Atharva Veda 19.64.1: Kanda 19, Anuvaka 7, Sukta 64, Mantra 1
Sukta 64
दीर्घायुत्वम्। अग्ने॑ स॒मिध॒माहा॑र्षं बृह॒ते जा॒तवे॑दसे । स मे॑ श्र॒द्धां च॑ मे॒धां च॑ जा॒तवे॑दाः॒ प्र य॑च्छतु
dīrghā́yutvam | ágne samídham ā́hārṣaṃ bṛhaté jātávedase | sá me śraddhā́ṃ ca médhāṃ ca jātávedāḥ prá yacchatu
Long life! O Agni, I have brought the fuel-stick unto the mighty Jātavedas. May he—Jātavedas—bestow on me, in full, both faith and understanding.
यह मंत्र लंबी उमर के लिए है। मैं अग्नि के लिए लकड़ी लाया हूँ। जातवेदस, जो बड़ा ज्ञानी है, उन्हें समर्पित करता हूँ। भगवान मुझे पूरा विश्वास और समझ दे।
Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (late book; specific ṛṣi attribution varies by anukramaṇī)
Devata: Agni Jātavedas
Chandas: Anuṣṭubh-like
Primary: shanta
Secondary: adbhuta
Sāyaṇa treats the offering of samidh as the concrete act that ‘feeds’ Agni and thereby activates his beneficence. Śraddhā is not mere belief but the enabling disposition for successful rite; medhā is intellect and retention, crucial for correct performance and social standing. The repetition of Jātavedas underscores Agni’s omniscience and reliability as witness-granter.
To secure long life together with the cognitive and devotional capacities (medhā, śraddhā) that sustain ritual success and social flourishing.
General weakness/short-life anxiety; cognitive dullness (medhā-kṣaya) and loss of confidence/faith (śraddhā-hāni) as contributory states.
Implicit: digestion/metabolism (agni) and mind (medhā).
Fire-offering + invocation: strengthens ‘inner fire’ and mental steadiness; requests integrated vitality (āyuḥ) and cognition (medhā).
Agni and ojas support; medhya-rasāyana intent; śraddhā as sattva-stability.
Lifestyle medicine framing: routine + focused intention supporting cognition, adherence, and long-term health behaviors.
mixed
Self (householder/yajamāna)
Long life with strengthened faith and intellect—ritual success and life success together.
Substance-action paradigm explicit: samidh offered to Agni; the act is the ‘carrier’ of the request.
Mental fog, wavering resolve, decline of vitality, ritual/household inauspiciousness.
Longevity, learning, steadiness in vows and duties.
Offering a fuel-stick to Agni Jātavedas, the petitioner asks for long life and for śraddhā (faith/steadfast trust) and medhā (intelligence/retentive understanding).
Vitality is linked to cognitive and devotional stability: a ‘lit’ inner fire supports clarity (medhā) and committed meaning (śraddhā), which in turn sustain life-direction.
Longevity is not mere duration: it is the sustained capacity to learn, trust, and act wisely—life extended with understanding is the higher boon.
- dīrghāyutvam
- enduring agency; time to mature virtue and insight
- agne
- transformative energy; metabolism, will, illumination
- samidh
- disciplined input that sustains inner fire (practice, study, right diet)
- jātavedas
- omniscient witness; fire as memory and intelligence in matter
- śraddhā
- psychic stability; commitment that prevents collapse into doubt
- medhā
- cognitive nourishment; integration of learning into action
Inner-fire contemplation (agni-dhyāna) for clarity and steadfastness.
Maṇipūra (fire) supporting Ājñā (clarity/medhā).
Even-count breathing; visualize inhale feeding a small flame at navel, exhale spreading light to forehead.
Jātavedas as a golden flame that ‘remembers’ health and restores cognitive brightness.
Alert calm; steady resolve.
Recite 7/21 times while lighting a lamp; then sit silently 3 minutes, watching the flame to stabilize attention.
Respect marked accents (agne̍, samidha̱māhā̍rṣam, jā̱tave̍dase, me̱dhāṃ, pra ya̍cchatu).
Slight lift on deity-words (Agne, Jātavedas) and on the gift-verb (pra yacchatu).
Jātavedase: long ā; keep veda as ve-da (not ‘vay’)., Śraddhāṃ: double d+h aspiration; avoid ‘shraddha’ flattening., Medhāṃ: clear dh aspiration; long ā.
Soft, luminous, steady; suitable near fire/flame.
If no fire is possible, a lamp substitutes symbolically; keep the ‘offering’ intention (tyāga) mentally present.
7
Students seeking retention, elders seeking steadiness, householders beginning new discipline; times of doubt or mental dullness.
At twilight with lamp/fire; before study or important decisions.
Greater steadiness, clarity, and confidence; traditional aim: long life with wisdom and faith.
Fire safety if using homa/lamp; do not force breath retention.
पदच्छेदः: अग्ने | समिधम् | आ | आहर्षम् | बृहते | जातवेदसे || सः | मे | श्रद्धाम् | च | मे | मेधाम् | च | जातवेदाः | प्र | यच्छतु । 1) समिधम्+आहर्षम् → समिधमाहा॑र्षम् (अम् + आ = मा). 2) जातवेदाः प्र यच्छतु: ‘प्र’ उपसर्गः ‘यच्छतु’ इत्यनेन संयुक्तः (प्रयच्छतु) अर्थतः। 3) वैदिक-रूपम्: जातवेदाः = जातवेदास् (प्रथमा-एकवचनः) ।
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