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 IV IN FOCUS
Praise and prayer to fury (manyú)
In alliance (sarátham) with thee, O fury, battering, feeling excitement, excited, O companion of the Maruts, having keen arrows, sharpening up their weapons, let [our] men go forward unto [the foe], having forms of fire.
Like fire, O fury, do thou, made brilliant, overpower; invoked, O powerful one, do thou be our army-leader; having slain the foes, share out their possession (védas); making (mā) force, thrust away the scorners (mṛ́dh).
Overpower for us (?), O fury, the hostile plotter; go forward breaking, killing, slaughtering the foes; thy formidable rush (? pā́jas) surely they have not impeded; thou, controlling, shalt bring them under control, O sole-born one.
Thou art the one praised (?) of many, O fury; sharpen up clan on clan (víç) unto fighting; with thee as ally (yuj), O thou of undivided brightness (?), we make a clear noise unto victory.
Read the remaining 3 verses of IV.31
Victory-making, like Indra, not to be talked down, do thou, O fury, be our over-lord here; thy dear name we sing, O powerful one; we know that fount whence thou camest (ā-bhū).
Born together with efficacy (? ā́bhūti), O missile (sā́yaka) thunderbolt, thou bearest superior power, O associate; be thou allied (medín) with our energy (krátu), O fury, much-invoked one, in the mingling (saṁsṛ́j) of great riches.
The mingled riches of both sides, put together, let Varuṇa and fury assign to us; conceiving fears in their hearts, let the foes, conquered, vanish away.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read IV.31 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK IV ALSO CITED
Praise and prayer to fury (manyú)
Read comparison hymn IV.32 (7 verses)
He who hath worshiped thee, O fury, missile thunderbolt, gains (puṣ) power, force, everything, in succession; may we, with thee as ally, that art made of power, overpower the barbarian, the Aryan, with powerful power.
Fury [was] Indra, fury indeed was a god; fury [was] priest (hótar), Varuṇa, Jātavedas; the clans (víç) which are descended from Manu (mā́nuṣa) praise fury; protect us, O fury, in accord with fervor (tápas).
Attack, O fury, being mightier than a mighty one; with fervor as ally smite apart the foes; slayer of enemies, slayer of Vṛtra, and slayer of barbarians, do thou bring to us all [their] good things.
Since thou, O fury, art of overcoming force, self-existent, terrible, overpowering hostile plotters, belonging to all men (-carṣaṇí), powerful, very powerful—do thou put in us force in fights.
Being portionless, I am gone far away, by the action (? krátu) of thee that art mighty, O forethoughtful one; so at thee, O fury, I, actionless, was wrathful; come to us, thine own self (tanū́), giving strength.
Here I am for thee; come hitherward unto us, meeting (pratīcīná) [us], O powerful, all-giving one; O thunderbolt-bearing fury, turn hither to us; let us (two) slay the barbarians; and do thou know thy partner (āpí).
Go thou forth against [them]; be on our right hand; then will we (two) smite and slay many Vṛtras; I offer to thee the sustaining top of the sweet (mádhu); let us both drink first the initial draught (? upāṅçú).
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read IV.32 at Wikisource ↗
Fury is made a companion in motion
The first verse pictures fighters going forward in alliance with Fury. Their arrows are keen, their weapons are sharpened, and the Maruts stand in the background. The human force is described as excited and firelike. These details join inner intensity to outward movement: anger is not a mood sealed inside a person but an energy that appears in bodies, arms, and advance. Verse 2 then directly invokes Fury as an army leader, brilliant like fire, who can overpower opposition. That is the poem’s first major change of role. Fury moves from companion of the march to commander of it. The speaker wants the divine personification to organize and magnify the group’s aggression.
Victory leads to a dispute over goods
Verse 2 asks that, after the foes are struck, their possessions be shared out. The poem does not hide the material aftermath of a battle. Later, verse 6 joins Fury to the speaker’s own energy in a mingling of great riches. The last verse asks Varuṇa and Fury to assign the combined wealth of both sides to the victors. This progression gives the hostile petition a second target: not merely a defeated army, but the transfer and allocation of resources. The request is embedded in a historical language of victory and spoil. A generalized phrase about overwhelming foes misses how the hymn explicitly imagines ownership changing hands.
Praise makes the power answerable
The middle verses praise Fury as irresistible, able to break hostile plots and sharpen clans for fighting. In verse 5 the speaker sings the deity’s dear name and claims to know the source from which Fury has arisen. Such praise is not ornamental padding between battle requests. It is a way of bringing the power close enough to enlist. The speaker names Fury’s qualities, offers verbal recognition, and asks that those qualities act for this side. The closing request that fear form in the adversaries’ hearts gives an inward counterpart to the fiery human forms at the start. One side gains ardor; the other is imagined losing confidence.
A paired Rigvedic hymn with its own emphasis
IV.31 corresponds closely to Rigveda X.84, while IV.32 corresponds to X.83. Whitney says the two Atharvavedic hymns are used together in later battle ceremonies and occur separately in Pāippalāda. The shared Manyu address does not make them interchangeable. IV.32 identifies Fury with several gods and ends with a more intimate appeal for partnership and a sweet first draught. IV.31 stays focused on the army’s advance, command, spoils, and enemy fear. Small readings also vary among the witnesses; Whitney notes, for example, a different Pāippalāda form of the victory language in verse 2. The safest claim is the poem’s rhetorical trajectory, not a uniform original wording for every line.
WORKED READING
Following the spoils through three verses
Read IV.31.2, .6, and .7 as a sequence. The second verse appoints Fury leader and anticipates sharing the foe’s possessions. The sixth seeks alliance with the speaker’s own energy amid great riches. The seventh asks Varuṇa and Fury to award the combined wealth of both sides to the victors, while opponents depart in fear. The request grows from command in battle to distribution after it. IV.32 also asks for the enemy’s goods, but its closing dwells on the speaker’s relationship with Fury rather than a public division of spoils.