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 X IN FOCUS
Against witchcraft and its practisers
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.
Read the remaining 28 verses of X.1
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 ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK X ALSO CITED
With an amulet of varaṇá
Read comparison hymn X.3 (25 verses)
This varaṇá [is] my rival-destroying, virile (vṛ́ṣan) amulet; with it do thou take hold of thy foes, slaughter thy injurers (durasy-).
Crush them, slaughter, take hold; be the amulet thy forerunner in front; the gods by the varaṇá warded off the hostile practice (abhyācārá) of the Asuras from one morrow to another.
This amulet, the varaṇá, all-healing, thousand-eyed, yellow, golden—it shall make thy foes go downward; do thou, in front, damage them that hate thee.
This varaṇá [shall ward off] the witchcraft extended for thee; this shall shield thee against fear arising from men, this against all evil.
The varaṇá, this divine forest-tree, shall ward off; the yákṣma that has entered into this man—that have the gods warded off.
If, having slept, thou shalt see an evil dream; if a wild beast (mṛgá) shall run a disagreeable course—from overmuch (? pari-) sneezing, from the evil utterance of a bird (çakúni), this amulet, the varaṇá, shall shield thee.
From the niggard, from perdition, from sorcery, also from fear, from the more violent deadly weapon of death, the varaṇá shall shield thee.
What sin my mother, what my father, and what my own brothers, what we ourselves have done, from that shall this divine forest-tree shield us.
Driven (vyath) forth by the varaṇá, my enemies (bhrā́tṛvya) [who are my] kinsmen have gone unto unlighted (? asū́rta) space (rájas); let them go to lowest darkness.
Unharmed [am] I, with unharmed kine, long-lived, having all my men; let this amulet, the varaṇá, protect me, being such, from every quarter.
This varaṇá on my breast, king, divine forest-tree—let it drive (bādh) away my foes, as Indra the barbarians, the Asuras.
I bear this varaṇá being long-lived, one of a hundred autumns; may it assign to me both kingdom and authority, to me cattle and force.
As the wind breaks with force the trees, the forest-trees, so do thou break my rivals, those born before and after; let the varaṇá defend thee.
As both wind and fire devour (psā) the trees, the forest-trees, so do thou devour my rivals, those born etc. etc.
As, destroyed by the wind, the trees lie prostrate (nyàrpita), so do thou destroy, prostrate my rivals, those born etc. etc.
Them, O varaṇá, do thou cut off (pra-chid), before what is appointed (diṣṭá), before [the end of] their life-time—them who strive to damage him in respect to cattle, and who are intent to damage his kingdom.
As the sun shines exceedingly, as in it brilliancy is set, so let the varaṇá amulet fix (ni-yam) in me fame [and] growth; let it sprinkle me with brilliancy; let it anoint me with glory.
As glory [is] in the moon, and in the men-beholding Āditya, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the earth, as in this Jātavedas, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the maiden, as in this constructed (sámbhṛta) chariot, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in Soma-drink, as in honey-mixture [is] glory, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in the agnihotrá, as in the váṣaṭ-utterance [is] glory, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] set in the sacrificer, as in this sacrifice, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As glory [is] in Prajāpati, as in this most exalted one, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
As in the gods [is] immortality (amṛ́ta), as in them is set truth, so let the varaṇá amulet etc. etc.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read X.3 at Wikisource ↗
Verse 4 names an economy of vulnerability
After picturing the witchcraft as hand-made in verses 1 and 2, verse 4 asks a herb to spoil any such thing placed in a field, among cattle, or among the speaker's people. Those are not decorative examples. Crops, herds, and human labor form an interdependent household economy. A feared attack on any one of them could threaten the rest. The verse's broad enumeration also tells us nothing about a discovered object in a particular field. It is a verbal attempt to cover possible places, not a report of inspection or diagnosis. The herb is credited with power by the speaker, not shown to have an experimentally established effect.
Hidden places multiply later
Verse 18 adds witchcraft allegedly buried in sacrificial grass, cemetery, field, or household fire. The earlier threefold field-cattle-people list becomes a more troubling geography of concealment. Sacred and domestic spaces are no longer secure by location alone; the imagined hostile thing could be deposited where the speakers worship or live. Verse 19 claims to have detected a hidden working and orders it back. That discovery is asserted within the poem, not independently corroborated. The rhetoric makes an invisible threat visible by naming likely hiding places. It is precisely this wide coverage that makes the hymn feel protective to its own community and accusatory toward others.
Verse 29 draws an explicit boundary for the speaker's side
Near the end, the text says the killing of an innocent is fearful and asks the witchcraft not to harm cow, horse, or man. This repeats the livestock-and-people concern with sharper ethical language. The next line imagines lifting a deposited object so that it becomes light as a leaf. The request distinguishes the speaker's dependents from whoever is accused of sending the working. It does not erase the earlier commands that the figure injure makers and their offspring. The same poem can protect its own household while imagining harsh retaliation beyond it. A responsible reading states both aspects rather than calling the hymn harmless household welfare.
A tree amulet guards resources differently
X.3.10 asks the varaṇa amulet to protect a person, cattle, and men from every quarter. X.1 instead finds a hostile made thing, pushes it away, and repeatedly directs it toward a maker. Both name resources at risk, but the objects and verbs differ. Pāippalāda preserves X.1 with variants, including altered return wording, so an exact reconstruction of every turn is uncertain. A contemporary protection working built around fields and animals would be new imaginative practice. The historical source offers a map of anxieties and a verbal strategy of expulsion, not a verified cause of agricultural harm or cure.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Read X.1.4 beside X.1.18 and X.1.29. Verse 4 covers field, cattle, and people; verse 18 imagines hidden placement in field and fire; verse 29 names cow, horse, and man as innocents to spare. The lists grow from possible damage sites into a moral boundary for the speaker's own household. Compare X.3.10, where a tree amulet guards cattle and people from all quarters without narrating a crafted object returning to its maker. The comparison distinguishes protective enclosure from expulsion of an alleged intruder. The innocence clause in verse twenty-nine tells us whose security the speaker values, not who objectively made any alleged threat.