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
For concord
Like-heartedness, like-mindedness, non-hostility do I make for you; do ye show affection (hary) the one toward the other, as the inviolable [cow] toward her calf when born.
Be the son submissive to the father, like-minded with the mother; let the wife to the husband speak words (vā́c) full of honey, wealful.
Let not brother hate brother, nor sister sister; becoming accordant (samyáñc), of like courses, speak ye words auspiciously (bhadráyā).
That incantation in virtue of which the gods do not go apart, nor hate one another mutually, we perform in your house, concord for [your] men (púruṣa).
Read the remaining 3 verses of III.30
Having superiors (jyā́yasvant), intentful, be ye not divided, accomplishing together, moving on with joint labor (sádhura); come hither speaking what is agreeable one to another; I make you united (sadhrīcī́na), like-minded.
Your drinking (prapā́) [be] the same, in common your share of food; in the same harness (yóktra) do I join ⌊yuj⌋ you together; worship ye Agni united, like spokes about a nave.
United, like-minded I make you, of one bunch, all of you, by [my] conciliation; [be] like the gods defending immortality (amṛ́ta); late and early be well-willing yours.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.30 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VII ALSO CITED
For success in the assembly
Read comparison hymn VII.12 (13) (4 verses)
Let both assembly (sabhā́) and gathering (sámiti), the two daughters of Prajāpati, accordant, favor me; with whom I shall come together, may he desire to aid (? upa-çikṣ) me; may I speak what is pleasant among those who have come together, O Fathers.
We know thy name, O assembly; verily sport (naríṣṭā) by name art thou; whoever are thine assembly-sitters, let them be of like speech with me.
Of these that sit together I take to myself the splendor, the discernment (vijñā́na); of this whole gathering (saṁsád) make me, O Indra, possessor of the fortune (bhagín).
Your mind that is gone away, that is bound either here or here—that of you we cause to turn hither; in me let your mind rest.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VII.12 (13) at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK II ALSO CITED
To secure a woman's love
Read comparison hymn II.30 (5 verses)
As the wind here shakes the grass off the earth, so do I shake thy mind, that thou mayest be one loving me, that thou mayest be one not going away from me.
May ye, O Açvins, both lead together and bring [her] together with him who loves her. The fortunes (bhága) of you (two) have come together, together [your] intents, together [your] courses (vratá).
What the eagles [are] wanting to say, the free from disease [are] wanting to say—there let her come to my call, as the tip to the neck of the arrow (kúlmala).
What [was] within, [be] that without; what [was] without, [be] that within; of the maidens of many forms seize thou the mind, O herb.
Hither hath this woman come, desiring a husband; desiring a wife have I come; like a loud-neighing (krand) horse, together with fortune have I come.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read II.30 at Wikisource ↗
The household of III.30 is already together
III.30 asks family members to be like-minded and free of hostility. It turns to spouses, siblings, parents, work, shared food, and worship. Verse 6's common drinking place and united activity are images of a group already bound to one another, not a proposed first meeting. Reading the household as though it were an appointment would hide the poem's built-in relationships and ranked roles. Its real interest for a modern comparison is the sustained effort of coordination: people speak agreeably and act together after they are gathered. The hymn cannot make the prior step of obtaining a specific person's agreement appear by implication.
VII.12 addresses the assembly itself
VII.12 (13) invokes assembly and gathering as daughters of Prajāpati and asks them to favor the speaker. People are seated, speech is exchanged, and the speaker seeks influence among them. The poem has a place of meeting in a broad sense, but the setting is civic or deliberative rather than intimate. Whitney also notes a later use in debate, which should be distinguished from the hymn's text. Verse 4 seeks to turn distracted minds back toward the speaker, so even public attention is something the poem tries to command. Nothing in the verses says that one named person will accept an invitation to meet privately.
II.30 draws a pair together by forceful means
II.30.2 may sound closest to the contemporary wish: the Aśvins are asked to bring a woman together with a lover. Yet its opening wind-and-grass image shakes her mind, and verse 4 invokes an herb to seize that mind. The closing verse imagines spouse-seeking roles rather than setting a time or place. The poem pursues union, not a negotiated appointment. Comparing it with III.30 and VII.12 separates three things often blurred by the word meeting: joining a desired pair, living together as an existing household, and speaking before a public assembly. A modern meeting by agreement is a fourth scenario with its own conditions.
The Meeting Place is new
“Make a target person agree to meet me” and The Meeting Place are modern inventions. The exact benefit is not stated or assured by the cited Atharvaveda hymns. A contemporary agreement is specific and revisable: the other person may choose a place, suggest a different time, or decline. The ancient texts can clarify the difference between a social group already assembled and a desired pair being brought together, but they cannot supply consent from the individual named in the modern wish. Keeping the settings distinct protects the useful historical images without attributing an appointment ritual to the old poems.
WORKED READING
Locate each gathering
In III.30.6 the household shares a drinking place and worship; the group exists before the verse's plea for concord. In VII.12.1 an assembly and gathering are addressed as public powers expected to favor the speaker. In II.30.2 the Aśvins are asked to bring a particular pair together. The grammar changes from existing household to public institution to desired union. None records two people selecting a time and place after one accepts the other's proposal. Reading the three scenes side by side makes the modern request for agreement visible as a new, separate action.