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 VIII IN FOCUS
Against sorcerers and demons: to Indra and Soma
O Indra-and-Soma, burn the demon, oppress (ubj) [him]; put (arpay-) down, ye two bulls, them that thrive in darkness; crush away, scorch down the fools (acít); slay, push, pin (çā) down the devourers.
O Indra-and-Soma, against ⌊abhí⌋ the evil-plotter, the evil, let heat boil all up ⌊sam-yas⌋ like a fiery pot; assign unavoidable hate unto the brahman-hating, flesh-eating kimīdín of terrible aspect.
O Indra-and-Soma, pierce ye the evil-doers within their hiding-place (vavrá), in untenable darkness, whence there shall not come up again any one soever of them; be that your furious might unto overpowering.
O Indra-and-Soma, cause to roll (vṛt) from the sky the deadly weapon, from the earth also, a shattering for the evil-plotter; shape out from the mountains (párvata) the noisy one, wherewith ye burn down the increasing demon.
Read the remaining 21 verses of VIII.4
O Indra-and-Soma, cause [it] to roll forth from the sky; with fireheated, stone-smiting, unaging heat-weapons do ye pierce the devourers in the abyss; let them go to silence.
O Indra-and-Soma, be there about you on all sides this prayer (matí), as a girth [about] two vigorous (vājín) horses, the invocation (hótrā) that I send forth to you with wisdom; these acts of worship (bráhman) quicken ye like two lords of men.
Remember ye with [your] rapid courses; smite the haters, the destructive demoniacs; O Indra-and-Soma, let there not be ease (sugá) for the evil-doer, the hater that at any time vexes me.
Whoever reviles with untrue speeches me walking with simple mind—like waters grasped with the fist, let the speaker of what is not be [himself] non-existent, O Indra.
They who distract (vi-hṛ) with [their] courses him of simple intent, or who spoil at their will (svadhā́bhis) what is excellent—let Soma either deliver them up to the serpent, or let him set them in the lap of perdition.
Whoever, O Agni, tries to harm our taste of drink, of horses, of kine, whoever of our bodies—let the enemy, the thief, the theft-committer, go to want (dabhrá); let him be degraded with self and with posterity.
Be he far away, with self and with posterity, be he beneath all the three earths, let his glory dry up, ye gods, who by day and who by night tries to harm me.
It is easy of understanding for a knowing man (jána) [that] true and untrue words (vácas) are at variance; of them what is true, whichever is more right, that Soma verily favors; he smites the untrue.
Soma by no means furthers the wicked [man], nor the kshatríya who maintains [anything] falsely; he smites the demon; he smites the speaker of untruth; both lie within reach of Indra.
If I am one of false gods, or if I put upon (? api-ūh) the gods what is vain, O Agni—why art thou angry with us, O Jātavedas? let them of hateful speech obtain (sac) misery of thee.
May I die today if I am a sorcerer, or if I have burnt (tap) a man's lifetime; then let him be divided from ten heroes who vainly says to me "thou sorcerer."
Whoever to me that am no sorcerer (áyātu) says "thou sorcerer," or whatever demoniac says "I am pure (çúci)"—let Indra smite him with a great deadly weapon; may he fall lowest of every creature.
She who goes forth in the night like an owl (?), hateful, hiding herself away—may she fall down into an endless hole (vavrá); let the [pressing-] stones smite the demoniacs with [their] noises.
Scatter yourselves, O Maruts, among the people (vikṣú); seek, seize, crush (sam-piṣ) the demoniacs, who, becoming birds, fly in the nights, or who have put defilements (rípas) on the heavenly sacrifice.
Cause the stone to roll forth from the sky, O Indra; [it,] sharpened by Soma, do thou wholly sharpen, O liberal one; from before, from away, from below, from above, do thou smite upon the demoniacs with a mountain.
Here fly these dog-sorcerers (çváyātu); Indra the unharmable they the harm-seeking seek to harm; the mighty one (çakrá) sharpens his deadly weapon for the treacherous ones (píçuna); now may he let fly (sṛj) the thunderbolt at the sorcerers (yātumánt).
Indra was the crusher-away of the familiar demons (yātú), of the oblation-disturbers, of them who strive to win upon [it]; let the mighty one (çakrá) attack them that are demoniacs as an ax the woods, splitting [them] like vessels.
The owl-sorcerer, the owlet-(?)sorcerer smite thou, the dog-sorcerer and the cuckoo-sorcerer, the eagle-(? suparṇá)sorcerer and the vulture-sorcerer—do thou destroy (pra-mṛṇ) the demon, O Indra, as if with a mill-stone.
Let not the sorcerous demon reach us; let the kimīdíns that are paired fade away; let the earth protect us from earthly distress, let the atmosphere protect us from heavenly.
O Indra, smite the man sorcerer, likewise the woman ⌊who is⌋ prevailing with magic (māyā́); let the neckless false-worshipers vanish (? ṛd); let them not see the sun moving upward.
Look thou on; look abroad; O Soma, Indra also, watch ye; hurl ye the deadly weapon at the demons, the thunderbolt at the sorcerers (yātumánt).
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VIII.4 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK X ALSO CITED
Against witchcraft and its practisers
Read comparison hymn X.1 (32 verses)
She whom the adepts {cikitsú) prepare, all-formed, hand-made, like a bride at a wedding—let her go far off; we push her away.
Having a head, having a nose, having ears, put together, all-formed, by the witchcraft-maker—let her go far off; we push her away.
Çūdra-made, king-made, woman-made, made by Brahmans (brahmán), like a wife expelled (nuttá) by her husband, let her go to her maker, as connection.
With this herb have I spoiled all witchcrafts—what one they have made in the field, what in the kine, or what in thy men.
Let evil be to the evil-doer, a curse to the curser; backward we send [her] forth back, that she may slay the witchcraft-maker.
Opposed [is] the Ān̄girasa, our appointed (puróhita) overseer; do thou, having turned the witchcrafts in the opposite direction, slay yonder witchcraft-makers.
He who said to thee "go forth," against the current, up-stream, him, O witchcraft, do thou return against; seek not us who are innocent.
He who put together thy joints, as an ṛbhú [those] of a chariot with skill (dhī́), unto him go thou; there is thy going; this person is unknown to thee.
They who, having made, took hold of thee, cunning sorcerers—this is a healthful (çambhú) spoiler of witchcraft, counteracting, reverting; therewith do we bathe thee.
In that we have come upon the ill-portioned one (fem.), bathed forth, whose young (-vatsá) is dead—let all ill (pāpá) go away from me; let property come unto (upa-sthā) me.
In that they have taken (grah) the name of thee giving to the Fathers, or at the sacrifice—let these plants free thee from all ill that is designed (? saṁdeçyà).
From sin against the gods, against the Fathers, from name-taking, that is designed, that is devised against [any one], let the plants free thee by their energy (vīryà), with spell (bráhman), with verses, with milk of the seers.
As the wind sets in motion the dust from the earth and the cloud (abhrá) from the atmosphere, so from me may everything of evil nature go away, pushed by the spell (bráhman).
Step away, making much noise, like an unfastened she-ass; attain thy makers, pushed hence by an energetic spell.
Saying "this is the road, O witchcraft," we conduct thee; thee that wast sent forth against [us] we send forth back again; by that [road] go against [them], breaking, like a draft-cow with a cart, all-formed, wearing a wreath (? kurūṭín).
Offward is light for thee, hitherward is no road for thee; make thy goings elsewhere than [toward] us; go thou by a distant [road] beyond ninety difficult navigable streams; do not wound thyself; go away.
As the wind the trees, do thou crush (mṛ) down, cause to fall; do not leave of them cow, horse, man; turning back, O witchcraft, from here to thy makers, awaken them unto childlessness.
What [witchcraft] they buried for thee in the barhís, what in the cemetery, [what] witchcraft or secret spell (valagá) in the field, or practised against thee in the householders' fire—they, being wiser, [against thee] who art simple, innocent.
We have found out (anu-vid) the hostile sneaking magic (? kártra) that was applied, perceived (? anu-budh), buried: let that go whence it was brought; there let it roll about like a horse; let it slay the progeny of the witchcraft -maker.
There are knives of good metal in our house; we know thy joints, O witchcraft, how many they are; just stand up; go away from here; unknown one, what seekest thou here?
Thy neck-bones (grīvā́), O witchcraft, and thy (two) feet I will cut up; run thou out; let Indra-and-Agni defend us, they who are of progeny rich in progeny.
King Soma [is] our over-ruler and favorer (mṛḍitṛ́); let the lords of being favor us.
Let Bhava-and-Çarva hurl (as) at the evil-doer, the witchcraft-maker, the ill-doer, the missile of the gods, the lightning.
If thou camest [as] biped, as quadruped, put together by the witchcraft-maker, all-formed, do thou, becoming octoped, go away again from here, O misfortune!
Anointed, smeared, well-adorned, bearing all difficulty, go thou away; recognize (jñā), O witchcraft, thy maker, as a daughter her own father.
Go away, O witchcraft; stand not; lead, as it were, the track of one pierced; it is a deer, thou a deer-hunter; it is unable to put thee down.
Also the after one (ápara) slays with an arrow, fitting it (?), the one shooting (-āsin) in front; also of the front one, smiting down, the after one smites down in return.
Hear thou, verily, these words of mine; then go whence thou camest, to meet him who made thee.
The slaying of an innocent person is indeed fearful, O witchcraft; slay thou not our cow, horse, man; wheresoever thou art set down, from there we make thee stand up; become thou lighter than a leaf.
If ye are covered (ā-vṛ) with darkness, like those who are girt (abhi-dhā) with a net—having torn up (sam-lup) all witchcrafts from here, we send them forth again to the maker.
The progeny of the witchcraft-maker, of him of secret spells, of him that devises against [others], O witchcraft, do thou kill; do not leave [them alive]; slay yonder witchcraft-makers.
As the sun is freed out of darkness, [and] quits the night and the ensigns of the dawn, so do I quit all evil-natured magic made by the witchcraft-maker, as an elephant the difficult haze (? rájas).
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read X.1 at Wikisource ↗
The opening imagines overwhelming force
Verses 1 through 5 repeatedly call Indra and Soma to burn, crush, pin down, and pierce beings associated with darkness and hostile plotting. Weaponry is imagined from sky, earth, and mountains, making the counterattack feel unavoidable. These verses do not present evidence against a named human defendant; their enemies are constructed through labels such as demon, devourer, and evil plotter. The paired deities become a collective answer to a threat that is equally expansive in the speaker's imagination. Whitney notes uncertain constructions in verse 2 and variant readings elsewhere, so the exact path of every blow is less settled than the repeated imperative force.
The prayer itself is fitted around the gods
Verse 6 compares the speakers' prayer to a girth about two strong horses. This is a striking pause in the attacks: speech is pictured as equipment securing the divine pair and urging them forward. The metaphor makes the hymn's own utterance part of its argument. It does not merely describe divine power; it tries to yoke that power to a present worshiping voice. Verse 7 returns to the plea that haters find no ease. The sequence from violent command to harnessing prayer reveals that the human contribution is not a weapon in hand but a crafted appeal thought capable of directing gods.
Truth tests the speaker as well as the accused
Verses 8 through 16 focus on slander, false speech, and the accusation of sorcery. Verse 12 says true and untrue words diverge and Soma favors truth. Verse 15 even declares that the speaker should die if he is himself a sorcerer or has harmed a person's lifetime; the accuser who falsely uses the label should suffer. Verse 16 again imagines a non-sorcerer wrongly called one. These lines do not eliminate the poem's hostility, but they reveal anxiety about misidentification. The speaker wants divine judgment to distinguish a real threat from a damaging allegation. A modern summary that calls every opponent a proven sorcerer would erase the hymn's own problem of evidence.
The ending returns to night creatures and pursuit
Later verses summon Maruts, stones, and Indra's thunderbolt against night-flying beings and sorcerers with animal associations. Their imagery is deliberately frightening, but some animal labels are uncertain in Whitney's notes. The Pāippalāda order swaps verses 4 and 5 and 19 and 20; the Rigvedic parallel follows the same broad order as Śaunaka. X.1 later develops a different defense by sending a constructed witchcraft back toward its maker. VIII.4 is more concerned with who speaks truth and how the gods distinguish real from false accusation. A contemporary counter-sorcery working would be an imaginative adaptation, not a historical test proving anyone guilty.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Read VIII.4.1 beside VIII.4.15-16. The first calls for Indra and Soma to burn the dark enemy; the later lines entertain the possibility that a speaker is falsely accused of sorcery and demand a consequence for the false accuser. The hymn does not become gentle, but it changes the epistemic question from 'how to strike' to 'who deserves the label.' Compare X.1.5, where witchcraft is sent back to its maker. That hymn assumes an artifact and maker; VIII.4 openly worries about words that may identify the wrong person.