II, 25. Charm with the plant prismpami against the demon of disease, called ka/zva.
1. The goddess Frzsnipami has prepared pros-
perity for us, mishap for Nirrzti (the goddess of
destruction). For she is a fierce devourer of the
Ka^vas : her, the mighty, have I employed.
2. The Vrzsniparm was first begotten power-
ful ; with her do I lop off the heads of the evil
brood, as (the head) of a bird.
3. The blood-sucking demon, and him that tries
to rob (our) health, Ka^va, the devourer of our
offspring, destroy, O Prz>nipar;zi, and overcome !
4. These Ka/zvas, the effacers of life, drive into the mountain ; go thou burning after them like fire,
0 goddess PrzVnipar/zi !
5. Drive far away these Ka^vas, the effacers of life ! Where the dark regions are, there have
1 made these flesh-eaters go.
VI, 32. Charm for driving away demons (Rakshas and Pisa^as).
1. Do ye well offer within the fire this oblation
with ghee, that destroys the spook! Do thou, O
Agni, burn from afar against the Rakshas, (but) our
houses thou shalt not consume !
I. Charms to Cure Diseases. 37
2. Rudra has broken your necks, ye Pisaias :
may he also break your ribs, ye spooks ! The plant
whose power is everywhere has united you with
Yama (death).
3. Exempt from danger, O Mitra and Varu/za,
may we here be ; drive back with your flames the
devouring demons (Atrin) ! Neither aider, nor
support do they find ; smiting one another they go
to death.
II, 4. Charm with an amulet derived from the ^angi^a tree, against diseases and demons.
1. Unto long life and great delights, for ever
unharmed and vigorous, do we wear the ^"angida, as
an amulet destructive of the vishkandha.
2. From convulsions, from tearing pain, from
vishkandha, and from torturing pain, the ^angida
shall protect us on all sides — an amulet of a thousand
virtues !
3. This ^afigida conquers the vishkandha, and
smites the Atrin (devouring demons) ; may this all-
healing ^angida protect us from adversity !
4. By means of the invigorating ^angL/a, bestowed
by the gods as an amulet, do we conquer in battle
the vishkandha and all the Rakshas.
5. May the hemp and may the^arigu/a protect me
against vishkandha ! The one (^angi^a) is brought
hither from the forest, the other (hemp) from the
sap of the furrow.
6. Destruction of witchcraft is this amulet, also
destruction of hostile powers : may the powerful
^angi^a therefore extend far our lives !
38 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
XIX, 34. Charm with an amulet derived from the ^angina-tree, against diseases and demons.
1. Thou art an Angiras, O ^angi^a, a protector
art thou, O ^angi^a. All two-footed and four-footed
creatures that belong to us the^angi^a shall protect !
2. The sorceries fifty-three in number, and the
hundred performers of sorcery, all these having lost
their force, the ^angi^/a shall render bereft of
strength !
3. Bereft of strength is the gotten-up clamour,
bereft of strength are the seven debilitating (charms).
Do thou, O ^angida, hurl away from here poverty,
as an archer an arrow !
4. This ^angi^a is a destroyer of witchcraft, and
also a destroyer of hostile powers. May then the
powerful ^angida extend far our lives !
5. May the greatness of the ^angi^a protect us
about on all sides, (the greatness) with which he has
overcome the vishkandha (and) the sa^skandha,
(overcoming) the powerful (disease) with power !
6. Thrice the gods begot thee that hast grown up
upon the earth. The Brahma^as of yore knew thee
here by the name of Angiras.
7. Neither the plants of olden times, nor they of
recent times, surpass thee ; a fierce slayer is the
^angi^a, and a happy refuge.
8. And when, O ^angu/a of boundless virtue, thou
didst spring up in the days of yore, O fierce (plant),
Indra at first placed strength in thee.
9. Fierce Indra, verily, put might into thee, O
lord of the forest! Dispersing all diseases, slay thou
the Rakshas, O plant !
10. The breaking disease and the tearing disease,
I. Charms to Cure Diseases. 39
the bal&sa, and the pain in the limbs, the takman
that comes every autumn, may the ^angi^a render
devoid of force !
XIX, 35. Charm with an amulet derived from the ^angina-tree, against diseases and demons.
1. While uttering Indras name the seers bestowed
(upon men) the ^ahgi^a, which the gods in the
beginning had made into a remedy, destructive of
the vishkandha.
2. May that ^angi^a protect us as a treasurer his
treasures, he whom the gods and the Brahma^as
made into a refuge that puts to naught the hostile
powers !
3. The evil eye of the hostile-minded, (and) the
evil-doer I have approached. Do thou, O thousand-
eyed one, watchfully destroy these ! A refuge art
thou, O^ahgida.
4. May the ^angi^a protect me from heaven,
protect me from earth, protect (me) from the atmos-
phere, protect me from the plants, protect me from
the past, as well as the future ; may he protect us
from every direction of space !
5. The sorceries performed by the gods, and also
those performed by men, may the all-healing ^angu/a
render them all devoid of strength !
VI, 85. Exorcism of disease by means of an amulet from the vara/za-tree.
1. This divine tree, the vara^a, shall shut out
(virayatai). The gods, too, have shut out (avlvaran)
the disease that hath entered into this man!
2. By Indras command, by Mitra's and by
4<3 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Vanma's, by the command of all the gods do we shut out thy disease.
3. As VWtra did hold fast these ever-flowing
waters, thus do I shut out (varaye) disease from
thee with (the help of) Agni Vaiivanara.
VI, 127. The ^ipudru-tree as a panacea.
1. Of the abscess, of the balasa, of flow of blood,
O plant ; of neuralgia, O herb, thou shalt not leave
even a speck !
2. Those two boils (testicles) of thine, O bal&sa,
that are fixed upon the arm-pits — I know the remedy
for that : the ^ipudru-tree takes care of it.
3. The neuralgia that is in the limbs, that is in
the ears and in the eyes — we tear them out, the
neuralgia, the abscess, and the pain in the heart.
That unknown disease do we drive away downward.
XIX, 38. The healing properties of bdellium.
1. [Neither diseases, nor yet a curse, enters this
person, O arundhatl !] From him that is pene-
trated by the sweet fragrance of the healing bdellium,
diseases flee in every direction, as antelopes and as
horses run.
2. Whether, O bdellium, thou comest from the
Sindhu (Indus), or whether thou art derived from the
sea, I have seized the qualities of both, that this
person shall be exempt from harm.
VI, 91. Barley and water as universal remedies.
1. This barley they did plough vigorously, with
yokes of eight and yokes of six. With it I drive off
to a far distance the ailment from thy body.
I. Charms to Cure Diseases. 4 1
2. Downward blows the wind, downward burns
the sun, downward the cow is milked : downward
shall thy ailment pass !
3. The waters verily are healing, the waters chase
away disease, the waters cure all (disease) : may
they prepare a remedy for thee !
VIII, 7. Hymn to all magic and medicinal plants, used as a universal remedy.
1. The plants that are brown, and those that are
white ; the red ones and the speckled ones ; the
sable and the black plants, all (these) do we invoke.
2. May they protect this man from the disease
sent by the gods, the herbs whose father is the
sky, whose mother is the earth, whose root is the
ocean.
3. The waters and the heavenly plants are fore-
most; they have driven out from every limb thy
disease, consequent upon sin.
4. The plants that spread forth, those that are
bushy, those that have a single sheath, those that
creep along, do I address ; I call in thy behalf the
plants that have shoots, those that have stalks, those
that divide their branches, those that are derived
from all the gods, the strong (plants) that furnish
life to man.
5. With the might that is yours, ye mighty ones,
with the power and strength that is yours, with that
do ye, O plants, rescue this man from this disease !
I now prepare a remedy.
6. The plants ^ivala ('quickening'), na-gha-risha
(' forsooth-no-harm '),£lvantt (' living '), and the arun-
dhati, which removes (disease), is full of blossoms,
42 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
and rich in honey, do I call to exempt him from injury.
7. Hither shall come the intelligent (plants) that
understand my speech, that we may bring this man
into safety out of misery !
8. They that are the food of Agni (the fire), the
offspring of the waters, that grow ever renewing
themselves, the firm (plants) that bear a thousand
names, the healing (plants), shall be brought hither !
9. The plants, whose womb is the avaka (blyxa
octandra), whose essence are the waters, shall with
their sharp horns thrust aside evil !
10. The plants which release, exempt from Varu^a
(dropsy), are strong, and destroy poison ; those, too,
that remove (the disease) balasa, and ward off witch-
craft shall come hither !
11. The plants that have been bought, that are
right potent, and are praised, shall protect in this
village cow, horse, man, and cattle !
12. Honied are the roots of these herbs, honied
their tops, honied their middles, honied their leaves,
honied their blossoms ; they share in honey, are the
food of immortality. May they yield ghee, and
food, and cattle chief of all !
13. As many in number and in kind the plants
here are upon the earth, may they, furnished with
a thousand leaves, release me from death and
misery !
14. Tiger-like is the amulet (made of) herbs,
a saviour, a protector against hostile schemes : may
it drive off far away from us all diseases and the
Rakshas !
15. As if at the roar of the lion they start with fright, as if (at the roar) of fire they tremble before
I. Charms to Cure Diseases. 43
the (plants) that have been brought hither. The
diseases of cattle and men have been driven out by
the herbs : let them pass into navigable streams !
1 6. The plants release us from Agni Vai^vanara.
Spreading over the earth, go ye, whose king is the
tree !
17. The plants, descended from Angiras, that
grow upon the mountains and in the plains, shall be
for us rich in milk, auspicious, comforting to the
heart !
18. The herbs which I know, and those which
I see with my sight ; the unknown, those which we
know, and those which we perceive to be charged
with (power), —
19. All plants ' collectively shall note my words,
that we may bring this man into safety out of mis-
fortune,—
20. The a^vattha (ficus religiosa), and the darbha
among the plants; king Soma, amrzta (ambrosia)
and the oblation ; rice and barley, the two healing,
immortal children of heaven !
21. Ye arise: it is thundering and crashing, ye
plants, since Par^anya (the god of rain) is favouring
you, O children of Frzsni (the spotted cloud), with
(his) seed (water).
22. The strength of this amrzta (ambrosia) do
we give this man to drink. Moreover, I prepare
a remedy, that he may live a hundred years !
23. The boar knows, the ichneumon knows the
healing plant. Those that the serpents and Gan-
dharvas know, I call hither for help.
24. The plants, derived from the Angiras, which
the eagles and the heavenly raghafe (falcons) know,
which the birds and the flamingos know, which all
44 HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
winged (creatures) know, which all wild animals know, I call hither for help.
25. As many plants as the oxen and kine, as many
as the goats and the sheep feed upon, so many plants,
when applied, shall furnish protection to thee !
26. As many (plants), as the human physicians
know to contain a remedy, so many, endowed with
every healing quality, do I apply to thee !
27. Those that have flowers, those that have
blossoms, those that bear fruit, and those that are
without fruit, as if from the same mother they shall
suck sap, to exempt this man from injury!
28. I have saved thee from a depth of five
fathoms, and, too, from a depth of ten fathoms ;
moreover, from the foot-fetter of Yama, and from
every sin against the gods.
VI, 96. Plants as a panacea.
1. The many plants of hundredfold aspect, whose
king is Soma, which have been begotten by Brz-
haspati, shall free us from calamity!
2. May they free us from (the calamity) conse-
quent upon curses, and also from the (toils) of
Varu/za ; moreover, frtfm the foot- fetter of Yama,
and every sin against the gods !
3. What laws we have infringed upon, with the
eye, the mind, and speech, either while awake, or
asleep — may Soma by his (divine) nature clear these
(sins) away from us !