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 VII IN FOCUS
Against one's foes
As the sun rising takes to itself the brilliancies (téjas) of the asterisms, so of both women and men that hate me I take to myself the splendor.
Ye, as many of my rivals as look upon me coming—as the rising sun that of sleepers, do I take to myself the splendor of them that hate me.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VII.13 (14) at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VII ALSO CITED
Against enemies
Read comparison hymn VII.114 (119) (2 verses)
I take from thy entrails (vakṣáṇā), I take from thy heart, from the aspect of thy face, I take all thy splendor.
Forth from here let anxieties go, forth regrets (? anudhyā́), and forth imprecations; let Agni smite the she-demoniacs; let Soma smite the abusers (f.).
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VII.114 (119) at Wikisource ↗
The sun removes brilliance without touching a star
Verse 1 sets the physical analogy: when the sun rises, the splendor of the constellations disappears from view. The speaker then claims the splendor of the men and women who hate him. The claim is deliberately larger than any one rival, but the analogy is precise. Stars do not cease to exist at dawn; they cease to dominate the visible sky. The desired social effect is a change in comparative brilliance, a victory in how people appear when the speaker arrives. Reading this as literal astronomy or as proof that a rival lost status misses the persuasive move from a daily sight to a wished-for human relation.
Arrival makes the speaker a second sunrise
Verse 2 turns the comparison toward an encounter. Rivals who look at the arriving speaker are to lose their radiance like sleepers before the rising sun. The poem thus has a small dramatic sequence: first the cosmic fact, then the entrance of a person whose presence should reproduce it. It does not name a court, battle, or wedding. The male and female opponents in verse 1 keep the imagined audience broad. What matters is the direction of attention: the rival must see the speaker, and in that sight their own public glow is made to fade.
The other witness changes the balance of the image
Whitney notes that the Pāippalāda counterpart of the second verse differs, bringing splendor and power into a different formulation rather than preserving the Śaunaka simile exactly. That matters because a version focused on transferred force is not identical to one focused on sleepers before sunrise. Both use rivalry over brilliance, yet they stage the change differently. The witnesses support an interpretation of varcas as a valued form of visible vitality or prestige, but they do not license a single mechanical account of how it is supposedly taken. The two-verse Śaunaka movement remains best read as comparison followed by application.
A neighboring hymn locates splendor inside a body
VII.114 also says that the speaker takes another person's splendor, but it names the entrails, heart, and face as places from which it is removed. VII.13 is less anatomical and more optical. The difference reveals two ways the collection speaks about the same valued quality: one imagines it eclipsed in public perception, the other extracted from bodily sites. Later ritual association with looking at enemies fits VII.13's emphasis on seeing, though the verses themselves remain a verbal wish. Any modern spell assigned to this theme is a new composition inspired by the poem, not an ancient guarantee that looking at someone alters their reputation.
WORKED READING
Two ways to take varcas
Read VII.13.1's rising sun and vanished star-glow beside VII.114.1's claim to draw splendor from a rival's heart and face. The first imagines a changed field of visibility: one light dominates and another is no longer seen. The second imagines removal from a person's body. Return to VII.13.2 and the rival's gaze at the arriving speaker; the speaker becomes the event that reorganizes the visual field. The comparison shows why 'taking splendor' should not be flattened into one literal technique. The gaze in verse two turns the rival into an onlooker of the speaker's entrance, extending the sunrise image into a social scene.