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 I ALSO CITED
With an oblation: for confluence of wealth
Read comparison hymn I.15 (4 verses)
Together, together let the rivers flow, together the winds, together the birds (patatrín); this my sacrifice let them enjoy of old; I offer with a confluent (saṁsrāvyà) oblation.
Come straight hither to my call, hither ye confluents also; increase this man, ye songs; let every beast (paçú) there is come hither; let what wealth (rayí) there is stay (sthā) with him.
What fountains of the streams flow together, ever unexhausted, with all those confluences we make riches (dhána) flow together for me.
What [fountains] of butter (sarpís) flow together, and of milk, and of water, with all those confluences we make riches flow together for me.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read I.15 at Wikisource ↗
ATHARVAVEDA · BOOK III ALSO CITED
For abundance of grain
Read comparison hymn III.24 (7 verses)
Rich in milk [are] the herbs, rich in milk my utterance (vácas); accordingly, of them that are rich in milk I bring by thousands.
I know him that is rich in milk; he hath made the grain much; the god that is "collector" by name, him do we call, whichever is in the house of one who sacrifices not.
These five directions that there are, the five races (kṛṣṭí) descended from Manu (mānavī́)—may they bring fatness (sphātí) together here, as streams [bring] drift when it has rained.
As a fountain of a hundred streams, of a thousand streams, unexhausted, so this grain of ours, in a thousand streams, unexhausted.
O hundred-handed one, bring together; O thousand-handed one, pile together; of what is made and of what is to be made do thou convey together the fatness here.
Three measures of the Gandharvas, four of the house-mistress; of them whichever is richest in fatness, with that one we touch thee.
Bringer (upohá) and gatherer (samūhá) [are] thy (two) distributors, O Prajāpati; let them convey hither fatness, much unexhausted plenty.
Whitney–Lanman translation as printed (1905) · Read III.24 at Wikisource ↗
One trade still has risk
In III.15, the merchant asks Indra to clear a route, then prays for fruitful bargain and sale. Verse 5 hopes that wealth put into dealing grows rather than diminishes. That concern applies to each transaction in a modern sales day: a purchase may move inventory but contribute little after costs. The poem does not count customers or set prices, yet it knows that commerce exposes a stake to uncertainty. A busy day is not equivalent to a profitable one if discounts, spoilage, or expenses consume the return. The old trader's prayer provides a sharper measure of hope than mere motion at the counter.
Many streams converge in I.15
I.15 calls rivers, winds, and birds to move together and asks that wealth come to a beneficiary and stay. Its later verses use fountains of water, milk, and butter to make inflow vivid. A shopkeeper receiving many payments in one day may recognize the confluence metaphor. Yet the hymn has no customer, stock, or margin. It pictures funds gathering at a destination, not the economic history of every stream. Whitney notes a different verse order in a Paippalāda witness, a reminder that the poem is not a modern daily-sales chart. III.15 is still needed to understand the bargains behind the aggregate amount.
III.24 imagines piling provision
III.24's agricultural hymn moves from milk-rich herbs to grain imagined as an inexhaustible fountain. Verse 5 asks a hundred-handed and thousand-handed gatherer to pile abundance. This image is good for the accumulation of many small gains, but it belongs to crops and household provision rather than retail turnover. Set beside I.15, it emphasizes gathering from production; set beside III.15, it differs from negotiating each sale. A modern till total can be high without much useful surplus. The old poems do not calculate that surplus, but their contrasting images make it possible to distinguish productive plenty, inflow, and commerce.
The present-day sales target
The attached working asks for a busy day that fills the user's pockets. Its shop, time span, and monetary goal are contemporary inventions. None of the cited hymns promises a given number of buyers or a financial result. An honest article can interpret full pockets as a desire for actual net provision, not merely a queue. The Atharvaveda offers a trader's concern with return after risk, a confluence image of incoming wealth, and a crop image of piled abundance. Those comparisons add subject knowledge only when their different mechanisms remain visible. A single generic prosperity slogan would lose the distinction that matters most to this modern benefit.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: two busy days
A stall sells twenty low-margin items on Monday and eight well-priced handmade pieces on Tuesday. I.15 can describe the visible streams of payments on both days; III.24 can evoke the store of goods that made sales possible. III.15's question about fruitful return helps compare the days after costs. Monday may be busier while Tuesday actually leaves more income. If some Monday purchases are later refunded, gross receipts exaggerate the result further. The spell asks for welcome money from a busy day, and the ancient texts help explain why busyness and profit do not necessarily rise together.