Atharva Veda 3.21.10: Kanda 3, Anuvaka 3, Sukta 21, Mantra 10
Sukta 21
ये पर्व॑ताः॒ सोम॑पृष्ठा॒ आप॑ उत्तान॒शीव॑रीः । वातः॑ प॒र्जन्य॒ आद॒ग्निस्ते क्र॒व्याद॑मशीशमन्
yé párvatāḥ sómapṛṣṭhā ā́pa uttānaśī́varīḥ | vā́taḥ párjanya ā́d agníṣ té kravyā́dam aśīśaman ||
The Soma-backed mountains, the waters wide outspread, the Wind, Parjanya, and Agni—by these hath that flesh-eater been made quiet.
যে সোম-পৃষ্ঠ পর্বতসমূহ, যে জলসমূহ বিস্তৃতভাবে প্রসারিত, যে বায়ু, পর্জন্য ও অগ্নি—এদের দ্বারাই সেই ক্রব্যাদ্ (মাংস-ভক্ষক) শান্ত করা হয়েছে।
The meaning
What it says
Cosmic coolers and stabilizers—Soma-backed mountains, wide-spread waters, Wind, Parjanya (rain), and Agni—have made the flesh-eater quiet.
The inner meaning
Stability (mountains), nourishment/soothing (Soma), emotional cleansing (waters), breath-regulation (wind), restorative release (rain), and disciplined transformation (Agni) together pacify the devouring impulse.
The truth in it
When destructive heat rises, antidotes are the great regulators: steadiness, fluidity, breath, renewal, and rightly-ordered fire.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Apotropaic Śānti with cooling/purificatory cosmology
Its aim
To pacify the flesh-eating fire through the agency of waters, rain, wind, and stabilizing cosmic supports (mountains), i.e., by invoking cooling and ordering forces.
Word by Word
Pada patha
ये । पर्वताः । सोम-पृष्ठाः । आपः । उत्तान-शीवरीः । वातः । पर्जन्यः । आत् । अग्निः । ते । क्रव्यादम् । अशीशमन् ।
- ये
- who/which (those)which/who (relative)Pronounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम्Role KartāRoot यद् (sarvanāma-prātipadika)
- पर्वताः
- mountainsNounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम्Role KartāRoot पर्वत (prātipadika)
- सोमपृष्ठाः
- having Soma on their backs / Soma-backedSoma-backed (bearing Soma; or having Soma on their back—mythic/ritual epithet transferred to mountains)Adjectiveपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम् (पर्वताः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot सोमपृष्ठ (बहुव्रीहि-समास; सोम + पृष्ठ)
- आपः
- watersNounस्त्रीलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम्Role KartāRoot अप् (prātipadika; pluralia tantum)
- उत्तानशीवरीः
- lying/spreading out; widely extended (of the waters)with outstretched/upraised ‘śīvarī’ (obscure; often taken as ‘spreading, wide-flowing’; Sayana tends to gloss as ‘expanded, widely extended’ waters)Adjectiveस्त्रीलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम् (आपः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot उत्तानशीवरी (prātipadika; कर्मधारय/बहुव्रीहि-भावः: उत्तान + शीवरी)
- वातः
- windNounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role KartāRoot वात (prātipadika)
- पर्जन्यः
- Parjanya (rain-god); rainParjanya (rain-cloud/rain-god)Nounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role KartāRoot पर्जन्य (prātipadika)
- आद्
- then; moreoverIndeclinableअव्ययम् (निपातः; ‘then/thereupon/also’ अर्थे)Root आद् (avyaya)
- अग्निः
- Agni; fireAgni (fire)Nounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, एकवचनम्Role KartāRoot अग्नि (prātipadika)
- ते
- they (those)they (those forces just named)Pronounपुंलिङ्गः, प्रथमा, बहुवचनम् (पूर्वोक्ताः—ये पर्वताः/आपः इत्यादयः)Role KartāRoot तद् (sarvanāma-prātipadika)
- क्रव्यादम्
- the flesh-eater (demonic being)the flesh-eater (kravyād)Noun (epithet)पुंलिङ्गः, द्वितीया, एकवचनम्Role KarmaRoot क्रव्याद (prātipadika; क्रवि + आद ‘eater’)
- अशीशमन्
- they quieted/appeased; they made (him) be at peacehave quieted/pacified (they have stilled; plural perfect)Verbलुङ् (aorist), परस्मैपदम्, 3 पुरुषः, बहुवचनम्Root √शम् (धातु; causative/intensive-stem: शीशम्-)
Sandhi Notes
- (1) पर्जन्यः + आद् → पर्जन्य आद् (visarga before vowel often written without explicit change in Saṃhitā orthography here)
- (2) आद् + अग्निः → आदग्निः (d + a → da; external sandhi)
- (3) ते + क्रव्यादम् → ते क्रव्यादम् (no change)
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition (anukramaṇī-dependent)
- Devata
- Cosmic regulators (Āpaḥ, Vāta, Parjanya) with Agni; target: kravyād
- Chandas
- Anuṣṭubh
- Rasa
- Shanta and Adbhuta
Sayana interprets the verse as calling on cooling and regulating cosmic agencies—waters, rain, wind, and even Agni in a controlled form—to pacify the kravyād. The mountains and Soma imagery reinforce a ritual geography: Soma-associated, life-sustaining powers counteract the predatory fire.
Atharvanic tradition (cosmic-śānti voice; anukramaṇī attribution varies)
Cooling/purificatory cosmology; using macrocosmic elements as ritual counteragents to dangerous heat and impurity.
Expands the pacification beyond ‘gods’ to elemental order: the cosmos itself becomes the medicine against devouring fire.
Āpaḥ, Vāta, Parjanya, Parvatas, with Agni as regulated transformer
Elemental balancing: water and rain quench, wind disperses, mountains stabilize, Agni is restrained into lawful function.
Cooling, cleansing, restoring after ‘burning’ conditions—ritual and psychological.
Prevents spread of kravyād influence; re-establishes safe ecological order around the household.
4×8 with dense compounds (somapṛṣṭhāḥ, uttānaśīvarīḥ).
Compound-heavy pādas typical of AV style; chanting benefits from clear compound segmentation.
Elemental roll-call; each item adds ‘cooling weight.’
Somatic sense of cooling—listeners often feel breath slow and shoulders drop.
Recite the mantra while sprinkling water around the hearth/affected area (or upon the patient/object), aligning ‘āpaḥ’ with the physical act.
If rain/wind are ritually represented, fan the fire lightly (vāta) and then restrain it, symbolizing regulation rather than spread.
Offer a final oblation to Agni as ‘controlled fire’, not kravyād, and conclude with a quieting formula.
Kauśika Sūtra: śānti rites where water-sprinkling accompanies Agni-pacification using AV 3.21 (edition-dependent).
Atharvan priest as environmental regulator: he coordinates water, breath/wind, and fire in a controlled sequence to transform destructive heat into domesticated ritual heat.
Recite while sprinkling water around hearth/threshold; or while ventilating space after smoke/incident.
After 3.21.8–9 as the ‘cooling completion’ verse; also during rain-prayers when fear of fire/heat is present.
Householder as ritual technician: water + mantra + boundary-circling.
Elemental śānti applications with water-sprinkling and fire-calming sequences (exact cite varies).
Pair with a glass of water offering and mindful breathing near an open window.
waters (āpaḥ) as cooling/purifying medium; rain (Parjanya) as fire-quenching power; wind (vāta) as regulator/disperser; mountains (parvata) as cosmic stabilizers
āpaḥ explicitly; Parjanya as rain-water power.
Agni present as both target-associated force and regulated ally.
A classic Atharvanic ‘cooling charm’: water/rain/wind/mountain are the pharmaka that neutralize the hot, consuming agent.
Heat/agitation states (ritual ‘burning’), post-exposure distress, impurity anxiety; metaphorical ‘consumption.’
Elemental counterbalancing: invoke waters/rain/wind/grounding to pacify fire; psychosomatic cooling via imagery.
Pitta pacification (āpaḥ/parjanya), Vāta regulation (vāta invoked in a harmonizing, not aggravating, way).
Cooling imagery + breath regulation for anxiety; environmental grounding (nature-based calming).
kravyād Agni
To pacify kravyād by mobilizing elemental forces that naturally restrain fire.
Cosmic substitution: set cool/stable elements against devouring heat; enumerative binding (‘by these…’).
Overheating, ominous fire, perceived contagion from death-contact.
- सोमपृष्ठ (somapṛṣṭha)
- cool, nourishing support; the ‘nectar’ that steadies harshness
- आपः (āpaḥ)
- purification, emotional cooling, life-restoration
- वात (vāta)
- prāṇa regulation; dispersal of stagnation and fumes
- पर्जन्य (parjanya)
- grace that quenches excess heat; renewal after crisis
- पर्वत (parvata)
- cosmic grounding; immovable support during liminality
Elemental balancing: ground (mountain), flow (water), breath (wind), release (rain), steady heat (lamp-flame).
Maṇipūra cooled; Svādhiṣṭhāna supported by water imagery.
Nadi-śodhana or simple 1:2 inhale:exhale; imagine vāta carrying out smoke on exhale.
Rain falling on a wild flame until it becomes a steady lamp beside a river at a mountain’s foot.
Cooling clarity; spaciousness.
Chant 3 times, then do 12 slow breaths; end by touching the ground (bhū-sparśa) for stability.
Keep a flowing cadence; slightly lengthen āpaḥ and vātaḥ for ‘cooling’ resonance.
Segment compounds: soma-pṛṣṭhāḥ; uttāna-śīvarīḥ; avoid swallowing consonant clusters.
Cool, open-throated, airy (not forceful).
Works well with actual water-sprinkling (prokṣaṇa) and ventilation—ritual action mirrors mantra imagery.
3 times
When the home feels ‘overheated’—after conflict, smoke, illness anxiety, or death-contact stress.
Morning after a heavy night; during hot weather agitation; after cleansing the space with water.
Cooling calm, clearer breathing, sense of restored order.
If using actual fire, keep safety first; mantra complements, not replaces, practical measures.
The functional analogue of ‘medicine’ here is hydrological rather than botanical: waters and rain are invoked as cooling agents. In ritual practice this readily maps onto sprinkling, making the mantra a verbal operator for a physical cooling technology.
It encodes a worldview where domestic safety depends on aligning household practice with cosmic regulators (rain, wind, waters). The priest mediates that alignment, translating macrocosm into microcosmic procedure.
The cosmological catalogue is RV-like, but the explicit therapeutic/apotropaic telos—‘they have pacified the kravyād’—is Atharvanic in its applied closure and its readiness for ritual enactment (sprinkling, regulation).
Gopatha typically rationalizes efficacy through correspondences: cooling agencies counteract fiery danger. This verse exemplifies that correspondence-system, making waters/rain/wind the ‘counter-forces’ that ritually neutralize kravyād.
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