Atharva Veda 19.22.5: Kanda 19, Anuvaka 3, Sukta 22, Mantra 5
Sukta 22
ह॒रि॒तेभ्यः॒ स्वाहा॑
haritébhyaḥ svā́hā
Svāhā to the Green (beings).
हरे रंग के जीवों के लिए स्वाहा करते हैं। यह सब हरे रंग के भगवान के नाम है।
Rishi: Not explicit; Atharvanic ritual tradition
Devata: Haritas (recipient-class of beings); Agni as conduit
Chandas: Yajus-style formula
Primary: shanta
Secondary: adbhuta
Color-epithets in such offering-series are treated as technical designations of recipient-classes. The dative plural marks dedication; the intent is pacification/aversion rather than praise.
To appease/dismiss the ‘green’ class of beings, preventing their harmful influence and stabilizing the ritual and household.
General affliction attributed to bhūtas/grahas; restlessness, unsettled atmosphere (traditional).
Appeasement and boundary-setting through offering; re-harmonizing the domestic ecology with surrounding liminal forces.
Conceptual parallel to graha-śānti and environmental/seasonal disturbance affecting vāta (restlessness) in later interpretive frames.
Environmental stress management; ritual as a tool for restoring perceived control and calm in the home.
shantika
Haritas (green-class beings)
To appease/dismiss the harita-class so their influence is non-harmful and the rite/household remains stable.
Color-class propitiation via oblation; ‘covering’ the spectrum of liminal agencies.
Boundary disturbances, uncanny presences linked to groves/fields, generalized inauspiciousness in the liminal zone.
Indirectly supports agriculture/green vitality when harmonized.
A yajus-style svāhā-offering addressed to the ‘Green’ beings (haritas), another class-recipient within a śānti/apotropaic homa series.
The ‘green’ can be ambivalent: vitality and growth, but also the unsettling wildness of the uncultivated. The mantra integrates that force—acknowledging nature’s liminal agencies and placing them in a harmonious relation with the home.
Life-force must be rightly placed. When growth-energy is honored and bounded, it becomes prosperity rather than disturbance.
- हरित (harita)
- vegetative vitality, liminal forest-power; also a ‘color-class’ marking other-than-human agencies
- स्वाहा (svāhā)
- consignment and pacification through Agni
Harmonizing with the ‘edge’ of one’s life—home boundary, social boundary, mental boundary.
anāhata (balance with living environment)
Even breathing; mentally offer the exhale to ‘svāhā’ as release of restlessness.
A green aura around the home becomes smooth and luminous; any jagged ‘wild’ edges soften and align with a golden boundary ring.
Settled, ecological attunement.
Practice non-reactive awareness of the environment; cultivate gratitude toward land/vegetation while maintaining clear personal boundaries.
Yajus-style; keep svāhā as the decisive terminal.
ha̱ri̱tebhya̱ḥ: articulate the short i; finish with svāhā̍ cleanly.
Do not over-roll r in haritebhyaḥ., Keep -bhyaḥ cluster crisp; light visarga.
Calm, steady, pacificatory.
Best delivered without aggression; the rite aims at śānti (settlement), not provocation.
1
Offer water to plants/trees as a gratitude act (non-Vedic but harmonizing).; Maintain a daily lamp at dusk.; Simple śānti recitation before sleep.
Seasonal transitions, moving into a new home, living near wild/uncultivated spaces, or after a sense of ‘unsettled’ household energy.
During a protective homa or as part of a short śānti sequence covering classes of beings.
Stabilized mood, sense of harmony with surroundings, reduced fear of liminal disturbances.
Avoid superstition escalation; combine with practical measures (lighting, cleanliness, community support).
मन्त्र-पाठ: ‘हरितेभ्यः स्वाहा’। यहाँ बाह्य-सन्धि नहीं है; ‘हरितेभ्यः’ = हरित + एभ्यः (चतुर्थी/पञ्चमी बहुवचन-प्रत्यय). ‘स्वाहा’ स्वतंत्र अव्यय/यज्ञीय-उद्गार है।
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