off outside the opening (of the bladder)!

19. The diseases and the injuries that paralyse thy limbs, the poison of all diseases I have charmed forth from thee.

20. Of neuralgia, of abscesses, of inflation, or of inflammation of the eyes, the poison of all diseases I have driven forth from thee.

21. From thy feet, knees, thighs, and bottom; from thy spine, and thy neck the piercing pains, from thy head the ache I have removed.

22. Firm are the bones of thy skull, and the beat of thy heart. At thy rising, O sun, thou didst remove the pains of the head, quiet the pangs in the limbs.

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II, 29. Charm for obtaining long life and prosperity by transmission of disease.

1. In the essence of earthly bliss, O ye gods, in strength of body (may he live)! May Agni, Sûrya, Brihaspati bestow upon him life's vigour!

2. Give life to him, O Gâtavedas, bestow in addition progeny upon him, O Tvashtar; procure, O Savitar, increase of wealth for him; may this one, who belongs to thee, live a hundred autumns!

3. May our prayer bestow upon us vigour, and possession of sound. progeny; ability and property do ye two, (O heaven and earth), bestow upon us!, May he, conquering lands with might, (live), O Indra, subjecting the others, his enemies!

4. Given by Indra, instructed by Varuna, sent by the Maruts, strong, he has come to us; may he, in the lap of ye two, heaven and earth, not suffer from hunger and not from thirst!

5. Strength may ye two, that are rich in strength, bestow upon him; milk may ye two, that are rich in milk, bestow upon him! Strength heaven and earth did bestow upon him; strength all the gods, the Maruts, and the waters.

6. With the gracious (waters) do I delight thy heart, mayest thou, free from disease, full of force, rejoice! Clothed in the same garment do ye two drink this stirred drink, taking on as a magic form the shape of the two Asvins!

7. Indra, having been wounded, first created this vigour, and this ever fresh divine food: that same belongs to thee. By means of that do thou, full of force, live (a hundred) autumns; may it not flow out of thee: physicians have prepared it for thee!

II.

PRAYERS FOR LONG LIFE AND HEALTH (ÂYUSHYÂNI).

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III, 11. Prayer for health and long life.

1. I release thee unto life by means of (my) oblation, from unknown decline, and from consumption. If Grâhi (seizure) has caught hold (gagrâha) of this person here, may Indra and Agni free him from that!

2. If his life has faded, even if he has passed away, if he has been brought to the very vicinity of death, I snatch him from the lap of Nirriti (the goddess of destruction): I have freed him unto a life of a hundred autumns.

3. I have snatched him (from death) by means of an oblation which has a thousand eyes, hundredfold strength, and -ensures a hundredfold life, in order that Indra may conduct him through the years across to the other side of every misfortune.

4. Live thou, thriving a hundred autumns, a hundred winters, and a hundred springs! May Indra, Agni, Savitar, Brihaspati (grant) thee a hundred years! I have snatched him (from death) with an oblation that secures a life,of a hundred years.

5. Enter ye, O in-breathirig and out-breathing, as two bulls a stable! Away shall go the other deaths, of which, it is said, there are a hundred more!

6. Remain ye here, O in-breathing and out-breathing, do not go away from here; do ye car anew to old age his body and his limbs!

7. To old age I make thee over, into old age I urge thee; may a happy old age guide thee! Away shall go the other deaths, of which, it is said, there are a hundred more!

8. Upon thee (life unto) old age has been deposited, as a rope is tied upon a bull. That death which has fettered thee at thy birth with a firm rope, Brihaspati with the hands of the truth did strip off from thee.

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II, 28. Prayer for long life pronounced over a boy.

1. For thee alone, O (death from) old age, this (boy) shall grow up: the other hundred kinds of death shall not harm him! Like a provident mother in her lap Mitra shall befriend him, shall save him from misfortune!

2. May Mitra or Varuna, the illustrious, cooperating, grant him death from old age! Then Agni, the priest, who knows the ways, promulgates all the races of the gods.

3. Thou, (O Agni), rulest over all the animals of the earth, those which have been born, and those which are to be born: may not in-breathing leave this one, nor yet out-breathing, may neither friends nor foes slay him!

4. May father Dyaus (sky) and mother Prithivi (earth), co-operating, grant thee death from old age, that thou mayest live in the lap of Aditi a hundred winters, guarded by in-breathing and outbreathing!

5. Lead this dear child to life and vigour, O Agni, Varuna, and king Mitra! As a mother afford him protection, O Aditi, and all ye gods, that he may attain to old age!

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III, 31. Prayer for health and long life.

1. The gods are free from decrepitude; thou, O Agni, art removed from the demon of hostility. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

2. (Vâyu), the purifying (wind), shall free thee from misfortune, Sakra (Indra) from evil sorcery! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

3. The tame (village) animals are separate from the wild (forest animals); the water has flowed apart from thirst. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

4. Heaven and earth here go apart; the paths go in every direction. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

5. 'Tvashtar is preparing a wedding for his daughter,' thus (saying) does this whole world pass through. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

6. Agni unites (life's) breaths, the moon is united with (life's) breath. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

7. By means of (life's) breath the gods aroused the everywhere mighty sun. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

8. Live thou by the (life's) breath of them that have life, and that create life; do not die! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

9. Breathe thou with the (life's) breath of those that breathe; do not die! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

10. Do thou (rise) up with life, unite thyself with life, (rise) up with the sap of the plants! I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

11. From the rain of Parganya we have risen up, immortal. I free thee from all evil and disease, (and) unite thee with life.

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VII, 53. Prayer for long life.

1. When, O Brihaspati, thou didst liberate (us) from existence in yonder world of Yama, (and) from hostile schemes, then did the Asvins, the physicians of the gods, with might sweep death from us, O Agni!

2. O in-breathing and out-breathing, go along with the body, do not leave it: may they be thy allies here! Live and thrive a hundred autumns; Agni shall be thy most excellent shepherd and overseer!

3. Thy vital force that has been dissipated afar, thy in-breathing and thy out-breathing, shall come back again! Agni has snatched them from the lap of Nirriti (the goddess of destruction), and I again introduce them into thy person.

4. Let not his in-breathing desert him, nor his out-breathing quit him and depart! I commit him to the Seven Rishis: may they convey him in health to old age!

5. Enter, O in-breathing and out-breathing, like two bulls into a stable: this person shall here flourish, an unmolested repository for old age!

6. Life's breath we do drive into thee, disease we do drive away from thee. May this excellent Agni endow us with life from every source!

7. Ascending from the darkness of death to the highest firmament, to Sûrya (the sun), the god among gods, we have reached the highest light.

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VIII, 1. Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death.

1. To the 'Ender,' to Death be reverence! May thy in-breathing and thy out-breathing remain here! United here with (life's) spirit this man shall be, sharing in the sun, in the world of immortality (amrita)!

2. 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.

3. Here (shall be) thy (life's) spirit, here thy inbreathing, here thy life, here thy mind! We rescue thee from the toils of Nirriti (destruction) by means of our divine utterance.

4. Rise up hence, O man! Casting off the footshackles of death, do not sink down! Be not cut off from this world, from the sight of Agni and the sun!

5. The wind, Mâtarisvan, shall blow for thee, the waters shall shower amrita (ambrosia) upon thee, the sun shall shine kindly for thy body! Death shall pity thee: do not waste away!

6. Thou shalt ascend and not descend, O man! Life and alertness do I prepare for thee. Mount, forsooth, this imperishable, pleasant car; then in old age thou shalt hold converse with thy family!

7. Thy 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 thee here!

8. Do not long after the departed, who conduct (men) afar! Ascend from the darkness, come to the light! We lay hold of thy hands.

9. 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) thee! Come hither, do not long to be away; do not tarry here with thy mind turned to a distance!

10. Do not follow this path: it is terrible! I speak of that by which thou hast not hitherto gone. Darkness is this, O man, do not enter it! Danger is beyond, security here for thee.

11. May the fires that are within the waters gLiard thee, may (the fire) which men kindle guard thee, may Gâtavedas Vaisvânara (the fire common to all men) guard thee! Let not the heavenly (fire) together with the lightning burn, thee!

12. Let not the flesh-devouring (fire) menace thee: move afar from the funeral pyre! Heaven shall guard thee, the earth shall guard thee, the sun and moon shall guard thee, the atmosphere shall guard thee against the divine missile!

13. May the alert and the watchful divinities guard thee, may he that sleeps not and nods not guard thee, may he that protects and is vigilant guard thee!

14. They shall guard thee, they shall protect thee. Reverence be to them. Hail be to them!

15. Into converse with the living Vâyu, Indra, Dhâtar, and saving Savitar shall put thee; breath and strength shall not leave thee! Thy (life's) spirit do we call back to thee.

16. Convulsions that draw the jaws together, darkness, shall not come upon thee, nor (the demon) that tears out the tongue (?)! How shalt thou then waste away? The Âdityas and Vasus, Indra and Agni shall raise thee up unto well-being!

17. The heavens, the earth, Pragâpati, have rescued thee. The plants with Soma their king have delivered thee from death.

18. 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.

19. I have delivered thee from death. The (powers) that furnish strength shall breathe upon thee. The (mourning women) with dishevelled hair, they that wail lugubriously, shall not wail over thee!

20. 1 have snatched thee (from death), I have obtained thee; thou hast returned with renewed youth. O thou, that art (now) sound of limb, for thee sound sight, and sound life have I obtained.

21. It has shone upon thee, light has arisen, darkness has departed from thee. We remove from thee death, destruction, and disease.

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VIII, 2. Prayer for exemption from the dangers of death.

1. Take hold of this (charm) that subjects to immortality (life), may thy life unto old age not be cut off! I bring to thee anew breath and life: not to mist and darkness, do not waste away!

2. Come hither to the light of the living; I rescue thee unto a life of a hundred autumns! Loosing the bands of death and imprecation, I bestow upon thee long life extended very far.

3. From the wind thy breath I have obtained, from the sun thine eye; thy soul I hold fast in thee: be together with thy limbs, speak articulating with thy tongue!

4. With the breath of two-footed and four-footed creatures I blow upon thee, as on Agni when he is born (as on fire when kindled). I have paid reverence, O death, to thine eye, reverence to thy breath.

5. This (man) shall live and shall not die: we rouse this man (to life)! I make for him a remedy: O death, do not slay the man!

6. The plant gîvalâ (quickening'), na-ghâ-rishâ ('forsooth-no-harm'), and gîvantî ('living), a victorious, mighty saviour-plant do I invoke, that he may be exempt from injury.

7. Befriend him, do not seize him, let him go, (O death); though he be thy very own, let him abide here with unimpaired strength! O Bhava and Sarva, take pity, grant Protection; misfortune drive away, and life bestow!

8. Befriend him, death, and pity him: may he from here arise! Unharmed, with sound limbs, hearing perfectly, through old age carrying a hundred years, let him get enjoyment by himself (unaided)!

9. The missile of the gods shall pass thee by! I pass thee across the mist (of death); from death I have rescued thee. Removing far the flesh-devouring Agni, a barrier do I set around thee, that thou mayest live.

10. From thy misty road that cannot be withstood, O death, from this path (of thine) we guard this (man), and make our charm a protection for him.

11. In-breathing and out-breathing. do I prepare for thee, death in old age, long life, and prosperity. All the messengers of Yama, that roam about, dispatched by Vivasvant's son, do I drive away.

12. Arâti (grudge), Nirriti (destruction), Grâhi (seizure), and the flesh-devouring Pisâkas (do we drive) away to a distance, and hurl all wicked Rakshas away into darkness as it were.

13. I crave thy life's breath from the immortal, life-possessing Agni Gâtavedas. That thou shalt not take harm, shalt be immortal in (Agni's) company, that do I procure for thee, and that shall be fulfilled for thee!

14. May heaven and earth, the bestowers of happiness, be auspicious and harmless to thee; may the sun-shine, and the wind blow comfort to thy heart; may the heavenly waters, rich in milk, flow upon thee kindly!

15. May the plants be auspicious to thee! I have raised thee from the lower to the upper earth: there may both the Âdityas, the sun and the moon, . protect thee.

16. Whatever garment for clothing, or whatever girdle thou makest for thyself, agreeable to thy body do we render it; not rough to thy touch shall it be!

17. When thou, the barber, shearest with thy sharp well-whetted razor our hair and beard, do not, while cleansing our face, rob us of our life!

18. Rice and barley shall be auspicious to thee, causing no balâsa, inflicting no injury! They two drive away disease, they two release from calamity.

19. Whatever thou eatest or drinkest, the grain of the plough-land or milk, whatever is or is not to be eaten, all that food do I render for thee free from poison.

20. To day and to night both do we commit thee: from the demons that seek to devour, do ye preserve this (man) for me!

21. A hundred years, ten thousand years, two, three, four ages (yuga) do we allot to thee; Indra and Agni, and all the gods without anger shall favour thee!

22. To autumn thee, to winter, spring and summer, do we commit; the rains in which grow the plants shall be pleasant to thee!

23. Death rules over bipeds, death rules over quadrupeds. From that death, the lord of cattle, do I rescue thee: do not fear!

24. Free from harm thou shalt not die; thou shalt not die: do not fear! Verily, they do not die there, they do not go to the nethermost darkness;--

25. Verily, every creature lives there, the cow, the horse, and man, where this charm is performed, as the (protecting) barrier for life.

26. May it preserve thee from sorcery, from thy equals and thy kin! Undying be, immortal, exceedingly vital; thy spirits shall not abandon thy body!

27. From the one and a hundred deaths, from the dangers that are surmountable, from that Agai Vaisvânara (the funeral pyre?) may the gods deliver thee!

28. Thou, the remedy called p6tudru, art the body of Agni, the deliverer, slayer of Rakshas, slayer of rivals, moreover thou chasest away disease.

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V. 30. Prayer for exemption from disease and death.

1. From near thy vicinity, from near thy distance (do I call): remain here, do not follow; do not follow the Fathers of yore! Firmly do I fasten thy life's breath.

2. Whatever sorcery any kinsman or stranger has practised against thee, both release and deliverance with my voice do I declare for thee.

3. If thou hast deceived or cursed a woman or a man in thy folly, both release and deliverance with my voice do I declare for thee.

4. If thou liest (ill) in consequence of a sin committed by thy mother or thy father, both release and deliverance with my voice do I declare for thee.

5. Fight shy of the medicine which thy mother and thy father, thy sister and thy brother let out against thee: I shall cause thee to live unto old age!

6. Remain here, O man, with thy entire soul; do not follow the two messengers of Yama: come to the abodes of the living!

7. Return when called, knowing the outlet of the path (death), the ascent, the advance, the road of every living man!

8. Fear not, thou shalt not die: I shall cause thee to live unto old age! I have charmed away from thy limbs the disease that wastes the limbs.

9. The disease that racks and wastes thy limbs, and the sickness in thy heart, has flown as an eagle to a far distance, overcome by my charm.

10. The two sages Alert and Watchful, the sleepless and the vigilant, these two guardians of thy life's breath, are awake both day and night.

11. Agni here is to be revered; the sun shall rise here for thee: rise thou from deep death, yea from black darkness!

12. Reverence be to Yama, reverence to death; reverence to the Fathers and to those that lead (to them) [death's messengers?]! That Agni who knows the way to save do I engage for this man, that he be exempt from harm!

13. His breath shall come, his soul shall come, his sight shall come, and, too, his strength! His body shall collect itself: then shall he stand firm upon his feet!

14. Unite him, Agni, with breath and sight, provide him with a body and with strength! Thou hast a knowledge of immortality: let him not now depart, let him not now become a dweller in a house of clay!

15. Thy in-breathing shall not cease, thy outbreathing shall not vanish; Sûrya (the sun), the supreme lord, shall raise thee from death with his rays!

16. This tongue (of mine), bound (in the mouth, yet) mobile, speaks within: with it I have charmed away disease, and the hundred torments of the takman (fever).

17. This world is most dear to the gods, unconquered. For whatever death thou wast destined when thou wast born, O man, that (death) and we call after thee: do not die before old age!

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IV, 9. Salve (âñgana) as a protector of life and limb.

1. Come hither! Thou art the living, protecting eye-ointment of the mountain, given by all the gods as a safeguard, unto life.

2. Thou art a protection for men, a protection for cattle, thou didst stand for the protection of horses and steeds.

3. Thou art, O salve, both a protection that crushes the sorcerers, and thou hast knowledge of immortality (amrita). Moreover, thou art food for the living, and thou art, too, a remedy aorainst jaundice.

4. From him over whose every limb and every joint thou passest, O salve, thou dost, as a mighty intercepter, drive away disease.

5. Him that bears thee, O salve, neither curse, nor sorcery, nor burning pain does reach; nor does the,vishkandha come upon him.

6. From evil scheme, from troubled dream, from evil deed, and also from foulness.; from the evil eye of the enemy, from this protect us, O salve!

7. Knowing this, O salve, I shall speak the truth, avoid falsehood. May I obtain horses and cattle, and thy person, O serving-man!

8. Three are servants of the salve: the takman (fever), the balâsa, and the serpent. The highest of the mountains, Trikakud ('Three-peaks') by name, is thy father.

9. Since the salve of Trikakud is born upon the Himavant, it shall demolish all the wizards and all the witches.

10. Whether thou art derived from the (mountain) Trikakud, or art said to come from the (river) Yamunâ, both these names of thine are auspicious: with these, O salve, protect us!

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IV, 10. The pearl and its shell as an amulet bestowing long life and prosperity.

1. Born of the wind, the atmosphere, the lightning, and the light, may this pearl shell, born of gold, protect us from straits!

2. With the shell which was born in the sea, at the head of bright substances, we slay the Rakshas and conquer the Atrins (devouring demons).

3. With the shell (we conquer) disease and poverty; with the shell, too, the Saânvâs. The shell is our universal remedy; the pearl shall protect us from straits!

4. Born in the heavens, born in the sea, brought on from the river (Sindhu), this shell, born of gold, is our life-prolonging amulet.

5. The amulet, born from the sea, a sun, born from Vritra (the cloud), shall on all sides protect us from the missiles of the gods and the Asuras!

6. Thou art one of the golden substances, thou art born from Soma (the moon). Thou art sightly on the chariot, thou art brilliant on the quiver. [May it prolong our lives!]

7. The bone of the gods turned into pearl; that, animated, dwells in the waters. That do I fasten upon thee unto life, lustre, strength, longevity, unto a life lasting a hundred autumns, May the (amulet) of pearl protect thee!

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XIX, 26. Gold as an amulet for long life.

1. The gold which is born from fire, the immortal, they bestowed upon the mortals. He who knows this deserves it; of old age dies he who wears it.

2. The gold, (endowed by) the sun with beautiful colour, which the men of yore, rich in descendants, did desire, may it gleaming envelop thee in lustre! Long-lived becomes he who wears it!

3. (May it envelop) thee unto (long) life, unto lustre, unto force, and unto strength, that thou shalt by the brilliancy of the gold shine forth among people!

4. (The gold) which king Varuna knows, which god Brihaspati knows, which Indra, the slayer of Vritra, knows, may that become for thee a source of life, may that become for thee a source of lustre!

III

IMPRECATIONS AGAINST DEMONS, SORCERERS, AND ENEMIES (ÂBHIKÂRIKÂNI AND KRITYÂPRATIHARANÂNI).

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I, 7. Against sorcerers and demons.

1. The sorcerer (yâtudhâna) that vaunts himsel and the Kimîdin do thou, O Agni, convey hither! For thou, O god, when lauded, becomest the destroyer of the demon.

2. Partake of the ghee, of the sesame-oil, O Agni Gâtavedas, that standest on high, conquerest by thyself! Make the sorcerers howl!

3. The sorcerers and the devouring (atrin) Kimîdin shall howl! Do ye, moreover, O Agni and Indra, receive graciously this our oblation!

4. Agni shall be the first to seize them, Indra with his (strong) arms shall drive them away! Every wizard, as soon as he comes, shall proclaim himself, saying, 'I am he'!

5. We would see thy might, O Gâtavedas; disclose to us the wizards, O thou that beholdest men! May they all, driven forth by thy fire, disclosing themselves, come to this spot!

6. Seize hold, O Gâtavedas: for our good thou wast born! Become our messenger, O Agni, and make the sorcerers howl!

7. Do thou, O Agni, drag hither the sorcerers, bound in shackles; then Indra with his thunderbolt shall cut off their heads!

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I, 8. Against sorcerers and demons.

1. May this oblation carry hither the sorcerers, as a river (carries) foam! The man or the woman who has performed this (sorcery), that person shall here proclaim himself!

2. This vaunting (sorcerer) has come hither: receive him with alacrity! O Brihaspati, put him into subjection; O Agni and Soma, pierce him through!

3. Slay the offspring of the sorcerer, O soma-drinking (Indra), and subject (him)! Make drop out the farther and the nearer eye of the braggart (demon)!

4. Wherever, O Agni Gâtavedas, thou perceivest the brood of these hidden devourers (atrin), do thou, mightily strengthened by our charm, slay them: slay their (brood), O Agni, piercing them a hundredfold!

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I, 16. Charm with lead, against demons and sorcerers.

1. Against the devouring demons who, in the night of the full-moon, have arisen in throngs, may Agni, the strong, the slayer of the sorcerers, give us courage!

2. To the lead Varuna gives blessing, to the lead Agni gives help. Indra gave me the lead: unfailingly it dispels sorcery.

3. This (lead) overcomes the vishkandha, this smites the devouring demons (atrin); with this I have overwhelmed all the brood of the Pisâkas.

4. If thou slayest our cow, if our horse or our domestic, we pierce thee with the lead, so that thou shalt not slay our heroes.

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VI, 2. The soma-oblation directed against Demons (rakshas).

1. Press the soma, ye priests, and rinse it (for renewed pressing), in behalf of Indra who shall listen to the song of the worshipper, and to my call!

2. Do thou, O doughty (Indra), whom the drops of soma enter as birds a tree, beat off the hostile brood of the Rakshas!

3. Press ye the soma for Indra, the soma-drinker, who wields the thunderbolt! A youthful victor and ruler is he, praised by many men.

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II, 14. Charm against a variety of female demons, conceived as hostile to men, cattle, and home.

1. Nissâlâ, the bold, the greedy demon (?dhishana), and (the female demon) with long-drawn howl, the bloodthirsty; all the daughters of Kanda, the Sadânvâs do we destroy.

2. We drive you out of the stable, out of the axle (of the wagon), and the body of the wagon; we chase you, O ye daughters of Magundî, from the house.

3. In yonder house below, there the grudging demons (arâyî) shall exist; there ruin shall prevail, and all the witches!

4. May (Rudra), the lord of beings, and Indra. drive forth from here the Sadânvâs; those that am seated on the foundation of the house Indra shall overcome with his thunderbolt!

5. Whether ye belong to (the demons) of inherited disease, whether ye have been dispatched by men, or whether ye have originated from the Dasyus (demon-like aborigines), vanish from here, O ye Sadânvâs!

6. About their dwelling-places I did swiftly course, as if on a race-course. I have won all contests with you: vanish from here, O ye Sadânvâs!

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III, 9. Against vishkandha and kâbava (hostile demons).

1. Of karsapha and visapha heaven is the father and earth the mother. As, ye gods, ye have brought on (the trouble), thus do ye again remove it!

2. Without fastening the), (the protecting plants?) held fast, thus it has been arranged by Manu. The vishkandha do I render impotent, like one who gelds cattle.

3. A talisman tied to a reddish thread the active (seers) then do fasten on: may the fastenings render impotent the eager, fiery kâbava!

4. And since, O ye eager (demons), ye walk like gods by the wile of the Asuras, the fastening (of the amulet) is destructive to the kâbava, as the ape to the dog.

5. I revile thee, the kâbava, unto misfortune, (and) shall work harm for thee. Accompanied with curses ye shall go out like swift chariots!

6. A hundred and one vishkandha are spread out along the earth; for these at the beginning they brought out thee, the amulet, that destroys vishkandha.

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IV, 20. Charm with a certain plant (sadampushpâ) which exposes demons and enemies.

1. He sees here, he sees yonder, he sees in the distance, he sees--the sky, the atmosphere as well as the earth, all that, O goddess, he sees.

2. The three heavens, the three earths, and these six directions severally; all creatures may I see through thee, O divine plant!

3. Thou art verily the eyeball of the divine eagle; thou didst ascend the earth as a weary woman a palanquin.

4. The thousand-eyed god shall put this plant into my right hand: with that do I see every one, the Sûdra as well as the Ârya.

5. Reveal (all) forms, do not hide thy own self; moreover, do thou, O thousand-eyed (plant), look the Kimîdins in the face!

6. Reveal to me the wizards, and reveal the witches, reveal all the Pisâkas: for this purpose do I take hold of thee, O plant!

7. Thou art the eye of Kasyapa, and the eye of the four-eyed bitch. Like the sun, moving in the bright day, make thou the Pisâka evident to me!

8. 1 have dragged out from his retreat the sorcerer and the Kimîdin. Through this (charm) do I see every one, the Sûdra as well as the Ârya.

9. Him that flies in the air, him that moves across the sky, him that regards the earth as his resort, that Pisâka do thou reveal (to me)!

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IV, 17. Charm with the apâmârga-plant, against sorcery, demons, and enemies.

1. We take hold, O victorious one, of thee, the mistress of remedies. I have made thee a thing of thousandfold strength for ever), one, O plant!

2. Her, the unfailingly victorious one, that wards off curses, that is powerful and defensive; (her and) all the plants have I assembled, intending that she shall save us from this (trouble)!

3. The woman who has cursed us with a curse, who has arranged dire misfortune (for us), who has taken hold of our children, to rob them of their strengthmay she eat (her own) offspring!

4. The magic spell which they have put into the unburned vessel, that which they have put into the blue and red thread, that which they have put into raw flesh, with these slay thou those that have prepared the spell!

5. Evil dreams, troubled life, Rakshas, gruesomeness, and grudging demons (arâyî), all the evil-named, evil-speakinor (powers), these do we drive out from us.

6. Death from hunger, and death from thirst, poverty in cattle, and failure of offspring, all that, O apâmârga, do we wipe out (apa mrigmahe) with thee.

7. Death from thirst, and death from hunger, moreover, ill-luck at dice, all that, O apâmârga, do we wipe out with thee.

8. The apâmârga is sole ruler over all plants, with it do we wipe mishap from thee: do thou then live exempt from disease!

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IV, 18. Charm with the apâmârga-plant, against sorcerers and demons.

1. Night is like unto the sun, the (starry) night is similar to day. The truth do I engage for help: the enchantments shall be devoid of force!

2. He, O ye gods, who prepares a spell, and carries it to the house of one that knows not (of