Atharva Veda 20.128.1: Kanda 20, Anuvaka 13, Sukta 128, Mantra 1
Sukta 128
खिलानि । यः स॒भेयो॑ विद॒थ्यः सु॒त्वा य॒ज्वाथ॒ पूरु॑षः । सूर्यं॒ चामू॑ रि॒शादस॒स्तद् दे॒वाः प्राग॑कल्पयन्
khilā́ni | yáḥ sabhéyo vidathyáḥ sutvā́ yajvā́ átha pū́ruṣaḥ | sū́ryaṃ cámū́ riśā́dasaḥ tád devā́ḥ prā́g akalpayan ||
Khila verses. Whoso is meet for the assembly, meet for the sacred gathering—having pressed (Soma), a sacrificer—then that man (is established). The Sun, and yonder harm-devourers: that did the Gods set in order beforehand.
Khila-Verse. Wer der Versammlung würdig ist, der heiligen Vidátha würdig—Soma gepresst, ein Opfernder—der Mensch ist so eingesetzt. Die Sonne und jene Schadensverzehrer (riśādasa): das haben die Götter zuvor geordnet und festgesetzt.
The meaning
What it says
A ‘khila’ (supplementary) verse: the person fit for assembly and ritual gathering—having pressed Soma and sacrificed—becomes established; the Sun and ‘yonder harm-devourers’ were set in order beforehand by the Gods.
The inner meaning
Ritual qualification symbolizes inner qualification: discipline and offering make one ‘fit for community’ (sabhya/vidathya). The Sun is clarity of consciousness; the ‘riśādasaḥ’ are destructive impulses/forces that are constrained by a pre-established cosmic order when one aligns with it.
The truth in it
Belonging and legitimacy arise from alignment with order—ethical discipline, communal responsibility, and clarity. Harmful forces are not merely fought; they are placed within limits by a larger structure of meaning.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Rakṣoghna (Protective) / Śrauta-ideological (Soma-sacrifice legitimation)
Its aim
To assert that ritual qualification and soma-sacrifice place the sacrificer within a divinely pre-arranged cosmic order that constrains harmful beings.
Word by Word
Pada patha
खिलानि । यः । सभेयः । विदथ्यः । सुत्वा । यज्वा । अथ । पूरुषः । सूर्यम् । च । अमू । रिशादसः । तत् । देवाः । प्राक् । अकल्पयन् ।
- खिलानि
- (the) fragments / odds-and-ends (as objects)supplementary/appendix verses (khila); non-core additions preserved in transmissionNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया; बहुवचनRole KarmaRoot खिल (प्रातिपदिक) / खिल (विशेषण-प्रातिपदिक)
- यः
- whowho; relative pronoun introducing the exemplary manPronounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचनRole KartāRoot यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- सभेयः
- belonging to/fit for the assemblyfit for the assembly, assembly-going; socially authorized participantAdjectiveपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन (यः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot सभेय (प्रातिपदिक; सभा + -एय)
- विदथ्यः
- pertaining to the vidatha (ritual gathering)belonging to the vidatha (ritual gathering); ritually competent/entitledAdjectiveपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन (यः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot विदथ्य (प्रातिपदिक; विदथ + -य)
- सुत्वा
- having pressed (Soma)having pressed (soma); having performed the soma-preparationVerbक्त्वान्त (अव्ययीभाव-प्रयोग); ‘having pressed (Soma)’Role KaraṇaRoot √सु (सुनोति) / √सू (सवति) — here: √सु ‘to press (Soma)’
- यज्वा
- a sacrificersacrificer; one who performs worship correctlyNounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन (यः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot यज्वन् (प्रातिपदिक; √यज् + वन्)
- अथ
- then / and thenthen; consequential markerIndeclinableअव्ययRoot अथ
- पूरुषः
- the man / personman/person; the exemplary ritual agentNounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचनRole KartāRoot पूरुष (प्रातिपदिक)
- सूर्यम्
- the Sunthe Sun; cosmic witness and source of order/healthNounपुंलिङ्ग; द्वितीया; एकवचनRole KarmaRoot सूर्य (प्रातिपदिक)
- च
- andand; coordinationIndeclinableअव्ययRoot च
- अमू
- that (yonder one)yonder/that (amu); deictic to distant/celestialPronounस्त्रीलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; एकवचन (दूरवाचक ‘that (one)’)Role KartāRoot अदस् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- रिशादसः
- harm-devourers (destroyers of injury; hostile beings)harm-eaters, injury-devourers; hostile beings/demons that consume vitalityNounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; बहुवचनRole KartāRoot रिशादस् (प्रातिपदिक; रिशा + अदस् ‘eater of harm’)
- तत्
- thatthat; the resulting arrangement/boonPronounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; द्वितीया; एकवचनRole KarmaRoot तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- देवाः
- the godsthe gods; collective divine agencyNounपुंलिङ्ग; प्रथमा; बहुवचनRole KartāRoot देव (प्रातिपदिक)
- प्राकल्पयन्
- they arranged / they prepared beforehandVerbलङ् (अनद्यतनभूत); परस्मैपद; तृतीया-पुरुष; बहुवचनRole KartāRoot प्र + √कॢप् (कल्पयति) / √कॢप् caus.
Sandhi Notes
- खिलानि | यः सभेयः विदथ्यः सुत्वा यज्वा अथ पूरुषः | सूर्यम् च अमू रिशादसः तत् देवाः प्राकल्पयन्।
- 1) ‘चामू’ = ‘च अमू’ (च + अमू → चामू)
- 2) ‘यज्वाथ’ को पदपाठानुसार ‘यज्वा अथ’ (यज्वा + अथ → यज्वाथ) माना गया।
- 3) ‘रिशादसस्तद्’ = ‘रिशादसः तत्’ (विसर्ग-सन्धि: -अः + त- → -अस् त-)
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- To be specified per Anukramaṇī for 20.128 (khila status may complicate attribution).
- Devata
- Sūrya (and the gods collectively); also implicit apotropaic focus against riśādasaḥ
- Chandas
- To be verified; likely Anuṣṭubh or mixed (khila material may vary)
- Rasa
- Adbhuta and Shanta
Sāyaṇa notes ‘khila’ as ancillary tradition. The ‘sabheya/vidathya’ man is one socially and ritually qualified; by soma-pressing and sacrifice he enters divine order. ‘Riśādasaḥ’ are glossed as injurious beings (rakṣāṃsi/kravyād-like) whose power is regulated by the gods; the line suggests a primordial divine arrangement whereby cosmic forces (Sun) and hostile agencies are set into a controllable order, enabling ritual mastery.
Khila / supplementary material in AVŚ 20.128; r̥ṣi attribution uncertain or variable in ancillary traditions
Ritual legitimation and apotropaic cosmology: establishing the sacrificer’s status and placing harmful beings under divine ordering.
Shows how Atharvanic protection can be ‘ideological’: social-ritual legitimacy itself functions as a shield, making the patron ‘untouchable’ within ordered space.
Sūrya (with the Gods collectively as ordainers)
Sūrya as regulator of time and witness; the gods as architects of pre-cosmic arrangement that bounds harmful forces.
Clarity and vitality (solar) supporting recovery; dispelling gloom and fear.
Establishes safe order; constrains ‘harm-devourers’ by placing them within a cosmic hierarchy.
Mixed/uncertain (khila); likely Anuṣṭubh with possible irregularities
Appears as 2–3 segments with prose-like khila framing; metrical regularity may be disturbed by transmission.
Khila verses in AV 20 can preserve non-standard cadence; chant with attention to semantic breaks rather than strict gaṇa counting.
Declarative and ‘charter-like’—more proclamation than lyric.
Functions as a verbal decree establishing status and cosmic precedence.
Recite as an authorization formula for a qualified sacrificer entering an assembly/ritual session (sabha/vidatha framing).
Link recitation to soma-related action (symbolic pressing or offering), even in domestic adaptation, to invoke śrauta legitimacy.
Use as a protective preface: declare that gods ‘set in order beforehand’ the relation between Sun (order) and harm-devourers (chaos), thereby constraining hostile forces during the rite.
Vaitāna Sūtra / Kauśika interface: AV 20 (RV-derived) stanzas used in śrauta-adjacent contexts; exact deployment requires recension-specific Vaitāna mapping.
Brahman/Atharvan as legitimating authority: recites to certify eligibility and to establish a protective cosmological frame before operations.
Use as a declaration before community meetings, oath-taking, or initiating a collective rite; in domestic setting, recite when seeking communal recognition (guild, council, family assembly).
Before entering an assembly/negotiation; at sunrise (Sūrya emphasis).
If used ritually, a knowledgeable reciter frames it as a status-establishing śānti before proceedings.
A ‘grounding statement’ before public speaking/leadership duties, paired with ethical intention.
Soma (implied by sुत्वा)
Soma is the ‘pressed essence’—a model for extracting strength/clarity from life; its mention signals that protection comes via disciplined transformation, not mere warding.
Legitimation and social support as protective determinants of health; ‘belonging’ and clear role identity reduce stress vulnerability.
The sacrificer/patron; the social-ritual arena (assembly, vidatha).
To establish the patron as ritually and socially qualified and thereby protected; to assert that harmful entities are already placed under divine order.
Charter-assertion (cosmic precedent) + qualification formula; protection by inclusion within ordered space.
Riśādasaḥ (harm-devourers), disorder, delegitimation, social exclusion.
Status, successful ritual outcomes, communal authority.
- सभेय (sabhēya)
- social legitimacy; maturity and trustworthiness
- विदथ्य (vidathya)
- ritual competence; inner preparedness
- सुत्वा (sutvā)
- extraction of essence; disciplined transformation
- यज्वा (yajvā)
- one who offers egoic claim into a higher order
- सूर्य (sūrya)
- illumination, truth, witnessing awareness
- रिशादसः (riśādasaḥ)
- predatory forces—disease/hostility/demons—rendered manageable by cosmic arrangement
- प्राक् अकल्पयन् (prāk akalpayan)
- primordial law; r̥ta that precedes personal struggle
Inner qualification: becoming ‘fit for assembly’ through clarity, restraint, and offering.
maṇipūra (solar clarity, confidence)
Sūrya-bhedana (gentle) or simply inhale imagining solar light, exhale offering tension (yajña-bhāva).
A sun-disc in the chest organizing chaotic forces into harmonious orbits; harmful shapes placed outside a luminous boundary.
Upright confidence grounded in order.
Recite at sunrise; follow with a brief self-audit: speech, action, and intention aligned to r̥ta.
If chanted, use steady udātta emphasis on key nouns (sūryam, devāḥ) per RV-like habit, but prioritize clear phrasing due to khila irregularity.
Pause after sabheyaḥ vidathyaḥ; separate sutvā yajvā; give weight to prāk akalpayan as concluding decree.
Proclamatory, dignified.
Khila material is often used as an appended ‘seal’; one may recite once as a formal declaration rather than many repetitions.
7 times
Seeking legitimacy, safe standing in community, protection from ‘predatory’ social forces (slander, delegitimation) during public duties.
Before meetings, negotiations, examinations, inaugurations; at sunrise for composure.
Confidence anchored in order; reduced fear of hostile forces; clearer role identity.
Avoid using ‘legitimation’ language to dominate others; pair with humility and ethical conduct.
Soma is the implied ‘substance’ (sutvā). Here pharmacology is ritualized: soma-pressing signifies access to divine order, which in turn regulates ‘harm-devourers’—a cosmological rather than medicinal linkage.
Eligibility terms (sabheya, vidathya) encode controlled access to ritual and public authority. The verse naturalizes hierarchy by presenting qualification as divinely sanctioned and efficacious against harm.
The lexicon (vidatha, yajvā, sutvā) is archaic and RV-typical; the explicit ‘khila’ label is a transmission-historical marker rather than a linguistic innovation.
Gopatha often frames Atharvanic power as grounded in primordial divine arrangements and in the priest’s authorized speech. This stanza’s ‘prāg akalpayan’ aligns with that: efficacy is guaranteed by a pre-cosmic ordering that ritual reenacts.
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