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 VII IN FOCUS
To the night or goddess of full moon (pāurṇamāsī́)
Full behind, also full in front, up from the middle hath she of the full moon been victorious; in her, dwelling together with the gods, with greatness, may we revel together with food (íṣ) on the back of the firmament.
We sacrifice to the vigorous bull of the full moon; let him give us unexhausted unfailing wealth.
O Prajāpati, no other than thou, encompassing, gave birth to all these forms; what desiring we make libation to thee, be that ours; may we be lords of wealth.
She of the full moon was the first worshipful one in the depths (?) of days, of nights. They who, O worshipful one, gratify (ardháya-) thee with offerings, those well-doers are entered into thy firmament.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VII.80 (85) at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VII ALSO CITED
To Amāvāsyā (night or goddess of new moon)
Read comparison hymn VII.79 (84) (4 verses)
What portion (bhāgadhéya) the gods made for thee, O Amāvāsyā, dwelling together with might, therewith fill our offering, O thou of all choice things; assign to us, O fortunate one, wealth rich in heroes.
I myself am Amāvāsyā; on me, in me dwell these well-doers; in me came together all, of both classes, the gods and the sādhyás, with Indra as chief (jyéṣṭa).
The night hath come, assembler of good things, causing sustenance, prosperity, [and] good to enter in; we would worship Amāvāsyā with oblation; yielding (duh) sustenance with milk is she come to us.
O Amāvāsyā, no other than thou, encompassing, gave birth to all these forms; what desiring we make libation to thee, be that ours; may we be lords of wealth.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VII.79 (84) at Wikisource ↗
The opening fills space, not a purse
Verse 1 says the full moon is full behind and in front and has prevailed from the middle. The speaker asks to enjoy food with the gods in her presence. This spatial fullness gives the lunar event a world-encompassing reach. It is not a claim that a specific sum of money will arrive at moonrise. Food and communal enjoyment, pictured on the back of the firmament, are the immediate measures of abundance.
Whitney records a Pāippalāda variant that changes the order of the moon's name in the line, while Taittirīya parallels give a different second half. The difference can shift whether the emphasis falls on human rejoicing with food or on gods dwelling at the highest place. Both versions join fullness to a populated cosmos. The variant helps prevent a modern financial reading from becoming too narrow.
The bull carries the wealth petition
Verse 2 addresses the vigorous bull of the full moon and asks him to give wealth that does not fail or run out. This is the hymn's clearest prosperity request. The bull image adds strength and fertility to the idea of a complete lunar disk. It also shifts grammatical gender and divine figure after the first verse's female full moon. Such a shift is a feature to interpret, not a mistake to conceal.
Related lines in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa and Āpastamba tradition ask for vigorous and thousandfold increase in a different formulation. Whitney notes a commentator's alternate verb for the giving. The witnesses preserve a common wish for lasting provision while shaping its imagery differently. A reader should hear the difference between wealth that does not diminish and a statement that some ritual action guarantees an unlimited financial return.
Prajāpati enters through a shared petition
Verse 3 turns to Prajāpati as the one who generated forms and asks that the desire behind the offering be granted, ending with lordship of wealth. This line has an extensive life in other Vedic collections and closely parallels VII.79.4, where Amāvāsyā receives the address. It can sound attached to the lunar hymn by thematic need rather than by a single original composition.
The near reuse across new and full moon poems is historically instructive. At the new moon the line completes an address to the night that assembles sustenance. At the full moon it follows a bull's gift of unfailing wealth and invokes the creator. The same verbal petition takes on different neighbors. An expert reader treats those neighbors as part of meaning, because a verse's social and ritual force changes with placement.
The last verse imagines a destination
Verse 4 calls the full moon the first worshipful one amid deep nights and speaks of those who gratify her with offerings entering her firmament. Prosperity here extends beyond stock and food into a cosmic place for successful worshipers. Whitney notes manuscript differences affecting the pronoun in the last line and a Pāippalāda reading of the nighttime description. The exact grammar matters to who is said to enter.
The later parvan use of this hymn on full moon day fits its address, but the member working attached to the article is original modern symbolic writing. It should not be mistaken for that historical sacrifice. The paired benefit of full moon prosperity is grounded especially in verses 1–3. The fourth verse widens the horizon: fullness is imagined not only as receiving goods, but as belonging in an ordered and generous cosmos.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: two moons, one traveling request
Read VII.80.1–2 in sequence. The full moon fills all directions, people enjoy food with gods, and the bull is asked to give unfailing wealth. Then compare VII.80.3 with VII.79.4, the nearly shared petition that ends with lordship of wealth. In the new moon poem it follows a night arriving with sustenance; here it follows an image of the bull and precedes a verse about entering the lunar firmament. The wording travels, but the setting of the words changes the reader's expectations. The worked comparison is why a useful article must explain the hymn's structure, rather than use full moon as a generic prosperity keyword.