Anuvaka 1
Suktas in Anuvaka 1
Sukta 1
AVŚ 8.1 is a death-averting healing hymn that "lifts" a threatened person back from Mṛtyu’s grasp by re-seating mind, breath, and vitality among the living. It mobilizes cosmic supports (Dyāvā-Pṛthivī, Prajāpati), the community of the All-Gods, and the medicinal Oṣadhis—praised as Soma-Queens—to restore the patient to the Sun’s share and the sphere of amṛta.
Sukta 2
AV 8.2 is a sustained Atharvanic protective-healing sequence that confronts Mṛtyu (Death) and all invasive harms, aiming to “raise up” the afflicted person into restored wholeness. It builds an apotropaic shield by treating brahman (mantra-power) as armor and by consecrating everyday contact-zones—especially clothing and the girdle—so that touch itself becomes auspicious and non-injuring.
Sukta 3
AV 8.3 is a rakṣoghna hymn that installs Agni as an all-direction guardian and active slayer of hostile beings—human enemies as well as rakṣas and yātudhānas. In RV-like triṣṭubh diction it anoints and kindles Agni’s power, asking for uninterrupted (day/night) protection, tearing away what has “seized” the victim, and burning/consuming the attackers so their assault cannot return.
Sukta 4
AV 8.4 is a rakṣoghna hymn that weaponizes Indra’s demon-slaying paradigm to purge the ritual and social sphere of yātudhānas, rākṣasas, and covert sorcerers. It catalogs hostile beings and disguises (especially nocturnal, animal- and bird-forms) and commands their crushing expulsion, while also redirecting slanderers and prosperity-spoilers toward destructive powers (Ahi/Nirṛti). Its power lies in naming, exposing, and forcibly dislodging occult aggression so the offering, household, and community remain intact.
Sukta 5
AV 8.5 is a pratisara-maṇi (protective amulet) hymn that consecrates and binds a personified counter-charm upon the wearer to repel attacks, reverse hostile intent, and secure victory over rivals. Across its verses the maṇi is praised as heroic, all-guarding, and supremely auspicious—protecting progeny and wealth while establishing fearlessness by day and night. The closing movement intensifies protection by placing the binding under Indra’s authority, making the amulet “unconquered” and universally warding.
Sukta 6
Atharvaveda 8.6 is a protective-healing hymn centered on safeguarding pregnancy and the lying-in period by stabilizing the foetus and repelling predatory, liminal forces. It personifies “the two Remedies” (Bheṣajau) as fierce guardians, often linked with a girdle/waistband charm that “holds fast” what is beneficial so it does not slip away. Alongside bodily protection, it also seeks social-ritual well-being—driving off ill-influence and securing auspicious standing (“good-name”) for the woman and her child.
Sukta 7
Atharvaveda 8.7 is a comprehensive oṣadhi-sūkta that summons the entire community of medicinal plants—classified by color, form, and growth-habit—to assemble as living healers around the patient. It petitions the herbs to deploy their collective vīrya (potency) to drive out yakṣma (wasting/consumption-type affliction) and to “lift” the sufferer from layered bonds of danger, including death’s noose and pollution-like guilt. The hymn’s power lies in treating the remedy as a mantra–drug complex: the spoken invocation gathers, activates, and directs the plants’ healing force toward release and restoration.
Sukta 8
AVŚ 8.8 is an Atharvanic victory-and-binding hymn that deploys the imagery of a divine “net” (jāla/indrajāla) to seize, obscure, and rout a hostile senā (enemy force), including opponents who attack through malignant speech. It summons the divine companies (Sādhyas, Rudras, Vasus, Ādityas) as a single unified agency—“one uplifted”—to overpower resistance and to cover the adversary in tamas (disabling darkness). The hymn culminates in repeated victory-acclamations (jaya) and a sealing act of “spreading a covering” (nīla-lohita) over the foes, marking ritual closure and operative success.
Sukta 9
AV 8.9 is a brahmodya-like, paustika hymn that binds ritual performance to cosmic architecture by enumerating and “sealing” correspondences (bandhu) between sacrifice, time, metre, and generative powers. By aligning homa, samidh, ājya, seasons, chandas, and dīkṣā into complete sets (notably septenary structures), it stabilizes order, prevents ritual/temporal error, and promotes plenitude—fertility, continuity, and auspicious radiance.
Sukta 10
AV 8.10 frames prosperity and brahmavarcasa (radiant speech-power) through a cosmogonic bandhu: Virāj as the first expansive ground from which nourishing, chant-forms (Sāmans) arise as living powers. By enumerating authoritative Sāman-pairs and their bodily imagery (udder, calves, breasts), the hymn “milks” ritual success—food, strength, fame, and efficacious utterance—into the sacrificer’s sphere.
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.