Sukta 163
Sukta 10.163
Late Maṇḍala 10 healing tradition; specific r̥ṣi uncertain.
Likely Tr̥ṣṭubh.
This short healing hymn is an “extraction” (vṛh-) formula aimed at uprooting yakṣman, a wasting affliction, from every part of the patient’s body. Verse by verse it names bodily regions—from head and senses down to hips, limbs, hair, and joints—ritually separating the disease and restoring wholeness. The power invoked is primarily the mantra itself and the therapeutic act of naming, locating, and expelling the malady.
In this hymn
Addressed to
Mantras
Mantra 1
अक्षीभ्यां ते नासिकाभ्यां कर्णाभ्यां छुबुकादधि । यक्ष्मं शीर्षण्यं मस्तिष्काज्जिह्वाया वि वृहामि ते ॥
तुम्हारी आँखों से, नाक से, कानों से, ठोड़ी से। सिर के दर्द को, दिमाग की बीमारी को, जीभ की तकलीफ को। मैं तुमसे बाहर निकाल देता हूँ। यह सब बीमारी तुमसे अलग हो जाए।
Mantra 2
ग्रीवाभ्यस्त उष्णिहाभ्यः कीकसाभ्यो अनूक्यात् । यक्ष्मं दोषण्यमंसाभ्यां बाहुभ्यां वि वृहामि ते ॥
मैं तुम्हारे गला से, उसकी नसों से, और रिरबोन से यह बिमारी निकाल रहा हूँ। कंधे से, बाहों से, जहाँ हरकत होती है वहाँ से भी मैं इसको जड़ से उखाड़ रहा हूँ।
Mantra 3
आन्त्रेभ्यस्ते गुदाभ्यो वनिष्ठोर्हृदयादधि । यक्ष्मं मतस्नाभ्यां यक्नः प्लाशिभ्यो वि वृहामि ते ॥
पेट के अंदर से, नीचे के हिस्से से, मूतने की जगह से, और दिल के पास से मैं यह बिमारी निकाल रहा हूँ। दोनों गुर्दे से, कलेजे से, और अंदर की झिल्ली से भी मैं इसको जड़ से उखाड़ रहा हूँ।
Mantra 4
ऊरुभ्यां ते अष्ठीवद्भ्यां पार्ष्णिभ्यां प्रपदाभ्याम् । यक्ष्मं श्रोणिभ्यां भासदाद्भंससो वि वृहामि ते ॥
तुम्हारी टांगों से, हड्डियों से, एड़ियों से और पाँव की उंगलियों से मैं यह बिमारी निकाल रहा हूँ। कमर से, चूतने की जगह से, और उसके बेस से भी मैं इसको जड़ से उखाड़ रहा हूँ ताकि तुम सही से चल सको।
Mantra 5
मेहनाद्वनंकरणाल्लोमभ्यस्ते नखेभ्यः । यक्ष्मं सर्वस्मादात्मनस्तमिदं वि वृहामि ते ॥
मूतने की जगह से, शरीर के बनाने वाले हिस्से से, बालों से और नाखों से मैं यह बिमारी निकाल रहा हूँ। तुम्हारे पूरे शरीर से, तुम्हारी आत्मा से, मैं इसको जड़ से उखाड़ रहा हूँ।
Mantra 6
अङ्गादङ्गाल्लोम्नोलोम्नो जातं पर्वणिपर्वणि । यक्ष्मं सर्वस्मादात्मनस्तमिदं वि वृहामि ते ॥
एक अंग से दूसरे अंग तक, बाल से बाल तक, हर जोड़ पर पैदा हुई यह बिमारी मैं निकाल रहा हूँ। तुम्हारे पूरे शरीर से, तुम्हारी आत्मा से, मैं इसको जड़ से उखाड़ कर फेंक रहा हूँ।
Inside Sukta 163
How it unfolds
- Where it opens
A direct therapeutic address to the patient: the healer begins removing yakṣman from the head, senses, and speech-organ, establishing control through precise naming.
- Development
The extraction moves systematically through the body—upper regions to lower—treating the illness as something lodged locally that can be separated and uprooted.
- Climax
The comprehensive sweep intensifies: the disease is envisioned as recurring at every joint and strand, yet still removable by the mantra’s repeated ‘vi vṛhāmi te’ (“I tear it out from you”).
- Where it settles
A final total extraction from the entire ātman (whole being) affirms complete separation, leaving the patient conceptually restored to integrity and vitality.
The deity: Yakṣmanāśana
- Cosmic functionRestores ṛta at the microcosmic level by re-establishing bodily integrity, driving disorder and decay out of the human organism and returning vitality and proper function.
- Inner significanceA disciplined act of diagnosis and release: naming the affliction, locating it precisely, and affirming separation from it—supporting confidence, coherence, and the will to health.
The seer
- Anirukta (late Maṇḍala 10 healing tradition; sometimes linked in tradition to Kṣema)Association with late Rigvedic therapeutic/āyuṣya material that uses precise anatomical enumeration and the verb vi vṛh- (“to pluck/tear out”) as a formal exorcistic-healing technique.
Famous verses
vi vṛhāmi te
vi vṛhāmi te
aṅgād-aṅgāl lomno-lomno
Attributes of the deity
- Extractive/healing efficacy (vi vṛh-)
- Anatomical specificity
- Apotropaic (disease-expelling) force
- Restorative of wholeness and movement
- Mantra-centered, ritualized speech-act
Also by this seer
- RV 10.161 (yakṣma-removal/healing formula; closely related in theme and diction)
- RV 10.162 (funerary/ritual removal themes; adjacent late material often grouped with practical rites)
- Late Maṇḍala 10 ‘bhaiṣajya’ (healing) style hymns transmitted with variable r̥ṣi attributions
The rite, step by step
- Seat the patient in a calm, protected space (often near the household fire or a prepared ritual area).
- Recite the hymn sequentially, beginning with head and sense-organs, then moving downward through trunk and limbs, matching words to the body region named.
- With each verse, perform a symbolic ‘plucking out’ gesture (drawing the hand away from the named body part), affirming separation of the affliction.
- Conclude by reciting the final, totalizing extraction (from “limb to limb…from the whole self”), sealing the removal.
- Optionally, dispose of a symbolic carrier (grass, water, or a small token) away from the dwelling to enact the disease’s departure.
Offerings
- Ghee or simple oblations into Agni (where a fire is maintained)
- Water for sprinkling/ācamana as a cooling and purifying support
- Kuśa grass or a small symbolic ‘carrier’ used for the extraction gesture
Frequently Asked Questions
Yakṣman is a Vedic term for a wasting affliction—an illness that weakens the body. The hymn treats it as something that can be located in body parts and ritually removed.
In these verses the devatā is mostly implicit: the hymn functions as a healing-extraction formula powered by mantra. In later practice, such healing is often associated with the Aśvins or supported through Agni, but the text here focuses on the act of removal itself.
The listing is a ritual form of diagnosis and separation: by naming each region, the healer symbolically finds the disease and ‘plucks it out.’ The final verse then removes it from the whole person, leaving no place for it to remain.
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