Atharva Veda 4.37.8: Kanda 4, Anuvaka 4, Sukta 37, Mantra 8
Sukta 37
भी॒मा इन्द्र॑स्य हे॒तयः॑ श॒तमृ॒ष्टीर॑य॒स्मयीः॑ । ताभि॑र्हविर॒दान् ग॑न्ध॒र्वान॑वका॒दान् व्यृऽषतु
bhīmā́ índrasya hetáyaḥ śatamṛṣṭī́r ayasmáyīḥ | tā́bhir haviradā́n gandharvā́n avakādā́n vy-ṛṣatu ||
Terrible are Indra’s missiles, iron, with a hundred edges: with these let them smite apart the Gandharvas, eaters of the oblation, the Avakāda-eaters.
Ngerilah senjata-senjata Indra, daripada besi, bermata seratus; dengan itu biarlah mereka memukul-cerai para Gandharva, pemakan persembahan (havis), para pemakan Avakāda.
The meaning
What it says
Indra’s terrible iron, hundred-edged missiles are invoked to strike apart Gandharvas—beings who consume the oblation and ‘avakāda’—driving them away from the ritual/household sphere.
The inner meaning
Gandharvas here represent disruptive appetites and invasive fantasies that ‘eat the offering’—the fruits of one’s discipline. The iron weapons symbolize decisive discrimination that cuts through obsession and pollution.
The truth in it
When sanctity (havis) is threatened by parasitic forces, protection requires sharp discernment and the courage to sever what feeds on your inner offerings.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Rakṣoghna / Abhicarika (Apotropaic expulsion of spirits)
Its aim
To drive away Gandharvas and related impure beings who steal offerings and afflict women/household order.
Word by Word
Pada patha
भी॒माः । इन्द्र॑स्य । हे॒तयः॑ । श॒त-मृ॒ष्टीः । अ॒य॒स्मयीः॑ । ताभिः॑ । ह॒वि॒र॒-दा॒न् । ग॒न्ध॒र्वान् । अ॒व॒का॒-दा॒न् । वि । ऋ॒ष॒तु
- भीमाः
- terrible, fearsometerrible, awe-inspiring (apotropaic, fear-inducing)Adjectiveपुंलिङ्गे प्रथमा बहुवचनम् (इन्द्रस्य हेतवः इति विशेषणम्)Role KartāRoot भीम (प्रातिपदिक)
- इन्द्रस्य
- of IndraNounपुंलिङ्गे षष्ठी एकवचनम्Role Sambandha (Genitive relation)Root इन्द्र (प्रातिपदिक)
- हेतयः
- missiles, weapons, dartsmissiles, weapons (projectiles of divine punishment)Nounस्त्रीलिङ्गे प्रथमा बहुवचनम्Role KartāRoot हेति (प्रातिपदिक)
- शतमृष्टीः
- hundred-pointed (hundred-spiked)hundred-edged / hundred-pointed (many-pronged, irresistibly piercing)Adjectiveस्त्रीलिङ्गे द्वितीया बहुवचनम् (अयसमयीः इति विशेषणेन सह; हेतयः इत्यस्य विशेष्यस्य विशेषणम्/विस्तारः)Role Karma (appositional/object-like descriptor)Root शतमृष्टि (प्रातिपदिक; शत + मृष्टि)
- अयसमयीः
- made of ironAdjectiveस्त्रीलिङ्गे द्वितीया बहुवचनम्Role Karma (descriptor in apposition)Root अयसमय (प्रातिपदिक; अयस् + मयट्)
- ताभिः
- with those (with them)with those (i.e., with those weapons)Pronounस्त्रीलिङ्गे तृतीया बहुवचनम्Role KaraṇaRoot तद् (सर्वनाम)
- हविरदान्
- havis-eating (oblation-devouring)oblation-eaters/stealers (beings who consume or spoil offerings; ritual-polluters)Adjective (used substantively)पुंलिङ्गे द्वितीया बहुवचनम्Role KarmaRoot हविरद (प्रातिपदिक; हविस् + अद् ‘to eat’ → ‘havis-eater’)
- गन्धर्वान्
- GandharvasNounपुंलिङ्गे द्वितीया बहुवचनम्Role KarmaRoot गन्धर्व (प्रातिपदिक)
- अवकादान्
- biting/tearing down (harmful)avakā́da-eaters/avakā́da-associated (a class of impure, watery/liminal beings; ritual-defilers)Adjective (used substantively)पुंलिङ्गे द्वितीया बहुवचनम्Role KarmaRoot अवकाद (प्रातिपदिक; अव + काद/कद् ‘to bite/tear’ → ‘one who bites down/gnaws’; used as epithet)
- वि
- apart, asunder, awayapart, asunder (dispersal, expulsion)Indeclinableउपसर्गः (व्यृऽषतु इत्यस्य)Root वि (उपसर्ग)
- अव्यृऽषतु
- let them drive away / scatter (them)Verbलोट् (आज्ञार्थे) परस्मैपदम्, तृतीयपुरुषः बहुवचनम्Role Kriyā (main verb)Root √वृष्/√वृज् (धातु; वैदिक-रूपेण ‘to drive off, scatter, cast away’), उपसर्गः वि
Sandhi Notes
- पाठे ‘ताभि॑र्हविर॒दान्’ = ताभिः + हविरदान् (विसर्गस्य रेफादेशः). अन्ते ‘व्यृऽषतु’ = वि + (अ)व्यृऽषतु
- ‘वि’ उपसर्गः, ‘अ’ आगम/प्रगृह्य-चिह्न (ऽ) वैदिकपाठ-लक्षणम्
- अर्थतः ‘वि’ + धात्वर्थः ‘अपसारणे/विक्षेपे’
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition (hymn attributed in the AV ancillary tradition to Atharvan/Angiras-type seers; exact r̥ṣi assignment varies by anukramaṇī).
- Devata
- Indra’s weapons (Indra as implicit divine agent); anti-Gandharva force.
- Chandas
- Anuṣṭubh (predominant in this section; verse-form consistent with 8-syllable quarters).
- Rasa
- Raudra and Vira
Sāyaṇa takes Indra’s ‘hetayaḥ’ as divinely empowered weapons employed for rakṣo-nivāraṇa. ‘Haviradān’ are those who spoil or consume the sacrificial offering (havis), hence obstructing rite and prosperity. ‘Avakādān’ is glossed as a polluting class connected with avakā́da (a foul/impure watery residue or growth), marking them as liminal, unclean, and fit for expulsion. The verb is read as a forceful dispersal/smiting (vi-√ṛṣ/√ṛj nuance), i.e., driving them away from the ritual sphere and from women.
Anukramaṇī-varies; Atharvan–Āṅgiras protective/expulsive seer (often classed in Angiras-style for fierceness)
Abhicārika-rakṣoghna expulsions: driving off Gandharvas/bhūtas that disturb offerings, women, and domestic order; weaponized Indra-invocation.
Represents the Angiras edge within Atharvan practice: fierce purification to protect the sacrificial economy of the home (havis, śrī, fertility).
Indra (via his hetayaḥ)
Champion of order who breaks obstructive forces; here, his weapons police the boundary between pure offering and polluting spirit-consumption.
Indirect—removes spirit-caused affliction (bhūta/gandharva disturbance) that can manifest as anxiety, sexual disorder, or household unrest.
High—aggressive apotropaic expulsion; ‘cutting’ protection.
4 pādas × 8 syllables (with Atharvanic phonetic compression at sandhi points)
Weapon-epithet compounds (śatamṛṣṭīr ayasmayīḥ) can create heavy syllabic clusters; chant with clear caesura after hetayaḥ.
Martial, percussive—well-suited to stamping/striking gestures in expulsion rites.
Energizes and ‘cuts’; evokes a cleansing fear that drives out intrusive imagery.
Prepare a protective rite in the house (gṛha) or near the afflicted person (often a woman troubled by Gandharva).
Kindle a small domestic fire or establish a protective boundary with water-sprinkling and sweeping.
Recite the mantra while making a dispersal gesture (casting/sweeping outward) toward doors, thresholds, and the woman’s sleeping-place.
Optionally accompany with offering of clarified butter (ghṛta) or protective fumigation; the recitation targets ‘havis-stealers’ as ritual obstacles.
Conclude by directing the spirits ‘apart’ (vi) beyond the settlement boundary.
Kauśika Sūtra: rakṣoghna-karmāṇi for Gandharva/Apsaras expulsion (AV 4.37 employed in domestic apotropaic rites; exact sūtra numbering varies by edition).
Atharvan/Brahman officiant as exorcist-protector: recites, establishes boundary, and performs outward-expulsion gestures; safeguards the integrity of havis and household purity.
Recite near the hearth/offerings; sprinkle/clean polluted areas; accompany with loud claps, stamping, or sweeping outward to ‘drive out’.
After suspected pollution (improper eating/sexual irregularity/unclean visitors); before important domestic offerings; at twilight (liminal time).
Atharvan priest leads expulsive rite; householder assists with sweeping, disposal of residue, and re-establishing clean offering space.
Kauśika tradition commonly deploys AV 4.37 in Gandharva-expulsion contexts (specific numbering varies by edition).
Use as a symbolic ‘reset’ after conflict: clean the kitchen/altar, discard stale offerings, recite as boundary restoration.
Indra’s iron hundred-edged weapons (imagined apotropaic armament); havis (oblation) as the contested ritual substance; avakā́da (impure residue/growth; marker of pollution)
Implicit: havis belongs to Agni; the conflict is around the offering-fire economy though fire is not named in the verse.
Iron signifies uncompromising purification; havis is sacred nourishment meant for gods/ancestral order; avakāda marks damp residue/pollution—what spirits feed on when order decays.
Spirit-affliction framed as Gandharva disturbance: sexual/mental agitation, household disharmony, ritual pollution (Atharvanic etiologies).
Expulsion by invoking Indra’s cutting weapons; purification by breaking the cohesion of the afflicting entity and restoring havis-protection.
Bhūta-vidyā parallels (graha/bhūta afflictions); also krimi/pollution metaphors where ‘eaters’ consume vitality.
Ritualized ‘intrusion removal’ for stress linked to boundary violations; symbolic severing of compulsions/addictions that ‘eat’ one’s resources.
Gandharvas (spirit class) and impurity-linked beings described as havis/avakāda eaters.
Smite apart and drive away Gandharvas who steal offerings and feed on impurity; restore ritual integrity.
Aggressive divine armament imagery; verbal ‘weaponization’ (bhīmā hetayaḥ) + command to disintegrate (vi ṛṣatu).
Ritual theft, pollution, spirit intrusion, disturbances around women/household sexuality (common Gandharva trope).
Protection of offerings supports prosperity indirectly (havis preserved → merit/śrī preserved).
- इन्द्रस्य हेतयः (indrasya hetayaḥ)
- protective will; discriminative force that defends order (ṛta) against intrusion
- भीमाः (bhīmāḥ)
- awe-inspiring boundary power; fear that protects rather than paralyzes
- शत-मृष्टीः (śata-mṛṣṭīḥ)
- many-faceted cutting insight; total coverage against evasive spirits
- अयस्मयीः (ayasmayīḥ)
- hard, uncompromising protection; ‘metal’ resolve
- हविर-दान् (havir-adān)
- forces that steal merit/attention; interruptions that consume sacred resources
- गन्धर्वान् (gandharvān)
- liminal spirits of desire/possession; disruptors of household/sexual-ritual order in Atharvanic idiom
- अवकादान् (avakādān)
- pollution-feeders; entities thriving on residue, damp decay, leftover impurity
- वि ऋषतु (vi ṛṣatu)
- expulsion by disintegration—break the cohesion of the intrusive force
Cutting away what ‘eats the offering’: identify the habit/thought that consumes your energy and sever it with clear resolve.
manipura (protective will/fire of digestion and boundary)
Kapalabhāti-light or forceful exhales (if appropriate) synchronized with vi ṛṣatu; otherwise strong diaphragmatic exhale.
Iron, many-edged rays emanate from the solar plexus, slicing cords of intrusion; the offering-flame becomes protected and bright.
Fierce clarity (tīkṣṇa-sattva).
Recite 11 times standing; on each vi ṛṣatu, make a gentle outward sweeping gesture; end with calm breathing to return to śānti.
Energetic recitation; keep compound phrases crisp; slight emphasis on bhīmā and śatamṛṣṭīḥ.
Beat the rhythm on: bhīmā́ | índrasya | hetáyaḥ; śatá-mṛṣṭīḥ; ví ṛṣatu.
Commanding, expulsive, slightly louder than normal.
Traditionally paired with outward-driving actions (sweeping, clapping, stamping). End with a calming verse/quiet breath to ‘close’ the space.
11 times
Household feels ‘polluted’ or energetically disturbed; offerings/rituals feel blocked; intrusive sexual/mental agitation framed in traditional terms.
After cleaning and before re-establishing daily offerings; during a home-protection session; when recurring disturbances cluster around the hearth/kitchen/altar.
Sense of cleared space, restored order around food/offerings, increased confidence and firmness.
Use a calming follow-up if prone to anger/anxiety; do not use to justify blaming others for mental health issues.
The verse itself foregrounds metallic (ayasmáyīḥ) weaponry rather than a named herb; the ‘substance’ at stake is havis and the polluting avakā́da. The mantra weaponizes material imaginaries (iron, many edges) to effect expulsion, mapping ritual pollution onto tangible hardness and cutting force.
It presumes a household/sacrificial economy where havis is central and its protection is a priestly concern. Spirits are framed as ‘stealers’ of sacrificial value, implying a hierarchy: human ritualists and their offerings are normative; liminal beings are criminalized as polluters and expelled by Atharvanic expertise.
The demonological targeting of Gandharvas as havis-spoilers is more Atharvanic in tone than typical RV praise. Compounds like haviradā́n and avakādā́n show the AV’s penchant for classificatory demon-epithets; the violent dispersal with vi- plus a striking verb aligns with AV exorcistic diction.
Gopatha frequently rationalizes Atharvanic mantras as protective ‘brahman’ that secures sacrifice and household order against rakṣas and pollution. This verse’s efficacy would be framed as restoring the rite’s integrity by removing beings who consume/defile offerings and disturb women, thereby re-stabilizing dharma and prosperity.
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