
Rishi: Atharvanic healer tradition
Devata: Bhaiṣajya (medicine) / Yakṣman-removal power (functional devatā)
Chandas: Anuṣṭubh (approx.)
Mantra 1
यक्ष्मनाशनम्। इमं यवमष्टायोगैः षड्योगेभिरचर्कृषुः । तेना ते तन्वो३रपो ऽपाचीनमप व्यये
This barley have they compounded with eightfold mixtures, with sixfold mixtures; therewith, from thy body, I drive away the wasting harm, turned backward and sent afar.
Mantra 2
न्य१ग्वातो वाति न्यऽक् तपति सूर्यः । नीचीनमघ्न्या दुहे न्यऽग् भवतु ते रपः
Downward the Wind doth blow; downward the Sun doth burn: downward the inviolable Cow is milked; downward, for thee, let the wasting harm be driven.
Mantra 3
आप इद् वा उ भेषजीरापो अमीवचातनीः । आपो विश्वस्य भेषजीस्तास्ते कृण्वन्तु भेषजम्
The Waters, yea verily, are medicines; the Waters are the dispellers of disease. The Waters are the medicine of all: may those Waters for thee make a remedy.
In Atharvavedic healing language, yakṣman is a wasting, lingering affliction (often linked with consumption-like decline). Here it is also called rapas, a harmful wasting influence to be driven away.
Barley is treated as a tangible carrier of bhaiṣajya power: it is compounded in measured mixtures (‘yogas’) and empowered by mantra so it can ‘turn back’ and expel the wasting harm from the patient’s body.
The hymn declares the Waters to be medicines and disease-dispersers for all. Consecrated water is used to purify, soothe, and seal the treatment so the remedy becomes complete and enduring.