Atharva Veda 15.13.5: Kanda 15, Anuvaka 2, Sukta 13, Mantra 5
Sukta 13
तद् यस्यै॒वं वि॒द्वान् व्रात्य॑स्तृ॒तीयां॒ रात्रि॒मति॑थिर्गृ॒हे वस॑ति
tád yásyaiváṁ vidvā́n vrā́tyas tṛtī́yāṁ rā́trim átithir gṛhé vásati
That (same reward) is his, for whom, in this wise, a knowing Vratya, a guest, abides in the house the third night.
Essa (mesma recompensa) é daquele em cuja casa, assim, um Vrātya conhecedor, como hóspede, permanece na terceira noite.
The meaning
What it says
That same reward accrues to the one in whose house a knowing Vrātya, as a guest (atithi), stays on the third night.
The inner meaning
Transformation requires time: the ‘third night’ signifies a threshold where initial discomfort with the liminal/unknown matures into integration. Hospitality to the ‘outsider-sage’ is hospitality to one’s own unassimilated wisdom.
The truth in it
Sustained, respectful hosting of wisdom—especially when it arrives in unconventional forms—brings enduring merit. True prosperity grows through patience, generosity, and reverence for knowledge.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Paustika / Social-ritual merit (atithi-dharma) within the Vratya cycle
Its aim
To obtain the specified merit-worlds by hosting a knowing Vratya for the third night
Word by Word
Pada patha
तत् । यस्य । एवम् । विद्वान् । व्रात्यः । तृतीयाम् । रात्रिम् । अतिथिः । गृहे । वसति ।
- तत्
- that (it)that (result/fruit just stated)Pronounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचनRole KarmaRoot तद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- यस्य
- of whom / whoseof whom; for which man (householder)Pronounपुं/नपुंसक, षष्ठी, एकवचनRole सम्बन्ध (genitive relation)Root यद् (सर्वनाम-प्रातिपदिक)
- एवम्
- thus, in this mannerthus, in this prescribed manner (as known/recited)Indeclinableअव्ययRole विशेषण (manner) / क्रियाविशेषणRoot एवम्
- विद्वान्
- knowing, learnedknowing, possessing sacred knowledge (thereby potent)Adjective (participle)पुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole Kartā (appositive to व्रात्यः)Root विद्वस् (√विद् ‘to know’ + क्तवतु/वस्-प्रत्यय; प्रातिपदिक: विद्वस्)
- व्रात्यः
- the Vrātya (ascetic/outsider figure)Vratya (liminal/outsider ascetic-warrior figure; here a charged ritual guest)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole KartāRoot व्रात्य (प्रातिपदिक)
- तृतीयाम्
- the thirdAdjective (ordinal)स्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचन (रात्रिम् इति विशेष्यस्य)Role Karma (with रात्रिम्) / काल-निर्देशRoot तृतीय (क्रमवाचक-विशेषण/संख्या-प्रातिपदिक)
- रात्रिम्
- nightNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, द्वितीया, एकवचनRole Karma (temporal extent) / कालाधिकरणार्थRoot रात्रि (प्रातिपदिक)
- अतिथिः
- a guestguest (one who must not be turned away; bearer of merit/danger)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole Kartā (appositive to व्रात्यः)Root अतिथि (प्रातिपदिक)
- गृहे
- in the houseNounनपुंसकलिङ्ग, सप्तमी, एकवचनRole AdhikaraṇaRoot गृह (प्रातिपदिक)
- वसति
- dwells, staysdwells, stays the night (ritually: is lodged/maintained)Verbलट् (वर्तमान), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRole क्रिया (predicate)Root √वस् (निवासे)
Sandhi Notes
- (1) तद् + यस्य → तद् यस्य (no change in pada-text).
- (2) यस्य + एवम् → यस्यैवम् (vowel sandhi: अ + ए → ऐ)
- resolved as ‘यस्य’ + ‘एवम्’.
- (3) अतिथिः + गृहे → अतिथिर्गृहे (visarga sandhi: ः + ग् → र् + ग्)
- resolved as ‘अतिथिः’ + ‘गृहे’
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition (Vratya cycle)
- Devata
- Vratya-as-atithi (efficacious agent) / the phala (loka)
- Chandas
- Ritual-prose style
- Rasa
- Shanta and Adbhuta
Sāyaṇa takes the sentence as an explicit ‘phala-vidhi’: the previously named loka is the fruit accruing to the host. ‘Tṛtīyāṁ rātrim’ is not incidental chronology but a graded rite: each additional night of lodging corresponds to a higher or distinct set of lokas.
Vrātya-cycle (anonymous Atharvanic redactional seers)
Domestic magic of hospitality (atithi-dharma) as paustika technology; Vrātya legitimation and merit transfer.
Recasts social ethics as ritual power: hosting the liminal adept becomes a sacrament that yields cosmic reward and stabilizes the household’s fortune.
Vrātya-as-Atithi (efficacious sacred guest) and the Phala (puṇya-loka)
The Vrātya mediates between margins and center, transferring merit and legitimacy; as guest, he tests and blesses the householder’s dharma.
Protects the household through sanctified hospitality—warding off inauspiciousness and social instability by correct reception of sacred power.
Atharvanic ritual-prose (narrative-legal statement)
Single extended clause with embedded qualifiers; emphasis points on ‘vidvān vrātyaḥ’ and ‘tṛtīyāṃ rātrim’.
Vrātya-kāṇḍa preference for procedural specificity (time condition) over metrical ornament.
Patient, time-marked cadence.
Invokes endurance and continuity—fitting the ‘third night’ requirement.
On the Vratya’s arrival, perform formal reception (water, seat, food).
Declare him ‘atithi’ and grant lodging.
Maintain the lodging through the third night (counted).
Recite this mantra at the moment of confirming the third-night stay, sealing the phala (reward).
Kauśika Sūtra: atithi-reception and Vratya-related domestic observances (general alignment; edition-dependent numbering)
Atharvan priest acts as ritual technologist: he times recitation to the lodging-count, ensures no breach of atithi obligations, and interprets the graded-night structure.
Applied when receiving an honored guest/teacher, especially one representing a liminal or renunciant tradition; emphasizes sustained lodging and service through a defined period.
From arrival through the third night; the ‘third night’ is the ritual threshold for full accrual of the stated reward.
Not strictly required; elder/priest may instruct proper guest rites and ensure respectful conduct.
Adapt as a teaching: host teachers/elders/seekers with dignity, not merely for a meal but with sustained care and listening.
The ‘substance’ is hospitality itself—food, shelter, and respectful attention become offerings. The third night marks maturation of the offering into stable merit.
Social health: sustained supportive relationships and mentorship (hosting wisdom) correlate with resilience and well-being.
Householder/family seeking prosperity, merit, and legitimation.
Obtain the same merit-realms/reward by hosting a knowing Vrātya as guest through the third night.
Hospitality as ritual technology: time-bound hosting acts as ‘merit transfer’ and household consecration.
Misfortune from neglect of atithi-dharma; loss of merit; social-spiritual instability.
Household fortune, reputation, merit, post-mortem well-being.
- विद्वान् (vidvān)
- embodied wisdom; efficacy depends on genuine realization, not costume
- व्रात्यः (vrātyaḥ)
- holy outsider; catalyst of social and spiritual reconfiguration
- अतिथिः (atithiḥ)
- the unexpected sacred; dharma of reception
- तृतीयाम् रात्रिम् (tṛtīyām rātrim)
- completion of a liminal cycle; threshold of assimilation and blessing
- गृहे वसति (gṛhe vasati)
- wisdom takes residence; the home becomes a consecrated field
Atithi-bhāva: welcoming the ‘guest’ of awareness, including difficult emotions, without expelling them prematurely.
Anahata
Soft, steady breathing with a pause after inhale—‘making room’ for the guest.
Visualize your home/heart as a lamp-lit room; a wise guest sits calmly; you offer water and a seat; by the ‘third night’ the room becomes luminous and stable.
Receptive steadiness; non-defensive openness.
Practice three-day hospitality inwardly: for three evenings, sit with one recurring emotion/thought as an honored guest—listen, offer compassion, and integrate its message.
Prose recitation; emphasize ‘vidvān vrātyaḥ’ and ‘tṛtīyāṃ rātrim’.
Let the time-condition ‘tṛtīyāṃ rātrim’ be clearly separated by a small pause; conclude gently on ‘vasati’.
Soft, hospitable, blessing-like.
Functions well as a household benediction when hosting a teacher/elder; emphasize sincerity over volume.
When hosting an important guest, teacher, elder, or spiritual mentor; when cultivating prosperity through generosity.
At the start of hosting and each evening up to (and including) the third night as a reaffirmation of atithi-dharma.
Strengthens household harmony, reputation, and a sense of blessed continuity; encourages sustained generosity rather than token charity.
Hospitality should be ethical and safe; do not override household boundaries or enable harm in the name of ‘merit’.
None is present; the operative medium is hospitality as a ritualized exchange. The mantra functions as a performative index linking a counted domestic act (third night) to a cosmological outcome.
The host’s prosperity depends on correct treatment of a powerful outsider. This suggests a social memory in which non-settled or marginal groups (Vratyas) could be integrated and ritually valorized, while householders sought to domesticate that power through regulated hospitality.
The construction is didactic and result-oriented (‘tad yasya…’), typical of later ritual discourse rather than RV praise-poetry. The emphasis on ordinal nights as a ritual parameter is also more brāhmaṇa-like.
It would read the passage as a karman–phala mapping: correct reception (karman) + correct knowledge (vidyā) yields a determinate loka (phala). The Vratya becomes a conduit for merit when properly handled.
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