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 III ALSO CITED
To Agni and other gods: for various blessings
Read comparison hymn III.20 (10 verses)
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.
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
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 ↗
III.15 puts wealth into circulation
The trader hymn begins with Indra clearing a risky route and later asks that bargain and sale succeed. Verse 5 hopes riches used in bargaining become more rather than less. A resale takes the poem's venture logic seriously: money is committed before a return is known. Yet the hymn does not explicitly describe buying a particular asset in order to flip it at a higher price. It concerns trade in a world of routes, oblation, and hoped-for gain. Its relevance is the recognition that an earlier stake may be lost or enlarged through later dealings. That is more exact than treating any acquisition as automatic prosperity.
Two bargains can move differently
The modern reseller negotiates first as buyer and later as seller. The first bargain may be favorable while the second fails because demand changes, condition deteriorates, or costs rise. III.15's hope for a fruitful return points toward the whole circuit rather than celebrating only the initial low price. The poem does not offer a formula for valuation, but its sequence of dealing and return clarifies why the purchase is not the result. A seller may obtain a high price and still earn little after transport or repairs. The ancient source should be used to frame uncertainty, not to promise a margin.
III.20 is broader blessing language
III.20 asks Agni to increase wealth and invokes several powers that may bestow it. Verse 6 hopes people encountered will be willing to give. This may capture the desire for an unusually good outcome, but a buyer's payment is not necessarily a gift. The hymn's ritual and composite textual character differs from III.15's commercial path. III.24's grain increase is also tempting imagery for growth, but a purchased item does not multiply like a crop. Comparing these sources prevents a modern resale from being mislabeled as either divine donation or agricultural fertility. It is a sequence of human exchanges with risk at each stage.
The modern spell's financial limit
The attached working seeks a wise purchase that later becomes a profitable sale. That exact plan is an original contemporary intention. The cited hymns do not identify a good asset, guarantee a buyer, or make a profit certain. A useful article can ask what counts as return after the first price and all later costs, while leaving financial judgments to the facts of the current transaction. The Vedic trader asks for more rather than less because loss is conceivable. That honesty in the old text is the strongest reason to compare it with resale, and it directly resists any claim that the spell or hymn guarantees money.
WORKED READING
Worked reading: cheap buy, costly sale
A person buys a chair cheaply, repairs it, and sells it for a higher number. III.15's risked riches and return dealing fit the two-bargain sequence. If repair and delivery costs exceed the difference between prices, the apparent gain is not profit. III.20's broad wealth petition cannot correct that arithmetic, and III.24's grain growth is only a remote metaphor. If the chair never sells, the second bargain is missing entirely. The modern spell asks for a completed favorable circuit, not merely the pleasure of finding a low purchase price.