Shloka 30
Āloka-dāna (Dīpa-dāna), Sumanas–Dhūpa–Dīpa Phala: Manu–Suvarṇa and Śukra–Bali Exempla
ओपषध्यो रक्तपुष्पाश्न कटुका: कण्टकान्विता: । शत्रूणामभिचारार्थमाथर्वेषु निदर्शिता:
oṣadhyo raktapuṣpāś ca kaṭukāḥ kaṇṭakānvitāḥ | śatrūṇām abhicārārtham ātharveṣu nidarśitāḥ ||
Shukra said: “In the Atharva tradition it is indicated that, for rites of hostile sorcery intended to harm one’s enemies, one should employ medicinal plants that bear red flowers, are bitter in taste, and are furnished with thorns.”
शुक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse records an Atharvavedic prescription: certain plant qualities (red flowers, bitterness, thorns) are associated with abhicāra—harm-intending rites against enemies—thereby highlighting that some ritual knowledge is explicitly oriented toward aggression rather than healing.
Śukra, speaking as an authority on policy and specialized knowledge, cites Atharvavedic indications about which kinds of herbs are used in enemy-directed hostile rites, describing their identifying features rather than narrating a specific event.