Atharva Veda Anuvaka 7
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Kanda 710 Suktas20 Mantras

Anuvaka 7

Re-centering sacred power: kindling Agni-tapas, restoring lost brahman/indriya, and neutralizing omens and hostile speech

Kinds of charm

Bhaishajya (healing): 2Paushtika (prosperity): 2Shantika (pacifying): 2Abhicharika (against foes): 1

Suktas in Anuvaka 7

Sukta 61

This brief Atharvanic hymn treats Agni as the carrier and generator of tapas (heat, disciplined potency), using the fire-technology of “heating up” to produce inner power. By kindling tapas through Agni, the performers seek paustika gains—āyus (long life), medhā (clear intelligence), and a favorable standing in śruti/renown—secured through attentive hearing and right ritual focus.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition | Devata: Agni (as tapas-bearer) | 2 Mantras

Sukta 62

This single-verse hymn installs Agni at the settlement’s “navel” (nābhi)—the hearth/ritual center—as a satpati (lord of the good) and purohita-warrior who routs hostile forces. By invoking Agni’s flashing, bull-strong martial power, the mantra seeks to crush aggressors, drive battle-mongers into a position “underfoot,” and secure the community’s central ground as an inviolable stronghold.

Rishi: Atharvanic/Angirasic protective tradition | Devata: Agni (as Satpati and Purohita-warrior) | 1 Mantras

Sukta 63

This single-verse sukta invokes Agni as the duritanāśana—destroyer of misfortune—calling him with solemn praise from the highest sacred seat. Its power is the “crossing” (pārayaṇa) motif: Agni, the battle-winner and steadfast protector, is asked to carry the worshipper safely over every hard passage and set them beyond calamity.

Rishi: Atharvanic protective tradition | Devata: Agni | 1 Mantras

Sukta 64

AV 7.64 is a brief prāyaścitta-śānti charm that neutralizes the inauspiciousness and guilt (enas) believed to arise when a black omen-bird approaches, alights, or defiles by contact. The hymn deploys a twofold purifier—Waters (Āpaḥ) for washing away durita and Agni Gārhapatya for burning off enas—so the practitioner is guarded, released, and restored to ritual and social purity.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (śānti/prāyaścitta hymn) | Devata: Āpaḥ (Waters) as purifiers and protectors | 2 Mantras

Sukta 65

This brief Apāmārga-hymn is a compact counter-curse and cleansing charm: the plant is addressed as a living, morally purifying power that drives away hostile imprecations and inner “stain” (śamala). Across three anuṣṭubh verses, Apāmārga is asked to expel external curses, wash away one’s own misdeeds, and remove contamination acquired through contact with dangerous, binding agents.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (plant-hymn complex) | Devata: Apāmārga (plant-deity/medicine as personified agent) | 3 Mantras

Sukta 66

This one-verse Atharvavedic charm recalls a “strayed” Brahman—mantra-power and ritual efficacy—that has wandered into the open environment (mid-air, wind, trees, thickets). By naming the possible loci where sacred potency may lodge and commanding its return, the hymn restores the performer’s protective and operative force, ensuring the rite again “takes hold.”

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (anonymous/collective in many AV apotropaic pieces) | Devata: Brahman (mantra-power) personified; secondarily Vāta/Antarikṣa as loci | 1 Mantras

Sukta 67

This one-verse restorative formula calls back a person’s lost or diminished faculties—vigor (indriya), selfhood (ātman), wealth (draviṇa), and brahmanic potency (brāhmaṇa/“Brahman-power”). It further asks the dhīṣṇya fires to re-establish everything “in its proper station,” making the hymn both a personal reconstitution charm and a domestic-ritual reordering spell.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition (often anonymous in such restorative formulas) | Devata: Indriya/Ātman (personified faculties); Agni (as dhīṣṇya fires) | 1 Mantras

Sukta 68

AV 7.68 is a brief Sarasvatī-hymn used to make an accepted oblation and to secure continuity of the household through progeny. It links Sarasvatī’s celestial “ordinances” with domestic prosperity, and explicitly connects the offering to the Pitṛs as the “mouth” through which the rite is carried, sealing the rite with a plea to remain under the goddess’s benevolent gaze.

Rishi: Traditionally Atharvanic/Angirasa milieu (hymn to Sarasvatī; specific r̥ṣi varies by anukramaṇī) | Devata: Sarasvatī | 3 Mantras

Sukta 69

This single-mantra śānti hymn asks the beneficent powers that govern the daily cycle—Wind, Sun, Days, Nights, and Dawn—to align themselves for the chanter’s welfare. By blessing breath (vāta), warmth and vitality (sūrya), and the safe alternation of time (ahanī/rātrī/uṣas), it aims to pacify unseen dangers, especially those associated with night, and to stabilize health and good fortune.

Rishi: Atharvanic tradition | Devata: Vāta, Sūrya, Ahanī (Days), Rātrī (Nights), Uṣas (Dawn) as beneficent powers | 1 Mantras

Sukta 70

This short Abhicārika hymn is a coercive charm meant to immobilize and silence a hostile person (or malign agency) by ritually “binding” their arms and mouth and by collapsing the efficacy of their sacrifice. It channels Agni in his ghorá (dread) aspect, with Manyu (wrath) as the operative force, to strike down the opponent’s havis/ājya and prevent their rite from reaching accomplishment.

Rishi: Atharvanic/Angiras-type attribution (hymn-level tradition) | Devata: Agni (ghora), with Manyu (wrath) as operative power | 5 Mantras

Deities of Anuvaka 7

  • Agni

    Protector and purifier (tapas-kindler, durita-destroyer, settlement-guardian)

    In 3 hymns

  • ApamargaApāmārga (plant power)

    Healer and cleanser (counter-curse, stain-remover)

    In 1 hymn

  • SarasvatiSarasvatī

    Bestower (rite-success, progeny, domestic continuity)

    In 1 hymn

  • Brahmanmantra-power, ritual efficacy

    Restorer (recalled sacred potency)

    In 1 hymn

  • Indriya / AtmanIndriya / Ātman (vital faculties)

    Restorer (vigor and selfhood)

    In 1 hymn

  • VataVāta (Wind)

    Protector (breath/health alignment)

    In 1 hymn

  • SuryaSūrya (Sun)

    Protector (warmth, order, wellbeing)

    In 1 hymn

  • UshasUṣas (Dawn)

    Protector (auspicious beginning)

    In 1 hymn

  • AhoratraAhorātra (Days and Nights)

    Protector (rhythmic stability and welfare)

    In 1 hymn

  • Omen-averting Shanti forcesOmen-averting Śānti forces (prāyaścitta)

    Pacifier (enas/inauspiciousness neutralization)

    In 1 hymn

  • Binding / nirodha forceabhi-cāra

    Restrainer (silencing and immobilizing hostility)

    In 1 hymn

Inside Anuvaka 7

The theme

Re-centering sacred power: kindling Agni-tapas, restoring lost brahman/indriya, and neutralizing omens and hostile speech

Threads through it

  • Agni as tapas-generator, hearth-center, and remover of durita
  • Śānti/prāyaścitta for omen-bird contact and daily-cycle harmonization
  • Ritual recovery of “strayed” Brahman and recalled faculties (indriya, ātman, draviṇa)
  • Plant-based cleansing with Apāmārga to expel śamala and counter-curses
  • Sarasvatī for accepted offering and household continuity through progeny
  • Abhicāra restraint: binding/silencing an adversary

Who it serves

For householders and ritual specialists facing inauspicious omens, loss of potency or confidence, need for purification and protection, securing progeny/prosperity, and curbing hostile aggression or slander.

What it heals

  • Inauspicious omen-contact and resulting enas (guilt/defilement)Sukta 7.64
  • Loss or weakening of vigor, selfhood, and confidence (indriya/ātman decline)Sukta 7.67
  • Ritual inefficacy or “strayed” mantra-power (brahman wandering)Sukta 7.66
  • Need for purification from inner stain (śamala) and countering curses/hostile imprecationsSukta 7.65
  • Misfortune, obstacles, and danger requiring protective crossing (durita-pārayaṇa)Sukta 7.63
  • Household continuity: acceptance of offering and securing progenySukta 7.68
  • Daily-cycle imbalance affecting wellbeing (breath, warmth, rest)Sukta 7.69
  • Hostile speech/attack; need to immobilize and silence an adversarySukta 7.70
  • Establishing a protected hearth-center and routing hostile forces around the dwellingSukta 7.62
  • Generating disciplined potency (tapas) for protection and successSukta 7.61

Frequently Asked Questions

They re-establish auspicious, effective power in and around the household—through Agni’s tapas and protection, recovery of lost brahman/indriya, and śānti against omens and hostility.

AV 7.64 addresses enas from an omen-bird via prāyaścitta-śānti, and AV 7.65 uses Apāmārga as a cleansing counter-curse to drive away śamala and hostile imprecations.

Protection is prominent in Agni hymns (7.61–7.63) and the daily-cycle śānti (7.69), while coercive restraint is explicit in the binding/silencing charm of AV 7.70.

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