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 II IN FOCUS
For relief from demons and foes
Adversary-destroying art thou; adversary-expulsion mayest thou give me: hail!
Rival-destroying art thou; rival-expulsion mayest thou give me: hail!
Wizard- (? arā́ya-) destroying art thou; wizard-expulsion mayest thou give me: hail!
Piçācá-destroying art thou; piçācá-expulsion mayest thou give me: hail!
Read the remaining 1 verse of II.18
Sadā́nvā-destroy'mg art thou; sadā́nvā-expulsion mayest thou give me: hail!
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read II.18 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK II ALSO CITED
Against enemies: to Agni (fire)
Read comparison hymn II.19 (5 verses)
O Agni! with the heat that is thine, be hot against him who hates us, whom we hate.
O Agni! with the rage (háras) that is thine, rage against him who hates us, whom we hate.
O Agni! with the gleam (arcís) that is thine, gleam against him who hates us, whom we hate.
O Agni! with the burning (çocís) that is thine, burn against him who hates us, whom we hate.
O Agni! with the brilliancy (téjas) that is thine, make him unbrilliant who hates us, whom we hate.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read II.19 at Wikisource ↗
The first two units stay close to human rivalry
The opening calls the addressed power adversary-destroying and asks for adversary-expulsion. The second repeats the structure for a rival. Whitney notes that the first term literally has a kinship sense, a brother’s son or nephew, even though it functions as an adversary word here. This makes the social field narrower and stranger than a simple “enemy” label suggests. A rival might be near enough to dispute inheritance or standing, while a general foe may be farther away. The hymn does not explain a particular feud. It produces an expandable formula into which more than one relation of hostility can be placed.
The list crosses into feared beings
Units 3 through 5 preserve the same rhythm while replacing the object: an uncertain arāya figure, then a piśāca, then a sadānvā. Whitney marks the rendering of arāya as “wizard” with a question mark. The following names belong to feared superhuman or demonic categories rather than ordinary social rivals. The constant syntax makes these different fears answerable by the same addressed force. That is the poem’s method: not a growing plot, but a widening inventory. Each “hail” marks a completed request before the next name arrives, giving the sequence a ritual pulse even in Whitney’s judgment that the text is not metrical.
Fire is inferred from its later setting
The accompanying ancient classification and the Kauśikasūtra connect the hymn with Agni and a fire action involving reed fuel. The verses themselves say “thou” without pausing to identify the addressee by name in every line. Whitney notes that the Anukramaṇī and commentator take Agni as the recipient. That is a plausible historical reading, but it is useful to distinguish the repeated words from the later direction about adding fuel. Otherwise a public explanation can accidentally convert ritual commentary into a line of the poem. The force of II.18 lies in its stripped-down verbal substitution: each new threat is named, addressed, and expelled in exactly the same short pattern.
What the next hymn changes
II.19, immediately after it, invokes Agni by name and varies the attribute of fire from heat to rage, gleam, burning, and brilliance. The repeated target there is “him who hates us, whom we hate.” II.18 does the reverse: it holds the action nearly steady while changing the target category five times. This contrast separates a catalog of foes from a catalog of divine capacities. It also limits the modern phrase “driving off adversaries and rivals.” That phrase catches the opening but misses the supernatural names at the end. The hymn’s world contains social competition and frightening beings within the same verbal field.
WORKED READING
The change from unit 2 to unit 4
Compare II.18.2 and II.18.4. The same expulsion formula first names a rival and then a piśāca. No new narrative explains how a person became a spirit; the form itself allows the target to change. Next compare II.19.1 and .4: the opponent remains the hater, while Agni’s heat becomes burning. The two neighboring hymns gain force through different repetitions. Recognizing which element changes is more informative than simply calling both “enemy spells.” The repeated formula does not identify a real assailant; it groups unlike feared targets under one command to leave the speaker's space.