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 XII IN FOCUS
The Brahman's cow
By toil, by penance [is she] created, acquired by bráhman, supported (çritá) on righteousness.
Covered with truth, enclosed with fortune, enveloped with glory.
Set about with svadhā́, surrounded with faith, guarded by consecration, standing firm in the offering, the world her post (nidhána).
Bráhman her guide, the Brahman her over-lord.
Read the remaining 69 verses of XII.5
Of the Kshatriya who takes to himself that Brahman-cow, who scathes the Brahman,—
There departs the happiness (sunṛ́tā), the heroism, the good luck.
Both force, and brilliancy, and power, and strength, and speech, and sense (indriyá), and fortune, and virtue (dhárma),—
And holiness (bráhman), and dominion ⌊kṣatrám⌋, and kingdom, and subjects (víças), and brightness (tvíṣi), and glory, and honor, and property,—
And life-time, and form, and name, and fame, and breath, and expiration, and sight, and hearing,—
And milk, and sap, and food, and food-eating, and righteousness, and truth, and sacrifice (iṣṭá), and bestowal (pūrtá), and progeny, and cattle:—
All these depart from the Kshatriya who takes to himself the Brahman-cow, who scathes the Brahman.
This same Brahman-cow [is] fearful, having deadly poison, witchcraft incarnate (sākṣā́t), kū́lbaja when covered.
In her are all terrible things and all deaths.
In her are all cruel things, all men-killers (puruṣavadhá).
This Brahman-cow, when taken to oneself, binds the Brahman-scather, the god-reviler, in the shackle of death.
Verily (hí) a hundred-killing weapon (mení) is she; verily the destruction of the Brahman-scather is she.
Therefore indeed is the cow of the Brahmans hard to be dared against by one who understands (vi-jñā).*
[She is] a thunderbolt when running, Vāiçvānara when driven up (údvīta).
A missile when extracting (ut-khid) her hoofs, the great god when looking away.
Keen-edged (kṣurápavi) when looking; when bellowing, she thunders at one.
Death when uttering hing; the formidable god when slinging about her tail.
Total scathing when twisting about her ears; king-yákṣma when urinating.
A weapon (mení) when being milked; headache when milked.
Debility when approaching (upa-sthā); mutual strife when felt of.
A shaft when her mouth is being fastened up; mishap (ṛ́ti) when being slain.
Deadly poisonous when falling down; darkness when fallen down.
Going after him, the Brahman-cow exhausts the breaths of the Brahman-scather.
[She is] hostility when being cut up, the eating of one's children when being shared out.
A gods' missile when being taken, failure when taken.
Evil when being set on, harshness when being set down.
Poison when heating (? pra-yas), takmán when heated.
Evil (aghá) when being cooked, bad dreaming when cooked.
Uprooting when being turned about (? pari-ā-kṛ), destruction when turned about.
Discord by smell; pain (çúc) when being taken up, a poison-snake when taken up.
Non-prosperity when being served up, disaster when served up.
Çarva angered when being dressed (piç), Çimidā when dressed.
Ruin when being partaken of, perdition when partaken of.
When partaken of, the Brahman-cow cuts off the Brahman-scather from the world, from both this one and the one yonder.
The slaying of her is witchcraft, her cutting up (āçásana) is a weapon (mení), the contents of her bowels a secret charm.
[She is] homelessness when hidden (? pari-hnu).
The Brahman-cow, having become the flesh-eating Agni, entering into the Brahman-scather, eats him.
All his limbs, joints, roots, she cuts off (vraçc).
She severs (chid) his paternal connection, makes perish his maternal connection.
All the marriages, acquaintances of the Brahman-scather does the Brahman-cow scorch (? api-kṣā), when not given back by a Kshatriya.
Without abode, without home, without progeny, she makes him; he becomes without succession (?); he is destroyed:—
Whatever Kshatriya takes to himself the cow of a Brahman who knoweth thus.
Quickly, indeed, at his killing the vultures make a din (āilabá).
Quickly, indeed, about his place of burning dance the long-haired women, beating on the breast with the hand, making an evil din.
Quickly, indeed, in his abodes do the wolves make a din.
Quickly, indeed, they ask about him: what that was, is this now that?
Cut thou, cut on, cut forth, scorch, burn (kṣā).
O daughter of An̄giras, exhaust thou the Brahman-scather, that takes to himself [the cow].
For thou art called belonging to all the gods, witchcraft, kū́lbaja when covered.
Burning (uṣ), consuming, thunderbolt of the brahman.
Having become a keen-edged death, run thou out.
Thou takest to thyself the honor of the scathers, their sacrifice and bestowal, their expectations.
Taking to thyself what is scathed for him who is scathed, thou presentest [it to him] in yonder world.
O inviolable one, become thou the guide of the Brahman out of imprecation.
Become thou a weapon (mení), a shaft; become thou deadly poisonous from evil (aghá).
O inviolable one, smite forth the head of the Brahman-scather that has committed offense, of the god-reviler, the ungenerous.
Let Agni burn the malevolent one, slaughtered, crushed (mṛd) by thee.
Cut (vraçc) thou, cut off, cut up; burn thou, burn off, burn up.
The Brahman-scather, O divine inviolable one, do thou burn up all the way from the root.
That he may go from Yama's seat to evil worlds, to the distances.
So do thou, O divine inviolable one, of the Brahman-scather that has committed offense, of the god-reviler, the ungenerous,—
With a thunderbolt hundred-jointed, sharp, razor-pronged,—
Smite forth the shoulder-bones, forth the head.
His hairs (lóman) do thou cut up (sam-chid); his skin strip off;—
His flesh cut in pieces; his sinews wrench off;—
His bones distress (pīḍ); his marrow smite out;—
All his limbs, [his] joints unloosen.
Let the flesh-eating Agni thrust him from the earth, burn (uṣ) up; let Vāyu [do so] from the atmosphere, the great expanse (varimán);—
Let the sun thrust him forth from the sky, burn him down.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XII.5 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK XII ALSO CITED
The cow (vaçā́) as belonging exclusively to the Brahmans
Read comparison hymn XII.4 (53 verses)
I give [her]—thus should he say, if they have noticed (? anu-budh) her—[I give] the cow (vaçā́) to the priests (brahmán) that ask for her; that brings progeny, descendants.
He bargains away his progeny and becomes exhausted of cattle who is not willing to give the cow (gó) of the gods to the sons of seers that ask for her.
By a hornless one they are crushed for him; by a lame one he falls (? ard) into a pit; by a crippled one his houses are burned; by a one-eyed one his possessions are taken away (?).
Anæmia (vilohitá) from the station of the dung visits (vid) the master of kine; so is the agreement (?) of the cow; for door-damaging (?) art thou called.
From the station of the two feet of her, soaking (? viklíndu) namely visits [him]; unexpectedly (?) are they crushed who snuff at her with the mouth.
Whoever punches (ā-sku) the two ears of her, he falls under the wrath of the gods; if he thinks "I am making a mark," he makes his possessions less.
If, for any one's advantage, any one cuts off the tail-tuft of her, then his colts die, and the wolf slays his calves.
If of her, while being with her master, a crow hath vexed (hīḍ) the hair, then his boys die, [and] the yákṣma visits him unexpectedly (?).
If the lye, the dung of her a barbarian woman flings together, then is born what is deformed, what will not escape from that sin.
When being born, the cow (vaçā́) is born for (abhí) the gods together with the Brahmans; therefore she is to be given to the priests (brahmán); that people call the guarding (gópana) of one's possessions.
They who come to the winning (vaní) of her, theirs is the god-made cow ⌊vaçā́⌋; they called it bráhman-scathing, if anyone keeps her to himself.
Whoever is not willing to give the cow (gó) of the gods to the sons of seers that ask for her, he falls under the wrath of the gods and the fury of the Brahmans.
Whatever may be his use for the cow (vaçā́-), he should then seek another [cow]; she, ungiven, harms a man, if he is not willing to give her when asked for.
As a deposited treasure (çevadhí), so of the Brahmans is the cow (vaçā́); accordingly ⌊etát⌋ they come unto her, in whosesoever possession she is born.
They come thus unto their own property, namely the Brahmans unto the cow; as one might scathe them in any other respect (?), so is the keeping back of her.
She may go about until ⌊ā́⌋ the space of three years, being of unrecognized (vi-jñā) speech (-gada); should he know the cow, O Nārada, then the Brahmans are to be sought.
Whoever declares her to be not the cow, the deposited deposit of the gods, at him Bhava-and-Çarva, both, striding about, hurl the arrow.
Whoever knows not the udder of her, and likewise the teats of her, to him she yields milk with both, if he has been able to give the cow.
Door-damaging (?) lies she on him, if he is not willing to give her when asked for; he does not succeed in the desires which, without having given her, he would fain accomplish (cikīrṣa-).
The gods asked for the cow, having made the Brahman their mouth; the wrath (héḍa) of them all incurs (ni-i) the man (mā́nuṣa) who gives not.
He incurs the wrath of cattle (paçú) who gives not the cow to the Brahmans—if a mortal keeps to himself the deposited portion of the gods.
If a hundred other Brahmans should ask the cow of its master, yet (átha) the gods said of her: the cow is his who knoweth thus.
Whoever, not having given her to one who knoweth thus, then shall give the cow to others, hard to go upon for him in his station is the earth with its deity.
The gods asked the cow [of him] in whose possession she was first (ágre) born; that same one may Nārada know; together with the gods he drove her away.
The cow makes a man (pū́ruṣa) destitute of descendants, poor in cattle, if, when she is asked for by the Brahmans, then he keeps her to himself.
For Agni-and-Soma, for Love (kā́ma), for Mitra and for Varuṇa—for these the Brahmans ask her; under their wrath falls he who gives not.
So long as the master of her should not himself overhear the verses (ṛ́ç), so long may she go about among his kine (gó); she may not abide in his house after he has heard.
If any one, having overheard the verses of her, has then made her go about among his kine (gó), both the life-time and the growth of him do the gods, made wrathful, cut off (vraçc).
The cow, going about variously, the deposited deposit of the gods, manifests her forms, when she desires to go (?) to her station (sthā́man).
She manifests herself when she desires to go to her station; then the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ makes up her mind for the asking of the priests (brahmán).
She plans (sam-kḷp) [it] with her mind; then she goes unto the gods; thence the priests (brahmán) go on to ask for the cow.
By offering of svadhā́ to the Fathers, by sacrifice to the deities, by giving of the cow, the noble (rājanyà) does not incur (gam) the mother's wrath.
The cow is mother of the noble; so came it (n.) into being in the beginning; they call it a non-abandonment (? ánarpaṇa) of her that she is presented to the priests (brahmán).
As one might snatch (? ā-lup) from the spoon sacrificial butter held forth for the fire, so he who gives not the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ ⌊to the priests⌋ falls under the wrath of Agni.
With the sacrificial cake as calf, milking well, she draws near to him in the world; she yields (duh) to him all his desires—[namely,] the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ to him who has presented her.
All his desires, in Yama's realm, does the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ yield to him who has presented her; likewise they call hell the world of him who keeps her back when asked for.
Being impregnated, the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ goes about angry at her master: thinking me barren, let him be bound in the fetters of death.
And he who, thinking her barren, cooks the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ at home (amā́)—his sons and sons' sons also does Brihaspati cause to be asked for.}}
She sends down great heat, going about a cow (gó) among kine; further, to the master who has not given her the cow (vaçā́) milks poison.
It is a thing dear to the cattle that she is presented to the priests (brahmán); further, that is a thing dear to the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, that she be an oblation to the gods.
What cows the gods shaped out (ut-kḷp), rising up from the sacrifice, of them Nārada selected for himself the fearful viliptī́.
The gods questioned (mīmāṅs-) about her: is this a cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, or not a cow.' Of her Nārada said: she is of cows the most truly cow (vaçátama).
How many, pray (nú), Nārada, are the cows which thou knowest, born among men (manuṣyà-)? those I ask of thee who knowest; of which may a non-Brahman not partake (aç)?
The viliptī́, O Brihaspati, and the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ that has given birth to [such] a cow—of that one a non-Brahman who should hope for prosperity (bhū́ti) may not partake.
Homage be to thee, O Nārada; [be] the cow to him who at once knows it. Which one of them is the most fearful, not having given which, one would perish?
She that is viliptī́, O Brihaspati, further the cow that has given birth to [such] a cow—of that one a non-Brahman who should hope for prosperity may not partake.
Three verily are the kinds of cow: the vilipti, she that has given birth to [such] a cow, the [simple] cow yagd; these one should present to the priests (brahman), [then] he falls not under the wrath of Prajapati.
This, O Brahmans, is your oblation—so, when asked ⌊therefor⌋, should he think, if they should ask of him the cow, which in the house of him who has not given her is fearful.
The gods talked about the cow in wrath, saying: he hath not given it to us; with these verses (ṛ́c) [they talked about] Bheda; therefore indeed he perished.
And Bheda gave her not, when asked by Indra for the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋; for that offense the gods cut him off in the contest for superiority.
They who, wheedling, advise (vad) to the non-giving of the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋, the villains fall under the fury of Indra through ignorance.
They who, leading away her master, then say: do not give—they, through ignorance, go to meet the hurled missile of Rudra.
If as offered (hu) and if as unoffered one cooks the cow ⌊vaçā́⌋ in private (amā́), coming into collision with the gods accompanied by the Brahmans, he goes supine (jihmá) out of the world.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read XII.4 at Wikisource ↗
Sacred origin precedes the accusation
The first section says the cow is created by toil and penance, acquired through sacred speech, and supported by righteousness. She is covered with truth, fortune, and glory. Only after that dense consecrating description does the hymn name the Kshatriya who takes her and the happiness, heroism, and luck that leave him. The sequence makes dispossession a cosmic offense within the poem's priestly viewpoint. It is an argument for a particular social claim, not an independent legal verdict on every ancient dispute over cattle. The cow's sanctity is built verbally before any punishment is announced, so later violence is presented as the consequence of a prior violation.
Her ordinary motions become weapons
The third section turns the cow's body into a catalog of danger. Running she is a thunderbolt; looking she is sharp edged; bellowing she thunders; even the motion of her tail or ears becomes threatening. Milking, heating, handling, and killing her receive ominous equivalents. This is more than a list of curses appended to an animal. It remaps every possible human interaction with her into a risk for the alleged offender. The person who takes the cow cannot make her safe by treating her as ordinary livestock. The cow herself is imagined as a mobile weapon. Some terms in Whitney's rendering are uncertain, but the conversion of mundane movement into menace is unmistakable.
The threat widens to household and ancestry
Later sections imagine the cow cutting the offender's limbs and roots, severing paternal and maternal ties, scorching marriages and acquaintances, and leaving him without a home or descendants. The attack moves from a single body into a network of kinship and community. The poem's social theory is severe: taking priestly property should dissolve the offender's standing in every sphere. In its last section, the imprecations become an extended command to cut, burn, and drive the offender from earth, atmosphere, and sky. The final reach across cosmic regions shows how total the exclusion is meant to be. These lines record a desired punishment, not a historical report that such events followed a theft.
Two witnesses do not share the whole crescendo
Pāippalāda has much of XII.5 but Whitney notes omissions and disrupted order in the middle; several late verses are absent there. Some textual difficulties also affect the details of handling and harm. XII.4, the neighboring cow hymn, works mainly by warning a keeper to give when asked and promising reward for doing so. XII.5 starts with consecrated origin and transforms the cow into the agent of punishment against a taker. That shift from pressured transfer to personified retaliation is its distinctive argument. A modern working attached to the hymn would be an imaginative new construction, never a recovered ancient procedure or evidence that these curses were effective.
WORKED READING
A worked comparison
Read XII.5.1-6 and XII.5.18-27 as two stages. First the cow is located in truth, righteousness, and sacred possession; then each of her motions becomes a thunderbolt, missile, or other danger. Compare XII.4.1-2, which pairs giving her with descendants and withholding her with loss. XII.4 persuades through reward and threat to a keeper; XII.5 makes the animal herself an inexhaustible punitive force. The progression explains why a simple label such as 'cow curse' misses the text's elaborate transformation of property into agent. The cow's transformation from sacred possession to active weapon gives the curse its internal plot, rather than merely listing punishments.