THE TEXT · ATHARVAVEDA
Hymns discussed in this article
These verses give the wording and sequence examined in the article below.
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI IN FOCUS
To win a man's love
Of the Apsarases, chariot-conquering, belonging to the chariot-conquering, [is] this the love (smará): ye gods, send forth love; let yon [man] burn for (anu-çuc) me.
Let yon [man] love (smṛ) me; being dear, let him love me: ye gods, send etc. etc.
That yon [man] may love me, not I him at any time, ye gods, send etc. etc.
Craze (un-māday-) [him], O Maruts; O atmosphere, craze [him]; O Agni, do thou craze [him]; let yon [man] burn for me.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.130 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI IN FOCUS
To win a man's love
Down from the head, down from the feet, thy longings (ādhī́) I draw down. Ye gods, send forth love; let yon [man] burn for me.
O Anumati, assent to (anu-man) this; O design (ā́kūti), mayest thou constrain (sam-nam) this. Ye gods, send etc. etc.
If (yát) thou runnest three leagues, five leagues, a horseman's day's journey, thence shalt thou come back; thou shalt be father of our sons.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.131 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI IN FOCUS
To compel a woman's love
Nyastikā́ hast thou grown up, my good-fortune maker; a hundred [are] thy forth-stretchers, three and thirty thy down-stretchers. With this thousand-leafed [herb] I make dry thy heart.
Let thy heart dry up on me, then let [thy] mouth dry up; then dry thou up by loving me; then go thou about dry-mouthed.
A conciliator, a love-awakener (?), do thou, O brown, beauteous one, push together; push together both yon woman and me; make [our] heart the same.
As the mouth of one who has not drunk water dries away, so dry thou up by loving me, then go thou about dry-mouthed.
Read the remaining 1 verse of VI.139
As a mongoos, having cut apart, puts together again a snake, so, O powerful [herb], put together the divided of love.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.139 at Wikisource ↗
VI.130 has no former lover
VI.130's female speaker asks divine powers to make a man burn with love. The poem does not identify him as an ex, explain a breakup, or indicate that the pair once shared a home. Its third verse makes her wish for his affection unequal, even saying she need not feel the same love. Its final verse calls on Maruts, atmosphere, and Agni to heat or craze him. A modern reader may project an old relationship onto the unnamed man, but that projection changes the question the hymn answers. The ancient text tries to bring desire into being; it does not ask someone who left to review a shared history, make amends, or decide to renew it.
VI.131 measures literal distance
VI.131 is a closer textual match for a return, though it, too, lacks an ex-partner narrative. Its third verse imagines a man coming back from three or five leagues, or as far as a horseman could ride in a day, and becoming the father of the speaker's sons. The measured journey and hoped-for children make its imagined outcome outwardly concrete. A return from travel is not the same as a return from an ended relationship. The speaker could long for a distant man without the relationship having been severed. Comparing the verses keeps the word back from doing too much work: it can mean physical motion, emotional change, or a new agreement, and the hymn specifies only some of these.
VI.139 joins what was divided
VI.139.5 compares a wished-for reunion to a mongoose rejoining a divided snake. That metaphor can evoke a broken bond repaired, but its earlier verses attempt to dry a woman's heart and mouth so that she wanders with longing after the speaker. Whitney notes that the mongoose claim is not straightforward animal fact; its role is figurative. The poem makes the other person's distress a route to joining, rather than showing two people working through why they parted. VI.130's heat, VI.131's journey, and VI.139's rejoining image are all different from the specific contemporary scenario of a former lover voluntarily reaching out after a breakup.
The Former Lover's Reach is new
“Make a former lover reach out with affection” and The Former Lover's Reach are original modern benefit and working. No cited hymn promises a message from an ex or assures that renewed contact is wanted by both people. The ancient charms express petitions, not observed outcomes, and their coercive language should be visible when they are used as background. A contemporary account can treat the idea of a return as a symbol for hope while recognizing that actual contact depends on the former lover's own decision. The source texts are useful for separating induced passion, a person's journey, and a figurative repair; none can certify the cause or quality of a real-world reunion.
WORKED READING
What does back mean in each verse?
Read VI.130.3 as a wish for the man's one-sided love. In VI.131.3 a man returns across named distances and the speaker imagines children with him. VI.139.5 depicts divided parts brought together after the earlier dry-mouth verses. The first changes desire, the second imagines a journey, and the third pictures joining through a harsh love charm. None calls the person a former partner or asks for an affectionate message. Testing the word back against these three distinct mechanisms prevents a modern breakup plot from being smuggled into the hymns.