Atharva Veda 3.11.7: Kanda 3, Anuvaka 2, Sukta 11, Mantra 7
Sukta 11
ज॒रायै॑ त्वा॒ परि॑ ददामि ज॒रायै॒ नि धु॑वामि त्वा । ज॒रा त्वा॑ भ॒द्रा ने॑ष्ट॒ व्य॑१न्ये य॑न्तु मृ॒त्यवो॒ याना॒हुरित॑रान् छ॒तम्
jarā́yai tvā pári dadāmi jarā́yai ní dhuvāmi tvā | jarā́ tvā bhadrā́ néṣṭa ví anyé yántu mṛtyávo yā́n āhúr itarā́n śatám ||
Unto old age I give thee over; unto old age I firmly set thee. May kindly Old Age lead thee on; away let the other Deaths depart—those which men name, the rest, a hundred more.
Dem Alter übergebe ich dich; im Alter setze ich dich fest. Möge gütiges Alter dich führen; fort sollen die anderen Tode weichen — die, welche die Menschen nennen, und die übrigen, noch hundert mehr.
Rishi: Atharvanic tradition
Devata: Jarā (Auspicious Old Age) opposed to Mṛtyu
Chandas: Anuṣṭubh (with extended cadence due to appended dismissal formula)
Primary: shanta
Secondary: adbhuta
Sāyaṇa emphasizes jarā as a desired completion of life (not a pathology). ‘Pari dadāmi’ is read as protective consigning, ‘ni dhuvāmi’ as fixing fast against removal by mṛtyu. The second hemistich repeats the standard Atharvanic dismissal of plural ‘deaths’.
To ‘hand over’ the patient to auspicious old age and expel all competing death-agencies.
General mortality threat; recurrent illness; fear of sudden death; vulnerability after childbirth/fever (context-dependent).
Ritual transfer to Jarā (protective time) + apotropaic banishment of competing death agencies; strengthens resolve and social assurance around the patient.
Āyuṣya-kara orientation; vāta-pacifying by grounding (ni-dhuvāmi) and reducing bhaya (fear) which aggravates vāta.
Supportive psychotherapy framing (future-oriented recovery), stress reduction; resilience scripting during chronic illness management.
bhaisajya
Patient at risk (ill, weakened, post-crisis).
Entrust patient to auspicious old age; expel all other deaths.
Ritual ‘jurisdiction transfer’ (pari-dāna) + ‘fixing’ (ni-dhuvāmi) + mass-expulsion formula (vy anye yantu).
Named and unnamed death-causes—disease, accident, malign influences.
The speaker ‘hands over’ the person to Old Age, sets them firmly in Old Age, asks auspicious Old Age to lead them, and dismisses all other forms of Death—named and unnamed, even a hundred more.
Reframes aging from threat to guardian: acceptance of time reduces fear-driven collapse. The dismissal of “many deaths” works psychologically as de-catastrophizing—expelling obsessive scenarios and restoring a single, benevolent narrative arc.
When life is entrusted to a wholesome telos (maturation), destructive endings lose their claim. Naming and dismissing fears drains their power.
- जरायै (jarāyai)
- safe completion; fulfilled time; maturity as protection
- परि ददामि (pari dadāmi)
- ritual transfer of jurisdiction—from death to auspicious time
- नि धुवामि (ni dhuvāmi)
- grounding; fixing life in stability (anti-wavering spell)
- जरा भद्रा (jarā bhadrā)
- time as beneficent guide rather than decay
- मृत्यवः (mṛtyavaḥ)
- multiple death-agencies: accidents, diseases, misfortunes
- शतम् (śatam)
- totality/excess; comprehensive apotropaic sweep
Contemplation of time as ally: aligning with a long arc rather than impending end.
Lengthen exhale slightly to signal safety; silently repeat jarāyai with each exhale (no strain).
A benevolent elder-light (Jarā) taking the patient’s hand and guiding them along a sunlit path; shadowy ‘deaths’ dissolve outward at the boundary.
Śānta, future-stable resolve.
Recite, then journal/affirm one concrete recovery step; seal with a brief outward hand-wave on ‘yanye yantu’.
Maintain even udātta flow; treat the jarāyai repetition as refrain with slight emphasis each time.
Stress ‘jarāyai’ and ‘ni’; quicken slightly through the enumeration ‘yanye… itarān śatam’ while keeping clarity.
jarāyai: keep long ā; avoid turning ‘y’ into ‘j’., mṛtyavo: clear ṛ and ty cluster., neṣṭa: pronounce ṣṭ as a tight cluster.
Assured, steady; slightly stronger on dismissal line to ‘push away’.
The plural mṛtyavaḥ is key—intonationally mark it to signal comprehensive protection, not a single threat.
21
Recovery after severe illness; elders or chronically ill persons; periods of heightened fear of death/accident.
Daily for a short course (7–21 days) during recovery; also before travel for vulnerable persons (as apotropaic).
Traditional: longevity and warding of untimely death; experiential: steadiness, reduced fear, improved adherence to recovery routines.
Avoid using to suppress necessary medical attention; if anxiety is severe, seek professional support.
पदच्छेद (सम्भाव्य): जरायै त्वा परि ददामि | जरायै नि धुवामि त्वा || जरा त्वा भद्रा नेष्टु | वि अन्ये यन्तु मृत्यवः | यान् आहुः इतरान् शतम् || 1) ‘व्य॑१न्ये’ = ‘वि अन्ये’ (उपसर्ग ‘वि’ + ‘अन्ये’). 2) ‘याना॒हुरित॑रान्’ = ‘यान् आहुः इतरान्’ (न् + आ → न् आ; पदसंयोगे संधि-लोप/पदविभाग). 3) ‘ने॑ष्ट’ को ‘नेष्टु’ (आशीर्लिङ्/विध्यर्थ ‘न नष्टु’) के रूप में भी पाठ/अर्थ-समर्थन मिलता है; यहाँ ‘नष्ट’ (कृदन्त) रूप से विश्लेषित, अर्थ ‘अहिंसक/अनपकारक’.
Ask anything about this verse
Answers come straight from the texts, with the shlokas they draw on. Ask in your own words.
A free sign-in with Google or Apple keeps your chat saved across web and the app.
Read Atharva Veda in the Vedapath app
Scan the QR code to open this directly in the app, with word-by-word meanings, Sanskrit recitation where available, and more.
