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
With an amulet of varaṇá
Read comparison hymn X.3 (25 verses)
This varaṇá [is] my rival-destroying, virile (vṛ́ṣan) amulet; with it do thou take hold of thy foes, slaughter thy injurers (durasy-).
Crush them, slaughter, take hold; be the amulet thy forerunner in front; the gods by the varaṇá warded off the hostile practice (abhyācārá) of the Asuras from one morrow to another.
This amulet, the varaṇá, all-healing, thousand-eyed, yellow, golden—it shall make thy foes go downward; do thou, in front, damage them that hate thee.
This varaṇá [shall ward off] the witchcraft extended for thee; this shall shield thee against fear arising from men, this against all evil.
The varaṇá, this divine forest-tree, shall ward off; the yákṣma that has entered into this man—that have the gods warded off.
If, having slept, thou shalt see an evil dream; if a wild beast (mṛgá) shall run a disagreeable course—from overmuch (? pari-) sneezing, from the evil utterance of a bird (çakúni), this amulet, the varaṇá, shall shield thee.
From the niggard, from perdition, from sorcery, also from fear, from the more violent deadly weapon of death, the varaṇá shall shield thee.
What sin my mother, what my father, and what my own brothers, what we ourselves have done, from that shall this divine forest-tree shield us.
Driven (vyath) forth by the varaṇá, my enemies (bhrā́tṛvya) [who are my] kinsmen have gone unto unlighted (? asū́rta) space (rájas); let them go to lowest darkness.
Unharmed [am] I, with unharmed kine, long-lived, having all my men; let this amulet, the varaṇá, protect me, being such, from every quarter.
This varaṇá on my breast, king, divine forest-tree—let it drive (bādh) away my foes, as Indra the barbarians, the Asuras.
I bear this varaṇá being long-lived, one of a hundred autumns; may it assign to me both kingdom and authority, to me cattle and force.
As the wind breaks with force the trees, the forest-trees, so do thou break my rivals, those born before and after; let the varaṇá defend thee.
As both wind and fire devour (psā) the trees, the forest-trees, so do thou devour my rivals, those born etc. etc.
As, destroyed by the wind, the trees lie prostrate (nyàrpita), so do thou destroy, prostrate my rivals, those born etc. etc.
Them, O varaṇá, do thou cut off (pra-chid), before what is appointed (diṣṭá), before [the end of] their life-time—them who strive to damage him in respect to cattle, and who are intent to damage his kingdom.
As the sun shines exceedingly, as in it brilliancy is set, so let the varaṇá amulet fix (ni-yam) in me fame [and] growth; let it sprinkle me with brilliancy; let it anoint me with glory.
As glory [is] in the moon, and in the men-beholding Āditya, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the earth, as in this Jātavedas, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the maiden, as in this constructed (sámbhṛta) chariot, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in Soma-drink, as in honey-mixture [is] glory, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the agnihotrá, as in the váṣaṭ-utterance [is] glory, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] set in the sacrificer, as in this sacrifice, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in Prajāpati, as in this most exalted one, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As in the gods [is] immortality (amṛ́ta), as in them is set truth, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read X.3 at Wikisource ↗
A milch cow stands for more than livestock
Verse 5 introduces a daughter of Kāma called a milk cow, identified with virāj, a potent form of utterance in Whitney's rendering. The line's relationship between daughter and cow is grammatically open in his note. Either way, the image joins nurture, speech, and divine desire before the hostile request arrives. The cow is not simply a farm animal being counted. She figures a productive force whose presence matters for the speaker's contest. Once that force is invoked, the verse asks that breath, cattle, and life move away from rivals. A benefit line about deprivation captures the severity, but not the layered verbal image that carries it.
Three losses reach body and household
Breath and life overlap but are not identical in the line: one names immediate vitality, the other a continuing life span. Cattle extend the threat into the household's material base. By grouping them, the poem imagines rivals losing both animate capacity and wealth. Verse 16 repeats nearly the same final request after describing Kāma's triply guarded defense like armor. That later placement changes its frame. In verse 5, the withdrawal follows the milch-cow image; in verse 16, it follows protection that keeps the speaker's side safe. The same requested loss can therefore serve both appropriation and guarded separation within the long hymn.
Divine allies widen the exclusion
Verse 6 calls on Kāma with Indra, Varuṇa, Viṣṇu, Savitar, and Agni, comparing the expulsion of rivals to a boat pushed on water. Whitney marks the boatman's term uncertain, but the general departure image is clear. Verses 10 through 12 heighten it: rivals fall into darkness, become sapless, and float away like an unmoored boat. These later passages give verse 5's 'avoid them' an active trajectory. Breath, cattle, and life are not asked to sit still; they are imagined as withdrawing while the opponents themselves are pushed away. That is the hymn's controlling social logic, not a neutral diagnosis of illness.
Another tree amulet protects cattle rather than taking them
X.3.10 asks the varaṇa amulet to keep the speaker and his cattle unharmed from every direction. IX.2.5 wishes cattle to avoid rivals. The difference is between guarding one's existing herd and depriving another side of theirs, although both texts arise from the speaker's partisan concern. Pāippalāda alters the order of some IX.2 verses, so its long sequence is not identical to the Śaunaka one. Neither witness documents a real loss of cattle or breath caused by recitation. Any present-day ritual modeled on this theme would be an imaginative adaptation, and the violent ancient wording should remain visible rather than recast as simple prosperity.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Compare IX.2.5 with IX.2.16. Both end by asking breath, cattle, and life to avoid rivals, but the first follows Kāma's daughter as a milch cow and the second follows a description of triple defense like armor. Repetition changes the frame from productive speech to protected separation. Now place X.3.10 beside them: it asks that the speaker's own cattle stay unharmed. The precise contrast is between keeping one's resources safe and wishing a rival's resources away. That distinction matters when interpreting the same broad word 'protection' in hostile Vedic hymns.