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
To conquer enemies
Let Indra the shaker shake (math) [them], he the mighty hero, stronghold-splitter, in order that we may slay by thousands the armies of our enemies.
Let the putrid rope, breathing on [it], make yonder army putrid; seeing afar smoke, fire, let our enemies set fear in their hearts.
Crush yonder men out, O açvattá; devour (khād) them speedily, O khadirá; let them be suddenly ⌊tājád⌋ broken ⌊bhāñj⌋ like hemp bhán̄ga⌋; let the slayer (vádhaka) slay (han) them with deadly weapons (vadhá).
Let the rough-called one make yonder men rough (paruṣá); let the slayer slay them with deadly weapons; let them be broken quickly like a reed (çará), tied together with a great net.
Read the remaining 20 verses of VIII.8
The atmosphere was the net; the great quarters [were] the net-stakes; therewith encircling [them], the mighty one (çakrá) scattered away the army of the barbarians (dásyu).
Since great [is] the net of the great mighty one, the vigorous (vājínīvant)—therewith do thou crowd (ubj) down upon all [our] foes, that no one soever of them may be released.
Great, O Indra, hero (çū́ra), is the net of thee that art great, that art worth a thousand, that hast hundred-fold heroism; therewith encircling the army of the barbarians, the mighty one slew a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million.
This great world was the net of the great mighty one; by that net of Indra do I encircle all yon men with darkness.
Debility, formidable ill-success, and mishap that is not to be exorcised away (an-apavācaná), toil, and weariness, and confusion—with these do I encircle all yon men.
To death do I deliver those yonder; with fetters of death [are] they bound (sā); the sad messengers that are death's—them I lead them to meet, having bound (bandh) [them].
Lead ye them, O messengers of death; O messengers of Yama, restrain (apa-umbh) [them]; be they slain to more than thousands; let Bhava's club (? matyà) shatter them.
The Perfectibles (sādhyá) go lifting with force one net-stake, the Rudras one, the Vasus one; by the Ādityas one is lifted.
Let all the gods from above go crowding with force; let the An̄girases go slaying midway the great army.
The forest trees, them of the forest trees, the herbs and the plants, what is biped, what is quadruped I despatch (iṣ), that they may slay yonder army.
The Gandharvas and Apsarases, the serpents, the gods, the pure-folks, the Fathers, those seen, those unseen I despatch, that they may slay yonder army.
Here are spread the fetters of death, which stepping into thou art not released; let this horn (kū́ṭa) slay of yonder army by thousands.
The hot drink (gharmá) [is] kindled with fire, this thousand-slaying oblation (hóma); both Bhava and the spotted-armed one—O Çarva, slay ye (two) yonder army.
Let them go unto death's burning (?), unto hunger, debility, the deadly weapon, fear; by snare (ákṣu) and net, O Çarva, [do thou] and Indra slay yonder army.
Flee (tras) forth, O enemies, being conquered; run, ⌊being⌋ thrust by the charm (bráhman); of them yonder, thrust forth by Brihaspati, let none soever be freed.
Let their weapons (ā́yudha) fall down; let them not be able to fit the arrow; then, of them fearing much let arrows strike in the vitals.
Together let heaven-and-earth yell at them; together let the atmosphere, along with the deities; let them not find a knower, nor a foundation; mutually destroying one another let them go unto death.
The four quarters [are] the she-mules of the god-chariot; the sacrificial cakes [are] the hoofs, the atmosphere the seat (? uddhí), heaven-and-earth the two sides, the seasons the reins, the intermediate directions the attendants, speech the rim (? párirathya).
The year (saṁvatsará) is the chariot, the complete year (parivatsará) the chariot-lap, virā́j the pole (īṣá), Agni the chariot-mouth, Indra the left-stander, the moon the charioteer.
On this side conquer thou; on this side conquer away, conquer completely, conquer; hail! let these here conquer, let those yonder be conquered; hail ⌊svā́hā⌋ to these! wail (duráhā) to those! with the blue-red one I stretch down upon them yonder.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VIII.8 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK XI ALSO CITED
To conquer enemies: to Arbudi
Read comparison hymn XI.9 (26 verses)
What arms (bāhú) [there are], what arrows, and the powers (vīryà) of bows, swords (así), axes (paraçú), weapon, and what thought-and-design in the heart—all that, O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see; and do thou show forth specters (udārá).
Stand up, equip ye yourselves (sam-nah), O friends, god-folk; beheld, concealed of you be [those] who are our friends, O Arbudi.
Stand ye (two) up, take ye hold; with tying up, with tying together, gird ye the armies of our enemies, O Arbudi.
The God that is Arbudi by name, and the lord (ī́çāna) Nyarbudi, by whom the atmosphere is involved (ā-vṛ), and this great earth—by those (two) who are allied with Indra, I go after what is conquered with an army.
Stand thou up, O god-folk, Arbudi, with the army; breaking (bhañj) the army of our enemies, envelop it with [thy] coils (bhogá).
Presenting to view, O Nyarbudi, the seven kinds of specters, with them all do thou stand up, when the butter is offered, with the army.
Smiting herself, tear-faced, and crop-eared (?), let her yell, with disheveled hair, when the man is slain, bitten (? rad), O Arbudi, of thee.
Drawing in her karū́kara, seeking with her mind her son, husband, brother, also her people (svá)—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Let the buzzards, jāṣkamadás, vultures, falcons, winged ones, let the crows, the birds (çakúni), satisfy themselves—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Then let all wild beasts, let the fly, let the worm satisfy itself upon the carrion of men, bitten, O Arbudi, of thee.
Take ye (two) hold, tear out (sam-bṛh) [their] breath-and-expiration, O Nyarbudi; let groaning (? nivāçá) noises assemble—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Make thou [them] tremble; let them quake together; unite our enemies with fear; with broad-gripping arm-hooks pierce thou our enemies, O Nyarbudi.
Let their arms be confounded, and what thought-and-design is in their heart; let not anything of them be left—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Smiting themselves let them (f.) run together, smiting on the breast, the thighs (? paṭāurá), not anointing, with disheveled hair, wailing when the man is slain, bitten, O Arbudi, of thee.
Dog-accompanied Apsarases, she-jackals (? rū́pakā) also, O Arbudi, the riçā́, licking much in the inner vessel, seeking what is ill-deposited—all these (f.), O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters;—
Her that strides upon the khaḍū́ra, mutilated, wearing what is mutilated (?); the specters that are concealed, and what Gandharvas-and-Apsarases [there are], serpents, other-folk, demons;—
The four-tusked ones, the black-toothed, the pot-testicled, the blood-faced; they that are self-frighting and frighting.
Do thou, O Arbudi, make to tremble yonder lines (síc) of our enemies; let both the conquering one and the conqueror, allied with Indra, conquer our enemies.
Let our enemy lie squelched, crushed, slain, O Nyarbudi; let tongues of fire, tufts of smoke, go conquering with the army.
Of our enemies, pushed forth by it, O Arbudi, let Indra, lord of might (çácīpáti), slay each best man (vára); let no one soever of them be freed.
Let their hearts burst open (ut-kas), their breath pass up aloft; let dryness of mouth follow after our enemies, ⌊and⌋ not those who are friendly.
Both they who are wise (dhī́ra) and they who are unwise, those going away and they who are deaf, they of darkness arid they who are hornless (tūpará), likewise those that smell of (?) the goat—all those (m.), O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters.
Let both Arbudi and Trishandhi pierce through our enemies, in order that, O Indra, Vṛitra-slayer, lord of might, we may slay of them, of our enemies, by thousands.
The forest-trees, them of the forest-trees, herbs and plants, Gandharvas-and-Apsarases, serpents, gods, pure-folk (puṇyajaná). Fathers—all those, O Arbudi, do thou make our enemies to see, and do thou show forth specters.
Mastery over you have the Maruts [gained], the heavenly Āditya, Brahmaṇaspati; mastery over you have both Indra and Agni, Dhātar, Mitra, Prajāpati; mastery over you have the seers gained (kṛ)—exhibiting among the enemies—in case of thy bite, O Arbudi.
Masters (ī́çāna) of them all, stand ye up, equip yourselves, ye friends, god-folks; having wholly conquered in this conflict, scatter ye to your several worlds.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XI.9 at Wikisource ↗
Indra's strike leads to a frightening fire
Verse 1 asks Indra to shake enemy troops so that they may be slain in thousands. Verse 2 then shifts to a rope and the sight of smoke and fire producing fear in the enemy's heart. Whitney initially debates what the rope might mean, while his editor describes a later ritual use of a rope, smoke, and newly kindled flame. In that use, smoke and fire are uttered at different stages. The received verse contains both terms, which can look metrically excessive if read as one fixed line. The ritual variant shows a more specific historical way the words could alternate, though it does not prove one original performance for the entire hymn.
Plants and stakes turn into a world-net
Verses 3 and 4 address trees and plants through wordplay about crushing, breaking, and binding. The net then grows in verses 5 through 8: atmosphere and directions become net and stakes, and finally the great world itself becomes the enclosing mesh. The movement is from local materials to a cosmic trap. Verses 9 and 10 fill that enclosure with weariness, confusion, fear, and death's fetters. The army is not merely struck; it is imagined as unable to escape or coordinate. The Pāippalāda order switches early verses 3 and 4 and 6 and 7, which changes the local sequence without removing the expanding net motif.
The entire environment is recruited
Later verses call on gods, trees, herbs, beasts, birds, visible and invisible beings, and agents of death. The poem tries to deny the opposing army any neutral space. A field, forest, sky, or unseen region may all become hostile to it. Verse 16 returns to a trap and fetters, while verse 17 names a heated offering and invokes Bhava and Śarva. This layering is more than a list of threats. It makes the enemy's defeat feel inevitable by crowding every possible route of retreat. Some details, such as the precise form of the trap in verse 16, remain lexically disputed and should not be presented as certain equipment.
The close changes from verse to ritualized prose
Whitney's editor notes that units 22 through 24 have a prose-like Brāhmaṇa style. The end distinguishes a favorable direction for friends from a disastrous one for foes, so the hymn finally draws a sharp social boundary after saturating the battlefield with cosmic pressure. XI.9 later uses a different terrifying host, Arbudi and Nyarbudi, and shares some environmental mustering. VIII.8 is distinctive for its net that scales from physical implements to the world. Any modern spell based on this enormous sequence is an invented adaptation. The source is a historical war wish, not evidence that an army was actually trapped by cosmological forces.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Trace VIII.8.5 and VIII.8.8: in the first, atmosphere and directions are net and stakes; in the second, the entire world is the net. Then compare XI.9.5, where Arbudi is asked to coil around an enemy army. The first hymn enlarges an implement until it fills the cosmos; the second personifies encirclement through a serpent-like ally. Both imagine no escape, but their mechanisms differ. The comparison also shows why the eight net verses should not be collapsed into a single generic 'binding' claim. The expansion from directional stakes to a world-sized net turns an implement into the environment, leaving no imagined outside.