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 III ALSO CITED
For success in trade
Read comparison hymn III.15 (8 verses)
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.
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 ↗
The consumed grain remains present
In VI.117, verse 2 remembers grain eaten after it was borrowed. Eating is irreversible, yet the speaker still describes paying back what is owed. The poem does not set a due date, nor does it say the obligation fades when the original material is gone. Verse 1's opening is difficult, as Whitney notes, but its appeal to Agni for release from debt or guilt and the explicit repayment in verse 2 establish the movement. A modern creditor's old loan is not the same as Vedic grain, but the passage illustrates why a debt can outlast the physical object or immediate occasion that created it.
The hymn expands time beyond life
Verse 3 seeks freedom from obligation in this world, in a higher world, and along paths of gods and ancestors. Whitney's notes also record a later ritual application in which a debt could be satisfied after a creditor had died, by payment to the creditor's son or otherwise. That application is later reception rather than a statement in the original verse, but it underscores the perceived endurance of obligations. The modern phrase finally get repaid is concerned with a long delay in this life. The hymn's temporal scale is religious and far broader. Its point is release through return, not a promise of quick collection.
Trade can create a different open balance
III.15 prays for successful bargain, sale, and return dealing. A trader has put riches into circulation hoping to receive more. If an old unpaid sum came from a sale, that may be the better initial analogy. A loan and a commercial receivable can both remain open, but their starting actions differ. VI.117 centers borrowed value; III.15 centers value staked in exchange. Reading the two together keeps the word debt from erasing the prior relationship. It also prevents a modern lender from treating hoped-for profit and return of principal as interchangeable. The ancient texts offer categories of obligation and gain, not a formula for calculating a balance today.
The original spell's scope
The attached working asks for an old debt to be repaid. The exact request, including the age of the claim and the expectation of payment, is a contemporary invention. VI.117 offers a close historical analogy to a debtor recognizing and discharging an obligation; it does not empower a modern creditor to force a person to pay or settle whether the claim is still valid. The later ritual note should be handled as evidence that the hymn was reused in a specific context, not as proof that the hymn itself requires repayment to a modern heir. Its contribution is the picture of release when a real obligation is fulfilled.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: loan or unpaid sale?
Suppose a neighbor received grain many seasons ago. If the neighbor borrowed it, VI.117's remembered consumption and living repayment provide the closest comparison, from the borrower's viewpoint. If the grain was sold on agreed terms but never paid for, III.15's exchange explains how the balance arose. Both cases may feel like old debt to the recipient, but the initial transfer was different. A contemporary record could settle which agreement existed; the ancient texts cannot. This worked reading shows why the age of the claim is less illuminating than the act that created it and the act that would close it.