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
To Agni and other gods: for various blessings
This is thy seasonable womb (yóni), whence born thou didst shine; knowing it, O Agni, ascend thou; then increase our wealth.
O Agni, speak unto us here; be turned toward us with good-will; bestow upon us, O lord of the people (víç); giver of riches art thou to us.
Let Aryaman bestow upon us, let Bhaga, let Brihaspati, let the goddesses; let the divine Sūnṛtā also assign wealth to me.
King Soma [and] Agni we call to aid with [our] songs (gír); [also] Āditya, Vishṇu, Sūrya, and the priest (brahmán) Brihaspati.
Read the remaining 6 verses of III.20
Do thou, O Agni, with the fires (agní), increase our worship (bráhman) and sacrifice; do thou, O god, stir us up to give, unto giving wealth.
Indra-and-Vāyu, both of them here, we call here with good call, that to us even every man may be well-willing in intercourse, and may become desirous of giving to us.
Do thou stir up Aryaman, Brihaspati, Indra, unto giving; [also] Vāta (wind), Vishṇu, Sarasvatī, and the vigorous (vājín) Savitar.
In the impulse (prasavá) of vigor (? vā́ja) now have we come into being, and all these beings within. Both let him, foreknowing, cause him to give who is unwilling to give, and do thou confirm to us wealth having all heroes.
Let the five directions yield (duh) to me, let the wide ones yield according to their strength; may I obtain all my designs, with mind and heart.
A kine-winning voice may I speak; with splendor do thou arise upon me; let Vāyu (wind) enclose (ā-rudh) on all sides; let Tvashṭar assign to me abundance.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.20 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III ALSO CITED
Accompanying the building of a house
Read comparison hymn III.12 (9 verses)
Just here I fix (ni-mi) [my] dwelling (çā́lā) firm; may it stand in security, sprinkling ghee; unto thee here, O dwelling, may we resort (sam-car) with all our heroes, with good heroes, with unharmed heroes.
Just here stand thou firm, O dwelling, rich in horses, in kine, in pleasantness, in refreshment, in ghee, in milk; erect thyself (ut-çri) in order to great good-fortune.
A garner (? dharunī́) art thou, O dwelling, of great roof, of cleansed grain; to thee may the calf come, may the boy, may the kine, streaming in at evening.
This dwelling let Savitar, Vayu, Indra, Brihaspati fix, foreknowing; let the Maruts sprinkle it with water, with ghee; let king Bhaga deepen (ni-tan) our ploughing.
O mistress of the building (? mā́na), as sheltering, pleasant, hast thou, a goddess, been fixed by the gods in the beginning; clothing thyself in grass, mayest thou be well-willing; then mayest thou give us wealth together with heroes.
With due order, O beam (vaṅçá), ascend the post; formidable, bearing rule, force away (apa-vṛj) the foes; let not the attendants (upasattár) of thy houses be harmed, O dwelling; may we live a hundred autumns with all our heroes.
To it the tender boy, to it the calf, with moving creatures (jágat), to it the jar of parisrút, with mugs of curd, have come.
Bring forward, O woman, this full jar, a stream of ghee combined (sam-bhṛ) with ambrosia (amṛ́ta); anoint these drinkers (?) with ambrosia; let what is offered-and-bestowed defend it (f.: the dwelling?).
These waters I bring forward, free from yákṣma, yákṣma-effacing; I set forth (? pra-sad) unto (úpa) the houses, along with immortal (amṛ́ta) fire.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.12 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 ↗
III.12 values a dwelling beyond its price
The house hymn fixes a dwelling firmly and imagines cattle, milk, grain, and family life within it. Verse 3 calls a calf, boy, and cattle to the building at evening. A property could be an overlooked modern asset, but the ancient poem treats the house as shelter and provision for inhabitants, not a dormant balance waiting to be monetized. Its later verses include beams, posts, and a jar carried at entry, emphasizing a lived structure. Whitney notes dispersed Paippalāda parallels, underscoring that this is a historical house blessing. The source can help a reader remember that an asset may have use value even when no buyer offers cash.
III.20 names the desired resource
III.20 asks Agni and other gods for increased riches and favorable giving. The wish can capture why a person wants an overlooked possession to yield money, but it does not explain the conversion. A forgotten bank account, a house, a tool, and a right to creative work have different routes to cash. The fire hymn does not choose among them. Its composite textual history and ritual setting make a modern asset-recovery reading especially loose. The useful step is to name the desired outcome plainly while refusing to claim the hymn locates hidden property or guarantees that an owned object has a cash market.
III.15 supplies a possible transaction
The trader hymn begins with a road and ends in hoped-for bargain, sale, and fruitful return. If the overlooked asset is something a person might sell, the poem offers a stronger structural analogy than a general wish for riches. But a sale also gives up possession, and it may yield less than expected after costs. Another asset may produce income through use without being sold, a modern arrangement III.15 does not describe directly. Comparing it with III.12 makes a useful tension: the thing may be valuable as a dwelling or tool even if no profitable sale exists. Value and available cash are not the same.
The contemporary conversion is uncertain
The attached working seeks cash from an overlooked asset. That exact benefit is invented for the present collection. No Vedic passage confirms that the person owns such an asset, that someone will buy it, or that its use can lawfully generate income. A historically honest article can say how the sources frame three moments: a thing serves a household, a person desires more resources, and an exchange may turn possession into money. The ancient poems do not collapse those moments into one automatic gain. Their contribution is to help readers ask what the overlooked resource actually is and what would have to happen for it to produce a return.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: tool, house, account
A person discovers an unused woodworking tool in storage. III.12's dwelling can loosely evoke the resource already within a household, while III.15 becomes relevant if the tool is sold or used to make goods for sale. III.20 expresses the hoped-for increase. A house would add shelter and occupants to the picture, and an old account would be existing money rather than a thing needing a buyer. The same phrase overlooked asset can cover all three, but the path to cash differs. The ancient sources cannot certify any of those present-day claims.