Atharva Veda 2.9.3: Kanda 2, Anuvaka 1, Sukta 9, Mantra 3
Sukta 9
अधी॑ती॒रध्य॑गाद॒यमधि॑ जीवपु॒रा अ॑गान्। श॒तं ह्य॑स्य भि॒षजः॑ स॒हस्र॑मु॒त वी॒रुधः॑
adhí́tīr ádhy agād ayám ádhi jīvá-purā́ agān | śatáṃ hí asya bhiṣájaḥ sahásram utá vīrúdhaḥ ||
Over the plagues hath this passed onward; over the strongholds of life hath it gone. For his are a hundred healers, a thousand moreover, and herbs besides.
بیماریوں پر سے یہ گزرا; زندگی کے مضبوط گڑھوں پر سے گیا۔ اس کے سو جڑی بوٹیاں ہیں، ہزار ہیں اور گھاس پود بھی۔
The meaning
What it says
It has gone beyond plagues and beyond the strongholds of life; for it there are a hundred healers and a thousand, and herbs as well.
The inner meaning
The remedy-power (or protected person) transcends waves of contagion and reaches inner citadels of vitality; one is supported by many healing agencies—inner resources, helpers, and medicines.
The truth in it
Resilience is plural: recovery comes through networks—many healers, many herbs, many supports—carrying life beyond crisis.
What it is for
- Kind of hymn
- Bhaisajya (Healing) / Apotropaic therapeutics
Its aim
To cause the remedy-power (likely an herb/amulet complex) to overpass epidemic ‘itī’ afflictions and to secure the patient’s vital ‘life-fortresses’ by mobilizing manifold healers and herbs.
Word by Word
Pada patha
अधि । इतीः । अधि-अगात् । अयम् । अधि । जीव-पुराः । अगात् । शतम् । हि । अस्य । भिषजः । सहस्रम् । उत । वीरुधः ।
- अधीतीः
- having approached / having come overNoun/Adjective (participial)पुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग? प्रथमा बहुवचन (here: nominative plural, ‘those who have gone over/approached’)Role Kartā (with following verb)Root अधि-इ (√इ ‘to go’) / अधीत (PPP) as prātipadika
- अध्यगात्
- he went/approachedVerbलुङ् (aorist), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRole Kriyā (main verb)Root अधि-गम् (√गम्)
- अयम्
- this (one)this (present agent: the remedy/amulet/plant-power invoked in the hymn)Pronounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, एकवचनRole Kartā (subject of ‘अध्यगात्/अगात्’)Root इदम् (sarvanāma-prātipadika)
- अधि
- upon/over; (as preverb) ‘towards, over’over; upon; in addition—marking superposition/overcoming (adhy-), i.e., ‘over and above’ the afflictionIndeclinableRole Adhikaraṇa (preverb/locative sense ‘upon/over’)Root अधि (upasarga/avyaya)
- जीवपुराः
- the life-strongholds (vital citadels)life-strongholds, ‘citadels of life’; vital seats/fortresses (interpretable as the body’s life-centres preserved by the remedy)Nounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole Karma/Adhikaraṇa (goal/region approached)Root जीवपुरा (prātipadika; ‘life-fortress/stronghold of life’)
- अगात्
- he wenthas gone; has reached/entered (i.e., has come to the life-fortresses to protect them)Verbलुङ् (aorist), परस्मैपद, प्रथमपुरुष, एकवचनRole Kriyā (co-ordinate verb)Root √गम्
- शतम्
- a hundreda hundred; a complete, efficacious total (ritually ‘full measure’ of healing agencies)Noun (numeral)नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचन (numeral used predicatively)Role Viśeṣaṇa (quantifier)Root शत (numeral prātipadika)
- हि
- for/indeedfor indeed; asseverative particle strengthening the claim of efficacyIndeclinableRoot हि (particle)
- अस्य
- of him/of thisof it/of him (of this remedy-power); belonging to the present healing agentPronounपुंलिङ्ग/नपुंसकलिङ्ग, षष्ठी, एकवचनRole Sambandha (genitive relation)Root इदम् (sarvanāma-prātipadika)
- भिषजः
- healers/physicianshealers/physicians; also ‘healing powers’ personified (divine and herbal therapeutics acting as bhisaj)Nounपुंलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole Kartā (understood: ‘are’/‘exist’)Root भिषज् (prātipadika ‘physician/healer’)
- सहस्रम्
- a thousanda thousand; hyperbolic plenitude of remedies/powers (standard Atharvanic intensifier)Noun (numeral)नपुंसकलिङ्ग, प्रथमा/द्वितीया, एकवचनRole Viśeṣaṇa (quantifier)Root सहस्र (numeral prātipadika)
- उत
- and alsoand also; moreover—adding a further class of healing agentsIndeclinableRoot उत (particle)
- वीरुधः
- healing herbs/plantsherbs, healing plants; vegetal medicines endowed with apotropaic potencyNounस्त्रीलिङ्ग, प्रथमा, बहुवचनRole Kartā (co-ordinate with ‘भिषजः’)Root वीरुध् (prātipadika ‘healing plant/herb’)
Sandhi Notes
- अधीतीः | अध्यगात् | अयम् | अधि | जीवपुराः | अगात् | शतम् | हि | अस्य | भिषजः | सहस्रम् | उत | वीरुधः ।
- 1) अधीतीरध्यगात् = अधीतीः + अध्यगात् (विसर्ग/ः before vowel often realized as र् in saṃhitā: ḥ → r)
- 2) अयमधि = अयम् + अधि (final -म् before vowel; saṃhitā writing shows close junction)
- 3) जीवपु॒रा अ॑गान् = जीवपुराः + अगात् (visarga before vowel; saṃhitā may show loss/assimilation; here written with space)
- 4) सहस्रमुत = सहस्रम् + उत (final -म् before vowel; anusvāra sandhi)
Seer, deity and metre
- Rishi
- Atharvanic tradition.
- Devata
- Auṣadhi/Viśvabheṣajī (healing power embodied in herbs and the remedy-agent).
- Chandas
- Anuṣṭubh (11/8-based Atharvanic cadence; verse presented in two pādas typical of anuṣṭubh style).
- Rasa
- Vira and Adbhuta
Sāyaṇa takes itīḥ as destructive diseases/visitations (rogāḥ), and reads the repeated अधि as ‘surmounting’ (atikramya/abhibhūya). ‘Jīva-purāḥ’ are explained as the body’s vital stations—life’s ‘fortified places’—which the remedy reaches and secures. ‘Bhiṣajaḥ’ are not merely human physicians but healing agencies attendant upon the remedy (devatā-bhiṣaj and auṣadhi-bhiṣaj), while ‘sahasram’ and ‘śatam’ express ritual completeness and superabundance of curative forces; ‘vīrudhaḥ’ are the medicinal plants cooperating in the cure.
Unknown (Anukramaṇī-dependent)
Collective-healing formulae: mobilizing πολλοί (many) healers/herbs; epidemic and generalized affliction overcoming.
Atharvanic healing often speaks in magnitudes (hundreds/thousands) to amplify efficacy—vāc multiplies medicine.
Oṣadhi/Remedy-power (implied) with Bhiṣaj and Vīrudh hosts
A healing coalition that guards the ‘citadels of life’ and carries beings beyond epidemic forces.
General protection and recovery against widespread afflictions (itī).
Creates a protective ‘garrison’ around vitality; reinforces immunity and morale.
4 × ~8; parallelism (‘adhi…adhi…’) gives marching cadence.
Numerical hyperbole (śata/sahasra) common in Atharvanic bhaiṣajya for intensification.
Incantatory and cumulative; builds protective mass.
Elicits confidence through repetition and magnitude; ‘many supports’ felt somatically.
Prepare the medicinal herb(s) or an herb-empowered amulet (bandhana), according to the ailment classified as itī/roga.
Seat the patient facing east; the Atharvan priest touches (sparśa) the patient’s head/heart region as ‘jīva-purā́’ (vital seats).
Recite the mantra while passing the herb/amulet over the patient (pari-mārjana / pari-nayana), enacting ‘adhí…agāt’ (surmounting/passing over the disease).
Bind the amulet or apply the herb (bandhana/lepa) at a vital point (neck/upper arm/heart-region), repeating the mantra or its key pādas.
Conclude with a protective sprinkling (prokṣaṇa) using herb-infused water, affirming the plurality of ‘bhiṣajaḥ’ and ‘vīrudhaḥ’ as cooperating healers.
Kauśika Sūtra: general bhaiṣajya-prayoga framework (exact sutra-number varies by edition; applied in the ‘itī/roga-śānti’ and auṣadhi-bandhana sequences).
Atharvan/Brahman as bhaiṣajya-kartṛ: consecrates the herb/amulet by mantra, performs tactile transfer (sparśa) and circumambulating passes (pari-), and seals the cure by binding (bandhana) and sprinkling (prokṣaṇa).
Recite over herbal preparation, protective cord, or fumigation materials; also as a family recitation when illness spreads in community.
Morning and evening during outbreak/fever season; before administering herbs.
Atharvan priest or knowledgeable householder; communal recitation possible.
KauśS (general oṣadhi and rakṣā rites; exact sūtra requires index lookup)
Use as a ‘support network’ mantra alongside medical care—naming all helpers (clinicians, family, medicines) as the ‘hundred healers’.
vīrudh (medicinal herbs); bhisaj (healing agencies/physicians, personified powers)
Healing is a ‘garrison’: herbs and healers populate the inner fortifications of life, keeping affliction outside the walls.
itī (plagues/epidemic afflictions; broad category)
Protective transcendence and reinforcement: assembling many healers and herbs as a therapeutic host around the patient’s vital centers.
Rakṣā/rasāyana-like framing (protect life-fortresses); multi-dravya approach; also aligns with janapadodhvaṃsa (epidemic) notions in later Ayurveda.
Community/immune resilience during outbreaks; multi-modal care plans; psychosocial support networks in recovery.
Itī (plague/affliction)
Overcome widespread afflictions and secure the patient’s vital reserves via a multitude of healing agencies.
Overpassing formula (‘adhi…agāt’) + numerical amplification (100/1000) + enlistment of herbs.
Epidemic exposure, generalized misfortune of health.
Longevity and robust vitality.
- इतीः (itīḥ)
- epidemic forces, recurring crises, intrusive thoughts/conditions
- अधि-अगात् (adhi-agāt)
- transcendence; immunity-like overcoming
- जीवपुराः (jīvapurāḥ)
- vital organs/cores of prāṇa; protected inner reserves
- भिषजः (bhiṣajaḥ)
- all supportive agencies—doctors, rituals, community, inner intelligence
- वीरुधः (vīrudhaḥ)
- earth’s remedial plurality; green arsenal of life
Sense of being protected by a ‘healing host’; trust in layered supports.
maṇipūra (resilience/inner fortress)
Box-breath or steady equal breathing while repeating ‘śataṃ…sahasram…’.
A luminous fortress around the abdomen/torso; countless small green lights (herbs) and white lights (healers) take positions on the walls.
Steady confidence; containment of fear.
Make a written list of ‘healers’ (people, practices, medicines) and consciously ‘enlist’ them daily with the mantra, reinforcing adherence and gratitude.
Emphasize the parallel ‘adhi…adhi…’ as a rhythmic climb; let ‘śataṃ…sahasram’ be counted clearly.
Slight pause after each ‘adhi’ phrase; broaden tone on the numbers to ‘expand’ the protective host.
Steady, confident, not hurried.
Atharvanic epidemic/rakṣā verses are often paired with boundary-making acts (circling, cord-tying); repetition reinforces ‘garrison’ imagery.
27 times
Illness circulating in family/community; recovery requiring multiple supports; anxiety about contagion.
During outbreak seasons; before taking medicine; when feeling overwhelmed by symptoms/news.
Calmer, more adherent mindset; sense of protection and mobilized support; improved coping.
Do not use as substitute for vaccination/medical guidance in epidemics; follow public-health measures.
The verse explicitly couples verbal efficacy with vegetal agency: ‘bhiṣajaḥ’ (healers) and ‘vīrudhaḥ’ (herbs) are enumerated as the remedy’s retinue. The mantra frames the herb not as inert materia medica but as a mobile, conquering force that ‘passes over’ (adhy-agāt) disease and ‘goes to’ (agāt) the body’s life-centres. Thus the botanical is ritually animated: the spoken formula authorizes and directs the herb’s protective transit and settlement in the patient’s ‘jīva-purā́’.
Healing is presented as a managed, countable resource (‘hundred’ healers, ‘thousand’ herbs), implying a specialist’s control over a large therapeutic repertoire. The Atharvan priest mediates between personified healing powers and the patient, reinforcing a hierarchy in which ritual-technological expertise (mantra + procedure) governs access to protection against communal threats like itī (plague/visitation).
The diction is characteristically Atharvanic in its medical-apotropaic register: itīḥ as a technical term for ‘plagues/visitations’ is far more at home in AV than RV. The compound ‘jīva-purā́’ (‘life-fortresses’) is a vivid, quasi-technical metaphor for vital loci, reflecting Atharvanic innovation in somatic conceptualization. The repeated adhi- with motion verbs (agāt) intensifies the sense of ritual overcoming, a style frequent in AV charms.
In Gopatha’s Atharvanic theology, efficacy (siddhi) is grounded in brahman (sacral speech) properly applied: the mantra is a functional instrument that compels outcomes when joined to correct karman (application/binding/sprinkling). The verse’s multiplication of healers and herbs aligns with Gopatha’s tendency to treat Atharvanic remedies as networks of powers activated by the priest’s knowledgeable recitation, rather than as purely empirical pharmacology.
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