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 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!AV 19.39 · Atharva Veda · 19
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Atharva Veda · 6 chapters · 9 passages
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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! 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.AV 19.35a · Atharva Veda · 19
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!AV 19.35b · Atharva Veda · 19
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.AV 19.38 · Atharva Veda · 19
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!AV 19.26 · Atharva Veda · 19
power. 1. To the bull that slays the enemy, to Kâma, do I render tribute with ghee, oblation, and (sacrificial) melted butter. Do thou, since thou hast been extolled, hurl down my enemies by thy great might! 2. The evil dream which is offensive to my mind and eye, which harasses and does not please me, that (dream) do I let loose upon my enemy. Having praised Kâma may I prevail! 3,. Evil dreams, O Kâma, and misfortune, O Kâma, childlessness, ill-health, and trouble, do thou, a strong lord, let loose upon him that designs evil against us! 4. Drive them away, O Kâma, thrust them away, O Kâma; may they that are my enemies fall into trouble! When they have been driven into the nethermost darkness, do thou, O Agni, burn up their d welling- places! 5. That milch-cow, O Kâma, whom the sages call Vâk Virâg (ruling, or resplendent speech), is said to be thy daughter; by her drive away my enemies; breath, cattle, and life shall give them a wide birth! 6. With the strength of Kâma, Indra, king Varuna, and Vishnu, with the impelling force (savena) of Savitar, with the priestly power of Agni, do I drive forth the enemies, as a skilled steersman a 7. My sturdy guardian, strong Kâma, shall procure for me full freedom from enmity! May the gods collectively be my refuge, may all the gods respond to this, my invocation! 8. Taking pleasure in this (sacrificial) melted butter, and ghee do ye, (O gods), of whom Kâma is the highest, be joyful in this place, procuring for me full freedom from enmity! 9. O Indra and Agni, and Kâma, having formed an alliance, do ye hurl down my enemies; when they have fallen into the nethermost darkness, do thou, O Agni, burn up after them their dwelling places! 10. Slay thou, O Kâma, those that are my enemies, hurl them down into blind darkness. Devoid of vigour, Without sap let them all be; they shall not live a single day! 11. Kâma has slain those that are my enemies, a broad space has he furnished me to thrive in.AV 19.53a · Atharva Veda · 19
May the four directions of space bow down to me, and the six broad (regions) carry ghee to me! 12. They (the enemies) shall float down like a boat cut loose from its moorings! There is no returning again for those who have been struck by our missiles. 13. Agni is a defence, Indra a defence, Soma a defence. May the gods, who by their defence ward off (the enemy), ward him off! 14. With his men reduced, driven out, the hated (enemy) shall go, shunned by his own friends! And down upon the earth do the lightnings alight; may the strong god crush your enemies! 15. This mighty lightning supports both moveable and immoveable things, as well as all thunders. May the rising sun by his resources and his majesty hurl down my enemies, lie the mighty one! 16. With that triple-armoured powerful covering of thine, O Kâma, with the charm that has been made into an Invulnerate armour spread (over thee), with that do thou drive away those who are my enemies; may breath, cattle, and life give them a wide berth! 17. With the weapon with which the god drove forth the Asuras, with which Indra led the Dasyus to the nethermost darkness, with that do thou, O Kâma, drive forth far away from this world those who are my enemies! 18. As the gods drove forth the Asuras, as Indra. forced the demons into the nethermost darkness, thus do thou, O Kâma, drive forth far away from this world those who are my enemies! 19. Kâma was born at first; him neither the gods, nor the Fathers, nor men have equalled. To these art thou superior, and ever great; to thee, O Kâma, do I verily offer reverence. 20. As great as are the heavens and earth in extent, as far as the waters have swept, as far as fire; to these art thou superior, &c. 21. Great as are the directions (of space) and the intermediate direction on either side, great as are the regions and the vistas of the sky; to these art thou superior, &c. 22.AV 19.53b · Atharva Veda · 19
As many bees, bats, kurûru-worms, as many vaghas and tree-serpents as there are; to these art thou superior, &c. 23. Superior art thou to all that winks (lives), superior to all that stands still (is not alive), superior to the ocean art thou, O Kâma, Manyu! To these art thou superior, &c. 24. Not, surely, does the wind equal Kâma, not the fire, not the sun, and not the moon. To these art thou superior, &c. 25. With those auspicious and gracious forms of thine, O Kâma, through which what thou wilst becometh reaL with these do thou enter into us, and elsewhere send the evil thoughts!AV 19.53c · Atharva Veda · 19
power. 1. Time, the steed, runs with seven reins (rays), thousand-eyed, ageless, rich in seed. The seers, thinking holy thoughts, mount him, all the beings (worlds) are his wheels. 2. With seven wheels does this Time ride, seven naves has he, immortality is his axle. He carries hither all these beings (worlds). Time, the first god, now hastens onward. 3. A full jar has been placed upon Time; him, verily, we see existing in many forms. He carries away all these beings (worlds); they call him Time in the highest heaven. 4. He surely did bring hither all the beings (worlds), he surely did encompass all the beings (worlds). Being their father, he became their son; there is, verily, no other force, higher than he. 5. Time begot yonder heaven, Time also (begot) these earths. That which was, and that which shall be, urged forth by Time, spreads out. 6. Time created the earth, in Time the sun burns. In Time are all beings, in Time the eye looks abroad. 7. In Time mind is fixed, in Time breath (is fixed), in Time names (are fixed); when Time has arrived all these creatures rejoice. 8. In Time tapas (creative fervour) is fixed; in Time the highest (being is fixed); in Time brahma (spiritual exaltation) is fixed; Time is the lord of everything, he was the father of Pragâpati. 9. By him this (universe) was urged forth, by him it was begotten, and upon him this (universe) was founded. Time, truly, having become the brahma (spiritual exaltation), supports Parameshthin (the highest lord). 10. Time created the creatures (pragâh), and Time in the beginning (created) the lord of creatures (Prâgapati); the self-existing Kasyapa and the tapas (creative fervour) from Time were born.AV 19.54 · Atharva Veda · 19