Anuvaka 1
Suktas in Anuvaka 1
Sukta 1
Atharvaveda 5.1 establishes a self-growing, inviolable protection by “seating” mantra-power in its proper womb/locus and invoking Trita Āptya as the mythic bearer of a threefold safeguarding force. The hymn builds a defensive boundary (rodhacakra) around the patient/household, repels hostile influences, and turns protection into prosperity—culminating in nourishment, vigor, and livestock increase under Varuṇa’s truth-guardianship.
Sukta 2
AV 5.2 is a victory-and-prosperity hymn that magnifies Indra (and Indra-like yajña-power) as the unsurpassed force who thrusts enemies away and expands the patron’s dominion beyond all measure. By praising Indra’s many paths, irresistible vigor, and battle-joining sweetness (madhu), the sukta aims to consolidate resolve (kratu), generate martial exhilaration (mada), and secure ascendancy in contests—social, territorial, and military.
Sukta 3
AV 5.3 is a paustika-rakṣā hymn that gathers the whole divine order to the petitioner’s side for victory, expansion of “wide space” (uruloka), and secure prosperity. It moves from Agni as the ritual overseer of contests to Sarvadevatā support (Indra-Maruts, Viṣṇu, Agni, Vāta), culminating in an Indra-invocation for tangible gains—cattle, wealth, and horses—under a protective auspice.
Sukta 4
This bhaiṣajya-sūkta consecrates Kuṣṭha—the mountain-born healing plant—as a divinely won “amṛta-token,” allied with Soma, and therefore uniquely fit to expel takman (fever) and restore vital functions. It frames the herb’s origin in the highest heaven (near the Aśvattha, the gods’ seat) to authorize its efficacy, then applies that authority to concrete healing aims: breath (prāṇa, vyāna) and eyesight.
Sukta 5
AV 5.5 sacralizes lākṣā (lac) and silācī (a pitch/bitumen-like medicinal substance) as a divinely related, protective material fit for binding, sealing, and healing use. The hymn invokes these substances as living powers—sisters of the gods and allied with night and the sky—then calls Arundhatī as the restraining, auspicious force that fastens protection onto persons and household.
Sukta 6
AV 5.6 is a rakṣoghna (apotropaic) hymn that establishes an all-around cordon of divine surveillance—watchers (spáśaḥ) and noose-bearers—so that hostile beings cannot cross boundaries or approach the protected person. It couples this perimeter-guard with a plea for release from mischance and ritual fault, and culminates in entering Indra’s varūtha (shelter) as a total refuge for body, life-breath, kin, and property.
Sukta 7
AV 5.7 is a prosperity-and-protection hymn that treats speech (Vāc) as the decisive ritual instrument: when speech is “accepted” and “honeyed,” the gods consent and the rite yields gain. It invokes Sarasvatī (inspired, ordered utterance), Anumatī (assent), and Bhaga (fortunate allotment), while also turning to apotropaic placation—naming hostile/inauspicious forces (Arāti, Nirṛti) so they are neutralized rather than allowed to obstruct success.
Sukta 8
AVŚ 5.8 is an Indra-charm that fuses apotropaic healing with coercive (abhicārika) force: Indra’s vāc is invoked to drive out the ‘fluxes’ (atīsāra) while simultaneously striking, binding, and subjugating hostile agents behind the affliction. The hymn’s power is expressed in two complementary moves—expulsion of disease and the downwarding/piercing of enemies—so the patient’s prāṇa is held fast and the performer stands under Indra’s protective dominance.
Sukta 9
AVŚ 5.9 is a compact Atharvanic set of yajus-like svāhā offerings that "assign" the vital self and protective intention to the heavenly sphere (Dyaus), establishing cosmic shelter. It culminates in an expansive raising-formula that lifts up life, strength, thought, and faculties while expelling kṛtyā (witchcraft) and already-performed harm, installing paired life-guardians within the self.
Sukta 10
AV 5.10 is a rakṣā-hymn that “armours” the reciter with aśmavarman—stone-like, unpierceable protection—so hostile forces and attackers are deflected rather than reaching the body. Its verses ward threats direction-by-direction (including the zenith), creating a complete enclosure; the closing movement recalls and re-seats life-faculties (mind, breath, senses, speech) from their cosmic sources, stabilizing the person after fear, assault, or spirit-affliction.
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.