THE TEXT · ATHARVAVEDA
Hymns discussed in this article
Begin with the verses shown here. Open the other cited hymns to compare their images and aims.
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III IN FOCUS
To Agni and other gods: for various blessings
This is thy seasonable womb (yóni), whence born thou didst shine; knowing it, O Agni, ascend thou; then increase our wealth.
O Agni, speak unto us here; be turned toward us with good-will; bestow upon us, O lord of the people (víç); giver of riches art thou to us.
Let Aryaman bestow upon us, let Bhaga, let Brihaspati, let the goddesses; let the divine Sūnṛtā also assign wealth to me.
King Soma [and] Agni we call to aid with [our] songs (gír); [also] Āditya, Vishṇu, Sūrya, and the priest (brahmán) Brihaspati.
Read the remaining 6 verses of III.20
Do thou, O Agni, with the fires (agní), increase our worship (bráhman) and sacrifice; do thou, O god, stir us up to give, unto giving wealth.
Indra-and-Vāyu, both of them here, we call here with good call, that to us even every man may be well-willing in intercourse, and may become desirous of giving to us.
Do thou stir up Aryaman, Brihaspati, Indra, unto giving; [also] Vāta (wind), Vishṇu, Sarasvatī, and the vigorous (vājín) Savitar.
In the impulse (prasavá) of vigor (? vā́ja) now have we come into being, and all these beings within. Both let him, foreknowing, cause him to give who is unwilling to give, and do thou confirm to us wealth having all heroes.
Let the five directions yield (duh) to me, let the wide ones yield according to their strength; may I obtain all my designs, with mind and heart.
A kine-winning voice may I speak; with splendor do thou arise upon me; let Vāyu (wind) enclose (ā-rudh) on all sides; let Tvashṭar assign to me abundance.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.20 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III ALSO CITED
For abundance of grain
Read comparison hymn III.24 (7 verses)
Rich in milk [are] the herbs, rich in milk my utterance (vácas); accordingly, of them that are rich in milk I bring by thousands.
I know him that is rich in milk; he hath made the grain much; the god that is "collector" by name, him do we call, whichever is in the house of one who sacrifices not.
These five directions that there are, the five races (kṛṣṭí) descended from Manu (mānavī́)—may they bring fatness (sphātí) together here, as streams [bring] drift when it has rained.
As a fountain of a hundred streams, of a thousand streams, unexhausted, so this grain of ours, in a thousand streams, unexhausted.
O hundred-handed one, bring together; O thousand-handed one, pile together; of what is made and of what is to be made do thou convey together the fatness here.
Three measures of the Gandharvas, four of the house-mistress; of them whichever is richest in fatness, with that one we touch thee.
Bringer (upohá) and gatherer (samūhá) [are] thy (two) distributors, O Prajāpati; let them convey hither fatness, much unexhausted plenty.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.24 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III ALSO CITED
For success in trade
Read comparison hymn III.15 (8 verses)
I stir up (cud) the trader Indra; let him come to us, be our forerunner; thrusting [away] the niggard, the waylaying wild animal, let him, having the power (īç), be giver of riches to me.
The many roads, travelled by the gods, that go about (sam-car) between heaven-and-earth—let them enjoy me with milk, with ghee, that dealing (krī) I may get (ā-hṛ) riches.
With fuel, O Agni, with ghee, I, desiring, offer the oblation, in order to energy (táras), to strength;—revering with worship (bráhman), so far as I am able—this divine prayer (dhī́), in order to hundred-fold winning.
This offense (? çaráṇi) of ours mayest thou, O Agni, bear with (mṛṣ), what distant road we have gone. Successful (çuná) for us be bargain and sale; let return-dealing make me fruitful; do ye two enjoy this oblation in concord; successful for us be our going about and rising.
With what riches I practise (car) bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—let that become more for me, not less; O Agni, put down (ni-sidh) with the oblation the gain-slaying gods.
With what riches I practise bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—therein let Indra assign me pleasure (? rúci), let Prajāpati, Savitar, Soma, Agni.
Unto thee with homage do we, O priest Vāiçvānara ('for all men'), give praise; do thou watch over our progeny, our selves, our kine, our breaths.
Every day may we bring constantly for thee as for a standing horse, O Jātavedas; rejoicing together with abundance of wealth, with food, may we thy neighbors, O Agni, take no harm.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.15 at Wikisource ↗
III.20's riches are not a price chart
The fire hymn begins by asking Agni to increase wealth and later invokes several gods as givers. Its ninth verse asks that designs be fulfilled with mind and heart. The language can illuminate a broad desire for resources, but it does not identify a particular asset or measure its value over time. Whitney notes the hymn is textually composite, with much material shared with Rigvedic verses and final material of another relationship. It is not a continuous financial formula. Calling an asset's price rise the fulfillment of III.20 would import a modern measurement the poem never supplies. The historical speaker petitions for blessing, not a valuation report.
III.24 grows crops, not market quotations
III.24 moves from milk-rich plants toward abundant grain, many streams, and a hundred-handed gatherer. That is productive growth: more provision exists because a field has yielded. An asset's quoted value may rise even when the object itself is unchanged, and it may fall with demand. The grain hymn cannot explain those market movements. It can offer a metaphor for increase if the asset is a productive resource, but the difference must be explicit. Whitney's Paippalāda notes on the fountain verse also remind us that the textual image is not a precise formula. Agricultural abundance and asset appreciation are distinct mechanisms, however similarly they feel to an owner.
A sale tests the imagined value
III.15's trader seeks successful bargain and sale and hopes riches placed into exchange become more, not less. A modern asset may appear valuable on a statement but yield a different amount when someone actually buys it. The old trader's concern with return gives a closer comparison for realized gain than III.20's general blessing or III.24's crop yield. It still does not predict price or establish that a buyer exists. This distinction between estimated value and realized sale is central to the modern spell. The asset can rise on paper without providing cash, and a high offer can be reduced by costs or conditions. None of that machinery is specified by the hymn.
The contemporary boundary
The attached working asks that an owned asset increase in value. Its price, market, and time horizon are modern inventions. The cited poems cannot guarantee a rise, identify a wise investment, or turn a valuation into spendable money. They can help a reader distinguish blessing language, productive growth, and commercial realization. That makes the article more than a generic abundance claim: it explains why three kinds of increase that sound alike have different causes and evidence. The Vedic sources preserve hopes about wealth and plenty in their own ritual and agricultural worlds. The outcome for a specific modern asset remains unknown.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: estimate versus sale
A person owns a rare instrument whose estimated price rises after a similar one sells elsewhere. III.20 can name the hope for greater wealth, but no money has changed hands. III.24's grain growth is only a metaphor because the instrument has not produced more instruments. If a buyer offers to purchase it, III.15's bargain becomes relevant, and the agreed net proceeds may differ from the estimate. The spell's value-growth wish might appear met on paper while cash realization remains open. The comparison makes clear why ancient increase imagery is not evidence of a future sale price.