Anuvaka 13
Suktas in Anuvaka 13
Sukta 121
This brief Triṣṭubh hymn presses Indra to draw near like unmilked cows crowding to be milked, portraying him as the sole sovereign of all that moves and stands. By asserting Indra’s unrivaled supremacy—none born before or to be born like him—it channels that kingship into tangible prosperity: cattle, horses, and victory-prize strength. The sukta functions as a compact prosperity-and-strength charm, empowering petitioners through exclusive reliance on Indra as universal giver.
Sukta 122
This short Indra-hymn, drawn from the Rigvedic Indra corpus, is used in Atharvavedic paustika intent: to secure bounteous prosperities—prize, food, and communal rejoicing—through Indra’s fellowship. It also functions as an obstacle-breaker charm, repeatedly praising Indra as the one who “unbars the ward” so the patron’s path, ritual, and enterprise move forward without hindrance.
Sukta 123
This brief Triṣṭubh hymn praises Sūrya’s divine majesty as the power that gathers the “outspread” cosmos into ordered rhythm, making day and night alternate without rupture. By portraying Night as extending her garment only after the Sun’s chariot is yoked, it sacralizes regularity itself as protection—dispelling fear, inauspicious darkness, and disorder through the dependable course of time (ṛta).
Sukta 124
AV 20.124 is an Atharvanic reuse of a Rigvedic Indra-stuti: it seeks to draw Indra’s decisive friendship and “true” help through praise, aligning the reciter with the victorious divine coalition. Across its six mantras it portrays Indra as the Soma-exultant breaker of firm obstacles and the bodily protector who, with Ādityas and Maruts, overcomes hostile forces. The hymn’s power is thus twofold—paustika (winning strength and wealth) and rakṣā (warding and defeating adversities imagined as strongholds or asuric opposition).
Sukta 125
AV 20.125 is a Rigvedic reprise-hymn that functions in Atharvanic use as an apotropaic and victory-securing Indra-stuti: it drives hostile forces from every direction and establishes the patron in Indra’s “wide” protective space. By recalling Indra’s mythic triumphs (with Aśvinic assistance) it converts precedent into present efficacy—turning enmity into distance and ending in welfare and social concord (saumanasa).
Sukta 126
AV 20.126 is a late Atharvanic (largely Rigvedic-derived) Indra-stuti that turns praise into a competitive instrument: the patron is portrayed as fed, fortified, and socially “above all” through Indra’s victorious surplus. Refrain-like cadence culminating in “viśvasmād indra uत्तaraḥ” seals each unit as a declaration of supremacy, redirecting distress, rivalry, and scarcity away from the performer’s side. Its power is rhetorical and ritual at once—boast, feast, and protection converge under Indra’s eminence.
Sukta 127
This Book-20, RV-style laud-hymn centers on Nārāśaṃsa—personified “praise of men”—to publicly proclaim and sacralize a large royal/Kuru donation, converting wealth into lasting fame (yaśas) and social legitimacy. Alongside dānastuti, it also paints a political-domestic ideal of settled security (kṣema), boundary-making, and stable household order, and it closes with a pacifying appeal that auspicious speech and divine delight avert harm from ominous wilderness sounds.
Sukta 128
AV 20.128 is a late, refrain-driven Atharvanic praise-charm that establishes a named auspicious subject (Tota) as ritually “well-set”: anointed, amulet-bearing, gold-adorned, and brahmanically legitimate. It blends prosperity-making commendation with norm-enforcement motifs (yajña fidelity, right orientation, proper yoking), so that protection, social recognition, and success accrue through brahmanic potency.
Sukta 129
This late (khila/appendix) hymn is an invitatory charm that “brings hither” swift efficacies, imagined as steeds that skim across obstacles like a flood. By summoning arriving powers and stationing protective forces (e.g., the horn-blowers set as guards), it aims to secure acquisition, momentum, and unhindered success for the performer’s undertaking.
Sukta 130
AV 20.130 is a late, largely Ṛgvedic-derived liturgical cluster preserved in Atharvanic setting, functioning as a connective refrain for nourishment, successful bestowal, and the removal of ritual-moral taint (énas). Its fragmentary pādas move between (1) summoning Iḍā as embodied prosperity and (2) turning impurity into a transferable offering, while also using interrogative/diagnostic imperatives to “locate” what must be obtained or neutralized. The hymn’s power lies in speech-as-ritual: naming nourishment, converting fault into havís, and compelling disclosure so that benefit can be placed with the patron.
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