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 III IN FOCUS
For success in trade
I stir up (cud) the trader Indra; let him come to us, be our forerunner; thrusting [away] the niggard, the waylaying wild animal, let him, having the power (īç), be giver of riches to me.
The many roads, travelled by the gods, that go about (sam-car) between heaven-and-earth—let them enjoy me with milk, with ghee, that dealing (krī) I may get (ā-hṛ) riches.
With fuel, O Agni, with ghee, I, desiring, offer the oblation, in order to energy (táras), to strength;—revering with worship (bráhman), so far as I am able—this divine prayer (dhī́), in order to hundred-fold winning.
This offense (? çaráṇi) of ours mayest thou, O Agni, bear with (mṛṣ), what distant road we have gone. Successful (çuná) for us be bargain and sale; let return-dealing make me fruitful; do ye two enjoy this oblation in concord; successful for us be our going about and rising.
Read the remaining 4 verses of III.15
With what riches I practise (car) bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—let that become more for me, not less; O Agni, put down (ni-sidh) with the oblation the gain-slaying gods.
With what riches I practise bargaining, seeking riches with riches, ye gods—therein let Indra assign me pleasure (? rúci), let Prajāpati, Savitar, Soma, Agni.
Unto thee with homage do we, O priest Vāiçvānara ('for all men'), give praise; do thou watch over our progeny, our selves, our kine, our breaths.
Every day may we bring constantly for thee as for a standing horse, O Jātavedas; rejoicing together with abundance of wealth, with food, may we thy neighbors, O Agni, take no harm.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.15 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK V ALSO CITED
Against niggardliness and its effects
Read comparison hymn V.7 (10 verses)
Bring to us, stand not about, O niggard; do not prevent (? rakṣ) our sacrificial gift as led [away]; homage be to baffling (vīrtsā́), to ill-success; homage be to the niggard.
What wheedling (? parirāpín) man thou puttest forward, O niggard, to him of thine we pay homage: do not thou disturb my winning (vaní).
Let our god-made winning progress (pra-kḷp) by day and by night; we go forth after the niggard; homage be to the niggard.
Sarasvatī, Anumati, Bhaga, we going call on; pleasant (juṣṭá) honeyed speech have I spoken in the god-invocations of the gods.
Whomever I solicit (yāc) with speech, with Sarasvatī, mind-yoked, him may faith find today, given by the brown soma.
Do not thou baffle our winning nor speech. Let Indra and Agni both bring good things to us. De ye all, willing today to give to us, welcome the niggard.
Go thou far away, O ill-success; we conduct away thy missile; I know thee, O niggard, as one putting (? mīv) down, thrusting down.
Likewise, greatly making thyself naked, thou fastenest on (sac) a person in dreams, O niggard, baffling the plan and design of a man (púruṣa).
She that, being great, of great height (-unmāna), permeated all regions—to her, the golden-haired, to perdition have I paid homage.
Gold-colored, fortunate, gold-cushioned, great—to her, the golden-mantled, to the niggard have I paid homage.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read V.7 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK VI ALSO CITED
For relief from guilt or debt
Read comparison hymn VI.117 (3 verses)
What I eat (?) that is borrowed, that is not given back; with what tribute of Yama I go about—now, O Agni, I become guiltless (anṛṇá) as to that; thou knowest how to unfasten all fetters.
Being just here we give it back; living, we pay it in (ni-hṛ) for the living; what grain I have devoured having borrowed [it], now, O Agni, I become guiltless as to that.
Guiltless in this [world], guiltless in the higher, guiltless in the third world may we be; the worlds traversed by the gods and traversed by the Fathers—all the roads may we abide in guiltless.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read VI.117 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III ALSO CITED
Morning invocation to various gods, especially Bhaga
Read comparison hymn III.16 (7 verses)
Early (prātár) do we call Agni, early Indra, early Mitra-and-Varuṇa, early the (two) Açvins, early Bhaga, Pūshan, Brahmaṇaspati, early Soma and Rudra do we call.
The early-conquering formidable Bhaga do we call, the son of Aditi who is disposer (vidhartár), to whom every one that thinks himself weak [or] strong, ⌊to whom even the king⌋ says: "apportion [me] a portion."
O Bhaga, conductor, Bhaga, thou of true bestowal, Bhaga, help upward this prayer (dhī́), giving to us; O Bhaga, cause us to multiply with kine, with horses, O Bhaga, with men,—rich in men may we be.
Both now may we be fortunate (bhágavant), and in the advance (? prapitvá) and in the middle of the days; and, O bounteous one, at the up-going of the sun, may we be in the favor of the gods.
Let the god Bhaga himself be fortunate; through him may we be fortunate; on thee here, Bhaga, do I call entire; do thou, O Bhaga, be our forerunner here.
The dawns submit themselves (? sam-nam) to the sacrifice (adhvará), as Dadhikrāvan to the bright place; hitherward let them convey for me Bhaga, acquirer of good things, as vigorous (vājín) horses a chariot.
Let excellent dawns, rich in horses, rich in kine, rich in heroes, always shine for us, yielding (duh) ghee, on all sides drunk of: do ye protect us ever with well-beings.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.16 at Wikisource ↗
III.15 does not make a price certain
The trader asks Indra to clear a road and then hopes for good bargain, sale, and return dealing. Verse 5 wants wealth placed into bargaining to grow rather than shrink. This is a petition spoken amid uncertainty: the favorable result has not happened yet. A modern seller's expectation may be based on an asking price, prior offers, or their own valuation, but the hymn does not supply any of those numbers. Its value lies in naming the risk of exchange. A higher offer is one possible result of a bargain; it is not something the ancient text says must occur, and the buyer has no debt before agreeing.
An offer is a proposal, not settled money
The modern benefit stops at someone offering more. An offer may expire, be revised after inspection, or fail to become a completed transaction. III.15's verse 4 places bargain and sale together but does not make them identical. Its hope for fruitful return points past the spoken figure toward a completed exchange. VI.117 provides a contrast: borrowed grain should be repaid because an obligation already exists. A potential buyer who proposes a price is in a different position from a borrower returning value. Keeping that distinction prevents an article from describing a hoped-for higher offer as if the amount were already due to the seller.
Generosity has a different setting
V.7 addresses niggardliness, repeats homage to the reluctant figure, and turns toward pleasant speech and solicitation. It can illuminate the emotional hope that a person will be openhanded, but a commercial buyer is not the hymn's sacrificial donor. A high offer might reflect the buyer's valuation of the item, competition with others, or desire to secure a transaction. The old poem does not determine which motive applies. III.16's Bhaga prayer could frame an unusually favorable share, yet it too lacks a buyer and a bargain. Historical images are most useful when they make clear that generosity, fortune, and negotiation are related feelings with different mechanisms.
The modern price remains unproven
The attached working seeks a buyer's offer above expectation. That exact outcome is a present-day invention. None of the cited hymns calculates market value, makes a person bid, or guarantees that an attractive proposal will close. The historical trade poem contributes its concern that a venture bring more rather than less; the solicitation poem contributes the uncertainty of a human response. A useful reader-facing analysis can hold both: a seller may hope for an excellent figure while recognizing that the offer is only one step in an exchange. The Atharvaveda contains no financial guarantee attached to an asking price or a hoped-for premium.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: a bid above the listing
A seller lists a chair for eighty units and receives a bid of ninety. III.15's wish that bargaining yield more than expected provides the closest analogy to the pleasure of that offer. If the buyer later discovers damage and withdraws, no completed sale or return has occurred. V.7 might express the seller's hope that the buyer remains generous, but it does not compel the choice. If the chair was borrowed and not returned, VI.117 would be a different story about obligation rather than bidding. The same object's history changes which ancient comparison fits.