Atharva Veda 2.17.3: Kanda 2, Anuvaka 2, Sukta 17, Mantra 3
Sukta 17
आयु॑र॒स्यायु॑र्मे दाः॒ स्वाहा॑
ā́yur asy ā́yur me dāḥ svā́hā
Thou art Life: give me life. Svāhā!
तू ज़िन्दगी है, मुझे ज़िन्दगी दे। यह मंत्र उम्र लंबी करने के लिए है। स्वाहा बोल के यह दुआ पूरा होती है।
The meaning
What it says
The addressed medium is identified as Āyus (Life/Lifespan) and is asked to bestow life upon the reciter/recipient, sealed with svāhā.
The inner meaning
Reclaims the will-to-live: counters despair, shock, and depletion by affirming continuity and re-rooting the person in time and purpose.
The truth in it
Life persists through alignment: when nourishment, protection, and meaning converge, the thread of existence is strengthened against forces of dissolution.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Bhaisajya (Healing) / Āyuṣya (Longevity)
Its aim
To secure and extend the sacrificer’s/patient’s lifespan; to restore life-force and avert premature death.
Word by Word
Pada patha
आयुः । असि । आयुः । मे । दाः । स्वाहा ।
- आयुः
- life-span, vital lifelife; vital duration; the concrete ‘lifespan’ to be secured and extended (āyus as a transferable potency)Nounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot आयुस् (प्रातिपदिक)
- अस्य
- of this (person/thing)Pronounपुं/नपुंसक; षष्ठी एकवचनRole सम्बन्ध (Genitive relation)Root इदम् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- आयुः
- life-spanlife again; the life-principle to be bestowed (repetition for intensification/ritual reinforcement)Nounनपुंसकलिङ्ग; प्रथमा/द्वितीया एकवचनRole KarmaRoot आयुस् (प्रातिपदिक)
- मे
- to me / for meto me; for me (the sacrificer/patient as recipient of āyus)Pronounषष्ठी/चतुर्थी एकवचन (एन्क्लिटिक रूप)Role SampradānaRoot अस्मद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- दाः
- give (you should give)give; bestow (imperative: transfer the life-potency into the recipient)Verbलोट् (आज्ञार्थे), मध्यमपुरुष, एकवचन; परस्मैपदRole क्रियाRoot दा (दाने) धातु
- स्वाहा
- svāhā (ritual exclamation)svāhā; oblation-call sealing efficacy, marking the mantra as fit for offering and ‘well-carried’ to its targetIndeclinableअव्यय; यज्ञीय-उद्गारRole मन्त्र-उद्गारRoot स्वाहा (निपात/उद्गार)
Sandhi Notes
- (1) आयुः + अस्य → आयुरस्य (विसर्गस्य रेफादेशः: उ/ओ-पूर्वे अकारादौ ‘र्’)
- (2) आयुः + मे → आयुर्मे (विसर्गस्य रेफादेशः: उ-पूर्वे मकारादौ ‘र्’)
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition.
- Devata
- Āyus (Life) personified; secondarily the consecrated ritual medium as bearer of āyus.
- Chandas
- Anuṣṭubh-like short formula (mantric prose/brief metrical cadence; exact metrical classification depends on the full hymn context).
- Rasa
- Shanta and Karuna
Sāyaṇa glosses āyus as prāṇadhāraṇa-śakti (the sustaining power of breath/life) and takes the addressed ‘thou’ as the ritual medium (commonly an oblation, herb, or amulet) identified with āyus by mantra. The repetition ‘āyur…āyur’ is read as emphatic doubling to ensure firmness (dṛḍhatā) of lifespan; svāhā indicates offering/consummation of the act and the successful ‘conveyance’ of the prayer.
Atharvan (collective āyuṣya formulary; specific ṛṣi uncertain)
Āyuṣya rites: longevity, protection from untimely death, restoration after danger/illness.
A quintessential Atharvanic move: addressing ‘Life’ as an operative deity and installing it through a compact command.
Āyus (Life/Lifespan, personified)
Āyus is the measured span allotted in ṛta; it is the continuity that allows rites, lineage, and dharma to unfold.
Restorative support in life-threatening illness, collapse, shock, and wasting (traditional frame).
Averts ‘akāla-mṛtyu’ (untimely death) and strengthens the boundary against deathly forces.
Yajus-style short formula (anuṣṭubh-like cadence)
Compact unit: (āyur asi | āyur me dāḥ | svāhā); liturgical cadence over strict meter.
‘Prose-anuṣṭubh’ feel; suited to being spoken at a decisive ritual moment (binding, feeding, offering).
Solemn, stabilizing, life-affirming.
Grounding; evokes continuity and protection.
Prepare an āyuṣya medium (commonly ghee for offering, or water for sprinkling; alternatively an amulet/herb if the broader rite specifies).
Recite the mantra while identifying the medium with ‘āyus’ (performative equation: ‘Thou art Life’).
On ‘svāhā’, either (a) make an oblation into the fire, or (b) apply the medium to the patient (sprinkling/anointing/tying-on), according to the rite’s karman.
Repeat as prescribed within the sukta/rite to intensify the transfer of life-potency to the recipient.
Kauśika Sūtra: āyuṣya/long-life rites.
Atharvan/Brahman officiant: recites the āyuṣya-mantra, effects the identification (saṃjñā/nyāsa) of substance with āyus, and performs/oversees the oblation or application to the patient.
Chant over a small portion of ghee/food/water and give to the patient (as appropriate), or chant while tying a protective thread for longevity.
New moon/full moon āyuṣya observances; also during illness recovery; dawn is common for life-affirming rites.
Householder may perform; purohita may add formal fire-offering and protective bindings.
KauśS contains āyuṣya karmāṇi employing short AV formulas; exact sūtra number should be checked in the app’s reference edition.
Use as a daily longevity prayer with lamp-lighting and mindful nourishment.
oblation (āhuti) with svāhā (generic, depending on rite); potentially an āyuṣya-dravya (life-promoting substance) such as ghee, water, or an amulet/plant in applied ritual contexts
Possible āyuṣya-maṇi or life-protecting band (contextual).
Frequently used as āyuṣya-jala (consecrated water) in domestic healing settings (contextual).
svāhā implies offering into fire in formal performance.
Life is ‘fed’ and ‘tied in’: nourishment sustains āyus; binding/encircling stabilizes it; fire transmits the offering to the subtle order.
Life-threatening conditions, severe weakness, convalescence, fear of death/untimely death (traditional).
Consecration of food/ghee/water/amulet as ‘life’ and transfer through ingestion, touch, or offering; mantra as pharmakon strengthens prāṇa/āyus conceptually and ritually.
Āyuṣya and rasāyana orientation; prāṇa support; ojas preservation as longevity-support.
Supportive ritual for recovery and resilience; complements medical treatment and palliative/rehab motivation.
Self/patient; household continuity (lineage) indirectly.
Secure longevity; restore life-force; avert premature death.
Identification + transfer + svāhā sealing; often paired with feeding/ointing/binding actions.
Untimely death, severe depletion, malign influences associated with ‘death-seizing’.
Long life and sustained capacity to work, beget, and maintain household rites.
- āyus
- continuity, vitality over time, destiny-thread held intact
- asi
- consecration: the medium becomes ‘Life’ itself
- dāḥ
- bestowal of longevity and restoration of life-force
- svāhā
- ritual seal; offering that ‘feeds’ life
Stabilize prāṇa and the felt sense of continuity; cultivate gratitude for life-span and resolve to live well.
Anāhata (life-feel) and Svādhiṣṭhāna (continuity/flow).
Gentle full yogic breathing; emphasize smooth inhale (receiving life) and relaxed exhale (releasing fear).
A steady lamp-flame at the heart; a golden thread extending forward in time, unbroken.
Protected repose with alert trust.
Chant, then sit with one hand on the heart; reaffirm practical life-support (sleep, food, care) as part of āyus.
Even, steady cadence; let svāhā land gently like a seal rather than a shout.
Hold āyur clearly (long ā); keep me dāḥ crisp; pause after svāhā.
Warm, steady, reassuring.
If paired with feeding, chant over the portion before giving; if paired with thread, chant while tightening the final knot.
27 times
Recovery after illness, after accidents/near-miss dangers, elderly care support, anxiety about longevity.
Daily during recovery; on health-related anniversaries; before sleep for reassurance.
Traditional sense of protection and renewed will-to-live; supports adherence to healing routines.
Always seek urgent medical care for life-threatening symptoms; do not delay treatment.
The mantra functions by identification: the addressed substance (whether herb, water, ghee, or amulet) is declared to be ‘āyus’ itself, converting a material carrier into a transferable life-potency. In Atharvanic therapeutics, efficacy often lies less in pharmacology alone than in this semiotic-ritual transformation, after which the substance can be offered, applied, or worn to ‘give’ lifespan.
The transfer of āyus is mediated by a specialist (Atharvan/Brahman) who controls the performative speech-act and the correct ‘svāhā’ deployment. The patient/sacrificer is grammatically the recipient (‘me’), while ritual authority resides in the officiant who knows the mantra and procedure—an index of priestly expertise as a social technology for managing health, fate, and longevity.
The formulaic brevity and the direct performative equation (‘X asi’) are common in Atharvanic charm-style diction, often more operational than the RV’s extended praise-hymn style. The imperative ‘dāḥ’ with a concrete, quasi-substantial ‘āyus’ reflects the Atharvanic tendency to treat abstractions as manipulable powers. The svāhā-closing aligns with offering-language shared with older Vedic strata but here serves a compact magical-ritual seal.
In Gopatha’s Atharvanic theology, mantras are efficacious as brahman—speech-power that, when correctly applied with rite (karman), compels results. A verse like this exemplifies the principle that naming/identifying a medium with a desired power (āyus) and ritually ‘dispatching’ it (svāhā/āhuti or application) effects real transfer. The efficacy is thus grounded in correct knowledge (vidyā), correct performance, and the ontological potency of Vedic speech.
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