Atharvaveda Kanda 4 Anuvaka 4 in Modern Hindi

Various Rishis

Kanda 410 Suktas84 Mantras

Anuvaka 4

Ritualized power for protection and victory: wrath (Manyu) and fire (Agni) harnessed to destroy evil, secure the home, and sustain life

Kinds of charm

Bhaishajya (healing): 2Paushtika (prosperity): 2Abhicharika (against foes): 2Shantika (pacifying): 2

Suktas in Anuvaka 4

Sukta 31

AV 4.31 is a martial Manyu-hymn that consecrates battle-fury as a divine ally, turning a war-band into an irresistible, weapon-whetting host that advances “in Agni’s form.” It organizes clans for combat, raises the victorious battle-cry, and seeks both rout of enemies through heart-born fear and the securing of compacted wealth/spoil under Manyu (and, at the close, Varuṇa).

Rishi: Angiras/Atharvanic (Manyu-hymn tradition; exact r̥ṣi not recoverable here) | Devata: Manyu (personified Wrath), with Agni/Maruts as functional comparanda | 7 Mantras

Sukta 32

This triṣṭubh battle-hymn rouses Manyu (Wrath) as a divine, Indra-like force that breaks enemies, pierces hidden threats, and compels victory. By identifying Manyu with multiple sovereign and ritual powers (Indra, Varuṇa, Jātavedas, Hotṛ), the sukta concentrates an all-purpose martial protection that also secures spoils and prosperity for the patron.

Rishi: Traditionally connected with Angiras/Atharvanic seers; in RV parallels, Manyu-hymns are ascribed to seers of the Bharadvāja/Angiras sphere (assignment varies by anukramaṇī traditions). | Devata: Manyu (personified Wrath; Indra-like battle power) | 7 Mantras

Sukta 33

This eight-verse Atharvavedic hymn invokes Agni as pāpa-nāśana, the burner-away of agha (evil, sin, misfortune, ritual pollution). Repeating a refrain-like expulsion formula, it asks Agni’s flames and rays to scour the sacrificer’s person and surroundings, replacing danger with rayi (prosperity) and svasti (well-being). The hymn’s power is framed as a total purification—inner moral/ritual fault and outer hostile influences are both consumed by Agni’s heat and radiance.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (commonly treated as Atharvan/Angiras-type for such Agni-expulsion hymns) | Devata: Agni (as pāpa-nāśana, purifier) | 8 Mantras

Sukta 34

This sukta sacralizes cooked odana (brahmaudana/viṣṭāriṇ) by identifying it with the very body of Yajña: metres become its wings, truth its mouth, and tapas its generative heat. By installing the consecrated food among Brahmans, the hymn aims to make nourishment expand into ritual success—prosperity, “world-winning” merit, and heaven-leading efficacy—while explicitly preventing any harmful rebound upon the patron.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (speculative-ritual hymn) | Devata: Brahmaudana / Yajña personified (ritual entity as devatā) | 8 Mantras

Sukta 35

AV 4.35 is a mṛtyu-santāraṇa (death-crossing) healing hymn that sacralizes brahma-odana (consecrated boiled rice) as a cosmic, life-bearing substance by which the reciter ‘passes beyond’ untimely death. It identifies odana with Prajāpati’s tapas-born creative act and with a luminous, all-direction-protecting Brahman/Brāhmaṇaspati principle that restores prāṇa and outlasts time’s wheels (months, year, day-night). The refrain-like petition—“tena odanena ati tarāṇi mṛtyum”—functions as the hymn’s operative seal of efficacy.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (Aṅgiras/Atharvan attribution typical for apamṛtyu material; exact r̥ṣi to be verified against Anukramaṇī for AV 4.35). | Devata: Brahman/Brāhmaṇaspati principle embodied in brahma-odana; life-breath (Prāṇa) and death-transcendence motif. | 7 Mantras

Sukta 36

AV 4.36 is a rakṣoghna–abhicārika hymn that fortifies the household boundary against night-roaming predators—rakṣas, piśācas, and kravyāds—especially those active on the new-moon night. It combines fiery expulsion through Agni Vaiśvānara with coercive ‘sahas’ (mantric force) and, at the close, binding ruin through Nirṛti, aiming to burn, overpower, and restrain every hostile approach.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (rakṣoghna seer) | Devata: Rakṣas/Piśāca/Kravyād (as adversaries); the effective agent is the mantra’s ‘sahas’ (coercive power) | 10 Mantras

Sukta 37

AV 4.37 is a bhaiṣajya-hymn that empowers a medicinal herb as a living, personified healer to destroy kṛmi (worms/parasites) and the rākṣasa-like agencies of disease. It grounds its efficacy in ancestral precedent—Atharvans and famed seers (Kaśyapa, Kaṇva, Agastya)—and then escalates into forceful rakṣoghna speech that expels Gandharva–Apsaras influences, especially those linked with erotic possession and household disruption.

Rishi: Traditionally Atharvanic seers; the verse itself cites Atharvans, Kaśyapa, Kaṇva, Agastya as precedent authorities | Devata: Oṣadhi (the Herb) as personified healer; secondarily anti-rākṣasa power | 12 Mantras

Sukta 38

This Atharvavedic charm secures prosperity by binding protective, far-ranging potency to a household’s vulnerable wealth—especially cattle and winnings. It invokes an auspicious Apsaras who “sifts and scatters” fortune and a vājín-like guardian force that moves with the mid-air and along the Sun’s rays, to bring the desired gains home and keep them fixed there.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (commonly Atharvan/Angiras attribution for such charms in later indices) | Devata: Protective strength addressed as vājín (guardian potency; functionally a cattle-protector) | 7 Mantras

Sukta 39

AV 4.39 is a prosperity-and-vitality charm that imagines the Antarika (mid-air) as a cosmic milch-cow, with V1yu (wind/breath) as her calf who draws out nourishment. By aligning social and cosmic forces into concord (sanati) and sealing the rite through Agni J1tavedas, the hymn seeks to milk life, vigor, desire-fulfillment, progeny, thriving, and wealth for the performer.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (Anukramaṇī attribution for AV 4.39; commonly Atharvan/Angiras-type seer lists, edition-dependent). | Devata: Antarikṣa as dhenu (cosmic source) with Vāyu as operative deity (calf/extractor). | 10 Mantras

Sukta 40

AV 4.40 is a directional counter-sorcery hymn that detects hostile offerings and witchcraft coming from any quarter and forcibly reverses them. Addressing Agni Jātavedas as the all-knowing witness of rites, it turns the attackers “away” (parāñcaḥ), shakes them with a returning force (pratyag), and seals protection by the pratisara (binding/amulet). The hymn’s power lies in mapping threat to space (quarters and inter-quarters) and neutralizing it through fire, sacred potency, and a physical protective tie.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (often anonymous/Angiras-type in AV counter-sorcery hymns) | Devata: Agni Jātavedas; with Soma invoked as supporting power; directions as operative field | 8 Mantras

Deities of Anuvaka 4

Manyu
Destroyer
In 2 hymns
AgniJātavedas
Protector
In 2 hymns
Brahma-odana / OdanaYajña embodied
Healer
In 2 hymns
OshadhiOṣadhi (medicinal herb, personified)
Healer
In 1 hymn
VayuVāyu (as calf of the Antarikṣa-cow)
Sustainer
In 1 hymn
AntarikshaAntarikṣa (mid-air as cosmic milch-cow)
Provider
In 1 hymn
Apsarasauspicious, wealth-binding
Bestower
In 1 hymn
Rakshas / Pishacha / KravyadRakṣas / Piśāca / Kravyād (as adversaries addressed/expelled)
Adversary
In 1 hymn

Inside Anuvaka 4

The theme

Ritualized power for protection and victory: wrath (Manyu) and fire (Agni) harnessed to destroy evil, secure the home, and sustain life

Threads through it

Martial consecration and enemy-breaking fury (Manyu as Indra-like power)
Agni as pāpa-nāśana and witness who reverses hostile rites
Brahma-odana/odana as life-bearing, death-crossing sacrament
Rakṣoghna boundary-defense against night-roaming beings
Herb-medicine against kṛmi and disease-agents
Prosperity and herd-protection charms (cattle, winnings, abundance)

Who it serves

Used for war-preparedness and victory, expiation of sin/misfortune, safeguarding the household at liminal nights, healing parasitic afflictions, averting untimely death, and increasing prosperity (especially cattle and wealth).

What it heals

Untimely death and mortal danger (mṛtyu-santāraṇa)Sukta 4.35
Ritual pollution, sin (pāpa/agha), and misfortune needing expiationSukta 4.33
Household vulnerability to night-roaming predators (rakṣas, piśācas, kravyāds), especially at new moonSukta 4.36
Worms/parasites (kṛmi) and disease-agents conceived as rākṣasa-like attackersSukta 4.37
Hostile witchcraft/offerings approaching from any direction; need for reversal and neutralizationSukta 4.40
Battle peril and loss of strength; need for victory, cohesion, and irresistible advanceSukta 4.31, 4.32

Frequently Asked Questions

What unifies Kanda 4, Anuvaka 4 (AV 4.31–4.40)?

It concentrates on applied sacred power: Manyu mobilizes victory-force, Agni burns away pāpa and exposes/reverses hostile rites, while odana and medicine secure life, health, and prosperity.

Which hymns are most relevant for protection from spirits and witchcraft?

AV 4.36 targets rakṣas/piśācas/kravyāds as boundary-defense, and AV 4.40 is a directional counter-sorcery hymn that detects and sends back hostile offerings under Agni Jātavedas’ witness.

Where do healing and life-preservation appear in this anuvaka?

AV 4.35 uses brahma-odana as a death-crossing, life-sustaining sacrament; AV 4.37 empowers an herb to destroy kṛmi and disease-agents; AV 4.33 also functions as expiatory purification by Agni.

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