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
For victory
An overcomer (abhibhū́) [is] the sacrifice, an overcomer Agni, an overcomer Soma, an overcomer Indra; that I may overcome (abhi-as) all fighters, so would we, Agni-offerers, pay worship with this oblation.
Be there svadhā́, O Mitra-and-Varuṇa, inspired ones; fatten (pinv) ye here with honey our dominion, rich in progeny; drive off perdition far away; put away from us any committed sin.
Be ye excited after this formidable hero; take hold, O companions, after Indra, the troop-conqueror, kine-conqueror, thunderbolt-armed, conquering in the course (ájman), slaughtering with force.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.97 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI ALSO CITED
To Indra: for victory
Read comparison hymn VI.98 (3 verses)
May Indra conquer, may he not be conquered; may he king it as over-king among kings; be thou here one to be famed, to be praised, to be greeted, to be waited on, and to be reverenced.
Thou, O Indra, art over-king, ambitious (çravasyú), thou art the overcomer of people; do thou rule over these folk (viçás) of the gods; long-lived, unfading (ajára) dominion be thine.
Of the eastern quarter thou, O Indra, art king; also of the northern quarter art thou, O Vritra-slayer, slayer of foes; where the streams go, that is thy conquest; in the south, as bull, thou goest worthy of invocation.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.98 at Wikisource ↗
The opening distributes the power to overcome
Verse 1 declares sacrifice, Agni, Soma, and Indra each an overcomer before asking that the speaker overcome all fighters. This repeated predicate makes the outcome sound supported from several directions. The sacrifice is not just an offering made before a battle; it is itself described as possessing the quality the speaker needs. The same quality is then attributed to gods who might act for him. The verse ends with a commitment to worship through an oblation. Its logic is participatory: by making the sacred act and divine allies victorious, the speaker hopes to enter their condition. The text gives no account of actual enemy numbers or combat results.
Dominion must be more than a battle win
The second verse asks Mitra and Varuṇa to enrich dominion with sweetness and progeny, while keeping perdition and sin away. This is a surprising center in a victory hymn. The speaker’s side does not merely seek to survive the next encounter; it wants rule that remains fertile and ritually sound afterward. The requested removal of wrongdoing also acknowledges a moral vulnerability not present in the triumphant opening. Whitney notes that the latter half of this verse has a Rigvedic parallel with different grammatical forms and that Pāippalāda changes part of the first half. The details vary, but the movement from immediate conquest to sustainable authority belongs to the received poem.
The close turns to companions
Verse 3 addresses companions and asks them to be stirred by a formidable hero, following Indra as troop conqueror and cattle winner. A poem that began with the speaker’s wish to overcome now calls a group to collective action. Indra’s thunderbolt supplies a martial center, yet the appeal is also social: followers must take hold together. Whitney records the verse in other Vedic war texts with the half-verses reversed. In those arrangements, the collective exhortation and description of Indra appear in another sequence. The received Śaunaka order puts communal mobilization at the end, which gives the hymn a progression from ritual quality through dominion to a moving company of fighters.
VI.98 places the king at the center
The neighboring VI.98 likewise seeks victory but addresses Indra as over-king and describes praise, reverence, and rule over people. VI.97 names dominion in its middle verse without making the king’s status its main subject. Its final voice is directed to companions. The difference separates an army’s shared confidence from the public legitimation of a ruler, even though later rites grouped the hymns. Whitney reports that VI.97 and following victory hymns were used together in battle ceremonies, with a king joining an offering in one application. That later grouping should not erase the distinct internal shape of VI.97’s three verses.
WORKED READING
Three meanings of victory
Read VI.97.1, .2, and .3 in order. The first makes sacrifice and gods overcomers; the second asks that dominion be nourished and wrongdoing removed; the third calls companions to follow Indra. Victory moves from sacred capacity to political continuity to collective action. Compare VI.98.1, where Indra is asked to reign above kings and to receive homage. The two openings share a wish to prevail, but they place the center of the victory in different figures. The second verse's nourishment of dominion prevents the hymn from equating one charge in battle with secure, enduring authority.