Sukta 163
Sukta 10.163
Late Maṇḍala 10 healing tradition; specific r̥ṣi uncertain.
Healing/extraction formula; devatā implicit (often aligned with Aśvins/Agni in healing contexts, but not named in this verse).
Likely Tr̥ṣṭubh.
This short healing hymn is an “extraction” (vṛh-) formula aimed at uprooting yakṣman, a wasting affliction, from every part of the patient’s body. Verse by verse it names bodily regions—from head and senses down to hips, limbs, hair, and joints—ritually separating the disease and restoring wholeness. The power invoked is primarily the mantra itself and the therapeutic act of naming, locating, and expelling the malady.
Mantras
Mantra 1
अक्षीभ्यां ते नासिकाभ्यां कर्णाभ्यां छुबुकादधि । यक्ष्मं शीर्षण्यं मस्तिष्काज्जिह्वाया वि वृहामि ते ॥
From your eyes, from your nostrils, from your ears, from the chin—out of the head-disease, from the brain, from the tongue—I pluck out the wasting affliction from you, separating it away.
Mantra 2
ग्रीवाभ्यस्त उष्णिहाभ्यः कीकसाभ्यो अनूक्यात् । यक्ष्मं दोषण्यमंसाभ्यां बाहुभ्यां वि वृहामि ते ॥
From your neck, from the warm vital channels, from the vertebral frame and from the spinal core, I tear out the wasting force (yakṣma). From the shoulders and from the arms I uproot from you that affliction which clings to the joints of action.
Mantra 3
आन्त्रेभ्यस्ते गुदाभ्यो वनिष्ठोर्हृदयादधि । यक्ष्मं मतस्नाभ्यां यक्नः प्लाशिभ्यो वि वृहामि ते ॥
From your intestines, from your lower organs, from the region of the bladder, and from above the heart, I tear out the wasting force. From the twin kidneys, from the liver, from the inner membranes, I uproot it from you.
Mantra 4
ऊरुभ्यां ते अष्ठीवद्भ्यां पार्ष्णिभ्यां प्रपदाभ्याम् । यक्ष्मं श्रोणिभ्यां भासदाद्भंससो वि वृहामि ते ॥
From your thighs, from the bony frame, from the heels and the forefeet, I tear out the wasting force. From the hips, from the seat and its base, I uproot it from you—so the path of movement may be made whole.
Mantra 5
मेहनाद्वनंकरणाल्लोमभ्यस्ते नखेभ्यः । यक्ष्मं सर्वस्मादात्मनस्तमिदं वि वृहामि ते ॥
From your urinary organ, from the generative making, from your hairs and from your nails, I tear out the wasting force. From the whole of your self—this very one—I uproot it from you.
Mantra 6
अङ्गादङ्गाल्लोम्नोलोम्नो जातं पर्वणिपर्वणि । यक्ष्मं सर्वस्मादात्मनस्तमिदं वि वृहामि ते ॥
From limb to limb, from hair to hair, born again at every joint, the wasting force—this I uproot from the whole of your being, even this very one, and tear it away from you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yakṣman is a Vedic term for a wasting affliction—an illness that weakens the body. The hymn treats it as something that can be located in body parts and ritually removed.
In these verses the devatā is mostly implicit: the hymn functions as a healing-extraction formula powered by mantra. In later practice, such healing is often associated with the Aśvins or supported through Agni, but the text here focuses on the act of removal itself.
The listing is a ritual form of diagnosis and separation: by naming each region, the healer symbolically finds the disease and ‘plucks it out.’ The final verse then removes it from the whole person, leaving no place for it to remain.