Anuvaka 5
Suktas in Anuvaka 5
Sukta 41
This brief two-mantra hymn invokes the Suparṇa/Śyena—the swift, keen-sighted divine bird—as a beneficent carrier who overcomes wastelands, waters, and lower spaces to arrive auspiciously in alliance with Indra. It functions as a protective “successful conveyance” charm: ensuring safe arrival of a desired power/boon and restoring goods that have been carried off, with the stability of ancestral (Pitṛ) sanction.
Sukta 42
AV 7.42 is a compact two-verse healing and purification charm that calls on the paired powers Soma and Rudra as divine physicians. It asks them to drive away wandering affliction (disease/evil influence), banish Nirṛti (calamity/destruction) to a far distance, and loosen the binding force of enas (committed guilt) believed to cling to the body and household. The hymn’s power lies in its double action: expulsion of misfortune and internal unbinding of sin as a tangible, bodily constraint.
Sukta 43
This one-verse hymn addresses Vāc (Speech) as a power that can manifest as both auspicious and inauspicious, and asks that her gracious form prevail. It reflects Atharvanic mantra-theory by locating multiple “voices” within a person and seeking disciplined release of sound so that utterance becomes protective rather than harmful.
Sukta 44
This one-verse Atharvavedic charm invokes the paired might of Indra and Viṣṇu as unconquered conquerors, securing victory while preventing total defeat or loss. It also frames prosperity as an orderly, divinely sanctioned “threefold distribution” of a “thousand” (booty, cattle, strength, or resources), set in motion by their competitive energy.
Sukta 45
This brief two-mantra hymn is a social-healing charm that treats īrṣyā (jealousy/envy) as a burning, harmful force and calls in a bheṣaja (remedy) to neutralize it. The speaker “fetches” the counter-agent from afar—symbolically from the shared human sphere and even from Sindhu—then commands the jealousy to be drawn out and quenched like a firebrand, restoring social peace and protection to the client.
Sukta 46
This brief Atharvavedic domestic hymn invokes Sinīvālī as the divine patroness of conception, safe childbirth, and the stable establishment of progeny within the household. Through simple āhuti-offerings and direct praise, it seeks to remove barrenness, secure “many offspring,” and align marital prosperity (a worthy pati) with fertility and thriving success (rādhas).
Sukta 47
This brief Paustika hymn invokes Kuhū—the auspicious lunar power associated with the new-moon night—to make the sacrifice effective and to “assign” comprehensive, choice-filled wealth to the sacrificer. Through repeated calling (johavīmi) and the request that she accept the havis, the sukta aims at rāyas-poṣa (increase of prosperity) and the gift of a vigorous hero-son (vīra). Its power lies in aligning domestic offering with Kuhū’s receptive, fertility-bearing aspect so that abundance and lineage are secured together.
Sukta 48
This brief Atharvanic hymn invokes Rākā, the full-moon power of restoration and fertility, to “stitch” what has been pierced or cut and to make the body whole again. In the same breath it asks her to grant a vigorous hero-son and prosperity, presenting lunar wholeness as the model for bodily integrity and household increase.
Sukta 49
AV 7.49 invokes the Devapatnīs—the consorts of major gods—as a collective protective force to “guard us onward” in onset, contest, and prize-winning. By summoning both unnamed and specifically named divine women (Indrāṇī, Agneyī, Varuṇānī, Aśvinī), the hymn seeks sheltering peace (śarma) and the activation of auspicious order, including right timing (ṛtu) for women, within a cosmic enclosure spanning earth and waters.
Sukta 50
This hymn is a victory-and-prosperity charm that gathers advantage from all quarters, breaks hostile contrivances, and secures precedence in royal/competitive settings. It couples Indra Puruhūta’s conquering force with the all-supporting powers (viśve), while also drawing in Bhaga as the distributor of fortune, so that wealth and winnings come “into the hand.” It explicitly targets misfortune: evil-minded plots, hunger, and the opponent’s ‘made’ advantage (kṛta), turning them into the patron’s gain.
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