Rig Veda 10.97.11: Mandala 10, Sukta 97, Mantra 11
Sukta 10.97
- Devata
- Oṣadhayaḥ
- Chandas
- Anuṣṭubh
- Rasa
- Vira (heroism) and Shanta (peace)
यदिमा वाजयन्नहमोषधीर्हस्त आदधे । आत्मा यक्ष्मस्य नश्यति पुरा जीवगृभो यथा ॥
yád imā́ vā́jayan ahám oṣádhīr hásta ādadhé | ātmā́ yákṣmasya naśyati purā́ jīvá-gṛ́bho yáthā ||
ബലത്തിന്റെ പൂർണ്ണത തേടി ഞാൻ ഈ ഔഷധികളെ കൈയിൽ എടുക്കുമ്പോൾ, യക്ഷ്മയുടെ ആത്മാവുതന്നെ നശിക്കുന്നു—ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഒന്നിനെ പിടിച്ചു ഉറപ്പായി കെട്ടിയതുപോലെ.
Word by Word
- यदि
- ifIndeclinableसमुच्चय/शर्त-निबन्धन अव्यय (conditional particle)Root यदि
- इमा
- thesePronounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole KarmaRoot इदम्
- वा
- or / indeedIndeclinableविकल्पार्थक अव्ययRoot वा
- अजयन्
- they conquered / wonVerbलङ् (इम्परफेक्ट), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, बहुवचनRole KartāRoot जि
- अहम्
- IPronounउत्तमपुरुष-सर्वनाम, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot अहम्
- ओषधीः
- medicinal plantsNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, बहुवचनRole KarmaRoot ओषधि
- हस्ते
- in (my) handNounपुंलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचनRole AdhikaraṇaRoot हस्त
- आदधे
- I have placed / I take upVerbलिट् (परिप्रास/परफेक्ट; वैदिक प्रयोग), आत्मनेपद, उत्तमपुरुष, एकवचनRole KartāRoot धा (आ + धा)
- आत्मा
- the self / vital beingNounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot आत्मन्
- यक्ष्मस्य
- of disease / wasting sicknessNounपुंलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचनRole सम्बन्ध (genitive)Root यक्ष्म
- नश्यति
- perishes / disappearsVerbलट् (वर्तमान), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRole KartāRoot नश्
- पुरा
- formerly / beforeIndeclinableकालवाचक अव्ययRole AdhikaraṇaRoot पुरा
- जीवगृभः
- the life-seizer (disease/demon)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन (समास: जीव + गृभ ‘seizer of life’)Role KartāRoot जीव-गृभ
- यथा
- as / likeIndeclinableउपमानवाचक अव्ययRoot यथा
Sandhi Notes
- Sandhi resolution: (1) यदि॒मा → यदि + इमा (इ-आ संधि: इ + इ = ई, but here padapāṭha keeps separation; metrically read as यदि इमा)
- (2) वा॒जय॑न्न → वा + अजयन् (a- initial of verb after particle; written together in saṃhitā)
- (3) अहमो॑षधीः → अहम् + ओषधीः (म् + ओ = मो)
- (4) ओषधी॒र्हस्त॑ → ओषधीः + हस्ते (visarga before h: ः + ह → र्ह; and case-form in saṃhitā shows हस्त(े) with e)
- (5) हस्त॑ आद॒धे → हस्ते + आदधे (final -e before ā often written without explicit e in saṃhitā orthography)
- (6) पु॒रा जी॑व॒गृभो॑ → पुरा + जीवगृभः (final -o in saṃhitā reflects -aḥ before pause; here nominative sg. -ः)
The meaning
Outer meaning
The speaker says: when I take these medicinal herbs into my hand for strengthening, the very “self” (core) of yakṣma (wasting illness) is destroyed, as if a living creature were seized and held fast.
Inner meaning
The “healing plants” are inner forces of restoration—right vibrations, purifying energies, and luminous suggestions gathered by the will. When the seeker consciously “takes them in hand” (deliberate inner grasp), the central knot of the affliction—habit-energy of decline, doubt, or inertia—loses its soul-force and collapses. Disease here is not only bodily but a psychic ‘wasting’ that feeds on unconscious consent; firm holding by the awakened will breaks its life.
Universal truth
What we steadily and consciously hold in awareness grows; what we firmly seize as a higher force disintegrates the lower formation. The core of suffering perishes when met by united intention and restorative truth-force.
Themes
defeat of yakṣma, healing through conscious handling, capture metaphor
The seer
- Other hymns
- RV 10.97 (Oṣadhi-sūkta)
Family tradition
Healing/Ātharvaṇic-bhaiṣajya stream incorporated into RV 10.97
Significance
A collective seer-voice of therapeutic knowledge: the mantra acts as a ‘will-formula’ where speech (vāc) is used to grasp and bind the disorder until its sustaining essence breaks.
The deity
- Devata
- Oṣadhayaḥ (Healing Powers)
- Epithets
- bhiṣajīḥ (healers, implied), prāṇadāḥ (life-givers, implied), viśvabheṣajīḥ (universal remedies, implied)
- Related deities
- Soma (as bliss/nectar behind healing), Bṛhaspati (as inspirer of true word and right formation)
Cosmic role
Restorers of balance (ṛta) in the embodied field; they re-knit the broken harmony of life-force.
Inner power
Integrative śakti that recollects scattered energies, seals leaks of vitality, and re-establishes luminous order in the nerves and mind.
In ritual
Where it is used
Healing rites; herb-collection/administration with mantra
यदि॒मा वा॒जय॑न्न॒हमोष॑धी॒र्हस्त॑ आद॒धे । आ॒त्मा यक्ष्म॑स्य नश्यति पु॒रा जी॑व॒गृभो॑ यथा ॥
यत् । इ॒माः । वा॒जय॑न् । अ॒हम् । ओष॑धीः । हस्ते॑ । आ॒ऽद॒धे । आ॒त्मा । यक्ष्म॑स्य । न॒श्य॒ति॒ । पु॒रा । जी॒व॒ऽगृभः॑ । य॒था॒ ॥
yat | imāḥ | vājayan | aham | oṣadhīḥ | haste | ādadhe | ātmā | yakṣmasya | naśyati | purā | jīva-gṛbhaḥ | yathā
32
4 pādas × ~8 syllables
Compact, incantatory, ‘grasping’ cadence suited to binding and releasing formulas.
Produces steadiness and firmness of will; the short pādas help the mind ‘hold’ the intention without diffusion.
- वाजयन् (vājayan)
- Literal: seeking vāja: strength/prize/plenitude. Symbolic: aspiration for increased life-force and victorious energy in the sādhana
- ओषधीः (oṣadhīḥ)
- Literal: healing herbs/plants. Symbolic: divine healing powers—restorative vibrations, inner remedies, forces of harmony
- हस्ते आदधे (haste ādadhe)
- Literal: I take/hold in the hand. Symbolic: conscious grasp by will; deliberate application of the healing force
- आत्मा (ātmā)
- Literal: self/breath/essence. Symbolic: the central life-principle or sustaining core of a negative formation
- यक्ष्म (yakṣma)
- Literal: wasting disease/consumption. Symbolic: the devouring formation of decline—subconscient resistance that drains energy and joy
- जीवगृभः (jīvagṛbhaḥ)
- Literal: a living being seized. Symbolic: the hostile force caught by awareness and held so it cannot escape into disguise
Administration of medicines; consecrated handling; charm against wasting disease.
During preparation, holding, or applying medicines; also in protective recitation against wasting conditions.
Taking herbs in hand, consecrating them with vāc, then administering or placing them.
Use as a sankalpa-mantra when taking medicine or beginning a healing meditation: ‘I consciously take the restoring force; the core of the affliction dissolves.’
vāja: from √vaj ‘be strong’/‘impel’; not merely ‘prize/food’ but plenitude of force. ā-dadh: √dhā ‘put’ with ā- ‘towards’ → take up, hold. yakṣma: wasting illness; later associated with consumption; treated as a quasi-agent. naśyati from √naś ‘perish, vanish’.
vāja as force-plenitude, disease as hostile formation, agency of the will (hand/grasp)
Healing is re-entry into ṛta: the organism returns to right rhythm when the disorder’s ‘self’ is cut off.
Disease persists by falsehood/obscurity; truth-held-in-consciousness makes it perish.
Reconstitution of form: the powers of life rebuild what decay unmakes.
Proto-yogic/psychological Veda (Aurobindo-Kashyap line: devatā as inner powers).
Plants = restorative energies; hand = executive will; wasting sickness = draining subconscious formation.
- What is the primary Vedic 'mythologem' present in this verse?
- The ‘capture and destruction of the disease-essence’: yakṣma has an ‘ātmā’ (core), and when the oṣadhīs are grasped with conscious intent (vājayan), that core collapses—mythically, the hostile formation is seized like a living creature and made to vanish.
- How does the linguistic structure reflect Proto-Indo-European roots?
- √dhā (ādadhe) continues PIE *dʰeh₁- ‘put, place’ (Gk τίθημι, Lat faciō is different root; but PIE *dʰeh₁- is clear). √naś ‘perish’ has Indo-Iranian parallels (Av nas-), reflecting an inherited lexicon of disappearance/destruction used for both physical and spiritual negation.
- What is the relationship between the Rishi and the Devata here?
- The rishi is a co-operator: by taking the powers ‘in the hand’ he provides the channel of will and precise application; the devatā then act to annihilate the disease-essence. The reciprocity is practical yoga—intention plus divine agency equals transformation.
Consciously ‘take in hand’ the restoring force: gather attention, affirm wholeness, and hold the afflicted pattern in steady awareness until it loses support.
maṇipūra (will/heat of transformation)
Slow nasal breathing with a brief hold after inhale while mentally ‘grasping’ the healing force; exhale imagining the disease-essence collapsing.
Saṃkalpa-driven concentration moving toward quiet assurance (śānta-vīra).
Name the affliction as a formation (not the Self). Invoke the oṣadhi-śakti, feel it in the palms/solar plexus, and maintain steady holding rather than anxious struggle.
Vedic accenting with udatta/anudatta/svarita as per śākhā tradition; maintain clear udātta lifts on key verbs (ādadhe, naśyati).
Keep pāda breaks clean; emphasize the intentional action (ādadhe) and the result (naśyati).
oṣadhīḥ: long īḥ, retroflex ṣ, ādadhe: long ā-, dental d, clear dh, yakṣmasya: kṣ conjunct crisp; avoid ‘yaksh’ softness, jīvagṛbho: long ī; ṛ short, rolled; bh voiced aspirate
Steady, firm, ‘holding’ tone; avoid haste.
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