Atharva Veda 15.2.20: Kanda 15, Anuvaka 1, Sukta 2, Mantra 20
Sukta 2
इ॒रा पुं॑श्च॒ली हसो॑ माग॒धो वि॒ज्ञानं॒ वासोऽह॑रु॒ष्णीषं॒ रात्री॒ केशा॒ हरि॑तौ प्रव॒र्तौ क॑ल्म॒लिर्म॒णिः
irā́ puṁścalī́ hasó māgadhó vijñā́naṁ vā́so 'háḥ uṣṇī́ṣaṁ rā́trī keśā́ háritau pravartáu kalmalír maṇíḥ
Irā, the wanton woman, laughter, the Magadhan, discerning knowledge, the garment—Day; the turban—Night; the hairs; the two tawny ones, the two impellers: the Kalmali-amulet is the jewel.
इरा नाम की एक औरत है, वो हल्की है। हसना भी है, मगध का भी ज़िक्र है। ज्ञान पहचानना, यह दिन है, कपड़ा पहनना। रात है, पगड़ी बाँधना। बाल भी है, दो पीले रंग वाले, जो आगे बढ़ते हैं। कल्मलि मणि सबसे कीमत चीज़ है।
The meaning
What it says
A dense identificatory catalogue: figures (Irā, a wanton woman, laughter, the Magadhan), capacities (discernment), and bodily/ritual items (garment=day, turban=night, hairs, two tawny ones/impellers) culminate in “the Kalmali-amulet is the jewel.”
The inner meaning
The empowered persona is assembled from socially marginal types, sensory forces, and protective regalia. What looks like disorder is a deliberate integration: laughter, desire, knowledge, day/night discipline, and the amulet cohere into a single protective identity.
The truth in it
Wholeness can be made from contradictions: when named and bound, even marginal or ambivalent forces become protectors rather than threats.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Paustika (Prosperity) / Rajakarma (Royal-empowerment) with apotropaic cataloguing
Its aim
To constitute and protect a ritually empowered persona by enumerating and binding together social types, bodily markers, and protective objects; to avert defilement (kalmala) and secure auspicious motion/impulse.
Word by Word
Pada patha
इरा । पुंश्चली । हसः । मागधः । विज्ञानम् । वासः । अहः । उष्णीषम् । रात्री । केशाः । हरितौ । प्रवर्तौ । कल्मलिः । मणिः ।
- इरा
- Idā; sacred food/refreshment (personified)Iḍā/Irā: nourishing refreshment; food-plenty and sap (a personified power of sustenance)Nounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot इरा (प्रातिपदिक) / इळा
- पुंश्चली
- a wanton woman; prostitute (personified)puṁścalī: a wanton woman/prostitute; emblem of social marginality and sexual commerce (apotropaically named/controlled)Nounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot पुंश्चली (प्रातिपदिक)
- हसः
- laughter; a laugh (personified)hasaḥ: laughter, mockery; also derisive noise (a disruptive social force to be mastered)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot हस (प्रातिपदिक)
- मागधः
- a Magadha; bard/minstrel (personified)māgadhaḥ: Magadhan; a bard/announcer/panegyrist (a liminal professional voice, sometimes suspect, yet efficacious)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot मागध (प्रातिपदिक)
- विज्ञानम्
- knowledge; discernmentvijñānam: discriminating knowledge; ritual-cognitive power (the knowing that makes the rite effective)Nounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot वि-√ज्ञा → विज्ञान (प्रातिपदिक)
- वासः
- garment; clothingvāsaḥ: garment/cloth; protective covering, status-marker, and ritual envelopeNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot वासस् (प्रातिपदिक)
- अहः
- dayahaḥ: day; the bright half, auspicious visibilityNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot अहन् (प्रातिपदिक)
- उष्णीषम्
- turban; head-dressuṣṇīṣam: turban/head-wrap; sign of rank and a protective binding for the headNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot उष्णीष (प्रातिपदिक)
- रात्रीः
- nightsNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा बहुवचनRole KartāRoot रात्रि (प्रातिपदिक)
- केशाः
- hairskeśāḥ: hair; bodily vitality and identity; also a locus for binding/loosening magicNounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा बहुवचनRole KartāRoot केश (प्रातिपदिक)
- हरितौ
- the two tawny/greenish ones (pair)haritau: the two tawny ones; typically the paired tawny steeds (or paired tawny powers) that draw/impelAdjective (used substantively)पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा द्विवचनRole KartāRoot हरित (प्रातिपदिक)
- प्रवर्तौ
- the two movers/impellers; two turning onespravartau: the two impellers/turners-on; paired agents that set in motion (often construed as reins/impulse-powers)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा द्विवचनRole KartāRoot प्रवर्त (प्रातिपदिक)
- कल्मलिः
- Kalmalī (a named plant/creeper; also a proper name)kalmaliḥ: a kalmali-amulet/plant-product (apotropaic substance; ‘stain-remover’ by punning with kalmala ‘defilement’)Nounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot कल्मलि (प्रातिपदिक)
- मणिः
- a jewel; amuletmaṇiḥ: jewel/amulet; a charged object that carries and concentrates protective efficacyNounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा एकवचनRole KartāRoot मणि (प्रातिपदिक)
Sandhi Notes
- वासोऽह = वासः + अहः (विसर्गस्य ओ-आदेशः, अवग्रहः). अन्यत्र स्पष्ट-सन्धि-परिवर्तनं न दृश्यते
- शेषाः पदाः प्रथमा-रूपेण सूचीवत् (नाम-समुच्चय) प्रयुक्ताः।
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Traditionally associated with the AV book 15 vrātya/ekavrātya complex (attribution varies in ancillary tradition).
- Devata
- Composite/identificatory (catalogue of powers); operative focus on Maṇi (amulet-power) and paired forces (day/night; haritau/pravartau).
- Chandas
- Mixed/prose-like enumerative cadence (not a strict single meter; typical of AV 15 catalogues).
- Rasa
- Adbhuta and Vira
Sāyaṇa treats the series as a set of identifications (nirvacana by equation) within a larger royal/vrātya-style litany: socially liminal figures (puṁścalī, māgadha) and bodily/vestimentary items (keśa, vāsa, uṣṇīṣa) are not random but are ‘named’ to be ritually encompassed. The maṇi is the operative protective core; kalmali is glossed as an amulet-substance that wards off kalmala (pollution, misfortune), hence its apotropaic force.
Unknown (Book 15 vrātya/ekavrātya complex; ancillary attributions vary)
Paustika protection through maṇi (amulet) and catalogue-identification; vrātya liminality and royal/charismatic empowerment.
The ṛṣi-voice legitimizes a composite identity: social outsiders and bodily signs are ritually transvalued into protective powers centered on the maṇi.
Maṇi (amulet-power) with paired cosmic forces (Ahaḥ–Rātrī; Haritau/Pravartau)
Maṇi mediates between body and cosmos as portable protection; day/night and driving pairs regulate exposure and concealment.
Supports vitality and psychosomatic protection; wards off ‘kalmala’ (pollution/inauspiciousness) that can manifest as illness.
Strong apotropaic shielding, especially for liminal persons (vrātya, traveler, newly empowered).
Paratactic noun-chain; semantic rhythm via apposition and pairing (day/night; two tawny; two impellers).
Vrātya-style litany: identity-assembling lists rather than metrical stanzas.
Incantatory, accumulative.
Creates a ‘binding net’—each item adds a strand of protection culminating in the maṇi.
Prepare a protective maṇi (amulet) and bind it on the person (commonly at neck/arm) while reciting the mantra as an identification-formula.
Touch or indicate the garment and head-wrap (vāsa, uṣṇīṣa) as the corresponding words are spoken, establishing ritual ‘ownership’ and protection of bodily boundaries.
Recite in a steady enumerative cadence (anukrama) to ‘collect’ disparate forces—day/night, speech-professions, sexuality, motion—into a single controlled field under the amulet.
Kauśika Sūtra: application uncertain for AVŚ 15.2 in extant standard mappings; requires manuscript-specific concordance (often treated under vrātya/royal catalogues rather than common bhaiṣajya cycles).
Atharvan priest as apotropaic technician: consecrates and fastens the maṇi, performs the identificatory recitation, and ritually ‘contains’ liminal/dangerous social forces by naming them.
Used when tying/wearing an amulet, donning a turban/head-wrap, or preparing protective attire for travel, public appearance, or initiation-like events.
Before leaving at night; at dawn when putting on clothes; on auspicious days for amulet consecration.
A family priest may consecrate the maṇi and tie it; otherwise self-tying with recitation.
Consecrate a protective pendant/thread as a mindfulness anchor; pair with a daily dressing ritual.
मणि (amulet/jewel); कल्मलि (kalmali-amulet/plant-product); वासः (garment/cloth); उष्णीष (turban/head-wrap)
Material culture (cloth, head-wrap, jewel) becomes a ritual armor; the maṇi is the condensed ‘portable shrine’ that carries protection across day/night.
States of defilement/inauspicious contamination (kalmala) with downstream effects: fatigue, social vulnerability, anxiety, susceptibility to harm.
Head/hair (uṣṇīṣa, keśa)
Apotropaic integration + amulet-centered protection; naming forces to domesticate them, sealing with maṇi as protective nucleus.
Rakṣoghna/aparājita logic akin to protective measures; head protection aligns with prāṇa-vāyu stability; night containment supports nidrā.
Stress-protective ritual, identity integration; “protective object” effects (placebo/meaning response) and routine cues for safety.
The wearer/reciter; especially liminal/royal-empowered individual.
Constitute a prosperous, protected persona by binding social, cognitive, and bodily markers to a central amulet; avert kalmala and ensure auspicious impulse/motion.
Catalogue-identification (saṃjñā) + amulet enthronement (maṇi as core).
Pollution, envy/evil eye by social outsiders, instability of desire and laughter turning into ridicule, night dangers.
Charisma, social standing, safe mobility, vitality.
- इरा (irā)
- nourishing fortune that can appear in unconventional forms
- पुंश्चली (puṃścalī)
- unruled desire/agency—power that must be acknowledged and contained
- हसः (hasaḥ)
- apotropaic joy; breaking fear and envy
- मागधः (māgadhaḥ)
- liminal speech-power; public voice that can praise or shame
- विज्ञानम् (vijñānam)
- the inner governor that orders the catalogue
- वासः / अहः (vāsaḥ/ahaḥ)
- day as wearable protection—public order and visibility
- उष्णीषम् / रात्री (uṣṇīṣam/rātrī)
- night as head-wrap—guarding thought, secrecy, containment
- केशाः (keśāḥ)
- vital filaments; identity markers; vulnerability and protection
- हरितौ (haritau)
- paired driving forces (often solar/horse imagery): momentum and vitality
- प्रवर्तौ (pravartau)
- the twin impulses that set life in motion—will and breath (or day/night as movers)
- कल्मलिः मणिः (kalmaliḥ maṇiḥ)
- apotropaic core that absorbs/deflects defilement (kalmala)
Integrating shadow/social marginality into a coherent protected self; establishing ‘head-and-heart’ guardianship.
Sahasrara (head protection) and Anahata (protective center)
Bhrāmarī 5 rounds to transform ‘hasa’ (sound/laughter) into soothing vibration.
A jewel at the chest radiating a net of light that wraps the head (turban of night) and body (garment of day).
Empowered composure (tejas with containment).
Recite while touching the amulet/pendant; then place attention on the boundary of skin as a protective field; commit to one act of discernment (vijñāna) today.
Litany-style recitation; keep items distinct; slight emphasis on paired terms and final कल्मलिर्मणिः.
Use micro-pauses between catalogue items; crescendo into kalmalir maṇiḥ as the sealing phrase.
Incantatory, rhythmic, confident.
If used with an amulet, speak the last words while tightening the knot/cord to enact bandhana.
3 times
Public exposure, travel, leadership roles, social scrutiny; feeling ‘polluted’ by negativity or shame.
While putting on protective clothing/head-wrap or touching a pendant; before entering crowded spaces.
Sense of protection, charisma, steadiness of impulse, reduced vulnerability to negativity.
Avoid reinforcing paranoia; use as grounding rather than fear-amplifying. Seek professional help for severe anxiety.
The kalmali functions as a material condenser of the mantra’s apotropaic logic: by phonetic/semantic association with kalmala (‘stain, sin, misfortune’), it is construed as a remover/repeller of defilement. The mantra’s catalogue culminates in ‘kalmaliḥ maṇiḥ’, making the substance the ritual endpoint where enumerated forces are stabilized into a wearable protection.
It explicitly names liminal or socially ambiguous figures—puṁścalī and māgadha—alongside prestige markers (uṣṇīṣa, vāsa) and cosmic binaries (day/night). The effect is not egalitarian but incorporative: marginal roles are acknowledged as potent and potentially dangerous, then ritually subordinated within a protective framework controlled by the Atharvan specialist.
The style is characteristically Atharvanic: paratactic noun-cataloguing and identificatory equations rather than RV’s more continuous syntactic hymnody. Lexemes like puṁścalī and the prominence of māgadha point to later social vocabulary and a more explicit engagement with occupational and marginal categories than typical RV diction.
Gopatha’s general theory of Atharvanic efficacy privileges ‘naming’ (nāmadheya) and correct knowledge (vidyā/vijñāna) as causal: to know and utter the right identifications is to control the corresponding powers. This verse’s explicit ‘vijñānam’ and its culminating maṇi align with that model: cognition + utterance + material support yields protection.
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