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 VI IN FOCUS
To the drum: for success against the foe
Blast thou unto heaven and earth; in many places let them win for thee the scattered living creatures (jágat); do thou, O drum, allied with Indra [and] the gods, drive away our foes further than far.
Resound thou at [them]; mayest thou assign strength [and] force to us; thunder against [them], forcing off difficulties; drive, O drum, misfortune away from here; Indra's fist art thou; be stout.
Conquer thou those yonder; let these here conquer; let the drum speak loud ⌊vāvad-⌋ [and] clear; let our horse-winged heroes fly together; let our chariot-men, O Indra, conquer.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.126 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK V ALSO CITED
To the war-drum
Read comparison hymn V.20 (12 verses)
The loud-noised drum, warrior-like, of forest-tree, brought together (sámbhṛta) with the ruddy [kine], whetting the voice, dominating our rivals; thunder thou loudly against [them] like a lion, about to conquer.
Like a lion hath thundered the wooden one, stretched (vi-bandh), like a bull roaring at a longing cow; virile (vṛ́ṣan) [art] thou, impotent thy rivals; Indra-like [is] thy vehemence (çúṣma), overpowering hostile plotters.
Found (vidāná) suddenly (sáhasā) like a bull in a herd, do thou, seeking kine, bellow (ru) at [them], winning booty; pierce thou with pain the heart of our adversaries; let our foes, leaving their villages, go urged forth (pra-cyu).
Wholly conquering the fighters, shrill-crying, do thou, seizing those that are to be seized, look abroad on many sides; respond (? ā-gur), O drum, devout, to the voice of the gods; bring the possession of our foes.
Hearing the uttered (pra-yam) voice of the drum speaking, let the woman, suppliant, noise-wakened, run to her son, seizing his hand—our enemy, frightened in the conflict of deadly weapons.
Mayest thou first (pū́rva), O drum, speak forth thy voice; on the back of earth speak thou, shining (ruc); opening wide the jaws (jabh) on the army of our enemies, speak thou clearly, O drum, pleasantly (sūnṛ́tāvat).
Let there be noise between these two firmaments (nábhas); severally let thy sounds (dhvaní) go swiftly; roar at [them], thunder, truculent (?), resounding (çlokakṛ́t) unto the victory of our friends, a good partizan.
Made by devices (dhī́), may it speak forth its voice; excite thou the weapons of the warriors; allied with Indra, call in the warriors; by friends smite mightily down the enemies.
A vociferating herald (? pravadá), with bold army, making proclaim in many places, sounding through the villages, winning advantage, knowing the ways, do thou distribute (vi-hṛ) fame to many in the [battle] of two kings.
Aiming at advantage, conquering good things, very powerful, conquering a host, thou art sharpened by bráhman; as the pressing-stone on the [soma-] stalks in the press, do thou, O drum, dance on [their] possession, seeking booty (gavyán).
Overpowering foes, overpowering and putting down, overpowering hostile plotters, seeking kine, overpowering, up-shooting, bring forth thy voice as a speaker (vāgvín) his discourse (mántra); speak up force (? íṣ) here in order to the conquering of the host.
Stirring (cyu) the unstirred, going oftenest into contests, conquering scorners, going in front, unsubduable, made safe by Indra, noting counsels (? vidátha), burning the hearts of our adversaries, go thou quickly.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read V.20 at Wikisource ↗
The opening sends sound over a vast space
Verse 1 asks the drum to blast toward heaven and earth and to drive enemies farther than far with Indra and the gods as allies. The scale is larger than the visible battlefield. Sound carries the speaker’s wish into space before any fighter moves. One middle phrase about scattered living creatures is textually difficult; Whitney thinks the received reading may be corrupt beside other witnesses. The secure contrast is the drum’s far-reaching noise and the desired remoteness of foes. The poem does not state how loud a historical instrument could be heard. It makes reach into an image of dominance, asking the sound to cross a cosmic span and force opponents beyond it.
The drum both gives and takes away
The second verse orders the drum to thunder at enemies, assign strength and force to the speaker’s side, and drive misfortune away. Its last image calls the instrument Indra’s fist and urges it to be stout. The fist turns percussion into a blow, but the preceding lines make the instrument more than a weapon of intimidation. It is supposed to nourish allied force while expelling danger. This double direction helps explain why the following verse pairs two groups so sharply. The drum is a center of exchange: sound and strength move outward from the speaker’s side, while misfortune and foes are pushed away. The claims are poetic, not measurements of battlefield effects.
The final verse separates near from far
Verse 3 says the drum should defeat people “yonder” while “these here” win. Horse-borne and chariot fighters then join the image of advance, with Indra again called to secure victory. The demonstratives make the battlefield legible from the speaker’s position. The opposition is not abstract good against evil; it is their army over there and our warriors here. The drum’s clear speech announces which side is to prevail. Whitney says other Vedic texts read the opening line differently, with a command that turns opponents back and brings allies forward. That variant makes the directional opposition explicit, while the Śaunaka line states the outcome of each side more directly.
A short companion to V.20
The much longer V.20 develops the drum as animal, herald, and speaker travelling through villages. VI.126 compresses the theme into a three-verse division between distant foes and close allies. Whitney records that later ritual texts use VI.126 with V.20 while drums are sounded, and that Pāippalāda lacks parts of the first two verses, apparently through copying error. These facts clarify both connection and limit. The two hymns belong to a recognizable war-drum tradition, yet the surviving recensions do not give identical text. VI.126’s most distinctive figure is not V.20’s lion voice but the fist of Indra delivering a loud, allied blow.
WORKED READING
One line gives, another expels
Compare VI.126.2 with .3. The second verse asks the drum to allocate strength to this side and push misfortune away; the third names the opposed groups as those yonder and these here. The sound marks a boundary between them. V.20.9 instead imagines the drum distributing fame through villages after or during a contest of kings. Both assign public work to noise, but VI.126 makes the immediate redistribution of force across the battle line especially clear. The nearby and far-off groups in verse three make sound into a boundary marker, not merely a loud announcement of courage.