Sukta 12
Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (hymn-level attribution varies by anukramaṇī; commonly Atharvan/Angiras-type)
Devata: Śam/Śānti (personified well-being; pacificatory power rather than a single theonym)
Chandas: Anuṣṭubh (probable; requires pada-count confirmation against a metrical padapāṭha edition)
Mantras
Mantra 1
यक्ष्मनाशनम्। जरायुजः प्रथम उस्रियो वृषा वातभ्रजा स्तनयन्नेति वृष्ट्या। स नो मृडाति तन्व ऋजुगो रुजन् य एकमोजस्त्रेधा विचक्रमे
A destroyer of Yakṣma: the afterbirth-born, the first and foremost, the ruddy Bull—wind-flashing, thundering—advances with the rain. May he show us grace unto the body, straight-going, crushing (the ill), even he who with single might strode forth in threefold wise.
Mantra 2
अङ्गे अङ्गे शोचिषा शिश्रियाणं नमस्यन्तस्त्वा हविषा विधेम । अङ्कान्त्समङ्कान् हविषा विधेम यो अग्रभीत् पर्वास्या ग्रभीता
Limb after limb, with purifying flame established upon thee, we, doing reverence, would serve thee with oblation. The crooks, the close-knit constrictions, with oblation would we undo—(that) Seizer who hath seized the joints, the Grasper.
Mantra 3
मुञ्च शीर्षक्त्या उत कास एनं परुष्परुराविवेशा यो अस्य । यो अभ्रजा वातजा यश्च शुष्मो वनस्पतीन्त्सचतां पर्वतांश्च
Loose him from headache; yea, and from cough—him whom the rending limb-pain hath entered and possessed. What is cloud-begotten, what is wind-begotten, and what fierce surge of malady—let the Forest-Lords (the plants) attend, and the Mountains also.
Mantra 4
शं मे परस्मै गात्राय शमस्त्ववराय मे । शं मे चतुर्भ्यो अङ्गेभ्यः शमस्तु तन्वे३मम
Weal be to me for the upper limb; weal be for me for the lower. Weal be to me for the four members; weal be to this my body.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yakṣma is a wasting, draining illness category in Vedic medicine—often linked with chronic weakness and consumptive symptoms. The hymn treats it as something to be crushed and expelled, not merely endured.
Plants (vanaspati) are invoked as living medicines, and mountains symbolize the strong source-place of herbs and firm vitality. Together they represent concentrated natural healing power assisting the mantra’s expulsion of disease.
It functions as a closing seal: the reciter mentally or physically “assigns” well-being to upper parts, lower parts, the four limbs, and the whole body. This completes the rite by stabilizing health after the expulsion requests.