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 VI IN FOCUS
For relief from guilt or debt
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 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 ↗
The voice of VI.117 belongs to the debtor
The first verse worries over borrowed things that have not been returned; Whitney marks its opening wording as uncertain. The second speaks more plainly of borrowed grain already eaten and of repaying it while both parties live. The third extends freedom from debt or guilt across worlds. This movement from a material loan to a larger moral condition matters here. An insured person seeking a payout is usually asking another institution to perform, which reverses the hymn’s speaker and listener. VI.117 cannot establish whether a particular claim is covered. Its useful comparison is narrower: a genuine obligation calls for settlement, and release means more than a reassuring promise of future payment.
Approval introduces a separate question
An insurance claim may be submitted, reviewed, approved, and paid at different times. Those steps belong to current contracts and administration, not to Vedic practice. V.7 gives a distinct ancient image: it addresses niggardliness and asks that the speaker’s words and winning not be blocked. In verses 4 and 5 the speaker joins pleasant, deliberate speech with a request that confidence arise in the person addressed. This is not an ancient claims procedure or a way to override a decision. It does show that a demand for resources is made before an audience whose response remains uncertain. The claim’s documentation and policy terms determine the modern case.
Money owed differs from money wished for
A person may feel certain that a payment is due while the insurer contests the cause, amount, or terms. VI.117 treats nonreturn of what was borrowed as a liability of the borrower; it does not equate every desire for payment with an established debt. V.7 likewise invokes generosity amid resistance, but a request is not proof that the other side has a duty. The distinction protects the reading from turning sympathy into a historical or legal conclusion. If approval has been granted, disbursement becomes the next practical issue; if eligibility is disputed, the central question remains unresolved. The hymns illuminate the shape of obligation and appeal without deciding either stage.
What the present-day working adds
The attached working is a modern composition about receiving an insurance payment. It borrows no ancient policy rule, ritual authority, or promise of approval. Its language can focus attention on the difference between being heard, having the claim accepted, and seeing funds arrive. That sequence can be emotionally significant when a loss has already occurred, yet no verse in VI.117 or V.7 can repair the loss or compel an institution. Reading the two hymns together keeps the modern desire precise: the applicant hopes that a valid obligation will be recognized and discharged. The content of the obligation must still be found outside the ancient poems.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: a recognized claim awaiting payment
Imagine a claimant who receives written approval but no transfer yet. VI.117 verse 2 offers an image of actual repayment during life, not merely an intention to repay; that makes the difference between approval and receipt vivid. V.7 verses 4 and 5 instead concern speech that reaches a listener before cooperation is secured, so they better match the earlier review stage. If approval is later withdrawn, the reading must return to the disputed terms rather than declare the insurer a Vedic debtor. The modern spell expresses hope across these stages, while neither hymn predicts when the account will be credited.