THE TEXT · ATHARVAVEDA
Hymns discussed in this article
These verses give the wording and sequence examined in the article below.
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 II IN FOCUS
To secure a woman's love
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.
Read the remaining 1 verse of II.30
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 ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III IN FOCUS
To command a woman's love
Let the up-thruster thrust (tud) thee up; do not abide (dhṛ) in thine own lair; the arrow of love (kā́ma) that is terrible, therewith I pierce thee in the heart.
The arrow feathered with longing (ādhī́), tipped with love, necked with resolve (? saṁkalpá-)—having made that well-straightened, let love pierce thee in the heart.
The well-straightened arrow of love which dries the spleen, forward-winged, consuming (vyòṣa)—therewith I pierce thee in the heart.
Pierced with consuming pain (çúc), dry-mouthed, do thou come creeping to me, gentle, with fury allayed, entirely [mine], pleasant-spoken, submissive.
Read the remaining 2 verses of III.25
I goad thee hither with a goad (ā́janī), away from mother, likewise from father, that thou mayest be in my power (krátu), mayest come unto my intent.
Do ye, O Mitra-and-Varuṇa, cast out the intents from her heart; then, making her powerless, make her [to be] in my own control.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.25 at Wikisource ↗
III.30 begins with minds aligned
III.30.1 asks for like-heartedness, like-mindedness, and non-hostility among a group. Later verses name relatives, beneficial speech, common labor, food, and worship. The concord is not restricted to a targeted beloved. It is an ideal for a household that must continue functioning together. Its social order includes hierarchy, so even this hymn should not be treated as a modern dialogue among equals. Still, its structure locates shared mind in shared practices rather than in the sudden reversal of one person's opinion. No verse names a disputed modern position or gives a method by which one participant weighs reasons and changes a view.
II.30 treats a mind like grass
II.30.1 compares wind shaking grass with the speaker shaking a desired woman's mind. A later verse asks the Aśvins to bring the pair together, while verse 4 orders an herb to seize her mind. The fifth verse presents matching spouse-seeking roles, but the forceful images remain part of the hymn. Whitney reports a different Paippalāda order for the verses, which changes where the spouse-seeking statement falls without changing the words of pressure. The mind here is a thing to be moved toward the speaker's goal. It is not a partner's considered conclusion after an open exchange, however much the pair-making verse sounds like mutual agreement in isolation.
III.25 takes control further
The arrow hymn III.25 begins by piercing a woman's heart and ends by asking Mitra and Varuṇa to expel her intentions so that she comes under the speaker's control. Between those points are imagined pain, a goad, and movement away from family. This is not simply vigorous persuasion. It removes the very condition of independent judgment that a present-day phrase “change their mind” can imply. Comparing III.25 with II.30 shows escalation from shaking and seizing to explicit emptying of intent; comparing both with III.30 shows why a shared mind across a household is a different social arrangement. The anthology preserves these conflicting models rather than one ethic of influence.
The Changed View is modern
“Make a target person change their mind in my favor” and The Changed View are contemporary original benefit and working. The old poems cannot show that a particular view is correct or predict another person's revised judgment. A modern decision may shift because new evidence appears, circumstances change, or a person reconsiders their values. None of those possibilities is described by the cited love commands. The historical comparison can help a reader state what they seek: concord among people, a fair chance to persuade, or simple compliance. The exact modern benefit is an imaginative extension, never an attested result of III.30 or an ethical laundering of II.30 and III.25's coercive wording.
WORKED READING
Three verbs for a mind
Read III.30.1's request that several people become like-minded. Move to II.30.1, where one speaker shakes a woman's mind as wind shakes grass. Finish with III.25.6, where gods are asked to take intentions out of her heart. The grammatical target narrows from a group to an individual, and the image hardens from concord to displacement. No verse presents evidence offered and an answer reconsidered. This worked sequence prevents a modern reader from treating every ancient reference to mind as support for the same kind of change. It keeps the difference between agreement and enforced compliance visible.