Atharva Veda 15.13.7: Kanda 15, Anuvaka 2, Sukta 13, Mantra 7
Sukta 13
तद् यस्यै॒वं वि॒द्वान् व्रात्य॑श्चतु॒र्थीं रात्रि॒मति॑थिर्गृ॒हे वस॑ति
tád yásyaiváṁ vidvā́n vrā́tyaś caturthī́ṁ rā́trim átithir gṛhé vásati
That (same celestial gain) is his, for whom, in this wise, a knowing Vratya, a guest, abides in the house the fourth night.
Ta sama niebiańska nagroda należy do niego, dla którego w ten sposób wiedzący Vratya, gość, przebywa w domu czwartą noc.
The meaning
What it says
The same heavenly gain belongs to the one in whose house a knowing Vratya, as a guest, stays for the fourth night.
The inner meaning
Transformation requires time and containment: the ‘fourth night’ marks a threshold where the unfamiliar/powerful presence is fully integrated rather than merely received. The psyche learns to host what is potent and disruptive without fear.
The truth in it
Hospitality is a spiritual technology: sustained care for the other reshapes destiny. Deep benefits come not from a momentary gesture but from continued, disciplined relationship.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Paustika / Social-ritual merit
Its aim
To secure the next higher/continued set of meritorious realms by hosting the knowing Vratya for the fourth night
Word by Word
Pada patha
तत् । यस्य । एवम् । विद्वान् । व्रात्यः । चतुर्थीम् । रात्रिम् । अतिथिः । गृहे । वसति ।
- तत्
- that (it)that (reward previously stated)Pronounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- यस्य
- of whom / whoseof whom; for which manPronounपुं/नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचनRole Sambandha (Genitive relation)Root यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- एवम्
- thus, in this mannerthus, in the prescribed mannerIndeclinableअव्ययRoot एवम्
- विद्वान्
- knowing, learnedknowing; endowed with sacred knowledgeAdjective (participial)पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचन (वर्तमानकृदन्तः—क्तवत्/वत्-प्रत्ययान्तः ‘knowing’)Role KartāRoot विद्वस् (√विद् ‘to know’)
- व्रात्यः
- the Vrātya (ascetic/outsider figure)Vratya (powerful liminal guest)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot व्रात्य (प्रातिपदिक)
- चतुर्थीम्
- the fourthAdjective (ordinal)स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot चतुर्थी (प्रातिपदिक)
- रात्रिम्
- nightNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot रात्रि (प्रातिपदिक)
- अतिथिः
- a guestguest, sacrosanct visitorNounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot अतिथि (प्रातिपदिक)
- गृहे
- in the houseNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचनRole AdhikaraṇaRoot गृह (प्रातिपदिक)
- वसति
- dwells, staysdwells/stays (is lodged)Verbलट् (वर्तमान), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRoot √वस् (निवासे)
Sandhi Notes
- (1) तद् + यस्य → तत् यस्य (final द् becomes त् before य).
- (2) यस्य + एवम् → यस्यैवम् (written as यस्यै॒वं).
- (3) अतिथिः + गृहे → अतिथिर्गृहे (visarga → र् before voiced consonant ग). No further obligatory sandhi
- चतुर्थीम् रात्रिम् is apposition (‘the fourth night’)
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition (Vratya cycle)
- Devata
- Vratya-as-atithi / merit-fruit (loka)
- Chandas
- Ritual-prose style
- Rasa
- Shanta and Adbhuta
Sāyaṇa reads the fourth-night lodging as a further intensification of the merit-act, yielding the next graded reward. The repeated ‘tad yasya’ frames a juridical-like condition: the fruit belongs to the host who fulfills the specified hospitality term.
Vratya-cycle (Atharvanic traditional attribution; no single fixed ṛṣi-name)
Domestic ritual merit via hospitality; managing liminal sacred power (Vratya) through time-bound observance.
Encodes the Atharvan idea that the householder can ‘purchase’ heaven not only by sacrifice but by ethically and ritually containing a powerful guest.
Vratya-as-Atithi (guest-form of sacred power)
Mediator between settled society and the wild sacred; a mobile axis that transfers potency/merit when honored correctly.
Protects the household by converting liminal danger into blessing; grants auspicious ‘loka’ outcomes.
Atharvanic ritual-prose (gadyātmaka) with long syntactic span
Single flowing sentence; natural pauses after vidvān | vrātyaḥ | caturthīm rātrim | atithiḥ | gṛhe vasati
Narrative-prose used as ritual prescription/condition statement (yasy… tasya…).
Conditional-legal rhythm: ‘That is his, for whom…’
Creates a sense of contractual certainty—merit as a result of a clearly stated domestic condition.
Extend hospitality through the fourth night.
Provide food and protection; avoid any breach of guest-law.
Recite the mantra at the formal confirmation of the fourth-night stay.
Mark completion by respectful send-off or transition to subsequent prescribed acts.
Kauśika Sūtra: Vratya-atithi graded lodging observance (general alignment; numbering varies)
Atharvan priest ensures the correct count and the correct performative utterance, treating the mantra as the legal ‘seal’ of the merit transfer.
When a revered outsider/renunciant/teacher is hosted, recite to frame the stay as a merit-rite; emphasize continuity through the fourth night.
At the end of each evening’s hospitality, especially marking the fourth night as completion.
Householder as ritual agent; a purohita may instruct on observance boundaries and gifts.
Kauśika Sūtra associates AVŚ 15 with Vratya-related rites and hospitality frames (exact numbering varies).
Used to sacralize multi-day retreats/hosting teachers, reinforcing ethical care and sustained support.
Though unnamed, the ‘substances’ are the domestic offerings that convert social action into metaphysical fruit; the house becomes a ritual vessel.
Social support and prosocial behavior improving wellbeing; ‘hosting’ as stress-buffering and meaning-making.
Householder/host
To obtain the same celestial merit-fruit by correctly hosting the knowing Vratya through the fourth night.
Time-bound observance (four nights) + bandhu logic: guest-presence equals loka-gain.
Inauspiciousness from mishandled hospitality; loss of merit due to insufficient observance duration.
Spiritual prosperity; household auspiciousness; fame for generosity.
- विद्वान् (vidvān)
- one who carries effective knowledge/power; a catalytic presence
- व्रात्यः (vrātyaḥ)
- the liminal sacred—wild dharma, untamed potency that can bless when rightly received
- अतिथिः (atithiḥ)
- the divine-in-disguise; the test of household virtue
- चतुर्थीम् रात्रिम् (caturthīm rātrim)
- completion of a cycle; stabilization/ratification of the guest’s power into merit
- गृहे वसति (gṛhe vasati)
- integration of sacred power into domestic space
Practicing ‘inner hospitality’—welcoming difficult energies/thoughts without expelling them prematurely, until they transform.
anahata (hospitality/relational virtue)
Even breathing with a gentle lengthening of exhale to cultivate receptivity; mentally mark ‘four cycles’ of breath as ‘four nights’.
Visualize the heart as a well-lit house; a luminous guest enters and stays safely, bringing blessings with time.
Receptive steadiness; non-reactive containment.
Pair with a concrete act: host someone, serve a meal, or volunteer; keep the commitment over multiple days to embody ‘caturthīm rātrim’.
Plain Atharvanic recitation; emphasize the conditional frame ‘tad yasya…’ and key nouns (vidvān, vrātyaḥ, atithiḥ).
Stress ‘caturthīm rātrim’ as the ritual hinge; land firmly on ‘gṛhe vasati’.
Warm, hospitable tone; not aggressive—this is a paustika assurance.
Recite as part of a sequence with 15.13.6 and 15.13.8 to complete the ‘merit-world’ ladder.
Hosting a teacher/renunciant/elder; running a multi-day retreat; sustaining care for a guest or family member over several days.
Evenings during the guest’s stay; especially on the fourth night or on completion of the hosting period.
Cultivates sustained generosity, household harmony, and a sense of spiritual reward tied to care over time.
Avoid instrumentalizing hospitality; the Atharvanic efficacy presumes genuine honor and proper boundaries/consent for the guest.
Again none; the rite is social rather than pharmacological. The counted nights function like a dosage schedule: duration substitutes for substance as the variable controlling efficacy.
The host’s household becomes a ritual site where an outsider’s presence generates merit. This implies both the domestication of marginal charisma and the dependence of settled society on controlled relations with non-householder figures.
The repetitive conditional formula and ordinal-night specification are more typical of later ritual instruction than RV hymnody; the language is functional, almost administrative.
It would support the idea that ‘knowledge + correct observance’ yields predictable cosmic results; the Vratya’s potency is activated by proper reception, and the mantra articulates the causal link.
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