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 IX IN FOCUS
To Kāma: for various blessings
The rival-slaying bull Kāma do I desire to aid (? çikṣ) with ghee, with oblation, with sacrificial butter; do thou, praised with great heroism, make my rivals to fall downward.
What of my mind or my sight is not agreeable (priyá), what of me gnaws, does not enjoy (abhi-nand), that evil-dreaming do I fasten on my rival; praising Kāma, may I shoot up.
Evil-dreaming, O Kāma, and difficulty, O Kāma, want of progeny, homelessness, ruin do thou, formidable, masterful, fasten on him who shall seek to devise (cikits-) distresses for us.
Thrust, O Kāma; thrust forth, O Kāma; let them who are my rivals go to ruin; of them, thrust to lowest darknesses, do thou, O Agni, burn out the abodes (vā́stu).
Read the remaining 21 verses of IX.2
That daughter of thine, O Kāma, is called a milch-cow, what utterance (vā́c) the poets name virā́j; with that do thou avoid them that are my rivals; let breath, cattle, life avoid them.
With the strength of Kāma, of Indra, of king Varuṇa, of Vishṇu, with the impulse of Savitar ('the impeller'), with the priestship (hotrá) of Agni I thrust forth my rivals, as a skilful pole-man (? çambín) a boat on the waters (udaká).
Let Kāma, my valiant (vājín) formidable overseer, make for me freedom from rivals; let the all-gods be my refuge; let all the gods come to this call of mine.
Enjoying this sacrificial butter rich in ghee, do ye, with Kāma as chief (-jyéṣṭha), revel here, making for me freedom from rivals.
Becoming, O Kāma, in alliance (sarátham) with Indra-and-Agni, may ye make my rivals to fall downward; of them, fallen to lowest darknesses, do thou, O Agni, burn along out the abodes.
Slay thou, O Kāma, those that are my rivals; make them fall down to blind darknesses; be they all senseless (? nírindriya), sapless; let them not live any day soever.
Kāma hath slain (vadh) them that are my rivals; he hath made for me wide space, prosperity; let the four directions bow to me; let the six wide ones ⌊fem.⌋ bring ghee to me.
Let them float away downward, like a boat severed from its mooring; of them, thrust forth by missiles, there is no return again.
Agni [is] a repeller (? yava), Indra a repeller, Soma a repeller; let the repelling (? yavayā́van) gods repel (yu) him.
With his heroes not safe ⌊á-sarvavīra⌋ let him go on, thrust forth, to be hated of friends, to be avoided of his own kin; on earth also stay (ava-sā) thunderbolts; may the formidable god massacre your rivals.
This great [earth], both stirred and unstirred, bears the lightning and all the thunders; let the Āditya, arising with property, with brilliancy, thrust downward my rivals, he the powerful one.
What sufficient (udbhú) triply-guarding defense thou hast, O Kāma, worship (bráhman) as extended protection (várman), made unpierceable, with that do thou avoid them that are my rivals; let breath, cattle, life avoid them.
Wherewith the gods thrust forth the Asuras, wherewith Indra conducted the barbarians (dásyu) to lowest darkness, therewith do thou, O Kāma, thrust forth far from this world those who are my rivals.
As the gods thrust forth the Asuras, as Indra drove (bādh) the barbarians to lowest darkness, so do thou, O Kāma, thrust forth far from this world those who are my rivals.
Kāma was first born; not the gods, the Fathers, nor mortals attained (āp) him; to them art thou superior (jyā́yāṅs), always great; to thee as such, O Kāma, do I pay homage.
How great in width are heaven-and-earth; how far the waters flowed, how far fire—to them art thou etc. etc.
How great are the divergent (víṣvañc) quarters [and] directions; how great the regions (ā́çā), on-lookers of the sky—to them art thou etc. etc.
How many the humble-bees (bhṛ́n̄ga), the bats, the kurū́nus; how many have been the vághās, the tree-creepers—to them art thou etc. etc.
Superior art thou to him that winks, that stands; superior to the ocean art thou, O Kāma, fury—to them art thou etc. etc.
Verily no wind soever attains (āp) Kāma, not fire, sun, also not moon; to them art thou etc. etc.
What propitious excellent bodies thou hast, O Kāma, with which what thou choosest becometh real, with them do thou enter wholly into us; make evil devices (dhī́) enter away elsewhere.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read IX.2 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK X ALSO CITED
Against witchcraft and its practisers
Read comparison hymn X.1 (32 verses)
She whom the adepts {cikitsú) prepare, all-formed, hand-made, like a bride at a wedding—let her go far off; we push her away.
Having a head, having a nose, having ears, put together, all-formed, by the witchcraft-maker—let her go far off; we push her away.
Çūdra-made, king-made, woman-made, made by Brahmans (brahmán), like a wife expelled (nuttá) by her husband, let her go to her maker, as connection.
With this herb have I spoiled all witchcrafts—what one they have made in the field, what in the kine, or what in thy men.
Let evil be to the evil-doer, a curse to the curser; backward we send [her] forth back, that she may slay the witchcraft-maker.
Opposed [is] the Ān̄girasa, our appointed (puróhita) overseer; do thou, having turned the witchcrafts in the opposite direction, slay yonder witchcraft-makers.
He who said to thee "go forth," against the current, up-stream, him, O witchcraft, do thou return against; seek not us who are innocent.
He who put together thy joints, as an ṛbhú [those] of a chariot with skill (dhī́), unto him go thou; there is thy going; this person is unknown to thee.
They who, having made, took hold of thee, cunning sorcerers—this is a healthful (çambhú) spoiler of witchcraft, counteracting, reverting; therewith do we bathe thee.
In that we have come upon the ill-portioned one (fem.), bathed forth, whose young (-vatsá) is dead—let all ill (pāpá) go away from me; let property come unto (upa-sthā) me.
In that they have taken (grah) the name of thee giving to the Fathers, or at the sacrifice—let these plants free thee from all ill that is designed (? saṁdeçyà).
From sin against the gods, against the Fathers, from name-taking, that is designed, that is devised against [any one], let the plants free thee by their energy (vīryà), with spell (bráhman), with verses, with milk of the seers.
As the wind sets in motion the dust from the earth and the cloud (abhrá) from the atmosphere, so from me may everything of evil nature go away, pushed by the spell (bráhman).
Step away, making much noise, like an unfastened she-ass; attain thy makers, pushed hence by an energetic spell.
Saying "this is the road, O witchcraft," we conduct thee; thee that wast sent forth against [us] we send forth back again; by that [road] go against [them], breaking, like a draft-cow with a cart, all-formed, wearing a wreath (? kurūṭín).
Offward is light for thee, hitherward is no road for thee; make thy goings elsewhere than [toward] us; go thou by a distant [road] beyond ninety difficult navigable streams; do not wound thyself; go away.
As the wind the trees, do thou crush (mṛ) down, cause to fall; do not leave of them cow, horse, man; turning back, O witchcraft, from here to thy makers, awaken them unto childlessness.
What [witchcraft] they buried for thee in the barhís, what in the cemetery, [what] witchcraft or secret spell (valagá) in the field, or practised against thee in the householders' fire—they, being wiser, [against thee] who art simple, innocent.
We have found out (anu-vid) the hostile sneaking magic (? kártra) that was applied, perceived (? anu-budh), buried: let that go whence it was brought; there let it roll about like a horse; let it slay the progeny of the witchcraft -maker.
There are knives of good metal in our house; we know thy joints, O witchcraft, how many they are; just stand up; go away from here; unknown one, what seekest thou here?
Thy neck-bones (grīvā́), O witchcraft, and thy (two) feet I will cut up; run thou out; let Indra-and-Agni defend us, they who are of progeny rich in progeny.
King Soma [is] our over-ruler and favorer (mṛḍitṛ́); let the lords of being favor us.
Let Bhava-and-Çarva hurl (as) at the evil-doer, the witchcraft-maker, the ill-doer, the missile of the gods, the lightning.
If thou camest [as] biped, as quadruped, put together by the witchcraft-maker, all-formed, do thou, becoming octoped, go away again from here, O misfortune!
Anointed, smeared, well-adorned, bearing all difficulty, go thou away; recognize (jñā), O witchcraft, thy maker, as a daughter her own father.
Go away, O witchcraft; stand not; lead, as it were, the track of one pierced; it is a deer, thou a deer-hunter; it is unable to put thee down.
Also the after one (ápara) slays with an arrow, fitting it (?), the one shooting (-āsin) in front; also of the front one, smiting down, the after one smites down in return.
Hear thou, verily, these words of mine; then go whence thou camest, to meet him who made thee.
The slaying of an innocent person is indeed fearful, O witchcraft; slay thou not our cow, horse, man; wheresoever thou art set down, from there we make thee stand up; become thou lighter than a leaf.
If ye are covered (ā-vṛ) with darkness, like those who are girt (abhi-dhā) with a net—having torn up (sam-lup) all witchcrafts from here, we send them forth again to the maker.
The progeny of the witchcraft-maker, of him of secret spells, of him that devises against [others], O witchcraft, do thou kill; do not leave [them alive]; slay yonder witchcraft-makers.
As the sun is freed out of darkness, [and] quits the night and the ensigns of the dawn, so do I quit all evil-natured magic made by the witchcraft-maker, as an elephant the difficult haze (? rájas).
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read X.1 at Wikisource ↗
The opening gives desire an agent's body
Verse 1 honors Kāma with ghee and an oblation and calls him a bull capable of bringing rivals down. That beginning makes desire a personified force rather than a passing feeling. It also sets the adversarial direction before the dream verses arrive. The next lines cannot be read as neutral advice for troubled sleep; they are part of a contest in which the speaker asks a divine ally to move hardship onto someone else. The ritual gifts in the opening give the request a sacrificial frame, but they do not tell us that any particular night or dream prompted this poem.
The speaker tries to disown what gnaws within
Verse 2 names things disliked by mind or sight and something that gnaws or is not enjoyed, then places evil dreaming on a rival while asking to rise. Whitney marks the opening sense as doubtful, and Pāippalāda gives a different reading that does not settle the difficulty. The secure movement is the contrast between burdening the rival and elevating the speaker. A modern paraphrase should not claim that the verse provides a precise map of emotions, because its wording resists that precision. It does make internal distress part of social rivalry: discomfort is something the speaker refuses to keep.
Verse 3 names the target by alleged intention
The next verse lists evil dreams, difficulty, lack of progeny, homelessness, and ruin, asking Kāma to fasten them on one who plans distress for the speakers. This formulation supplies a justification within the poem: the other person is said to plot. But there is no independent witness of the plan. The list also grows from a night's dream to the collapse of family and home, showing how rapidly the imprecation escalates. It is therefore misleading to call this simply a dream-removal charm. It wishes serious social harm on an accused opponent. The historical voice is partisan and coercive.
Later verses explain why Kāma can carry the burden
By verses 19 through 24, Kāma is praised as older and greater than gods, Fathers, mortals, wind, sun, and moon. This later cosmic scale supports the early transfer: the addressee is not only strong enough to trouble one rival but imagined as exceeding the whole world. X.1 takes another route against feared harm, personifying witchcraft as a made thing that must return to its maker. IX.2 shifts dreams and ruin onto an alleged human plotter through Kāma's agency. The difference matters. A present-day working derived from either text would be newly invented, and neither source establishes that a threat was real or that its speaker could redirect dreams.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Read IX.2.2 and 3 together. Verse 2 begins from what gnaws at the speaker and moves evil dreaming to a rival; verse 3 expands the burden to homelessness and lack of descendants for someone said to plot distress. Then compare X.1.5, which sends a crafted witchcraft back toward its maker. Both are reversals, but IX.2 transfers unwanted conditions through Kāma, while X.1 returns a personified object. The comparison shows why a dream phrase cannot be lifted out of the long hymn and treated as a harmless standalone sleep remedy.