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 advance comes before the return
A person seeking reimbursement has typically paid a bill or bought supplies before asking another party to cover an agreed expense. In III.15, the trader puts resources in motion and hopes that what was ventured comes back fruitfully. Verse 5 emphasizes this exposure; verse 4 locates it amid bargain and sale. The hymn’s desired surplus differs from a reimbursement, which may merely make the payer whole. That difference stops a tempting but inaccurate reading: a returned expense need not be profit. The ancient trade setting offers a sequence of outlay and return, while the details of approval, documentation, and amount belong entirely to the present arrangement.
The debtor hymn changes the viewpoint
VI.117 speaks as the one who owes. Its verse 2 remembers borrowed grain consumed and announces repayment while alive. The modern claimant, by contrast, may be the one waiting for an organization to make good on a prior agreement. The analogy must therefore be inverted carefully. It explains the ethical force of returning an acknowledged amount, not a right created by the poem. Verse 3’s wish to be free from debt or guilt also exceeds ordinary bookkeeping. A reimbursed expense closes a current account; it does not resolve every moral obligation or carry the hymn’s cosmological reach into a payment system.
Approval and settlement are different
An expense report can be submitted, approved, and still awaiting transfer. Another report may be refused because it falls outside policy. These distinctions are practical, and the historical sources do not settle them. III.15’s successful bargain is not complete merely because the trader has traveled; the hoped-for return still matters. VI.117 similarly gives weight to the action of repayment. Read together, they show why a promise, a recorded approval, and received funds feel different to the person who advanced the money. The reading remains conditional on a real underlying agreement and valid expense, rather than treating all money spent for another as automatically reimbursable.
A modern image of being made whole
The attached working turns this situation into a contemporary hope for prompt clearing. No Vedic hymn mentions expense reports or electronic accounts. The useful historical contrast is that III.15 seeks gain from commerce while VI.117 seeks release from unpaid obligation. A reimbursement may contain neither new gain nor mystical wealth: its value is that the person who carried the cost no longer does so alone. That precise expectation makes the spell’s language more honest. It can express impatience about a delay, but it cannot determine whether an expense qualifies or force the paying party to act.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: supplies bought for a project
Suppose a worker buys approved supplies for a shared project and submits a receipt. The initial outlay resembles III.15’s exposure of resources, but the expected return is the same cost, not the profitable surplus of verse 5. Once the organization accepts the expense, VI.117 verse 2 offers a comparison for actual repayment rather than an unfulfilled assurance. If the purchase was never authorized, the debt comparison cannot decide the dispute. The reading keeps the purchase, the approval, and the transfer apart so that the modern claim is not inflated into an ancient guarantee.