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 III IN FOCUS
To command a woman's love
Let the up-thruster thrust (tud) thee up; do not abide (dhṛ) in thine own lair; the arrow of love (kā́ma) that is terrible, therewith I pierce thee in the heart.
The arrow feathered with longing (ādhī́), tipped with love, necked with resolve (? saṁkalpá-)—having made that well-straightened, let love pierce thee in the heart.
The well-straightened arrow of love which dries the spleen, forward-winged, consuming (vyòṣa)—therewith I pierce thee in the heart.
Pierced with consuming pain (çúc), dry-mouthed, do thou come creeping to me, gentle, with fury allayed, entirely [mine], pleasant-spoken, submissive.
Read the remaining 2 verses of III.25
I goad thee hither with a goad (ā́janī), away from mother, likewise from father, that thou mayest be in my power (krátu), mayest come unto my intent.
Do ye, O Mitra-and-Varuṇa, cast out the intents from her heart; then, making her powerless, make her [to be] in my own control.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.25 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK I IN FOCUS
A love-spell: with a sweet herb
This plant is honey-(mádhu-)born; with honey we dig thee; forth from honey art thou engendered; ⌊so⌋ do thou make us possessed of honey.
At the tip of my tongue honey, at the root of my tongue honeyedness; mayest thou be altogether in my power (krátu), mayest thou come unto my intent (cittá).
Honeyed (mádhumant) [is] my in-stepping, honeyed my forth-going; with my voice I speak what is honeyed; may I be of honey-aspect.
Than honey am I sweeter (mádhu), than the honey-plant more honeyed; of me verily shalt thou be fond (? van), as of a honeyed branch.
Read the remaining 1 verse of I.34
About thee with an encompassing (paritatnú) sugar-cane have I gone, in order to absence of mutual hatred; that thou mayest be one loving me, that thou mayest be one not going away from me.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read I.34 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI IN FOCUS
To win a woman's love
As the creeper (líbujā) has completely embraced the tree, so do thou embrace me—that thou mayest be one loving me, that thou mayest be one not going away from me.
As the eagle, flying forth, beats down his wings upon the earth, so do I beat down thy mind—that thou etc. etc.
As the sun goeth at once about heaven-and-earth here, so do I go about thy mind—that thou etc. etc.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.8 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK XIV ALSO CITED
Marriage ceremonies
Read comparison hymn XIV.1 (64 verses)
By truth is the earth established (ut-stabh); by the sun is the sky established; by righteousness the Ādityas stand; Soma is set (çritá) upon the sky.
By Soma are the Ādityas strong; by Soma is the earth great; likewise in the lap of these asterisms is Soma placed (ā-dhā).
One thinks himself to have drunk Soma when they crush up an herb; what Soma the priests (brahmán) know, of that no earthly man partakes.
When, O Soma, they drink thee ⌊up⌋, then thou fillest thyself up again; Vāyu is Soma's defender; the month is norm (ā́kṛti) of the years (sámā).
Guarded by covering-arrangements, defended by watchmen (?? bárhata), O Soma, thou standest hearing the pressing-stones; no earthly one partakes of thee.
Intention (cítti) was the pillow, sight was the ointment, heaven [and] earth were the coffer (kóça), when Sūryā went to her husband.
The rāíbhī was the parting [song] (?? anudéyī), the nārāçaṅsī́ was the welcoming one (? nyócanī); Sūryā's garment verily was excellent; she goes adorned with song (gā́thā).
The laudations (stóma) were the cross-pieces (?? pratidhí); meter was the kurī́ra, the opaçá; of Sūryā the Açvins were the wooers, Agni was the forerunner.
Soma was the bride-seeker; both Açvins were wooers, when Savitar gave to her husband Sūryā, praising (çaṅs) with her mind.
Mind was her cart; heaven also was [its] canopy; the two draft-oxen were white (çukrá), when Sūryā went to her husband.
Haltered with verse (ṛ́c) and chant (sā́man), thy two oxen went peaceful (? sāmaná); ears were thy (two) wheels; in the sky the wandering track.
Clean were the (two) wheels of thee as thou wentest; out-breathing (vyāná) was the inserted axle; a cart made of mind did Sūryā ascend when going forth to her husband.
The bridal (vahatú) of Sūryā, which Savitar sent off (ava-sṛj), has gone forth; in the Maghās are slain the kine; in the Phalgunīs is the wedding.
When, O Açvins, ye went asking, with your three-wheeled [chariot], to Sūryā's bridal, where was one wheel of yours? where stood ye for pointing out?
When ye went, O lords of beauty, unto the wooing of Sūryā, all the gods assented to that [deed] of yours; Pūshan as son chose a father.
The two wheels of thee, O Sūryā, the priests (brahmán) know seasonably; further, the one wheel that is in secret—that, verily, the enlightened (addhātí) know.
We make offering to Aryaman of good connections, husband-finder; like a gourd from its bond, from here I release, not from yonder.
I release [her] from here, not from yonder; I make her well-bound yonder, that she, O gracious Indra, may be rich in sons, well-portioned.
I release thee from Varuṇa's fetter, with which the very propitious Savitar bound thee; in the lair (yóni) of righteousness, in the world of the well-done, be it pleasant for thee accompanied by the wooer (-sambhalá).
Let Bhaga lead thee hence, grasping thy hand; let the Açvins carry thee forth by a chariot; go to the houses, that thou mayest be housewife; thou, having control, shalt speak unto the council.
Let what is dear succeed (sam-ṛdh) here for thy progeny; watch thou over this house in order to housewife-ship; mingle thy self (tanū́) with this husband; then shalt thou in advanced age speak to the council.
Be ye (two) just here; be not separated; attain your whole lifetime, sporting with sons [and] grandsons, rejoicing, well-homed.
These two move on one after the other by magic; two sporting young ones go about the ocean; the one looks abroad upon all beings; thou, the other, disposing the seasons art born new.
Ever new art thou, being born; sign of the days, thou goest to the apex of the dawns; thou disposest to the gods their share as thou comest; thou extendest, O moon, a long life-time.
Give thou away the çāmulyà; share out goods to the priests (brahmán); it, becoming a walking (padvánt) witchcraft, enters the husband [as] a wife.
It becomes blue-red; [as] witchcraft, infection, it is driven away (?); her relations (jñātí) thrive; her husband is bound in bonds.
Unlovely becomes [his] body, glistening in that evil way, when the husband wraps his own member with the bride's garment.
Carving on, carving open, also cutting over apart; see the forms of Sūryā; them also the priest (brahmán) cleans (çumbh).
Harsh is that, sharp, barbed, poisoned; that is not to be eaten; what priest (brahmán) knows Sūryā, he indeed deserves the bride's [garment].
That priest verily takes this garment, pleasant, well-omened, who goes over the expiation, by whom the wife takes no harm.
Do ye (two) bring together a successful (sámṛddha) portion, speaking right in right-speakings; O Brahmaṇaspati, make the husband shine (ruc) for her; let the wooer (sambhalá) speak this speech agreeably (cā́ru).
May ye be just here; may ye not go away; may ye, O kine, increase this man with progeny; going in beauty, ruddy, with soma-splendor—may all the gods turn (kṛ) your minds hither.
May ye, O kine, enter this man together with progeny; this man minisheth (mī) not the share of the gods; for this man shall Pūshan, and all the Maruts, for this man shall Dhātar, Savitar quicken (sū) you.
Free from thorns, straight, let the roads be by which [our] comrades go a-wooing for us; together with Bhaga, together with Aryaman—let Dhātar unite [us] with splendor.
Both what splendor is placed in dice, and what in strong drink—what splendor, O Açvins, is in kine, with that splendor favor (av) ye this woman.
With what [splendor] the backsides of the courtezan (mahānagnī́), O Açvins, or with what the strong drink, with what the dice were flooded (abhi-sic), with that splendor favor ye this woman.
He who shines (dī) without fuel within the waters, whom the devout (vípra) praise at the sacrifices (adhvará)—O child of the waters, mayest thou give waters rich in honey, with which Indra increased, full of heroism.
Now do I remove (apa-ūh) the glistening seizer (grābhá), body-spoiling; what sheen is excellent, that I draw up (ud-ac).
Let the Brahmans take for her [water] for bathing; let them draw up (?) waters that slay not a hero; let her go about the fire of Aryaman, O Pūshan; father-in-law and brother-in-law are looking on (prati-īkṣ).
Weal be to thee gold, and weal be waters; weal be the post (methí), weal the perforation (tárdman) of the yoke; weal be for thee the waters having a hundred cleansers (-pavítra); for weal, too, mingle thyself with thy husband.
In the hole of the chariot, in the hole of the cart, in the hole of the yoke, O thou of a hundred activities, having thrice purified Apālā, O Indra, thou didst make her sun-skinned.
Hoping for well-willing, offspring, good-fortune, wealth, becoming obedient (ánuvrata) to thy husband, gird thyself in order to immortality.
As the ⌊mighty (? vṛ́ṣā)⌋ river (síndhu) won (? sū) the supremacy of the streams (nadī́), so be thou supreme (samrā́jñī), having gone away to thy husband's home.
Be thou supreme among fathers-in-law, supreme also among brothers-in-law; be thou supreme over sister-in-law, supreme also over mother-in-law.
They (f.) who spun, wove, and who stretched [the web], what divine ones (f.) gave the ends about, let them wrap thee in order to old age; [as] one long-lived put about thee this garment.
They bewail the living one (m.); they lead away the sacrifice (adhvará); the men sent their thoughts after ⌊root dhī...ánu⌋ a long reach (prásiti); what is lovely (vāmá) for the Fathers who came together here; joy to the husbands for embracing the wife.
I maintain for thee, in order to progeny, a pleasant, firm (dhruvá) stone in the lap of the divine earth; stand thou on that, one to be exulted after, of excellent glory; let Savitar make for thee a long life-time.
Wherewith Agni grasped the right hand of this earth, therewith grasp I thy hand; do not stagger in company with me, with both progeny and riches.
Let god Savitar grasp thy hand; let king Soma make thee to have good offspring; let Agni, Jātavedas, make the spouse well-portioned, long-lived, for her husband.
I grasp thy hand in order to good-fortune, that with me as husband thou mayest be long-lived; Bhaga, Aryaman, Savitar, Purandhi ⌊púraṁdhi⌋—the gods have given thee to me in order to housewifeship.
Bhaga hath grasped thy hand; Savitar hath grasped thy hand; thou art [my] spouse by ordinance (dhárman), I thy house-lord.
Be this woman mine, bringing prosperity (pósya); Brihaspati hath given thee to me; in company with me ⌊as husband⌋ do thou live, rich in offspring, a hundred autumns.
Tvashṭar disposed (vi-dhā) the garment for beauty, by direction of Brihaspati, of the poets; therewith let Savitar and Bhaga envelop this woman, like Sūryā, with progeny.
Let Indra-and-Agni, heaven-and-earth, Mātariçvan, Mitra-and-Varuṇa, Bhaga, both Açvins, Brihaspati, the Maruts, the bráhman. Soma, increase this woman with progeny.
Brihaspati first prepared (kḷp) the hairs on the head of Sūryā; with this, O Açvins, do we thoroughly adorn (çubh) this woman for her husband.
This [is] that form in which the young woman (yóṣā) dressed herself; I desire to know with [my] mind the wife (jāyá) moving about; I will go after her with nine-fold (? návagva) comrades: who, knowing, unloosened (vi-cṛt) these fetters?
I loosen (vi-sā) in me the form of her; he verily shall know, seeing the nest of mind; I eat not stolenly; I was freed (ud-muc) by mind, myself untying (çrath) the fetters of Varuṇa.
I release thee from Varuṇa's fetter, with which the very propitious Savitar bound thee; wide space (loká), an easy road here, do I make for thee, O bride (vadhū́), with thy husband.
Raise ye [your weapons]; may ye smite away the demon; set this woman in what is well done; inspired Dhātar found for her a husband; let king Bhaga go in front, foreknowing.
Bhaga fashioned the four feet; Bhaga fashioned the four frame-pieces (? úṣyala); Tvashṭar adorned (piç) the straps (? várdhra) along in the middle; let her be to us of excellent omen.
The well-flowered (sukiṅçuká), all-formed bridal-car (vahatú), golden-colored, well-rolling, well-wheeled, do thou mount, O Sūryā, to the world of the immortal; make thou a bridal -car pleasant to husbands.
Her, not brother-slaying, O Varuṇa; not cattle-slaying, O Brihaspati; not husband-slaying, possessing sons, O Indra—bring [her] for us, O Savitar.
Injure ye not the maiden (kumārī́), ye (two) pillars, on the god-made road; the door of the divine house we make pleasant, a road for the bride.
Let the bráhman be yoked after, the bráhman before, the bráhman at the end, in the middle, the bráhman everywhere; going forward to an impenetrable stronghold of the gods, do thou (f.), propitious, pleasant, bear rule in thy husband's world.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XIV.1 at Wikisource ↗
A refrain crosses different images
The wish that someone love the speaker and not depart ends I.34.5, appears in II.30.1, and recurs throughout VI.8. In I.34, it follows a honey plant and the speaker's sweetened voice, movements, and appearance. II.30 begins instead with wind shaking grass, making the beloved's mind the thing to be moved. VI.8 compares the desired embrace first to a creeper around a tree, then expands to an eagle's wings and the sun circling heaven and earth. The shared words hold an outcome steady while each hymn experiments with a different mechanism. One cannot infer one standard ancient dating rite simply because the closing request travels between texts.
III.25 demands a more drastic return
The keyword's gentle sense of seeing someone again must be tested against III.25, the historical anchor assigned to this benefit. Its opening arrow pierces a woman's heart; later verses imagine her dry-mouthed and coming to the speaker despite her own intent. Verse 5 even speaks of driving her away from mother and father. This is not an invitation that she freely repeats because the first meeting went well. The hymn's structure moves from a weapon to bodily distress to a demand for control. It supplies evidence for an ancient coercive desire charm, and its discomfort should remain visible when we compare it with any contemporary wish for a reunion.
A wedding hymn is a different social frame
Atharvaveda XIV.1.20–22 also imagines two people going together, but it belongs to a long public sequence of marriage verses. The bride is led to a household, receives blessings for life there, and the pair is told to remain together. That is a formal social transition involving relatives, divine figures, and household expectations. It differs from both the private voice of III.25 and the short, repeated refrain in VI.8. A second date in present-day life has neither the force of a marriage ceremony nor the direction of a verse commanding another person's mind. These distinctions prevent the ancient sources from becoming interchangeable scenery for modern romance.
The modern second meeting
“Make a target person ask to see me again” and the working The Second Meeting were created for this project. The exact benefit is a modern imaginative extension; no cited hymn records a returning invitation or promises that one will arrive. A thoughtful reading can still ask why the same no-departure phrase attracted different poetic images. The creeper suggests physical closeness, honey suggests pleasing speech, and the wind-shaken grass suggests an unsettled mind. In contemporary terms, one might hope to leave a kind impression and welcome another person's initiative. That is an interpretation of relationship, not a translation of an ancient promise into a guaranteed second meeting.
WORKED READING
Compare I.34.5 with VI.8.1
Both verses end in the desire that the beloved not go away. Read backward from that shared ending. I.34.5 surrounds the addressed person with sugar cane after four verses that have made the speaker's tongue and entrance sweet; VI.8.1 opens with a creeper already wrapped around a tree. The first image extends a program of social sweetness, while the second starts with enclosure. Then VI.8.2 moves from embrace to beating down a mind, so even that apparently tender vine cannot carry the meaning of the whole hymn alone. A modern second meeting depends on an actual renewed choice; the repeated ancient refrain does not itself describe one.