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 XIX IN FOCUS
For well-being: to the asterisms etc
What asterisms are in the sky, in the atmosphere, in the waters, on the earth, what ones in the mountains, in the quarters, what ones the moon goes on preparing (pra-kḷp), let all those be propitious to me.
Let them of the series of twenty-eight, propitious, helpful, together allot to me acquisition (yóga); I go forward to acquisition and possession (kṣéma); I go forward to possession and acquisition; homage be to day-and-night.
Be it for me well at sunset (?), well in early morning, well at evening, well by day; be it for me well with beasts, well with birds; with easy invocation, O Agni, having gone with well-being to a mortal, come thou again enjoying.
Detraction, evil gossip, reproach, sneezing about (?)—them, O Savitar, drive (suva) away for me empty-handed (?), with all.
Read the remaining 3 verses of XIX.8
[Drive] away evil sneezing about; may we enjoy (bhaj) propitious (púṇya) sneezing; let the evil-nosed jackal and púṇyaga urinate upon [it] for thee.
These (fem.), O Brahmaṇaspati, that go dispersing upon the wind—do thou, O Indra, making them come together, make them most propitious for me.
Let well-being be ours; let fearlessness be ours; homage be to day-and-night.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XIX.8 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK XIX ALSO CITED
To the lunar asterisms: for blessings
Read comparison hymn XIX.7 (5 verses)
Seeking favor of the twenty-eight-fold (?) wondrous ones, shining in the sky together, ever-moving, hasting in the creation (bhúvana), I worship (sapary) with songs the days, the firmament (nā́ka).
Easy of invocation for me [be] the Kṛittikās and Rohiṇī; be Mṛigaçiras excellent, [and] Ārdrā healthful (çám) be the two Punarvasus pleasantness, Pushya what is agreeable, the Āçleshās light (bhānú), the Maghās progress (áyana) ⌊for me⌋.
Be the former Phalgunīs and Hasta here auspicious (púṇyam); be Chitrā propitious, and Svāti easy (sukhá) for me; be the two Viçākhās bestowal (rā́dhas), Anurādhā easy of invocation, Jyeshṭhā a good asterism, Mūla uninjured.
Let the former Ashāḍhās give me food; let the latter ones bring refreshment; let Abhijit give me what is auspicious; let Çravaṇa [and] the Çravishṭhās make good prosperity.
Let Çatabhishaj [bring] to me what is great widely; let the double Proshṭhapadās [bring] to me good protection (suçárman); let Revatī and the two Açvayuj [bring] fortune to me; let the Bharaṇīs bring to me wealth.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XIX.7 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK X ALSO CITED
Mystic: on the skambhá or frame of creation
Read comparison hymn X.7 (44 verses)
In what member of him is penance situated? in what member of him is right (ṛtá) deposited? where is situated [his] vow (vratá), where his faith? in what member of him is truth established?
From what member of him flames Agni? from what member blows (pū) Mātariçvan? from what member doth the moon measure out, measuring the member of great Skambha?
In what member of him is situated the earth? in what member is situated the atmosphere? in what member is the sky set? in what member is situated what is beyond the sky?
Whither desiring to attain does Agni flame aloft? whither desiring to attain blows Mātariçvan? whither desiring to attain, the turns (āvṛ́t) go, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Whither go the half-months, whither the months, in concord with the year? whither the seasons go, whither they of the seasons, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Whither desiring to attain run in concord the two maidens (yuvatí) of diverse form, day-and-night? whither desiring to attain, the waters go, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
In what, having established [them], Prajāpati maintained all the worlds, that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
What that was highest, lowest, and what that was midmost Prajāpati created, of all forms—by how much did Skambha enter there? what did not enter, how much was that?
By how much did Skambha enter the existent? how much of him lies along that which will exist? what one member he made thousand-fold, by how much did Skambha enter there?
Where men know both worlds and receptacles (kóça), waters, bráhman, within which [are] both the non-existent and the existent—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Where penance, striding forth, maintains the higher vow (vratá), where both right and faith, waters, bráhman, are set together, that Skambha etc. etc.
In whom earth, atmosphere, in whom sky is set, where fire, moon, sun, wind stand fixed (ā́rpita), that Skambha etc. etc.
In whose member all the thirty-three gods are set together, that Skambha etc. etc.
Where the first-born seers, the verses, the chant, the sacrificial formula, the great one (mahī́); in whom the sole seer is fixed—that Skambha etc. etc.
Where both immortality (amṛ́ta) and death are set together in man (púruṣa), of whom the ocean, the veins (nāḍī́) are set together in man, that Skambha etc. etc.
Of whom the four directions are (sthā) the teeming (? prapyasá) veins, where the sacrifice hath strode forth, that Skambha etc. etc.
Whoever know the bráhman in man, they know the most exalted one; whoever knows the most exalted one, and whoever knows Prajāpati, whoever know the chief bráhmaṇa, they know also accordingly (anu-sam-vid) the Skambha.
Whose head [was] Vāiçvānara, [whose] eye the An̄girases were, whose members the familiar demons (yatú)—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Of whom they call bráhman the mouth, the honey-whip the tongue also, of whom they call virā́j the udder—that Skambha etc. etc.
From whom they fashioned off the verses, from whom they scraped off the sacrificial formula, of whom the chants [are] the hairs (lóman), the Atharvans-and-An̄girases the mouth—that Skambha etc. etc.
The branch of the non-existent, standing forth, people know as in a manner the highest thing; also the lower ones who worship (upa-ās) thy branch think [it?] the existent thing.
Where both the Ādityas and the Rudras and the Vasus are set together; where both what is and what is to be, [and] all the worlds are established—that Skambha tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Of whom the thirty-three gods always defend the treasure (nidhí): that treasure, which, O gods, ye defend, who at present knoweth?
Where the bráhman-knowing gods worship the chief bráhman—whoso verily knoweth them eye to eye (pratyákṣam), he may be a Brahman (brahmán), a knower.
Great (bṛhánt) by name [are] those gods who were born out of the non-existent; that one member of Skambha people call non-existent beyond.
Where the skambhá, generating forth, rolled out the ancient one, that one member of the skambhá they know also accordingly [as] the ancient one.
In whose member the thirty-three gods shared severally the limbs (gā́tra)—those thirty-three gods verily only (éka) the bráhman-knowers know.
People know the golden-embryo [as] highest, not to be overcrowed (anatyudyá); the skambhá in the beginning poured forth that gold within the world.
In the skambhá the worlds, in the skambhá penance, in the skambhá right is set; thee, O skambhá, I know plainly [as] set all together in Indra.
In Indra the worlds, in Indra penance, in Indra right is set; thee, O Indra, I know plainly [as] all established in the skambhá.
Name with name he calls aloud, before the sun, before the dawn; as first the goat (? ajá) came into being, he went unto that autocracy beyond which there is nothing else existent.
Of whom earth is model (pramā́) and atmosphere belly; who made the sky his head—to that chief bráhman be homage.
Of whom the sun is eye, and the moon that grows new again; who made Agni his mouth—to that chief bráhman be homage.
Of whom the wind [was] breath-and-expiration, [of whom] the An̄girases were the eye; who made the quarters fore-knowing (? prajñā́na)—to that chief bráhman be homage.
The skambhá sustains both heaven-and-earth here; the skambhá sustains the wide atmosphere; the skambhá sustains the six wide directions; into the skambhá hath entered this whole existence (bhúvana).
Who, born from toil, from penance, completely attained all worlds; who made soma all his own—to that chief bráhman be homage.
How does the wind not cease (il)? how does the mind not rest (ram)? why (kím) do the waters, seeking to attain truth, at no time soever cease?
A great monster (yakṣá) in the midst of the creation (bhúvana), strode (? krāntá) in penance on the back of the sea—in it are set (çri) whatever gods there are, like the branches of a tree roundabout the trunk.
Unto which with the two hands, with the two feet, with speech, with hearing, with sight; unto which the gods continually render (pra-yam) tribute, unmeasured in the measured out—that skambhá tell [me]: which forsooth is he?
Smitten away is his darkness; he is separated from evil; in him. are all the three lights that are in Prājapati.
He who knows the golden reed (vetasá) standing in the sea—he verily is in secret Prajāpati.
A certain pair of maidens, of diverse form, weave, betaking themselves to it, the six-pegged web; the one draws forth the threads (tántu), the other sets [them]; they wrest not off (apa-vṛj), they go not to an end.
Of them, as of two women dancing about, I do not distinguish (vi-jñā) which is beyond; a man (púmāṅs), weaves it, ties [it] up; a man hath borne it about upon the firmament (nā́ka).
These pegs propped up the sky; the chants they made shuttles for weaving.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read X.7 at Wikisource ↗
The sky is called from every direction
XIX.8 opens by naming asterisms in the sky, atmosphere, waters, earth, mountains, and quarters. The moon’s movement joins this broad survey before the speaker asks that all be favorable. This opening matters for the possession theme because the next verse does not begin with a solitary object; it sets acquisition within a world of auspicious directions and times. The poem’s twenty-eightfold series of asterisms is a historical celestial scheme, not a modern inventory system. Verse 1 expands the field of hoped-for support, but it does not name a particular item to obtain or a place where valuables should be stored.
Verse 2 turns acquisition into a cycle
The second verse asks the twenty-eight to allot yoga, which Whitney renders as acquisition, and then repeatedly pairs it with kṣema, possession or safekeeping. The commentary distinguishes obtaining what is not yet gained from protecting what has already been gained. This is the text’s central movement for the paired benefit. The repeated reversal from acquisition to possession and back suggests that prosperity is not complete at the moment something is obtained. It must also remain available. The verse ends with homage to day and night, carrying the concern beyond a single lucky instant. It does not, however, offer a method for securing modern goods against theft or damage.
The neighboring hymn distributes different blessings
XIX.7 praises the lunar asterisms in sequence. Its fourth verse asks for food, refreshment, and prosperity; its fifth asks for protection, fortune, and wealth from named stars. XIX.8 inherits that celestial setting but compresses the result into the more abstract pair of gaining and keeping. This difference is meaningful. XIX.7 allocates qualities among named asterisms; XIX.8.2 speaks of a repeated relation between a new acquisition and its continued possession. Later verses of XIX.8 widen the wish into well-being at day and evening, remove ominous detraction and sneezing, and end with fearlessness. Some wording in verses 3–5 is uncertain, so the secure acquisition argument rests chiefly on verse 2.
Skambha and the witness limit
X.7 asks where truth, fire, earth, atmosphere, and sky are situated in Skambha, the cosmic support. That is a metaphysical inquiry, not a request for household goods, so a possession article should not borrow its title. Whitney says Pāippalāda preserves only XIX.8.4–6; the pivotal acquisition verse is absent from that witness. This limits claims about the verse’s wider transmission without making the Śaunaka wording unusable. The paired benefit paraphrases XIX.8’s own acquisition-and-possession movement. Its six-phase member working is original modern symbolic writing. Neither ancient text promises that a particular purchase, inheritance, or collection will be acquired and retained.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: getting and retaining are separate
Compare XIX.7.5, where named asterisms are asked for fortune, protection, and wealth, with XIX.8.2, where the speaker moves from acquisition to possession and then reverses the order. The first is a distributed set of blessings; the second tests whether a gain can be held. XIX.8.7 ends with well-being and fearlessness, but it does not certify secure ownership. X.7.2–3 instead asks which members of Skambha support fire, moon, earth, and sky; those cosmic questions do not supply possessions. Because Pāippalāda lacks XIX.8.2, the precise getting-and-keeping pair is a feature of the Śaunaka text used here.