THE
ATHARVA-VEDA
DESCRIBED ;
WITH
A Classified Selections of Hymns, Explanatory Notes,
and Review.
FIRST EDITION, 3,000 COPIES.
1
THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY FOR INDIA:
LONDON AND MADRAS.
1897.
Price 2 Annas; Post-free, 3 Annas.
F
}





THE
VERS
TY
F MICHIGAN ·
OF MICH
H
AT
1817
LIBRARIES
BL
1114.66
487×
1897
PREFATORY NOTE.
The following Selection of Hymns is taken from the Translation of
the Atharva-Veda by Mr. R. T. H. Griffith, formerly Principal of
Benares College. The Explanatory Notes are also abridged from the
same source. Free permission to use the work was kindly given by the
publishers, Messrs. E. J. Lazarus & Co., Benares, for which thanks are
warmly returned.
The following works by Mr. Griffith are published by Messrs.
Lazarus & Co.
HYMNS OF THE RIG-VEDA, translated with a Popular Commentary,
2 vols., 8vo. cloth bound, gilt lettered, Price Rs. 14.
HYMNS OF THE SAMA VEDA, as above. One volume, cloth bound, gilt
lettered, Rs. 4. In stiff paper cover, Rs. 31.
HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA, as above. Two vols. cloth, gilt lettered,
Rs. 12. Stiff paper cover, Rs. 10.
METRICAL TRANSLATION OF
volume, 8vo. cloth, gilt lettered.
Numerous other works in
VALMIKI'S RAMAYANA, complete in one
Price Rs. 6.
Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, and English
have been published by Messrs. Lazarus & Co., Catalogue supplied on
application.
THE

ATHARVA-VEDA
DESCRIBED;
WITH
A Classified Selection of Hymns, Explanatory Notes
and Review.
FIRST EDITION, 3,000 COPIES.
THE CHRISTIAN
LITERATURE
SOCIETY FOR INDIA:
LONDON AND MADRAS.
1897.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION, THE THREE VEDAS
THE ATHARVA-VEDA
SUMMARY OF THE BOOKS
...
CLASSIFIED SELECTION OF HYMNS
CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE
...
CHARMS WITH AMULETS
CHARMS AGAINST DEMONS
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE
MISCELLANEOUS HYMNS
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA
PRAYERS FOR THE PARDON OF SIN
REFERENCES TO A FUTURE STATE ...
REVIEW...
...
THE ATHARVA-VEDA NOT A DIVINE REVELATION
THE TRUE VEDA
...
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
Page
1
:
4
10
13
14
. 21
25
26
36
:
45
56
•
59
60
...
888
63
66
69
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
INTRODUCTION.
Before noticing the ATHARVA-VEDA, the fourth Veda, a brief
account may be given of the three Vedas by which it is preceded.
Meaning of Term.-VEDA is from the Sanskrit vid, know,'
kindred with the Latin vid, and the English to wit. In its general
sense it is sometimes applied by the Brahmans to the whole body
of their most ancient sacred literature. More strictly, it denotes
four collections of hymns, which are respectively known by the
names of Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda.
They are supposed to contain the science, as teaching that know-
ledge which, of all others, is best worth acquiring.
"The general form of the Vedas is that of lyric poetry. They
contain the songs in which the first ancestors of the Hindu people, at
the very dawn of their existence as a separate nation, while they were
still only on the threshold of the great country which they were after-
wards to fill with their civilization, praised the gods, extolled heroic
deeds, and sung of other matters which kindled their poetical fervour."*
The Vedas the highest Hindu Authorities.-The Hindu sacred
books are divided into two great classes, called Sruti and Smriti.
Sruti, which means hearing, denotes direct revelation; Smriti,
recollection, includes the sacred books which are admitted to have
been composed by human authors.
Professor Max Müller thus shows the estimation in which the
Vedas are held :
"According to the orthodox views of Indian theologians, not a
single line of the Veda was the work of human authors. The whole
Veda is in some way or other the work of the Deity, and even those who
received the revelation, or, as they express it, those who saw it, were not
supposed to be ordinary mortals, but beings raised above the level of
common humanity, and less liable therefore to error in the reception of
revealed truth..... The human element, called paurusheyatva in Sanskrit,
is drawn out of every corner or hiding-place, and as the Veda is held to
have existed in the mind of the Deity before the beginning of time,
every allusion to historical events, of which there are not a few, is
explained away with a zeal and ingenuity worthy of a better cause."
"The laws of Manu, according to the Brahmanic theology, are not
revelation; they are not Sruti, but only Smriti. If these laws or any
* Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Vol. I., p. 5.
2
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
other work of authority can be proved on any point to be at variance
with a single passage of the Veda, their authority is at once overruled.'
""*
The inspiration of the Veda, says Monier Williams, is regarded
as so self-convincing, "as to require no proof, and to be entirely
beyond the province of reason or argument."
According to Jaimini, the Vedas are eternal, because sound is
eternal!
Dr. John Muir, in the Third Volume of his Sanskrit Texts,
gives fourteen conflicting accounts of the origin of the Vedas, drawn
from the authors themselves and from later Hindu writers. But as
Max Müller remarks, "That one statement should be contradicted
by another, seems never to have been felt as a serious difficulty"†
by Hindus. Swami Vivekananda, at Chicago, "accepted all
religions to be true"‡-theism and atheism, monotheism and poly-
theism.
RIG-VEDA.-The name means the Veda of hymns of praise.
Rich, which before the initial soft letter of Veda, is changed into
Rig, is derived from a root which in Sanskrit means to celebrate.
When standing by itself, rich becomes rik.
The hymns are called Mantras or Suktas (praises). The
entire number form the Sanhita (or Samhita) collection. They
are arranged in two methods. One divides them amongst eight
Kándas (portions), or Astakas (eighths), each of which is again
subdivided into eight Adhyayas, lectures. The other plan classes
the Suktas under ten Mandalas, circles, subdivided into rather
more than a hundred Anuvakas, or sub-sections. A further sub-
division of the Suktas into Vargas, or paragraphs of about five
stanzas each, is common to both classifications.§
As early as about 600 B.C. every verse, every word, every
syllable had been carefully counted. The number of verses varies
from 10,402 to 10,622; that of the padas or words, is 153,826;
that of the syllables, 432,000.
The ten books form separate collections, each belonging to one
of the ancient families of India.
The priests who specially recited the verses of the Rig-Veda
were called Hotris.
An English translation of the Rig-Veda, based on the commen-
tary of Sayana, was prepared by the late Professor Wilson. Part
of it was published after his death. It is expensive, the price of
the 6 volumes being £6-19s.
* Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. I.
+ Ancient Sanskrit Literature. p. 321. Kapila was an exception. He says in
his Sankhya Aphorisms, Book I. "There is no acceptance of the inconsistent, else we
come to the level of children, madmen and the like."
Report of Parliament of Religions, p. 102.
§ Professor Wilson's Introduction, p. xiv.
INTRODUCTION.
3
The Sacred Books of the East contain two volumes of transla-
tions of Vedic Hymns by Max Müller and Oldenberg, prices 18s.
6d. and 14s. There is a complete translation of the whole book,
with valuable explanatory notes, by Mr. R. T. H. Griffith, formerly
Principal of Benares College; in two volumes, price Rs. 14,
published by E. J. Lazarus and Co., Benares. With the kind
permission of Mr. Griffith, some of the most important hymns
from his translation are quoted in full in the work noted below.*
YAJUR-VEDA.—The name comes from Yaj, sacrifice. It contains
the formulas and verses to be muttered by the priests and their
assistants who had chiefly to prepare the sacrificial ground, to dress
the altar, slay the victims, and pour out the libations.
The Black and White Yajus differ in their arrangement.
In the former the sacrificial formulas are for the most part
immediately followed by their explanation; in the latter they
are entirely separated from one another.
A large portion of the materials of the Yajur-Veda is derived
from the Rig-Veda, to about the half of which it is equal in both
forms united. But it contains prose passages which are new.
As the manual of the priesthood, it became the great subject
of study, and it has a great number of different Sakhas or Schools.
The priests who used it were called Adhvaryus, offerers.
The text of both divisions has been printed either in India
or in the West; but no English translation has yet been published.
Sama-Veda.—This is wholly metrical. It contains 1549 verses,
only 78 of which have not been traced to the Rig-Veda. The
verses have been selected and arranged for the purpose of being
chanted at the sacrifices of which the intoxicating juice of the
Soma plant was the chief ingredient. Many of the invocations are
addressed to Soma, some to Agni, and some to Indra. There are
special song books directing the manner in which they are to be
intoned. The priests who recited the Sama-Veda were called
Udgatris, chanters.
The text has been printed and there is an English translation
by Mr. R. T. H. Griffith, published by Lazarus & Co., Benares.
Price Rs. 4 cloth; Rs. 34 paper cover.
ATHARVA-VEDA.-This Veda is of later origin than the others.
Manu speaks of only the Three Vedas. One-sixth of the work is in
prose, and about one-sixth of the hymns is found in the Rig-Veda.
A full account of it is given in the following pages.
So far as subject-matter is concerned, there may be said to
be only two Vedas-The Rig and Atharva Vedas. The other two
consist almost entirely of selections from the Rig-Veda, differently
arranged for sacrificial purposes.
* An Account of the Vedas, with Illustrative Extracts. 8vo. 163 pp. 4 As.
Post-free, 6 As.
4
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Title.-Griffith gives the following explanation of the name:
"The Atharva-Veda is a comparatively late addition to the three
ancient Vedas, the Rig, Yajus and Saman-the Vedas respectively of
recited praise, sacrifice, and song or chanted hymn-which formed the
foundation of the early religious belief and worship of the Hindus. Un-
like these three Vedas, the Atharva-Veda derives the name by
which it is generally known, not from the nature of its contents but
from a person of indefinitely remote antiquity, named Atharvan, who is
spoken of in the Rig-Veda as the first priest who 'rubbed Agni forth' or
produced fire by attrition, who first by sacrifices made the paths' or
established ways of communication between men and Gods, and overcame
hostile demons by means of the miraculous powers which he had received
from heaven. To the descendants of this Atharvan, associated with the
Angirases and the Bhrigus, members of other ancient priestly families.
often mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the collected hymns-called also the
Atharvángirasas and the Bhrigvangirasas, that is the Songs of the
Atharvans and Angirases and the Songs of the Bhrigus and Angirases, and
in the Gopatha-Bráhmana, the Atharvana-Veda and the Angirasa-Veda
—were, it is said, originally revealed.—Preface.
Bloomfield, in the learned and elaborate Introduction to his
translation, thus distinguishes between Atharvan and Angiras:
€
'The term Atharvan refers to the auspicious practices of the Veda,
recognised as holy and conferring prosperity'; the term Angiras
refers to the hostile sorcery practices of the Veda."*
It would seem, however, that this distinction was, at a later
period, abandoned. Bloomfield says:
In the end the name Atharvan and its derivatives prevail as
designations of the practices and charms of the fourth Veda without
reference to their strongly diversified character."+
Another name of the collection is Brahma-Veda, which is
variously explained. Griffith considers it so called "as the Know-
ledge of Prayers (brahmáni), including benediction, imprecation,
spells and charms-the Veda which teaches to appease the gods and
secure their protecting favour, to bless friends, and to curse and
destroy human and ghostly enemies, and all noxious creatures.
It is the Veda of Prayers, Charms and Spells."‡
Age. Griffith gives his own opinion and those of some
eminent scholars on this point:
"I have called the Atharva-Veda a comparatively late addition to
the three ancient Vedas, of which, it may be observed, one only, the Rig-
Veda, is original and historical, the other two being merely liturgical
compilations. The Atharva is like the Rik, in the main historical and
*Page xviii. Abridged. + Ibid p. xxiv.
Preface, pp. 1, 11. Abridged.
INTRODUCTION.
5
original, but its contents cannot, as a whole, lay claim to equal
antiquity."
Professor Whitney says:
'The greater portion of the hymns are plainly shown, both by their
language and internal character, to be of much later date than the
general contents of the other historic Veda, and even than its tenth
book with which they stand nearly connected in import and origin. . . .
This, however, would not imply that the main body of the Atharva
hymns were not already in existence when the compilation of the Rik
took place. Their character would be ground enough for their
rejection and exclusion from the canon until other hands were found to
undertake their separate gathering into an independent collection."
Professor Weber also observes:
"The origin of the Atharva Samhitá dates from the period when
Brahmanism had become dominant. It is in other respects perfectly
analogous to the Rik-Samhitá, and contains the store of song of this
Brahmanical epoch. Many of these songs are to be found also in the last,
that is the least ancient book of the Rik-Samhitá. In the latter they are
the latest additious made at the time of its compilation. In the Athar-
van they are the proper and natural utterance of the present. The
spirit of the two collections is indeed widely different. In the Rik there
breathes a lively natural feeling, a warm love for nature; while in
the Atharvan there prevails, on the contrary, only an anxious dread of
her evil spirits and their magical powers. In the Rik we find the people
in a state of free activity and independence; in the Atharvan we see it
bound in the fetters of the hierarchy and superstition. But the Atharva-
Veda likewise contains pieces of great antiquity, which may perhaps
have belonged more to the people proper, to its lower grades; whereas
the songs of the Rik appear rather to have been the property of the
higher families. It was not without a long struggle that the songs of the
Atharvan were permitted to take their place as a fourth Veda. There is
no mention made of them in the more ancient portions of the Brahmanas
of the Rik, Sáman, and Yajus."
Still, as Professor Max Müller says:
"The songs known under the name of the Atharvángirasas formed
probably an additional part of the sacrifice from a very early time. They
were chiefly intended to counteract the influence of any untoward event
that might happen during the sacrifice. They also contained imprecations
and blessings, and various formulas such as popular superstition would
be sure to sanction at all times and in all countries. If once sanctioned,
however, these magic verses would grow in importance, nay, the knowledge
of the other Vedas would necessarily become useless without the power
of remedying accidents, such as could hardly be avoided in so complicat-
ed a ceremonial as that of the Brahmans. As that power was believed to
reside in the songs of the Atharvángirasas, a knowledge of these songs
became necessarily an essential part of the theological knowledge of
Ancient India.”*
* Preface, pp. IV—VII,
6
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Contrast between the Rig-Veda and the Atharva-Veda.—
This is strongly set forth by Madame Ragozin, who attributes to
the latter largely a non-Aryan origin :
"Nothing could well be imagined more different in contents and
more opposite in spirit than these two samhitás. That of the Atharvan
contains a comparatively small number of mantras from the Rig, and
those only from the portions unanimously recognised as the latest, while
the bulk of the collection along with some original hymns of the same
kind and, in many cases, of great poetic beauty, consists chiefly of in-
cantations, spells, exorcisms. We have here, as though in opposition to
the bright, cheerful pantheon of beneficent deities, so trustingly and
gratefully addressed by the Rishis of the Rig, a weird repulsive world
of darkly scowling demons, inspiring abject fear, such as never sprang
from Aryan fancy. We find ourselves in the midst of a goblin-worship,
the exact counterpart of that with which we became familiar in
Turanian Chaldea. Every evil thing in nature, from a drought to a
fever or bad qualities of the human heart, is personified and made
the object of terror-stricken propitiation, or of attempts at circum-
vention through witchcraft, or the instrument of harm to others
through the same compelling force. Here and there, worship takes the
form of conjuring, not prayer; its ministers are sorcerers, not priests.
The conclusion almost forces itself on us, that this collection represents
the religion of the native races, who, through a compromise dictated
by a policy after a long period of struggle, ending in submission,
obtained for it partial recognition from the conquering and every
way superior race. It is easy to see how the latter, while condescending
to incorporate the long abhorred ritual into their own canonical books,
probably at first in some subordinate capacity, would, so to speak,
sanctify or purify it, by supplementing it with some new hymns of their
own, addressed to the same deities as those of the Rig and breathing
the same spirit. If, as is more than probable, this is the history of the
fourth Veda, the manner of its creation justifies the seemingly
paradoxical assertion that it is at once the most modern of the four, and,
in portions more ancient than even the oldest parts of the Rig-Veda. As
a samhitú, it is a manifestly late production, since it bears evidence
of having been in use in the valleys of the Gangá and the Yamaná;
but the portions which embody an originally non-Aryan religion are
evidently anterior to Aryan occupation."*
Double Aspect of the Atharva-Veda.-The following remarks
on this point are abridged from Bloomfield:
(C
Many of the hymns and practices are benevolent and are in general
well regarded, though even these do not altogether escape the blight of
contempt. The class of charms designed to establish harmony in
family and village life and reconciliation of enemies, are obviously
auspicious in their nature. Even the sorceries of the Atharvan neces-
sarily show a double face; they are useful to oneself, harmful to others.
This conflict of emotions lasts throughout the history of the recorded Hindu
* Vedic India, pp. 117-119.
INTRODUCTION.
7
thought; the colour of the Atharvan remains changeable to the end,
and is so described in the final orthodox and stereotyped view that it is
used 'to appease, to bless, and to curse.' The fact, however, is that
there must have arisen in the long run a strong wave of popular
aversion against the Veda whose most salient teaching is sorcery. This
appears from the discussions of the Hindus themselves as to the
orthodoxy of that Veda; from the conscious efforts of the later Atharvan
writings to vindicate its character and value; from the allegorical present-
ation of the Atharvan as 'a lean black man, sharp, irascible and amorous;
and many occasional statements of the Vedic and classical texts." *
"Witchcraft blows hot and cold from the same mouth; according as
it is turned towards the inimical forces, human and demoniac, or is
turned by others against oneself, it is regarded as useful or noxious.
Hymn II. 7, ensures protection against curses and hostile plots, but
does not prevent the existence of fierce imprecations and curses issued
forth subjectively for the ruin of another. It is a question throughout
of my sorcery, or thy sorcery. †”
The Atharva-Veda in Hindu Literature.-Bloomfield, in his
Introduction, devotes about thirty pages to this point, giving
numerous references. Only a few books can be noticed.
Max Müller says in Ancient Sanskrit Literature :
"Because a knowledge of the songs of the Atharvángiras was most
important to the Brahman or Purohita, these songs themselves, when
once admitted to the rank of a Veda, were called the Veda of the
Brahman, or the Brahma-Veda."
The Rev. Dr. K. S. Macdonald, after quoting the above, adds:
"In the Gopatha Bráhmana they are repeatedly represented as the
proper Veda for the Brahman. Thus we read (iii. i.): Let a man elect a
Hotri, who knows the Rich, an Adhvaryu who knows the Yajush, an
Udgatri who knows the Sáman, a Brahman who knows the Atharván-
giras.'"+
Manu thus advises the Brahman:
"Let him use without hesitation the sacred texts revealed by
Atharvan and by Angiras; speech, indeed, is the weapon of the Brahman,
with it he may slay his enemies." XI. 33.
In the Mahábhárata its importance as a Veda, and its canonicity, are
finally and completely established; its practices are familiarly known,
and, in general, not subjected to any peculiar criticism.'§
"The Puránas always speak of the fourfold Veda."||
Versification. In the Preface to his translation, Griffith says:
"The prevailing metres of the original hymns are Gáyatrí, Anush-
tup, Pankti, Trishtup, and Jagati, consisting the first three of three,
four, and five octosyllabic Pádas or divisions, and the last two of four
hendecasyllabic and dodecasyllabic Pádas respectively. In translating
* Introduction, p. xxix.
† Ibid, p. xxxix,
Indian Evangelical Review, July, 1897 p. 55.
§ Bloomfield's Introduction, p. li. || Ibid, p. lv.
8
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
the first set I have employed corresponding numbers of the common
octosyllabic or dimeter iambic line, and in the second of the ordinary
hypercatalectic blank verse line and the Alexandrine." Preface, p. XVII.
A fuller account of the metres employed in the Vedas will be
found in the Introduction to the Account of the Vedas.
"Parts of the Atharva-Veda, for instance Book XV. and
the greater portion of XVI., are entirely in prose, and hymns, ver-
ses, and parts of verses in prose are found in other Books also. "It
is not possible," as Professor Whitney observes, 'to draw every-
where a sharp line between metrical and non-metrical matter;
prose and loose verse slide into one another sometimes in a per-
plexing manner, or are mixed up in the same stanza.'”
Divisions.—Griffith gives the following general view :
"The Atharva-Veda Sanhitá or Collection is divided into twenty
Kándas, Books or Sections, containing some 760 hymns and about 6,000
verses. In Books I.-VII. the hymns or pieces are arranged according
to the number of their verses, without any reference to their subjects or
the nature of their contents. The hymns of Book I. contain on an aver-
age four verses each; those of Book II. five; those of III. six; those of
IV. seven; those of V. from eight to eighteen; those of VI. three;
those of VII. many single verses and upwards to eleven. Books VIII.-
XX contain longer pieces, some of which extend to 50, 60, 70, and even
80 verses. In Books I.-XIII. the contents are of the most heterogeneous
description. with no attempt at any kind of systematic arrangement of
subjects. They consist principally of prayers, formulas and charms for
protection against evil spirits of all sorts and kinds, against sorcerers
and sorceresses, diseases, snakes, and other noxious creatures, of bene-
dictions and inprecations, invocations of magical herbs, prayers for
children and long life, for general and special protection and pros-
perity, success in love, trade and gambling, together with formulas
to be employed in all kinds of domestic occurrences. In Books
XIV.—XVIII. the subjects are systematically arranged; XIV. treating of
marriage ceremonies; XV, of the glorification of the Vrátya or religious
wandering mendicant; XVI. and XVII. of certain conjurations; XVIII.
of funeral rites and the offering of obsequial cakes to the Manes or spirits
of departed ancestors. Book XIX. contains a somewhat miscellaneous
collection of supplementary hymns. Book XX. consists-with the
exception of what is called the Kuntápa Section, comprising hymns
127-136-of pieces addressed to Indra and taken entirely from the Rig-
Veda. These two Books, which are not noticed in the Atharva-Veda
Prátísákhya-a grammatical treatise on the phonetic changes of words.
in the text-are manifestly a later addition to the collection. Many of
the Atharva hymns reappear in the Rig-Veda, about one-seventh of the
collection, sometimes unchanged and sometimes with important
variations, being found in the older compilation. Interspersed in several
of the Books are pieces of varying length, consisting of curious cosmolo-
gical and mystico-theological speculations which are not without
interest as containing the germs of religious and philosophical doctrines
*Preface, pp. XVII., XVIII,
INTRODUCTION.
9
afterwards fully developed in the Brahmanas and Upanishads." Preface,
pp. VII, VIII.
General Character.-Griffith gives the following summary :-
"In this strange collection of heterogenous material there is much
that is obscure, much that is unintelligible, much that is intolerably
tedious, and not a little that is offensive and disgusting to European
taste. Yet the spiritual portions of the work have sometimes a strange
beauty and grandeur of their own which attracts and fascinates the
orthodox Hindu, while the occasional glimpses of light which it throws
upon the daily life, the toils and pleasures, the hopes and fears, the joys
and sorrows of the average man invests it, I think, for the European
reader with greater and more human interest than is possessed by the
more ancient Veda." Preface, pp. VIII, IX.
Griffith next skilfully groups the hymns together so as to
give a vivid picture of life in all its aspects in the times of the
Atharva-Veda. This is quoted under another head.
Text.-Griffith says:
"The text of the Atharva-Veda, with some amendments of the
numerous and obvious false readings of the manuscripts, and some
attempts to bring sense out of the utter nonsense which constitutes
part of the last two books,' was published at Berlin, in 1856, by
Professors Rudolf von Roth and W. D. Whitney." Preface, p. XIII.
English Translations.-Some entire hymns and many frag-
ments are given in Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts. The first
complete English translation published is by Mr. R. T. H. Griffith,
noticed in the Preface, from which the following extracts are
taken. There are also numerous useful notes, forming a commen-
tary on the hymns. In two volumes, price Rs. 12 cloth, Rs. 10
paper covers.
The Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, translated by Professor
Maurice Bloomfield, John Hopkins University, United States, has
recently been added to the Sacred Books of the East. The author
says:
"The present volume of translations comprises about one-third
of the entire material of the Atharva-Veda. But it represents the
contents and spirit of the fourth Veda in a far greater measure than
is indicated by this numerical statement." p. lxxi.
Passages that occur in the Rig-Veda, books in prose, and
hymns of less interest, have been omitted.
"Of the rest of the Atharvan, (Books I-XIII) there is presented
here about one-half, naturally that half which seemed to the translator
the most interesting and characteristic." p. lxxii.
The hymns in Bloomfield's translation are classified according
to subject-matter. Griffith gives the whole in the original order.
2
10
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Each plan has its advantages. With a limited number of hymns
perhaps the former is preferable.
Bloomfield's translation is followed by a learned
mentary. It is published by the Clarendon Press, Price 21s.
SUMMARY OF THE BOOKS.
com-
A short general view of the Books is given in the Introduction.
The following account enters more into detail.
BOOK I.
This Book contains 35 Hymns, each averaging 4 verses.
subjects are very miscellaneous, and there is no arrangement.
The
The first hymn, quoted below, introductory to the whole Book,
is a prayer addressed to Váchaspati for divine help, favour, and
illumination. Váchaspati, Lord of Speech, is the God or Genius of
human life which lasts as long as the power of speech remains in the
body. Vasoshpati, Lord of Treasure, that is of wealth and food, is
not mentioned elsewhere in the Veda. (Griffith.)
1. Now may Váchaspati assign to me the strength and powers of
Those
Who, wearing every shape and form, the triple seven, are
wandering round.
2. Come thou again, Váchaspati, come with divine intelligence.
Vasosh pati, repose thou here. In me be Knowledge, yea, in me.
3. Here, even here, spread sheltering arms like the two bow-ends
strained with cord.
This let Váchaspati confirm. In me be knowledge, yea, in me.
4. Váchaspati hath been invoked: may he invite us in reply.
May we adhere to Sacred Lore. Never may I be reft thereof.
NOTES.-Those: the gods in general, or the Maruts. The triple seven an
indefinite number.
BOOK II.
This Book contains 36 Hymns of a miscellaneous character,
averaging 5 verses in length.
BOOK III.
This Book contains 31 Hymns of the same character as the
preceding, but averaging 6 verses each. Hymn 16 is the morning
prayer of the great Rishi, Vasishtha, taken, with slight variation,
from Rig-Veda VII. 41. The chief petitions are, "give us wealth;'
may we be rich in men and heroes."
66
Book IV.
.""
In this Book 40 Hymns, averaging 7 verses, are included.
Hymn 2, an address to the Unknown God, is from Rig-Veda X.
121. There are other Hymns from the same Veda.
SUMMARY OF BOOKS.
11
BOOK V.
One is a
This Book contains 31 Hymns, averaging 12 verses.
curious dialogue between Atharva and Varuna about the possession
of a wonderful cow. Another is about the abduction of a
Brahman's wife. Two Hymns are on the wickedness and ruinous
consequences of oppressing Brahmans. Two are addressed to the
War Drum to secure success in battle.
BOOK VI.
Of the 142 Hymns in this Book most contain only 3 verses.
They consist of prayers and charms.
BOOK VII.
This Book contains 118 Hymns, nearly one-half of which
consist of only a single verse. The contents are like the foregoing.
BOOK VIII.
This Book contains only 10 Hymns, but they average 26 verses
in length. They consist chiefly of imprecations or charms for the
restoration of health. Hymn 4, against evil spirits, is taken from
Rig-Veda VII. 104.
BOOK IX.
This Book contains 10 Hymns; one of which is entirely in
prose, while a second has only two stanzas in verse out of 62. The
longest is "a glorification of the hospitable reception of guests,
regarded as identical with sacrifice offered to the gods." Hymns
9 and 10, consisting of enigmatical questions, are taken, with
variations, from Rig-Veda I. 164.
BOOK X.
This Book contains 10 Hymns, averaging 35 verses. One is a
glorification of the Supreme Deity, under the name of Skambha,
considered the Pillar or Support of all existence. Another is in
praise of the Sacred Cow.
BOOK XI.
This Book contains 10 Hymns, averaging 31 verses, Hymn 3,
which is all in prose except 4 lines, is in praise of the offering of
rice boiled in milk. Hymn 8 treats of the origin of several gods
and the creation of man. The last two Hymns are incantations for
the destruction of enemies.
12
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
BOOK XII.
This Book contains only 5 Hymns, but they average 60 verses.
The second is a funeral hymn, taken partly from Rig-Veda X. 18.
Hymns 4 & 5, the latter partly in prose, show the sin and danger of
robbing a Brahman of his cow.
BOOK XIII.
This Book contains 4 Hymns, averaging 47 verses.
"It is
almost entirely devoted to the glorification of Rohita, the Red,
a form of Fire and of the Sun, but distinguished from both these
deities,'
""
BOOK XIV.
This Book contains only 2 Hymns, including 139 verses.
It treats of nuptial ceremonies and formulas. The greater part of
Hymn 1 is taken, with many changes, from Rig-Veda X. 85;
Hymn 2 is also partly taken from the same hymn.
Book XV.
This Book contains 18 Hymns, averaging about 10 stanzas.
They are all in prose and very obscure. The aim seems to be the
glorification of the Vrátya, or wandering Nonconformist.
BOOK XVI.
This Book contains 9 Hymns, averaging 10 verses. Some of
them are entirely in prose; others partly in prose and partly in
poetry. "The Book consists almost entirely of charms and
conjurations for various purposes.
""
BOOK XVII.
It
This Book contain only one Hymn, including 30 verses.
is a prayer to Indra, identified with Vishnu and the Sun, for
the love of gods, men, and beasts, general protection and pros-
perity, with all earthly and heavenly blessings.
BOOK XVIII.
""
"The
This Book contains 4 Hymns, averaging 70 verses.
subjects are funeral rites and sacrificial offerings to the Fathers,
the manes or spirits of the dead." The Hymns are composed
wholly or in part from verses in the Rig-Veda. The first Hymn
begins with a dialogue between Yama and Yami.
BOOK XIX.
This Book contains 72 Hymns, averaging about 8 verses.
Both it and the following are later additions to the original col-
lection. The MSS. contain numerous misreadings which in some
CLASSIFIED SELECTION OF HYMNS.
13
parts make utter nonsense. The Hymns are chiefly prayers and
charms for protection and prosperity. Hymn 6, on the mystical
sacrifice of Purusha, is taken, with variations, from Rig-Veda X. 90.
Hymn 13, a prayer for victory in battle, is taken from Rig-Veda
X. 103. Some Hymns are non-metrical. Hymn 21 gives in a single
line the names of the chief Vedic Metres:
Gáyatri, Ushnih, Anushtup, Brihatí, Trishtup, Jagatí.
Hymn 23, all in prose except one verse, is an address of homage
to various portions of the Atharva-Veda, classed according to the
number of verses which their hymns contain.
1 Hail to the four verse strophes of the Atharvanas! 2 Hail to the
five versed! 3 Hail to the six-versed, &c.
30 Collected manly powers are topped by Brahma.
Brahma at first spread out the loftiest heaven.
Brahma was born first of all things existing.
Who then is fit to be this Brahmá's rival?
Book XX.
This Book contains 143 Hymns of various lengths, but
averaging about 8 verses. With the exception of the Kuntapa
section (127-136) the Hymns are addressed almost exclusively to
Indra, and generally taken directly from hymns and portions of
hymns of the Rig-Veda.
Kuntápa is said to be the name of 20 organs or glands, supposed
to be situated in the belly. The section is a strange collection of
incantations riddles, &c., without any religious character. With
some of them the gods bewildered the Asuras by their recitation,
and so defeated them.
CLASSIFIED SELECTION OF HYMNS.
Belief in WITCHCRAFT and the power of CHARMS forms distin-
guishing features of the Atharva-Veda. Bloomfield says in his
Introduction :
((
Sorcery and house practices there were in India at all times
(p. xxx). Witchcraft is blended with every sphere of religious thought
and activity (p. xxxix). Even Witchcraft is part of the religion; it has
penetrated and has become intimately blended with the holiest Vedic
rites." (xlv.)
Among the aboriginal tribes of India all diseases in men
or animals are attributed to one of two causes-the anger of some
evil spirit who has to be appeased or to the spell of some witch or
sorcerer, who should be destroyed or driven out of the land. In
the latter case, a witchfinder is employed to divine who has cast the
spell, and various modes of divination are resorted to. In former
14
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
times the person denounced and all his family were put to death in
the belief that witches breed witches. We have changed all
that. "The witch now," says Sir Alfred Lyall, "lives under laws
which, instead of condemning him, interfere actively to protect
him from molestation, and are much more prone to hang
witch-finders than witches. . . . It is probable that in no other
time or country is witchcraft ever been so comfortably
practised as it is now in India under British rule."*
He says
that "the belief in witchcraft still pervades all classes (in India),
from highest to lowest (though of course the pressure of the
superstition is far lighter upon the uppermost layers of society)."+
In the charms plants are frequently employed. They do not
exert a medicinal influence; but, from illusory analogies, are
supposed to have peculiar powers. A creeping plant which binds
itself to a tree is supposed to be able to cure broken bones; another
which has strong deep roots must be able to make the hair grow.
Charms are of two kinds-to preserve from harm or to cause
harm. Illustrative examples will now be given.
1. CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE.
The householder and his family are exposed to malarial fevers
and other diseases to which flesh is heir. A large number of hymns
have reference to their cure. Even baldness has three hymns. For
ready reference, the principal charms are arranged alphabetically.
Bloodletting.-Book I. 17.
1 Those maidens there, the veins who run their course in robes of
ruddy hue,
Must now stand quiet, reft of power, like sisters who are
brotherless.
2 Stay still, thou upper vein, stay still, thou lower, stay, thou
midmost one.
The smallest one of all stands still let the great vessel e'en be
still.
:
4 A mighty rampart built of sand hath circled and encompassed
you:
Be still, and quietly take rest.
Broken Bone.—IV. 12. An address to the plant Arundhati, a
climbing plant, to bind the injured limb as it binds the tree round
which it grows :
Thou art the healer, making whole, the healer of the broken
bone :
Make thou this whole, Arundhati !
2 Whatever bone of thine within thy body hath been wrenched
or cracked,
May Dhatar§ set it properly, and join together limb by limb.
* Asiatic Studies, p. 96.
† Ibid., p. 75.
Probably a bandage filled with wet sand to compress and cool the vein,
The god who ordains, fixes, and preserves.
CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE.
15
10
5
Join thou together hair with hair, join thou together skin with
skin.
Let blood and bone grow strong in thee. Unite the broken part,
O Plant.
Consumption.-VI. 14. There are frequent references to this
disease, which is still prevalent. It is fostered among women by
their being often shut up in close rooms without a sufficient
supply of pure air. Hymn II. 33 is enlarged with variations from
Rig-Veda X. 163. The hymn quoted below is a charm addressed
to some medicinal plant.
1 Remove thou all Decline that lurks within the members and
the joints.
The firmly-settled heart-disease that racks the bones and rends
the limbs.
2 From the consumptive man I pluck Decline as 'twere a creeping
thing.
I cut the bond that fetters him, even as a root of cucumber.
3 Begone, Consumption, hence away, like a young foal that runs
at speed.
Then, not pernicious to our men, flee, yearly visitant like grass!
Cough. VI. 105.
1 Rapidly as the fancy flies forth with conceptions of the mind,
So following the fancy's flight, O Cough, flee rapidly away.
2 Rapidly as an arrow flies away with keenly-sharpened point,
So swiftly flee away, O Cough, over the region of the earth!
3 Rapidly as the beams of light, the rays of Súrya, fly away,
So, Cough! fly rapidly away over the current of the sea!
1
Dysentery.-I. 2. An arrow and munja grass are employed.
We know the father of the shaft, Parjanya, liberal nourisher,
Know well his mother Prithivi, Earth with her manifold
designs.
2. Do thou, O Bowstring, bend thyself around us; make my body
stone (strong).
Firm in thy strength drive far away malignities and hateful
things.
3 When, closely clinging round the wood (the bow) the bowstring
sings triumph to the swift and whizzing arrow, Indra, ward off
from us the shaft, the missile:
4 As in its flight the arrow's point hangs between earth and
firmament,
So stand this Munja grass between ailment and dysenteric ill!
The succeeding hymns treat of reverse diseases-constipation
and suppression of urine. As an arrow from a bow flies through the
air, so the channels are to flow.
Fever, Charms against.-Susruta calls fever the king of
diseases. It causes more deaths in India than all other diseases
16
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
taken together. There are several charms for its cure.
In Hymn
I. 25, quoted below, it is said to be more frequent at the beginning
of the rains when Agni descends, in the form of lightning, from the
water clouds. Bilious fever causes the yellow colour. Other forms
of the disease are mentioned. Fever is addressed as a god, the
son of King Varuna, sent to punish sin. Yielding to prayer, he is
asked to depart.
1 When Agni blazed when he had pierced the Waters,
2
3
whereat the Law observers paid him homage,
There, men assever, was the loftiest birthplace:
O Fever, yielding to our prayer avoid us.
If thou be fiery glow, or inflammation, or if thy birthplace call
for chips of fuel,
Rack is thy name, God of the sickly yellow!
O Fever, yielding to our prayer avoid us.
Be thou distress, or agonizing torment, be thou the son King
Varuna hath begotten,
Rack is thy name, God of the sickly yellow!
O Fever yielding to our prayer avoid us,
4 I offer homage to the chilly Fever, to his fierce burning glow I
offer homage.
Be adoration paid to Fever coming each other day, the third, or
two days running.
Hymn 116 Book VII. contains another charm against fever.
A frog, which has two strings of different colours tied round it,
is supposed to relieve the patient of his disease.
1 Homage to him the burning one, shaker, exciter, violent!
Homage to him the cold who acts according to his ancient will!
2 May he, the lawless one, who comes alternate or two following
days, pass over and possess the frog.
Hair, Charm to promote the growth.-There are three charms
for this object. In Hymn 136, Book VI. quoted below, a plant
with deep roots, and therefore supposed to strengthen the hair, is
employed.
Born from the bosom of wide Earth the goddess, godlike Plant,
art thou:
So we, Nitatní! dig thee up to strengthen and fix fast the hair.
2 Make the old firm, make new hair spring, lengthen what has
already grown.
3 Thy hair where it is falling off, and with the roots is torn away,
I wet and sprinkle with the Plant, the remedy for all disease.
Headache.-Hymn 8 Book IX. is for the cure of various
diseases and pains more or less connected or supposed to be
CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE.
17
connected with consumption. The first two stanzas, quoted below,
treat of Headache, Earache, &c.
1 Each pain and ache that racks the head, earache, and erysipelas
All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this
our spell.
2 From both thine ears, from parts thereof, thine earache, and the
throbbing pain,
All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this
our spell.
Insanity.In Hymn 111, Book VI. a man is described as
insane either as a punishment for sin or caused by a demon.
Agni, the Apsarasas, goddesses of gambling, "Maddeners of
the mind," Indra and Bhoja, are asked to let him go.
1 Unbind and loose for me this man, O Agni, who bound and
well restrained is chattering folly.
Afterward he will offer thee thy portion when he hath been
delivered from his madness.
2 Let Agni gently soothe thy mind when fierce excitement
troubles it.
Well-skilled I make a medicine that thou no longer mayst be
mad.
3 Insane through sin against the gods, or maddened by a demon's
power-
Well-skilled I make a medicine to free thee from insanity.
4 May the Apsarasas release, Indra and Bhaga let thee go.
May all the gods deliver thee that thou no longer mayst be mad.
Jaundice.-Hymn 22, Book I., of which two verses are quoted
below, is partly taken from Rig-Veda I. 50. The Romans supposed
that the disease was cured by looking at a starling, which died
instead of the patient.
4
1 As the Sun rises let thy sore disease and yellowness depart.
We compass and surround thee with the colour of a ruddy ox.
To parrots and to starlings we transfer thy sickly yellowness:
Now in the yellow-coloured birds we lay this yellowness of thine.
Leprosy.-Susruta describes seven forms of this terrible
disease, and eleven slighter forms. Plants were employed in the
charms for its cure. There are other hymns on the same subject.
I. 23.
10 Plant, thou sprangest up at night, dusky, dark-coloured,
black in hue!
So, Rajaní, re-colour thou these ashy spots, this leprosy.
2 Expel the leprosy, remove from him the spots and ashy hue:
Let thine own colour come to thee; drive far away the specks of
white.
3 Dark is the place of thy repose, dark is the place thou dwellest in
Dusky and dark, O Plant, art thou; remove from him each
speck and spot.
;
3
18
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
4 I with my spell have chased away the pallid sign of leprosy
Caused by infection, on the skin, sprung from the body, from the
bones.
Nightmare and Evil Dreams.-There are some references to
these which are asked to be transferred to enemies. In some parts
of India nightmare is supposed to be caused by a demon seated
on the breast, attempting to strangle the person affected.
1
VII. 100.
I turn away from evil dream, from dream of sin, from indigence,
I make the prayer mine inmost friend. Hence! torturing
dreamy phantasies!
VI. 46.
2 We know thy birth, O Sleep, thou art son of the sisters of the
Gods! the minister of Yama thou, thou art Antaka (the
Finisher), thou art Death.
So well we know thee who thou art. Sleep, guard us from the
evil dream.
3 As men discharge a debt, as they pay up an eighth and half-
an-eighth,
So the whole evil dream do we pay and assign unto our foe.
Poison, Against.-There are several hymns on this subject-
against poisoned arrows, to render poisonous plants innocuous, &c.
In Hymn 90, Book VI., quoted below, Rudra is addressed as the
terrible god whose shafts bring diseases and death on men and
cattle.
1 The shaft that Rudra hath shot forth against thy members and
thy heart,
Here do we draw from thee to-day, and turn it hence to every side.
2 From all the hundred vessels spread throughout the members of
thy frame,
From all those vessels and canals we call the poisonous matter
forth.
3 Worship to thee, the archer, and O Rudra, to thy levelled
shaft!
Yea, worship to thine arrow when it left the bow, and when it
fell.
Snakes, Scorpions, Musquitoes, &c.-There are several refer-
ences to snakes. Hymn 56, Book VI. begins:
Let not the serpent slay us, O Gods, with our children and our folk.
Hymn 56, Book VII. is a charm against bites and stings of
various kinds, for which purpose a plant is employed. Brahmanas-
pati is addressed as the god of charms and prayer.
1 Whether it came from viper, from black snake or snake with
transverse stripes,
Or Kankaparvan's bite, this herb hath made the poison powerless.
CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE.
19
2 Honey-born, honey-dropping, rich in honey, honey-sweet, this
herb
Is medicine that heals the wound and kills the gnat that bites
and stings.
3 Whatever bit or sucked thy blood, we summon thence away
from thee.
The ineffectual poison of the little sharply-stinging gnat.
4 Thou here who crookest wicked jaws, thou tortuous, jointless,
limbless thing,
These jaws thou, Brahmanaspati ! shalt bend together like a reed.
5 This scorpion here that creeps along, low on the ground and
powerless-
I have removed his poison and then utterly demolished him.
6 No strength in thy two arms hast thou, nor in thy head, nor
in thy waist:
Then what is that small thing thou so viciously bearest in thy
tail ?
7 The emmets make a meal of thee and peahens tear and mangle
8
thee:
All ye are crying out, In sooth the scorpion's poison hath no
strength.
Thou creature who inflictest wounds both with thy mouth and
with thy tail,
No poison in thy mouth hast thou: what at thy tail's root will
there be ?
'
Tigers, Wolves, Thieves, etc.-IV. 3. The tiger, frequently
mentioned in the Atharva-Veda, seems to have been unknown to
the writers of the Rig-Veda. The tiger-crushing charm' is sup-
posed to have been a poisonous plant, deriving its growth from
Soma, king of plants, and its poison from Indra. Its origin is
ascribed to the ancient fire-priest, Atharvan :
1 Three have gone hence and passed away, the man, the tiger, and
the wolf.
3 We crush and rend to pieces both thine eyes, O Tiger, and thy
jaws, and all thy twenty claws we break.
5 The thief who cometh near to-day departeth bruised and crushed
to bits.
By nearest way let him be gone. Let Indra slay him with his
bolt.
7 Indra's and Soma's child, thou art Atharvan's tiger-crushing
charm.
Worms.-II. 31. The charm is against worms of various
kinds, those found in plants, in water, in human beings, and in
cattle. Two verses are quoted, "Indra's mighty millstone" denotes
his great power. The next hymn, 32, is against worms in cows.
1 With Indra's mighty millstone, that which crushes worms of
every sort,
I bray and bruise the worms to bits like vetches on the grinding
stone.
20
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
5
Worms that are found on mountains, in the forests, that live
in plants, in cattle, in the waters,
Those that have made their way within our bodies,- -these
I destroy, the worms' whole generation.
Wounds. VI. 57.-Rudra is the healer as well as the
inflicter of wounds and diseases.
1 This is a medicine indeed, Rudra's own medicine is this,
Wherewith he warns the arrow off, one-shafted, with a hundred
tipe.
2 Besprinkle it with anodyne, bedew it with relieving balm :
Strong, soothing is the medicine: bless us therewith that we
may live.
3 Let it be health and joy to us. Let nothing vex or injure us.
Down with the wound! Let all to us be balm, the whole be
medicine.
Charm to recover from the Point of Death or even to recall
the departed Spirit.-There are three hymns thus entitled. Hymn
1, Book VIII. is partly quoted below:
Mátarisvan is a name of Váyu or Wind.
1 Homage to Death the Ender! May thy breathings, inward and
outward, still remain within thee.
Here stay this man united with his spirit in the Sun's realm, the
world of life eternal !
2 Bhaga hath lifted up this man, and Soma with his filaments.
Indra and Agni, and the gods the Maruts, raised him up to
health.
3 Here is thy spirit, here thy breath, here is thy life, here is
thy soul;
By a celestial utterance we raise thee from Destruction's bonds.
4 Up from this place, O man, rise! sink not downward, casting
away the bonds of Death that hold thee.
Be not thou parted from this world, from sight of Agni and the
Sun.
5 Purely for thee breathe Wind and Mátarisvan, and let the
Waters rain on thee their nectar.
The Sun shall shine with healing on thy body; Death shall have
mercy on thee; do not leave us!
6 Upward must be thy way, O man, not downward: with life and
mental vigour I endow thee.
Ascend this car eternal, lightly rolling; then full of years shalt
thou address the meeting.
7 Let not thy soul go thither, nor be lost to us; slight not the
living, go not where the Fathers are.
Let all the gods retain thee here in safety.
8 Yearn not for the departed ones, for those who lead men far
away.
Rise up from darkness into light; come, both thy hands we
clasp in ours.
CHARMS WITH AMULETS.
21
9 Let not the black dog and the brindled seize thee, two warders
of the way sent forth by Yama.
Come hither; do not hesitate: with mind averted stay not there.
10 Forbear to tread this path, for it is awful; that path I speak
of which thou hast not travelled.
Enter it not, O man; this way is darkness; forward is danger,
hitherward is safety.
18 Here let this man, O Gods, remain ! let him not go to yonder
world.
We rescue him from Mrityu with a charm that hath a thousand
powers.
19 I have delivered thee from Death. Strength-givers smelt and
fashion thee!
Let not she-fiends with wild loose locks, or fearful howlers
yell at thee.
20 I have attained and captured thee! thou hast returned restored
to youth,
21
Perfect in body: so have I found all thy sight and all thy life.
Life hath breathed on thee; light hath come: darkness hath past
away from thee.
Far from thee we have buried Death, buried Destruction and
Decline.
Prayers or Charms for Long Life.-In the times of the
Atharva-Veda, the later gloomy views of life had not arisen.
Long life is frequently desired. In the original home of the
Aryans, "the complete term of life" was computed at a hundred
winters. As they moved farther south, autumns were substituted,
and lastly rainy seasons (varsháni.)
6
Hymn 69, Book XIX., quoted below, is in prose. The gods
are supposed to be dependent on the sacrifices of men, as the
worshipper is dependent on the gods.
1. Ye are alive. I fain would live. I fain would live my complete
term of life. 2. Ye live dependent. I fain would live dependent. I fain
would live my complete term of life. 3. Ye remain alive. I fain would
remain alive. I fain would live my complete term of life. 4. Ye are
life-givers. I fain would live. I fain would live my complete term of
life.
CHARMS WITH AMULETS.
An AMULET is something worn as a remedy or preservative
against evils or mischief, such as diseases or witchcraft. Amulets
have been used from very ancient times, and are still worn in many
parts of the world. In some parts of Africa negroes are almost
covered with them.
Some object was employed supposed to possess magical powers.
Plants were often chosen. Some of them have already been men-
tioned as remedies for disease. Arundhati, a medicinal climbing
22
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
*
plant, was frequently used. The Asvattha, the pipal, or sacred fig-
tree, was still more popular. In Hymn 4, Book V. the gods are said
to sit under its shade in the third heaven. The Kusa or Darbha
grass was supposed to possess sanctifying qualities. Munja grass
was employed as a spell to cure dysentery. The Jangida, a plant
not yet identified, is frequently mentioned as a charm against
demons, and a specific for various diseases. The wood of the
Udumbara Fig-tree was sometimes used. The wood of the Tilaka
tree was supposed to ward off witchcraft. Several other plants,
not yet identified, were also used as amulets.
The horn of the roebuck was employed to drive away hered-
itary disease. Lead was used as a charm against diseases and
sorcery. An amulet of gold was thought to secure long life. An
amulet composed of three threads, one of gold, one of silver, one of
iron, was supposed to protect the three vital airs on which the life of
the wearer depended. It likewise ensured general protection and
prosperity.
In the numerous charms quoted, examples will be given of the
employment of most of the above amulets.
1
2
Address to an Amulet. II. 17.
Power art thou, give me power. All hail!
Might art thou, give me might. All hail !
3 Strength art thou, give me strength. All hail!
Life art thou, give me life. All hail!
4
5 Ear art thou, give me hearing.
Hail!
6
Eye art thou, give me eyes.
All hail!
7 Shield art thou, shield me well.
All hail !
The Jangida Plant. XIX. 34.
1 Jangida, thou art Angiras*; thou art a guardian, Jangida.
Let Jangida keep safely all our bipeds and our quadrupeds.
2 Dice-witcheries, the fifty-threes, the hundred witchcraft practisers,
All these may Jangida make weak, bereft of their effectual force.
4 This counteracts the sorceress, this banishes malignity :
Then may victorious Jangida prolong the days we have to live.
7 The ancient plants surpass thee not, nor any herbs of recent
days,
A potent charm is Jangida, a most felicitous defence.
9 To thee in truth, O Forest Tree, Indra the mighty One gave
strength.
Driving away all maladies, strike thou the demons down,
O Plant.
10 Lumbago and rheumatic pain, consumptive cough and pleurisy,
And fever which each autumn brings, may Jangida make
powerless.
* A great patriarchal Rishi.
CHARMS WITH AMULETS.
23
An Amulet of Darbha or Kusa Grass. XIX. 29.
1 Pierce thou my rivals, Darbha, pierce the men who fain would
fight with me.
Pierce all who wish me evil, pierce the men who hate me,
Amulet !
Split, Check, Crush, Shake, Bruise, Burn, Consume, thou my
rivals.
9 Slay thou my rivals, Darbha, slay the men who fain would fight
with me,
Slay all who wish me evil, slay the men who hate me, Amulet.
Some Amulets are supposed to confer superhuman powers like
the Yoga Sastra. The following are examples :
A Charm to obtain Invisibility.-In Hymn 27, Book I. the
cast skins of serpents are employed as an amulet to make travellers
invisible to robbers.
1
There on the bank those Vipers lie, thrice-seven, having cast
their skins:
Now we with their discarded sloughs bind close and cover up
the eyes of the malicious highway thief.
A Charm for superhuman Powers of Sight.-In Hymn 20,
Book IV. a magical plant, addressed as a goddess, is supposed to
enable a person to see every thing in heaven and earth, including
demons of all kinds :
1
it sees
It sees in front, it sees behind, it sees afar away,
The sky, the firmament, and earth all this, O Goddess, it
beholds.
:
2 Through thee, O godlike Plant, may I behold all creatures that
exist,
Three several heavens, three several earths, and these six
regions one by one.
6 Make me see Yátudhánas, make thou Yátudhánís visible.
Make me see all Pisáchas. With this prayer, O Plant, I hold
thee fast.
A Charm for Surpassing Strength.-VI. 38.
1 What energy the lion hath, the tiger, adder, and burning fire,
Bráhman, or Súrya,
And the blest Goddess who gave birth to Indra, come unto
us conjoined with strength and vigour !
2 All energy of elephant and panther, all energy of gold, men,
kine, and waters,
3 Might in car, axles, in the strong bull's courage, in Varuna's
breath, in Váta, in Parjanya,
In Warrior, in the war drum stretched for battle, in the man's
roar, and in the horse's mettle,
24
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
COUNTER CHARMS.
It was supposed that the magical incantations of enemies
might be rendered powerless or even made to revert upon their own
hands. Two examples are given.
Hymn 24, Book II., is a charm against the magic art of
demons. Four male demons or sorcerers and four females of
the same class are addressed.
1 O Serabhaka, Serabha, back fall your arts of witchery! Back
Kimídins! let your weapon fall.
Eat your possessor; eat ye him who sent you forth; eat your
own flesh.
&c.
&c.
&c.
Hymn 18, Book IV. is a counter-charm against the magical
incantations of others. A magical plant, gathered at full moon
when the night is as day, is employed.
1 The moonlight equalleth the sun, night is the rival of the day.
I make effectual power my help: let magic arts be impotent.
2 Gods! if one make and bring a spell on some man's house who
knows it not,
Close as the calf that sucks the cow may it revert and cling to
him.
5 I with this Plant have ruined all malignant powers of witchery,
The spell which they have laid upon thy field, thy cattle or
thy men.
Charms against Evil Omens.-In ancient times, as at present,
the Hindus attached great importance to supposed signs of the
success or failure of an undertaking. The lizard bears a high
reputation as a prophet, although there is a southern proverb, "The
lizard which was the oracle of the whole village has fallen into the
broth-pot." The ass appropriately holds a place. Owls and
ravens are other guides.
Hymn 64, Books VII. contains a charm to avert an evil omen in
which the raven is concerned. Agni Gárhapatya denotes the sacred
fire of the householder.
1 From all that woe and trouble may the Waters save and rescue
me,
Whate'er the Raven, black of hue, flying out hitherward hath
dropped.
2 My Agni Gárhapatya save and set me free from all this guilt.
Which the black Raven with thy mouth, O Nirriti,* hath
wiped away.
A Charm to avert Evil Omens.-VI. 29.
1 On those men yonder fall the winged missile: the screeching
of the Owl is ineffective,
And that the Dove beside the fire hath settled.
*Demon of destruction.
CHARMS AGAINST DEMONS.
25
2 Thine envoys who came hither, O Destruction, sent or not sent
by thee unto our dwelling,
The Dove and Owl, effectless be their visit!
NOTE.-The Owl and Dove were supposed to be birds of evil omen.
CHARMS AGAINST DEMONS.
Even in the times of the Rig-Veda supposed malignant spirits
were an object of terror to the Aryans. This feeling was intensi-
fied by longer contact with the aborigines, among whom, as
throughout a great part of Asia, demonolatry was the prevailing
superstition. Sir Monier Williams says:
"The great majority of the inhabitants of India, from the cradle
to the burning ground, are haunted and oppressed by a perpetual dread
of demons. They are firmly convinced that evil spirits of all kinds,
from malignant fiends to merely mischievous imps and elves, are ever
on the watch to harm, harass, and torment them, to cause plague,
sickness, famine and disaster, to impede, injure, and mar every good
work.
"So deep-seated and ineradicable is the fear of evil spirits in the
minds of the lower orders, that in many villages of India the doors of
the houses are never allowed to face the South, lest the entrance of
some dreaded demon should be facilitated.'
"'*
The leading demons, male and female, mentioned in the
Atharva-Veda will be briefly described:
Arayis." One-eyed limping hags."
Asuras.-Evil spirits so called after the giants who fought
with the gods.
Dasyus.-Applied both to the wild indigenous races, and to
the malignant demons of the air, withholders of the seasonable rain.
Grahi,-A female fiend who seizes men, and causes death
and disease.
Kimidins and Kimidinis.—A class of evil spirits whose name
is said originally to mean one who goes about crying Kim idáním.
What now?-a vile and treacherous spy and informer.
Panis.-Demons of darkness who steal the cows of the gods,
and shut them up in a cavern, that is, conceal the rays of daylight
in dark clouds.
Pisachas and Pisachis.-General terms for male and female
malignant spirits.
Rakshasas and Rakshasis.-Violent and voracious man-eaters.
Yatudhanas and Yatudanis.—A class of evil spirits or sorcerers.
Sayana explains them as Rakshasas, but they are apparently distinct.
In Hymn 6, Book VIII., the names of a great many demons
are given who attack women; as "the black and hairy Asura,"
* Brahmanism and Hinduism, pp. 210, 245,
4
26
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
"Snapper and Feeler,' ""him who eats raw flesh and him who licks
his lips;" &c.
Agni and Indra are the two noted "fiend-slayers." Out of
about fourteen hymns for the destruction of demons and sorcerers,
three are quoted below.
1
BOOK I. 28.
God Agni hath come forth to us, fiend-slayer, chaser of disease,
Burning the Yátudhánas up, Kimídins, and deceitful ones.
2 Consume the Yátudhánas, God! meet the Kimídins with thy
flame :
Burn up the Yátudhánas as they face thee, thou whose path is
black!
3 She who hath cursed us with a curse, or hath conceived a
murderous sin ;
Or seized our son to take his blood, let her devour the child shə
bare.
4 Let her, the Yátudhání eat son, sister, and her daughter's child.
Now let the Twain* by turns destroy the wild-haired Yátudhánís
and crush down Aráyís to the earth!
Book VI. 32.
1 With butter in his hall where fire is burning, perform that
sacrifice which quells the goblins.
Burn from afar against the demons, Agni! Afflict not in thy fury
us who praise thee.
2 Let Rudra break your necks, O ye Pisáchas, and split your ribs
asunder, Yátudbánas!
Here Mitra-Varuna! may we dwell safely with splendour drive
the greedy demons backward.
Let them not find a surety or a refuge, but torn away go down
to Death together.
Book VII. 23.
The fearful dream, and indigence, the monster, the malignant
hags,
All female fiends of evil name and wicked tongue we drive afar.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE.
Picture of Aryan Home Life.-The charms may be fitly
introduced by the following graphic sketch by Griffith:
"Setting aside the rivalries, wars and conquests of kings and
princes, and the lofty claims and powers of the hierarchy, we may
follow the course of the middle-class Aryan's life from the cradle to the
funeral pile, and even accompany him to his final home in the world
of the Departed.
* Agni and Indra.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE.
27
"We hear the benedictive charm pronounced over the expectant
mother before her child is born, and in due time on the darling's first
two teeth. We attend the solemn ceremony in which the youth is in-
vested with his toga virilis, the new garment whose assumption signifies
his recognition as an adult member of the family with new responsibili-
ties and new duties to perform. As his fancy turns to thoughts of love,
we hear him murmuring the charm which shall win him the maiden of
his choice, and the lullaby which shall seal every eye but hers in his
beloved's house and enable him to visit her without detection or suspi-
cion. We follow him in his formal and somewhat unromantic wooing
of a bride through a friend who acts as match-maker; we see the nuptial
procession and the bride's introduction to her new home; we hear her
benediction on the bridegroom, and the epithalamium pronounced over
the wedded pair. The young husband is an agriculturist, and we see
him in his field superintending the ploughmen and praying to Indra
and Púshan and the Genii of agriculture to bless their labours. Anon,
with propitiatory prayer, he is cutting a new channel to bring the
water of the brook to the land which is ready for irrigation; or he is
praying for rain or an abundant crop. Again, when the corn is ripe,
he is busy among the men who gather in the harvest, invoking the aid
of the good-natured goblins, and leaving on the ground some sheaves to
remunerate their toil. At sunset he superintends the return of the
cows who have been grazing under the protection of the Wind-God in
the breezy pastures and their return under Divine guidance, and
the reunion of all the members of the household are celebrated with
symbolical mixt oblation, with milk and a brew of grain.
C
“His wealth and family increase in answer to his repeated prayer
for children and riches, and a new house must be built on a larger scale.
The building is erected under the careful eye of the master and blessed
and consecrated with prayers to the Gods and to the Queen of the Home.
The mistress of the house brings forth the well-filled pitcher, all present
are regaled with the stream of molten butter blent with nectar-which
seems to be a euphemistic name for some sort of good liquor,-and the
householder enters and takes formal possession of his new dwelling with
fire and water, the two most important necessaries of human life. The
house, moreover a wooden building with a thatched roof-has been
specially assured against fire by a prayer to Agni the God of that element
with the additional security afforded by the immediate neighbourhood of
a good stream or pool of water.
"Such, or something like this, was the ordinary life of the average
middle-class agriculturist. A devout believer in the gods, he did not
spend his substance on the performance of costly sacrifices, but was
content with simple ceremonies and such humble offerings as he could well
afford. His chief care was for the health and well-being of himself, his
wife, children, and dependents, for plentiful harvests, and for thriving
and multiplying cattle; and these were the blessings for which he most
frequently prayed. His chief troubles were an occasional touch of malarial
fever or rheumatism, a late or scanty rainfall, a storm that lodged his ripe
barley, lightning that struck his cattle, and similar mischances caused by
the anger of the gods or the malevolence of demons; and he was always
armed with prayers and spells against the recurrence of such disasters.
28
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
"He was a man of importance in his village, and when he attended
the assembly-which may have been a kind of Municipal Committee or
Parish Council-his great ambition was to command respect and
attention as a speaker, and with this view he fortified himself with charm
and magic herb that inspired eloquence, and enabled him to overpower
his opponents in debate. His life, on the whole, was somewhat
monotonous and dull, but it seems to have suited him as he was
continually praying that it might be extended to its full natural duration
of a hundred years. At the end of that time, with his sons and his sons'
children around him, he was ready to pass away to the felicity that
awaited him in the world of the Fathers.
The small merchant or trader lived a less settled life and saw more
of the world than the agriculturist. We see him on the point of starting on
a journey for business purposes with his little stock of goods. He first
propitiates Indra who as a merchant also, the God who trades and traffics
with his worshippers, requiring and receiving prayer and oblations in
exchange for the blessings which he sends, and who will now free the
travelling merchant's path from wild beasts, robbers, and enemies of
every kind. He prays also to many other deities that he may make a
rich profit and gain a hundred treasures, and commits the care of his
children and cattle in his absence to Agni, the God of all Aryan men.
His ritual is an extensive one as he may be about to journey to all
points of the compass, and he must accordingly conciliate all the divine
Warders of the heavenly regions. He has to recite some ten hymns of
Book VI. invoking the aid of all protecting deities, not forgetting to
consult the Weather-Prophet, and to obtain from him the promise of
auspicious mornings, noons, and nights. He bids an affectionate farewell
to the houses of his village, and departs on his way encouraged by
the hymn which ensures him a safe and successful journey. In due
time he returns having bartered his wares for the treasures of distant
places, for bdellium and other fragrant gums and unguents, for Kushtha
and other foreign plants and drugs of healing virtue, for mother-of-pearl,
ornaments for the women, and perhaps cloth of finer wool.
"The merchant's object in life is gain, and he is not always very
scrupulous in his dealings. If he is in debt he would prefer to be freed
by the intervention of a god, and not by his own exertions; and he is bold
enough even to pray for release from debts which he has incurred without
intending to pay them. He is probably the gambler who prays for success
in play, and for pardon when he has been guilty of cheating." Preface,
pp. IX.-XIII.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH FAMILY LIFE.
A MAN'S LOVE CHARMS.
There are seven hymns entitled, "A Man's Love Charms."
They show that infant marriage did not prevail in Vedic times.
A Charm to win a Maiden's Love. VI. 8.
1 Like as the creeper throws her arms on every side around the
tree,
So hold thou me in thine embrace that thou mayst be in love
with me, my darling, never to depart.
CHARMS CONNECTED
29
WITH FAMILY LIFE.
2 As, when he mounts, the eagle strikes his pinions downward on
the earth,
So do I strike thy spirit down that thou mayst be in love with
me, my darling, never to depart.
3 As in his rapid course the Sun encompasses the heaven and earth,
So do I compass round thy mind that thou mayst be in love with
me, my darling, never to depart.
A Charm to win a Bride. VI. 82.
1 I call the name of him who comes, hath come, and still draws
nigh to us.
Foe-slaying Indra's name I love, the Vasus' friend with hundred
powers.
2 Thus Bhaga spake to me: Let him bring thee a consort by the
path.
Whereon the Asvins brought the bride Súryá, the child of
Savitar.
3 Great, Indra, is that hook of thine, bestowing treasure, wrought
of gold:
Therewith, O Lord of Might, bestow a wife on me who long to
wed.
NOTE.-The Asvins are said to have obtained Súryá, daughter of the Sun, as a
wife for Soma, the Moon-God.
A Sleep Charm of a Lover who is secretly visiting his Love. IV. 5.
1 The Bull who hath a thousand horns, who rises up from out the
sea,
By him the strong and mighty one we lull the folk to rest and
sleep.
2 Over the surface of the earth there breathes no wind, there
looks no eye.
Lull all the women, lull the dogs to sleep, with Indra as thy
friend!
3 The women sleeping in the court, lying without, or stretched on
beds,
The matrons with their odorous sweets-these, one and all, we
lull to sleep.
6 Sleep mother, let the father sleep, sleep dog, and master of the
home.
Let all her kinsmen sleep, sleep all the people who are round
about.
7 With soporific charm, O Sleep, lull thou to slumber all the folk,
Let the rest sleep till break of day, I will remain awake till dawn,
like Indra free from scath and harm.
NOTE.-The Bull is variously supposed to mean the sun, the starry heavens,
or the moon.
Charm for the safe delivery of a Son. VI. 81.
1 Thou art a grasper, holding fast both hands; thou drivest fiends
away.
A holder both of progeny and riches hath this Ring become.
30
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
2 Prepare accordantly, O Ring, the mother for the infant's birth.
On the right way bring forth the boy. Make him come hither.
I am here.
3 The Amulet which Aditi wore when desirous of a son,
Tvashtar hath bound upon this dame and said, Be mother of a
boy.
Benediction on a new-born child. VI. 110.
1 Yea, ancient, meet for praise at sacrifices, ever and now thou
sittest down as Hotar.
And now, O Agni, make thy person friendly, and win felicity
for us by worship.
2 Neath Jyaishthaghní and Yama's Two Releasers this child was
born preserve him from uprooting.
He shall conduct him safe past all misfortunes to lengthened
life that lasts a hundred autumns.
3 Born on the Tiger's day was he, a hero, the Constellation's child,
born brave and manly.
Let him not wound, when grown in strength, his father, nor
disregard his mother, her who bare him.
NOTES.-A hymn to Agni. Jyaishthaghní: the 16th lunar mansion. Yama's two
Releasers: two auspicious stars whose rising releases from Death and disease. The
Tiger is in the Atharva-Veda the type of valour.
1
A Blessing on a Child's first two Teeth. VI. 140.
Two tigers have grown up who long to eat the mother and the
sire :
Soothe, Brahmanaspati, and thou, O Játavedas, both these teeth.
2 Let rice and barley be your food, eat also beans and sesamum,
This is the share allotted you, to be your portion, ye two Teeth.
Harm not your mother and your sire.
3 Both fellow-teeth have been invoked, gentle and bringing happi-
ness.
Elsewhither let the fierceness of your nature turn away, O Teeth!
harm not your mother or your sire.
A Youth's Investiture with a new Garment. II. 13.
1 Strength-giver, winning lengthened life, O Agni, with face, and
back shining with molten butter,
Drink thou the butter and fair milk and honey, and, as a sire
his sons, keep this man safely.
2 For us surround him, cover him with splendour, give him long
life, and death when age removes him,
The garment hath Brihaspati presented to Soma, to the King,
to wrap about him.
3 Thou for our weal hast clothed thee in the mantle: thou
hast become our heifers' guard from witchcraft.
Live thou a hundred full and plenteous autumns, and wrap thee
in prosperity of riches.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH FAMILY LIFE.
31
4 Come hither, stand upon the stone: thy body shall become a
stone,
The Universal Gods shall make thy life a hundred autumns long.
5 So may the Universal Gods protect thee, whom we divest of
raiment worn aforetime.
So after thee, well-formed and growing stronger, be born a
multitude of thriving brothers.
Marriage Ceremonies.
These are described under Hymns about Women.
Benediction on the Completion of a New Home. III. 12.
1 Here even here I fix my firm-set dwelling; flowing with fatness
may it stand in safety.
May we approach thee, House! with all our people; unharmed
and goodly men, and dwell within thee.
3 A spacious store, O House, art thou, full of clean corn and
lofty-roofed.
Let the young calf and little boy approach thee, and milch-kine
streaming homeward in the evening.
4 This House may Savitar and Váyu stablish, Brihaspati who
knows the way, and Indra.
May the moist Maruts sprinkle it with fatness, and may King
Bhaga make our corn-land fruitful.
8 Bring hitherward, O dame, the well-filled pitcher, the stream,
of molten butter blent with nectar.
Bedew these drinkers with a draught of Amrit.
our hopes' fulfilment guard this dwelling.
May all
9 Water that kills Consumption, free from all Consumption here I
bring.
With Agni, the immortal One, I enter and possess the house.
AGRICULTURAL LABOURS.
Several charms refers to these-a few of which may be quoted
A Farmer's song to speed the Plough. III. 17.
Wise and devoted to the gods, the skilful men bind ploughropes
fast,
And lay the yokes on either side.
6 Happily work our steers and men! May the plough furrow
happily.
Happily be the traces bound. Happily ply the driving-goad.
8 Auspicious Sítá, come thou near; we venerate and worship thee
That thou mayst bless and prosper us and bring us fruits
abundantly.
9 Loved by the Visvedevas and the Maruts, let Sétá be bedewed
with oil and honey.
Turn thou to us with wealth of milk, O Sita, in vigorous
strength and pouring streams of fatness.
32
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
A Charm to hasten the coming of the Rains.
After the long hot season when the earth is as iron, the coming
of the rains is eagerly desired. Indra or Parjanya was especially
worshipped as able, with his thunderbolts, to cleave the rain-clouds
and compel them to let fall their treasures. Some verses from
Hymn 15, Book IV. are quoted below :
1
Let all the misty regions fly together, let all the rain-clouds.
sped by wind, assemble.
Let waters satisfy the earth, the voices of the great mist-envelop-
ed Bull who roareth.
8 Let lightning flash on every side; from all the regions blow the
winds!
Urged by the Maruts let the clouds pour down their rain upon
the earth.
13 They who lay quiet for a year, the Brahmans who fulfil their
VOWS,
The frogs, have lifted up their voice, the voice Parjanya hath
inspired.
16 Lift up the mighty cask, and pour down water; let the wind
blow and lightning flash around us.
Let sacrifice be paid, and, widely scattered, let herbs and plants
be full of joy and gladness.
NOTES.-The Bull: Parjanya, god of the rain-cloud. Verse 13 is taken from
Rig-Veda, vii. 103. The frogs rejoicing in the rains are represented as Brahmans
engaged in religious ceremonies. Cask: rain-cloud.
A Charm to protect corn from Lightning and Drought.
Book VII. 11,
That far-spread thunder, sent from thee, which cometh on all this
world, a high celestial signal—
Strike not, O God, our growing corn with lightning, nor kill it with
the burning rays of Surya.
CHARMS TO PROTECT CATTLE.
Both oxen and cows occupy a prominent place in the Atharva-
Veda. Hymn 25, Book xix is a charm to be used when a young ox is
yoked for the first time. Hymn 16, Book V. contains a charm for
the increase of cattle. Hymn 21, Book IV. is a glorification and
benediction addressed to cows. Hymn 59, Book VI., quoted below,
is a charm, addressed to Arundhati, to protect cattle and men.
Hymn 32, Book II, is a charm against the worms which infest
cows. Hymn 77 Book VI is a charm to bring the cattle home,
and Hymn 14, Book III. is a benediction of the cattle-pen, in
which the cows are kept at night.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH FAMILY LIFE.
33
1 First, O Arundhatí, protect our oxen and our milky kine:
Protect each one that is infirm, each quadruped that yields no
milk.
2 Let the Plant give us sheltering aid, Arundhatí allied with gods,
Avert consumption from our men and make our cow-pen rich in
milk.
3 I welcome the auspicious Plant, life-giving, wearing every hue,
Far from our cattle may it turn the deadly dart which Rudra
casts.
Charm to make a Cow love its Calf. VI. 70.
This might seem a work of supererogation; but the Aryan knew
better. Bloomfield, in his commentary, describes how it was used:
"The practice consists in washing the calf, sprinkling it with the
cow's urine, leading it thrice around the cow and tying it near her while
the hymn is being recited. It is then recited once more over the head
and ears of the calf." p. 493.
1.
As wine associates with flesh, as dice attend the gaming-board,
As an enamoured man's desire is firmly set upon a dame,
So let thy heart and soul, O Cow, be firmly set upon thy calf.
&c., &c.
Charm for the destruction of Vermin. VI. 50.
1 Destroy the rat, the mole, the boring beetle, cut off their heads
and crush their ribs, O Asvins.
Bind fast their mouths; let them not eat our barley; so
guard, ye twain, our growing corn from danger.
3 Hearken to me, lord of the female borer, lord of the female
grub! ye rough-toothed vermin !
Whate'er ye be, dwelling in woods, and piercing, we crush and
mangle all those piercing insects.
Charm for a Plentiful Harvest. VI. 142.
1 Spring high, O Barley, and become much through thine own
magnificence:
Burst all the vessels; let the bolt from heaven forbear to strike
thee down.
2 As we invite and call to thee, Barley, a God who heareth us,
Raise thyself up like heaven on high, and be exhaustless as the
sea.
3 Exhaustless let thine out-turns be, exhaustless be thy gathered
heaps,
Exhaustless be thy givers, and exhaustless those who eat of thee.
Song of Harvest Home. III. 24,
5 0 Hundred-handed, gather up. O Thousand-handed, pour thou
forth.
Bring hither increase of the corn prepared and yet to be
prepared.
5
34
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
6 Three sheaves are the Gandharvas' claim, the lady of the house
7
hath four.
We touch thee with the sheaf that is the most abundant of
them all.
Adding and Gathering are thy two attendants, O Prajapati.
May they bring hither increase, wealth abundant, inexhaustible.
NOTE.—Three sheaves were left on the ground for the demons who are here
called Gandharvas, a higher class of celestial beings; four sheaves were for the
mistress; and the best of all is offered as a sample to the owner of the field.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARMS CONNECTED WITH HOME LIFE.
Prayer for Wealth and Children.
These form the most frequent petitions.
BOOK VII. 17.
1 May the Ordainer give us wealth, Lord, ruler of the world of
life with full hand may he give to us.
2
May Dhátar grant the worshipper henceforth inperishable life,
May we obtain the favour of the God who giveth every boon.
3 To him may Dhátar grant all kinds of blessings who, craving
children, serves him in his dwelling.
Him may the Gods invest with life eternal, yea, all the gods and
Aditi accordant.
4 May this our gift please Savitar, Ráti, Dbátar, Prajapati, and
Agni, Lord of Treasures,
May Tvashtar, Vishnu, blessing him with children, give store of
riches to the sacrificer.
NOTE. - Ráti, the gift personified as a goddess.
The Hospitable Reception of Guests. IX. 6.
This is a long prose hymn in which the hospitable reception of
guests is regarded as identical with sacrifice offered to the gods.
Only a few verses can be quoted :
19
25
When he says, Bring out more, he lengthens his life thereby.
This man whose food they eat hath all his wickedness blotted
out. 26. All that man's sin whose food they do not eat
remains unblotted out.
28 The arranged sacrifice of the man who offers food is a sacrifice
to Prajapati. 29. The man who offers food follows the steps
of Prajapati.
1
A Charm to win Love in a Family. III. 30.
Freedom from hate I bring to you, concord and unanimity.
Love one another as the cow loveth the calf that she hath borne.
2 One-minded with his mother let the son be loyal to his sire.
Let the wife, calm and gentle, speak words sweet as honey to her
lord.
3 No brother hate his brother, no sister to sister be unkind.
Unanimous, with one intent, speak ye your speech in friendliness.
CHARMS CONNECTED WITH FAMILY LIFE.
35
4 That spell through which gods sever not, nor ever bear each
other hate,
That spell we lay upon your home, a bond of union for the men.
7 With binding charm I make you all united, obeying one sole
leader and one-minded.
Even as the gods who watch and guard the Amrit, at morn and
eve may ye be kindly-hearted.
Hymn 42, Book III. is a "Charm to reconcile estranged
Friends."
A Charm for Influence at a Meeting. VII. 12.
1 In concord may Prajapati's two daughters, Gathering and
Assembly, both protect me.
May every man I meet respect and aid me. Fair be my words,
O Fathers, at the meetings.
2 Let all the company who join the Conference agree with me.
3 Indra, make me conspicuous in all this gathered company.
Hymn 27, Book II. is a charm against an opponent in a debate.
A Merchant's Prayer for Success in Business.
The prayer is primarily addressed to the "Merchant Indra,"
for reasons which have already been stated. Vaisvánara and Játave-
das are epithets applied to Agni.
1
Book III. 15.
I stir and animate the merchant Indra: may he approach and be
our guide and leader.
Chasing ill-will, wild beast, and highway robber, may he who
hath the power give me riches.
2 The many paths which gods are wont to travel, the paths which
go between the earth and heaven,
May they rejoice with me in milk and fatness that I may make
rich profit by my purchase.
3 With fuel, Agni! and with butter, longing, mine offering I
present for strength and conquest;
With prayer, so far as I have strength, adoring-this holy hymn
to gain a hundred treasures.
4 Pardon this stubbornness of ours, O Agni, the distant pathway
which our feet have trodden.
Propitious unto us be sale and barter, may interchange of
merchandise enrich me,
Accept, ye twain, accordant, this libation! Prosperous be our
ventures and incomings.
5 The wealth wherewith I carry on my traffic, seeking, ye gods!
wealth with the wealth I offer,
May this grow more for me, not less: O Agni, through sacrifice
chase those away who hinder profit !
36
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
6 The wealth wherewith I carry on my traffic, seeking, ye gods!
wealth with the wealth I offer,
7
Herein may Indra, Savitar, and Soma, Prajapati and Agni give
me splendour.
With reverence we sing thy praise, O Hotar-priest Vaisvánara.
Over our children keep thou watch, over our bodies, kine, and
lives.
8 Still to thee ever will we bring oblation, as to a stabled horse,
O Játavedas.
Joying in food and in the growth of riches may we thy servants,
Agni, never suffer.
MISCELLANEOUS HYMNS.
Several hymns will now be noticed which vary in character.
HYMNS ABOUT KINGS.
There are some hymns about the election of a King, the con-
secration of a King, the benediction of a King, the restoration of
a King, a King's address to an amulet which is to strengthen his
authority; a King's charm to secure the fidelity of his people; a
charm to reconcile a King's discontented people. There is even a
charm to tame an elephant for a King.
One specimen is given.
1.
A Benediction on a newly consecrated King.
IV. 22.
Exalt and strengthen this my Prince, O Indra. Make him sole
lord and leader of the people.
Scatter his foes, deliver all his rivals into his hand in struggles
for precedence.
2. Give him a share in village, kine, and horses, and leave his
enemy without a portion.
Let him as King be head and chief of Princes. Give up to
him, O Indra, every foeman. &c., &c.
CHARMS FOR SUCCESS IN WAR AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ENEMIES.
Hymns are addressed to the chariot and war-drum as charms
to secure victory over enemies; there are imprecations against a
hostile army, &c. A few quotations are made.
A Charm to secure success in Battle. III. 1.
1 Let the wise Agni go against our foemen, burning against ill-will
and imprecation.
Let him bewilder our opponents' army. Let Játevedas smite
and make them handless.
MISCELLANEOUS HYMNS.
37
4 Shot down the slope, with thy two tawny coursers, forth go
bolt, destroying foes, O Indra!
Slay those who fly, slay those who stand and follow.
On every side fulfil these men's intention.
thy
6 Let Indra daze their army. Let the Maruts slay it with their
might.
Let Agni take their eyes away, and let the conquered host retreat.
NOTE. -The hymn was supposed to have magical effect in bewildering an
enemy.
Charms for the Destruction of Enemies.
Book IV. 36.
Endowed with true strength, let the Bull, Agni Vaisvánara,
burn them up,
Him who would pain and injure us, him who would treat us as
a foe.
2 Him who, unharmed, would injure us, and him who, harmed,
would do us harm,
I lay between the doubled fangs of Agni, of Vaisvánara.
Book VII. 59.
Like a tree struck by lightning may the man be withered from
the root,
Who curseth us who curse him not, or, when we curse him,
curseth us.
BOOK XIX. 29.
1 Pierce thou my rivals, Darbha, pierce the men who fain would
fight with me.
Pierce all who wish me evil, pierce the men who hate me,
Amulet.
9 Slay thou my rivals, Darbha, slay the men who fain would fight
with me.
Slay all who wish me evil, slay the men who hate me, Amulet.
HYMNS ON BRAHMANS.
The four castes are only once mentioned in the Rig-Veda in
one of the latest hymns. By the time the Atharva-Veda was
collected, caste had been largely developed. There are numerous
references to Brahmans and Kshatriyas, and the rights of the
former are carefully guarded.
Two hymns about Brahmans are partly quoted:
The Duty of giving cows to Brahmans, and the Danger of
withholding them. XII. 4.
1 I give the gift, shall be his word; and straightway they have
bound the Cow.
For Brahman priests who beg the boon.
and progeny.
That bringeth sons
38
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
10 For gods and Brahmans is the Cow produced when first she
springs to life,
Hence to the priests must she be given: this they call guarding
private wealth.
25 The Cow deprives of progeny and makes him poor in cattle who
Retains in his possession her whom Brahmans have solicited.
The Sin and Danger of Robbing a Brahman of his Cow.
In Hymu 5, Book XII., this is shown at great length. Only
a few verses are quoted. The consequences are terrific:
5 Of the Kshatriya who taketh to himself this Brahman's cow
and oppresseth the Brahman,
67
The glory, the heroism, and the favouring fortune depart.
Strike off the shoulders and the head.
68 Suatch thou the hair from off his head, and from his body strip
the skin :
69 Tear out his sinews, cause his flesh to fall in pieces from his
frame.
70 Crush thou his bones together, strike and beat the marrow out of
71
him.
Dislocate all his limbs and joints.
72 From earth let the carnivorous Agni drive him, let Váyu burn him
from mid-air's broad region,
73 From heaven let Súrya drive him and consume him.
In Hymn 18, Book V., a Kshatriya is warned against the sin
of eating a Brahman's cow. In the preceding hymn, taken partly
from Rig-Veda X. 109, an account is given of the abduction by a
Kshatriya of a Brahman's wife and her subsequent restoration to her
husband. Hymn 19, Book V., is on the wickedness and ruinous.
consequences of oppressing, robbing, or insulting a Brahman.
HYMNS ABOUT DEBT.
The Indian tendency to run into debt is of long standing. In
the Rig-Veda a prayer is addressed to Varuna for freedom from
debt. The following, in the Atharva-Veda, is of the same character.
Book VI. 117.
1 That which I eat, a debt which is still owing, the tribute due
to Yama, which supports me,
Thereby may I be free from debt, O Agni. Thou knowest how to
rend all bonds asunder.
3 May we be free in this world and that yonder, in the third
world may we be unindebted.
May we, debt-free, abide in all the pathways, in all the worlds
which Gods and Fathers visit.
Release from Debts incurred without intention of Payment.
Agni is asked to aid the suppliant in the dishonest attempt
to break his promise, and get rid of debts contracted without
MISCELLANEOUS HYMNS.
39
intention of repayment. Agni knows how to tear to pieces the
bonds of debt. Thus the creditor's hopes of payment would be
disappointed.
BOOK VI. 119.
1 The debt which I incur, not gaming, Agni! and, not intending
to repay, acknowledge,
That may Vaisvánara, the best, our sovran, carry away into the
world of virtue.
2 I cause Vaisvánara to know, confessing the debt whose payment
to the gods is promised.
He knows to tear asunder all these nooses: so may we dwell
with him the gentle-minded.
3 Vaisvánara the Purifier purge me when I oppose their hope and
break my promise,
Unknowing in my heart. With supplication, whatever guilt
there is in that, I banish.
In Hymn 117, Book VI. the petitioner prays for release from
debt, both in this world and in the next. Newcomers in heaven
were expected to pay one-sixteenth of their merit to Yama; but
they might compound for it by a sacrifice on earth.
HYMNS ON GAMBLING.
In the Rig-Veda a gambler bewails the results of his folly.
The following two hymns are from the Atharva-Veda.
1
A Charm for success in Gambling. IV. 38.
Hither I call the Apsaras, victorious, who plays with skill,
Her who comes freely forth to view, who wins the stakes in
games of dice.
3 Dancing around us with the dice, winning the wager by her
play,
May she obtain the stake for us and gain the victory with skill.
May she approach us full of strength; let them not win this
wealth of ours.
NOTES.-The Apsarases, the wives of the Gandharvas, were supposed to be fond
of gambling and able to influence the gambler's luck.
A Prayer asking forgiveness for cheating at Play. VI. 118.
1 If we have sinned with both our hauds, desiring to take the host
of dice for our possession,
May both Apsarases to-day forgive us that debt, the fiercely-
conquering, fiercely- oking.
2 Stern viewers of their sins who rule the people, forgive us
what hath happened as we gambled.
Not urging us to pay the debt we owed him, he with a cord
hath gone to Yama's kingdom.
NOTE.- With a cord: to keep us bound as debtors in the other world.
40
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
SELECTIONS FROM FUNERAL HYMNS.
Book XVIII. contains four Hymns relating to funeral rites and
sacrificial offerings to the Pitris. They are nearly all taken from
the Rig-Veda Book X., with variations. They begin with a dialogue
between Yama and his twin sister Yami, the first human pair, the
originators of the race. Yami at first declines the request of
Yama to make her his wife. A few quotations are given.
Address to the spirit of the Dead Man. XVIII. 1.
54 Go forth, go forth upon the homeward pathways whither our
sires of old have gone before us.
There shalt thou look on both the Kings enjoying their sacred
food, God Varuna and Yama.
Hymn 2.
55 Lord of all life, let Ayu (Váyu) guard thee, Púshan convey
thee forward on the distant pathway.
May Savitar the God conduct thee thither where dwell the pious
who have gone before thee.
Hymn 3.
58 Meet Yama, meet the Fathers, meet the merit of virtuous action
in the loftiest heaven.
Leave sin and evil, seek anew thy dwelling so bright with
glory let him join his body.
73 Mount to this life, removing all defilement: here thine own
kindred shine with lofty splendour.
Depart thou; be not left behind : go forward, first of those here,
unto the world of Fathers.
Address to Agni. XVIII. 2.
10 Away, O Agni, to the Pitris send him who, offered in thee, goes
with our oblations.
12
Wearing new life, let him approach his offspring, and splendid,
be invested with a body.
Address to Yama. XVIII. 2.
And those two dogs of thine, Yama, the watchers, four-eyed
who look on men and guard the pathway,
Entrust this man, O King, to their protection, and with pros-
perity and health endow him.
Address to the Dead Husband. XVIII. 3.
1 Choosing her husband's world, O man, this woman lays herself
down beside thy lifeless body,
Preserving faithfully the ancient custom. Bestow upon her
here both wealth and offspring.
CHARMS ABOUT WOMEN.
41
Address to the Widow. XVIII. 3.
2 Rise, come unto the world of life, O woman; come, he is
lifeless by whose side thou liest.
Wifehood with this thy husband was thy portion, who took thy
hand and wooed thee as a lover.
It was an ancient custom among the Aryans before they
entered India for the widow to be burned with the dead body of her
husband. The widow in the hymn is supposed to lie down by the
corpse on the funeral pile; but the husband's brother or some old
friend makes her leave the body of the dead.
The second verse was mistranslated by the Brahmans to
encourage widow burning, leading to untold deaths, that they
might be enriched by the offerings on the occasion.
Worship of Yama. XVIII. 3.
13 Worship with sacrificial gift King Yama, Vivasván's son who
gathers men together,
Yama who was the first to die of mortals, the first who travelled
to the world before us.
Address to the Pitris. XVIII. 3.
44 Fathers whom Agni's flames have tasted, come ye nigh: in per-
fect order take ye each your proper place.
Eat sacrificial food presented on the grass: grant riches with a
multitude of hero sons.
Address to the Earth on the burial of the Remains. XVIII. 3.
49 Betake thee to the lap of Earth, our mother, of Earth far-
spreading, very kind and gracious.
May she, wool-soft unto the guerdon-giver, guard thee in front
upon the distant pathway.
50 Heave, thyself, Earth, nor press him downward heavily: afford
him easy access, pleasant to approach.
Cover him as a mother wraps her skirt about her child, O
Earth!
CHARMS ABOUT WOMEN.
The hymns on home life often refer to women.
To point out
more clearly the feeling regarding them, a few are quoted, supposed
to be spoken by women themselves, or with which they are more
specially concerned.
A Maiden's Love Charm. VII. 38.
The reference is to a plant whose powers are thus described:
1 I dig this healing Herb that makes my lover look on me and
weep;
That bids the parting friend return and kindly greets him as he
comes.
6
42
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
2 With this same Herb I draw thee, close that I may be most dear
to thee.
4 Thou shalt be mine and only mine, and never mention other
5
1
dames.
If thou art far away beyond the rivers, far away from men,
This Herb shall seem to bind thee fast and bring thee back my
prisoner.
A Woman's Love Charm. VI. 130.
This is the Apsarases' love-spell, the conquering resistless ones'.
Send the spell forth, ye Deities! Let him consume with love of me.
2 I pray, may he remember me, think of me, loving and beloved.
Send forth the spell, ye Deities! let him consume with love
of me.
3 That he may think of me, that I may never, never think of
him,
Send forth the spell, ye Deities! Let him consume with love
of me.
4 Madden him, Maruts, madden him. Madden him, madden him,
O Air.
1
Madden him, Agni, madden him. Let him consume with love
of me.
A Charm to Win a Husband. VI. 60.
With forelock loosened o'er his brow here comes the wooer of
the bride,
Seeking a husband for this maid, a wife for this unmarried man.
2 Wooer! this girl hath toiled in vain, going to others' marriages.
Now to her wedding, verily, wooer! another maid shall come.
3 Dhátar upholds the spacious earth, upholds the sky, upholds the
Sun.
Dhátar bestow upon this maid a husband suited to her wish!
NOTES:-The wooer is the matchmaker whose business it is to arrange
marriages. Dhátar is regarded as the upholder of the sacrament of marriage.
Hymn 36, Book II. is a charm to secure a husband for a
marriageable girl.
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.
A Nuptial Benediction. VI. 78.
1 Let this man be again bedewed with this presented sacrifice,
And comfort with the sap of life the bride whom they have
brought to him.
2 With life's sap let him comfort her, and raise her high with
princely sway.
In wealth that hath a thousand powers, this pair be inexhaus-
tible !
3 Tvashtar formed her to be thy dame, Tvashtar made thee to be
her lord.
Long life let Tvashtar give you both. Let Tvashtar give a
thousand lives.
CHARMS ABOUT WOMEN.
43
A nuptial Charm spoken by the Bride. VII. 37.
With this my robe, inherited from Manu, I envelop thee,
So that thou mayst be all mine own and give no thought to other
dames.
A Charm to be pronounced by Bride and Bridegroom. VII. 36.
Sweet are the glances of our eyes, our faces are as smooth as balm.
Within thy bosom harbour me; one spirit dwell in both of us!
NOTE. The pair anoint each other's eyes as part of the marriage ceremony.
43
Dignity of the Bride. XIV. 1.
As vigorous Sindhu won himself imperial lordship of the
streams,
So be imperial queen when thou hast come within thy hus-
band's home.
44 Over thy husband's fathers and his brothers be imperial queen,
Over thy husband's sister and his mother bear supreme control.
Gentleness enjoined on the Bride. XIV. 2.
This shows conclusively that the bride was not a child subject
to her mother-in-law.
26 Bliss-bringer, furthering thy household's welfare, dear, glad-
dening thy husband and his father, enter this home, mild to
thy husband's mother.
27
Be pleasant to thy husband's sire, sweet to thy household and
thy lord.
To all this clan be gentle, and favour these men's prosperity.
A Charm against Sterility and to assure the birth of Male
Children. III. 23.
Barrenness is what a wife most dreads. The birth of a son will
best secure her position.
1 From thee we banish and expel the cause of thy sterility.
This in another place we lay apart from thee aud far removed.
2 As arrow to the quiver, so let a male embryo enter thee.
Then from thy side be born a babe, a ten-month child, thy
hero son.
3 Bring forth a male, bring forth a son. Another male shall
follow him.
The mother shalt thou be of sons born and hereafter to be born.
6 May those celestial herbs whose sire was Heaven, the Earth their
mother, and their root the ocean,
1
May those celestial healing Plants assist thee to obtain a son.
The Birth of a Daughter Deprecated. VI. 11.
Asvattha on the Samí-tree. There a male birth is certified.
There is the finding of a son: this bring we to the women-folk.
4.4
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
2 The father sows the genial seed, the woman tends and fosters it.
This is the finding of a son: thus hath Prajapati declared.
3 Prajapati, Anumati, Siníválí have ordered it.
Elsewhere may he effect the birth of maids, but here prepare
a boy.
NOTE.-The Asvattha, masculine, growing on the Samí-tree, feminine, is typical
of a male child. Prajapati, Lord of life, was invoked on such occasions, Anumati
and Siníválí were deities presiding over childbirth.
Charms against Jealousy.
وو
Hymn 45, Book VII. contains a Charm to "calm a lover's
Jealousy." Hymn 18, Book VI., "A Charm to banish Jealousy,
is quoted below:
1 The first approach of Jealousy, and that which followeth the
first,
The pain, the fire that burns within thy heart, we quench and
drive away.
2 Even as the earth is dead to sense, yea, more unconscious than
the dead,
Even as a corpse's spirit is the spirit of the jealous man.
3 The thought that harbours in thy heart, the fluttering doubt that
dwells therein,
Yea, all thy jealousy, like heat born of the dance, I banish
thence.
Imprecation on an Unfaithful Lover. VI. 138.
10 Plant, thy fame is spread abroad as best of all the herbs
that grow.
Unman for me to-day this man that he may wear the horn of
hair.
2 Make him a eunuch with a horn, set thou the crest upon his
head.
Let Indra with two pressing-stones deprive him of his manly
strength.
3 I have unmanned thee, eunuch! yea, impotent! made thee
impotent, and robbed thee, weakling! of thy strength.
Upon his head we set the horn, we set the branching ornament.
NOTES.-The horn of hair, regarded as a mark of effeminacy.
so indecent as to be untranslatable in English.
Verses 4 & 5 are
A Spell to rid a jealous wife of a more favoured Rival.
III. 18.
Polygamy seems to have prevailed to some extent. Book VII.
contains two Hymns, Nos. 113, 114; with spells of this description.
Hymn 18, Book III is quoted below:
1 From out the earth I dig this Plant, an herb of most effectual
power,
Wherewith one quells the rival wife, and gains the husband for
one's self.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
45
2 Auspicious, with expanded leaves, sent by the Gods, victorious.
Plant,
Drive thou the rival wife away, and make my husband only mine.
3 Indeed he hath not named her name; thou with this husband
dalliest not.
Far into distance most remote we drive the rival wife away.
4 Stronger am I, O stronger one, yea, mightier than the mightier;
Beneath me be my rival wife, down, lower than the lowest dames!
5 I am the conqueror, and thou, thou also art victorious:
As victory attends us both we will subdue my fellow-wife.
6 I've girt thee with the conquering Plant, beneath thee laid the
mightiest one.
As a cow hastens to her calf, so let thy spirit speed to me,
hasten like water on its way.
NOTE.-The hymn is taken, with variations, from Rig-Veda X. 145. The plant is
supposed to be a climbing plant, employed for magical purposes.
Incantation against evil spirits that beset women.— Hymn
16, Book XIV. gives a long account of demons supposed to molest
women.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The deities invoked are much the same as in the Rig-Veda.
The principal will be briefly noticed, with illustrative quotations.
Agni.-This god, to whom the first hymn of the Rig-Veda is
addressed, occupies the foremost place in the Atharva-Veda. There
are more references to him than to any other deity. He is
addressed in his various forms. He is ordinary fire, the sacred
household fire. A prayer is offered to him to protect a house
against fire. As lightning, Agni springs from the clouds. He is
repeatedly invoked as the Sun. Agni is the fiend-slayer, the
special tutelary deity of the five tribes of Aryan men; the giver
of wealth, the giver of children; the lord of the seasons. He is
the Hotar priest, the sacrificer. Lastly, as flesh-consumer, he is
the fire of the funeral pile.
Játavedas, the wise, the sapient, and Vaisvánara, belonging to
all (Aryan) men, universal;—are two epithets frequently applied
to Agni.
Hymn 64, Book XIX., quoted below, is a prayer to Agni for
children and long life, which he is asked to give in return for the
wood burnt in his honour.
1 For lofty Játavedas I have brought the fuel hither first.
May he who knoweth all bestow faith and intelligence on me.
2 With fuel and with flaming wood we, Játavedas, strengthen
thee;
So do thou strengthen us in turn with children and with store
of wealth.
3 Whatever even be the logs which, Agni, we lay down for thee,
Propitious be it all to me: accept it, O most youthful God.
46
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
4 Agni, these logs are thine; with these be, fain to burn! a
flaming brand.
Vouchsafe us length of life and give us hope of immortality.
Hymn 21, Book III. in honour of all varieties of fire, is
especially a charm to appease Agni in his most dreaded form, and
to quench the flames of the funeral pile. It ends as follows:
4 The all-devouring God whom men call Káma, he whom they
call the Giver and Receiver,
Invincible, pervading, wise, and mighty-to all these Fires be this
oblation offered.
Indra.—As in the Rig-Veda, Indra occupies a very prominent
place. The references to him are next in number to those of Agni.
Numerous epithets are applied to him; as the Soma-drinker, the
Fiend-slayer, the Mighty Bull, the Conqueror, the Thunderer,
the Destroyer, the Giver of Bliss, &c. He is invoked with his
thunderbolts, to put to flight the demons of the air and set free the
rain, that it may descend in torrents. Alone, or in conjunction with
Agni, he is asked to destroy all other demons. His aid is likewise.
specially solicited in battle, for success against enemies. Plenteous
wealth, long life, and numerous sons are other gifts which he is
asked to bestow.
As already mentioned, the whole of Book XX., with the
exception of the Kuntápa section, is almost exclusively devoted to
the praise of Indra. Both it and other hymns to Indra are mostly
taken from the Rig-Veda.
1
Hymn 8, Book XX., in praise of Indra, is as follows:
Drink as of old, and let the draught delight thee :
Hear thou my prayer and let our songs exalt thee.
Make the Sun visible, make food abundant: slaughter the foes,
pierce through and free the cattle.
2 Come to us; they have called thee Soma-lover.
Here is the pressed juice, drink thereof for rapture.
Widely-capacious, pour it down within thee, and invocated hear
us like a father.
8 Fall is his chalice. Blessing! Like a pourer I have filled up
the vessel for his drinking,
Presented on the right, dear Soma juices have brought us Indra,
to rejoice him, hither.
NOTES.-Taken from Rig Veda. The cattle, the clouds which are to be dispersed.
Heaven and Earth.-Dyaus, heaven, denotes the bright sky
itself, the old Dyaus, worshipped as we know by the Aryans before
they broke up into separate peoples, and languages, and surviving
in Greece as Zeus, in Italy as Jupiter, and among the Teutonic
nations as Tyr or Tiu.*
* India: What can it teach us? p. 194.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
47
Prithivi, the Earth, literally 'the wide,'' the extended,' was
early associated with Dyaus. Originally they were closely united.
In Rig-Veda 1. 67 Agni is said to have separated them and fixed
them in their present position; but in other parts of the Rig-Veda
this action is ascribed to Indra, to Varuna, to Soma, etc. Lang
says in Custom and Myth, that this old surviving nature myth of
the original union and subsequent forcible separation of heaven and
earth is found in Greece, China, and New Zealand, as well as in
India.
There are numerous reference to Heaven and Earth personified
in the Atharva-Veda. In Hymn 26, Book IV. the refrain is :
Deliver us, ye twain, from grief and trouble.
Hymn 1, Book XII., containing 63 verses, consists of praise
and prayer addressed to Prithivi.
Varuna. There are frequent reference to this deity, the only
one to whom moral qualities are specially assigned. His name
means the 'coverer' or encompasser'; originally the visible starry
heavens.
In later times he was connected with the terrestrial ocean and
the waters of the earth, and regarded as their presiding deity.
Max Müller says: "This god is one of the most interesting
creations of the Hindu mind, because though we can still perceive
the physical background from which he rises, the vast, starry
brilliant expanse above, his features more than those of any of the
Vedic gods, have become completely transfigured, and he stands
before us a god who watches over the world, punishes the evil-doer,
and ever forgives the sin of those who implore his pardon."*
Varuna is especially the moral governor of the world; "viewing
men's righteous and unrighteous dealing, seizing evil-doers in his
noose and punishing them.'
Hymn 16, Book IV. celebrates the omnipresence and omnis-
cience of Varuna; but concludes with an imprecation on an enemy.
The last verse may be an addition. Both the oceans, denote the
ocean of air, and the ocean of water.
1 The mighty Ruler of these worlds beholds as though from close
at hand
The man who thinks he acts by stealth; all this the Gods
perceive and know.
2 If a man stands or walks or moves in secret, goes to his lying-
down or his uprising,
What two men whisper as they sit together, King Varuna knows
he as the third is present.
3 This earth, too, is King Varuna's possession, and the high
heaven whose ends are far asunder.
The loins of Varuna are both the oceans, and this small drop
of water, too, contains him.
* India, What can it Teach us? p. 195.
48
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
4 If one should flee afar beyond the heaven, King Varuna would
still be round about him.
5
Proceeding hither from the sky his envoys look, thousand-eyed,
over the earth beneath them.
All this the royal Varuna beholdeth, all between heaven and
earth and all beyond them.
The twinklings of men's eyelids hath he counted. As one who
plays throws dice he settles all things.
6 Those fatal snares of thine which stand extended, threefold, O
Varuna, seven by seven,
May they all catch the man who tells a falsehood, and pass
unharmed the man whose words are truthful.
7 Varuna, snare him with a hundred nooses! Man's watcher! let
not him who lies escape thee.
There let the villain sit with hanging belly and bandaged like
a cask whose hoops are broken.
8 Varuna sends, and drives away, diseases: Varuna is both native
and a stranger,
Varuna is celestial and is human.
9 I bind and hold thee fast with all these nooses, thou son of such
a man and such a mother.
All these do I assign thee as thy portion.
Savitar. This god takes an important place in the Atharva-
Veda. His title is derived from su, to beget. He is regarded as a
generative power, sometimes identified with, sometimes distinguished
from Sárya. He is especially the morning sun whose light drives.
away witches and evil spirits. The celebrated Gáyatrí is
addressed to Savitar. It is supposed to exert magical powers.
Tat Savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi |
dhiyo yo nah prachodayát | R. V. iii. 62, 10.
It has been variously translated. Griffith renders it thus:
(C
May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the god :
So may he stimulate our prayers.
""
Wilson says that it was "in its original use, a simple invoca-
tion of the sun to shed a benignant influence upon the customary
offices of worship." The Skanda Purana extols it as "Vishnu,
Brahma, Siva, and the Three Vedas."
In Hymn 4, Book XIII., quoted below, Savitar is praised as
comprehending in himself all other divinities, as the only divinity.
Down looking on the ridge of sky, Savitar goes to highest heaven.
2 To misty cloud filled with his rays Mahendra goes encompassed
1
3
round.
Creator and Ordainer, he is Váyu, he is lifted cloud.
4 Rudra and Mahádeva, he is Aryaman and Varuna.
5 Agni is he and Súrya, he is verily Maháyama.
11
He keepeth watch o'er creatures, all that breatheth and that
breatheth not.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
49
12 This conquering might hath entered him. He is the sole, the
simple One, the One alone.
18 In him these Deities become simple and One.
32
He was produced from Wind; and Wind derives his origin from
him.
33 From Heaven was he produced; and Heaven derives his origin
from him.
55 Worship to thee whom all behold! Regard me, thou whom all
56
regard,
With food, and fame, and vigour, with the splendour of a
Brahman's rank.
Soma. The references to Soma as the god, the juice of the
plant, and the moon, are very numerous. The plant was formerly
supposed to be a milky climbing plant (Asclepias acida); it is now
identified with a species of Ephedra, which in the Harirud valley is
said to bear the name of hum, huma, and yahma.*
PAVAMANA denotes the deified Soma as it passes through the
purifying filter.
Soma is the god of plants, they being supposed to thrive
especially under the influence of the moon.
In Hymu 96, Book VI. the many plants that Soma rules as
King, are asked to deliver the suppliants from grief and woe. He
himself is asked to cleanse them from sin.
1 The many plants of hundred shapes and forms that Soma, rules
as King,
Commanded by Brihaspati, deliver us from grief and woe!
2 Let them release me from the curse and from the noose of Varuna,
Free me from Yama's fetter, and from every sin against the gods !
3 From every fault in look, in word, or spirit that we, awake or
sleeping, have committed,
May Soma, with his godlike nature, cleanse us.
Ushas.-The Dawn, the morning light personified, is several
times mentioned. Bhaga, conqueror in the morning, as the early
sun overpowers Ushas, called his sister. Ushas is also called the
daughter of Prajapati whom he wished to marry, a proceeding
which shocked the gods. Rig-Veda X. 61. 5-8. This was under-
stood literally, but Kumarila explained it as only meaning that at
sunrise, the sun runs after the dawn. In Hymn 12, Book XIX,
quoted below, she is asked for wealth and long life:
Dawn drives away her sister's gloom, and through her excellence
makes her retrace her path.
Through her may we gain god-appointed treasure, and with brave
sons be glad through hundred winters.
Pushan. The name is derived from push, to nourish. As a
god he protects and multiplies cattle and human possessions
Griffith, Vol. I. p. 252,
7
50
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
generally. As a form of the Sun, he beholds the entire universe.
Travellers especially pray to him for protection.
Hymn 9, Book VII. is as follows:
1. Pûshan was born to move on distant pathways, on roads remote
from earth, remote from heaven.
To both most lovely places of assembly he travels and returns
with perfect knowledge.
2 Pûshan knows all these realms may he conduct us by ways that
are most free from fear and danger.
Giver of blessings, glowing, all heroic, may he the wise and
watchful go before us.
3 We are thy praisers here, O Pûshan: never let us be injured
under thy protection.
4
From out the distance, far and wide, may Pûshan stretch his
right hand forth.
Let him drive back our lost to us, let us return with what is lost.
Vayu.-There are several references to Váyu, the god of
Wind, a deity of the middle region of the air. He refreshes
the cattle and drives off the flies. He is one of the eight Loka-
pálas or world-protectors who preside over the eight points of the
compass. He is praised as the god of the air which supports life.
Váyu is invoked in several hymns, and Hymn 4, Book VII. is
specially addressed to him. Its repetition three times concludes the
ceremony of blessing the horses.
With thine eleven teams to aid our wishes, yea, with thy two-
and-twenty teams, O Váyu,
With all thy three-and-thirty teams for drawing, here loose these
teams, thou who art prompt to listen!
Skambha-Hymn 7, Book X, is a glorification of the Supreme
Deity embodied, under this name, the Pillar or Support of all
existence. On him Prajapati set up and established all the worlds.
In his body are contained all three-and-thirty deities. He is called
"the Unborn," "the highest Brahman"; but he is also identified
with Indra.
It is a long hymn containing 44 verses. The following are
some quotations.
7 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha
On whom Prajapati set up and firmly stablished all the worlds ?
8 That universe which Prajapati created, wearing all forms, the
highest, midmost, lowest,
How far did Skambha penetrate within it? What portion did
he leave unpenetrated?
13 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha,
He in whose body are contained all three-and-thirty Deities?
14 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha
In whom the Sages earliest born,the Richas, Sáman, Yajus, Earth,
and the one highest Sage abide ?
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
51
15 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha
Who comprehendeth, for mankind, both immortality and death,
He who containeth for mankind the gathered waters, as his
veins ?
20 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha
From whom they hewed the Richas off, from whom they chipped
the Yajus, he
Whose hairs are Sáma-verses, and his mouth the Atharvángirases?
39 Who out of many, tell me, is that Skambha
To whom the Deities with hands, with feet, and voice, and ear,
and eye
Present unmeasured tribute in the measured hall of sacrifice ?
The Unknown God.-Hymn 2, Book IV. is taken, with some
variations, from Rig-Veda, X. 121. After each verse the question is
asked, "What God shall we adore with our oblation ?" Ka, who,
was adopted as the name of a god. "Worship we Ka, the god, with
our oblation."
!
1 Giver of breath, giver of strength and vigour, he whose com.
mandment all the Gods acknowledge,
He who is Lord of this, of man and cattle :-What God shall we
adore with our oblation?
2 Who by his grandeur hath become sole ruler of all the moving
world that breathes and slumbers,
Whose shade is death, whose lustre makes immortal :—
What God shall we adore with our oblation ?
3 To whom both hosts embattled, look with longing, and Heaven
and Earth invoke him in their terror;
Whose is this path that measures out the region
What God shall we adore with our oblation ?
4 Whose is the mighty earth and spacious heaven, and yonder
ample firmament between them,
Whose is yon Sun extended in his grandeur
What God shall we adore with our oblation ?
5 Whose, through his might, are all the Snowy Mountains, and
whose, they say is Rasâ in the ocean,
The arms of whom are these celestial quarters :-
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
6 The deathless Waters, born in Law, receiving, protected all the
germ in the beginning,—
Waters divine who had the God above them :-
What God shall we adore with our oblation ?
7 In the beginning rose Hiranyagarbha, even at his birth sole
Lord of all creation.
He fixt and firmly stablished earth and heaven :—
What God shall we adore with our oblation?
8 In the beginning, generating offspring, the Waters brought an
embryo into being ;
And even as it sprang to life it had a covering of gold.
52
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Purusha. The subject of Hymn 2, Book X, is "Púrusha,"
the Primeval Man, or Humanity Personified. In stanzas 16 and
18 quoted below, he is identified with Brahma, the Phenomenal
Creator.
1 Who framed the heels of Púrusha ? who fashioned the flesh of
him? Who formed and fixed his ankles?
Who made the openings and, well-moulded fingers? Who gave
him foot-soles and a central station?
4 Who and how many were those gods who fastened the chest of
Púrusha and neck together?
How many fixed his breasts? Who formed his elbows? How
many joined together ribs and shoulders ?
16 Through whom did he spread waters out, through whom did
he make Day to shine.
Through whom did he enkindle Dawn and give the gift of
eventide ?
18 Through whom did he bedeck the earth, through whom did
he encompass heaven?
Whose might made Púrusha surpass the mountains and created
things?
Hymn 6, Book XIX. is taken, with some variations, from Rig-
Veda X. 90, known as the Púrusha-Sukta, a pantheistic hymn in
which the four castes are mentioned:
1
Purusha hath a thousand arms, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.
2 He with three quarters rose to heaven: here reappeared a fourth
of him.
Thence he strode forth on every side to all that eats not and
that eats.
3 So mighty is his grandeur, yea, greater than this is Purusha.
All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths what dieth not
in heaven.
4 Purusha is in truth this All, what hath been and what yet shall
be-
5
Lord, too, of immortality-and what hath grown with some-
what else.
When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?
What was his mouth? What were his arms? What are the
names of thighs and feet?
6 The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya
made.
His waist became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was pro-
duced.
7 The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the
Sun had birth.
Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Váyu from his
breath.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
53
•
8 Forth from his navel came mid-air; the sky was fashioned
from his head,
Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they
formed the worlds.
9 In the beginning rose Virâj: Purusha from Virâj was born.
As soon as he was born he spread westward and eastward o'er
the earth.
10 When Gods performed the sacrifice with Purusha as their
offering.
Spring was the butter, summer was the fuel, autumn was the
gift.
11 That sacrifice, first-born Purusha, they hallowed with the
sprinkled Rains.
The Deities, the Sâdhyas, all the Vasus sacrificed with him.
12 From it were horses born, from it all creatures with two rows of
teeth.
From it were generated kine, from it were goats and sheep pro-
duced.
13 From that great general sacrifice Richas and Sâma hymns were
born:
Therefrom the metres were produced: the Yajus had its birth
from it.
14 From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered
up:
It formed the creatures fleet as wind, and animals both wild and
tame.
15 Seven fencing-logs had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were pre-
pared.
When, offering sacrifice, the Gods bound as their victim Purusha.
16 Forth from the head of the high God seven-and-seventy bright
beams
Sprang into being, of the King Soma produced from Purusha.
Vishnu.—The references to this god, who afterwards rose to such
eminence, are not numerous, and he is chiefly mentioned in con-
nection with other deities. In the Veda he is the Sun, the "Wide-
Strider," who traverses the world in three strides, his rising,
culmination, and setting. Hymn 26, Book VII. seems the only hymn
specially addressed to him, and it is mostly taken from the Rig-
Veda I. Homed in oil, denotes dwelling in the molten butter used
in sacrifice.
1 I will declare the mighty deeds of Vishnu, of him who measured
out the earthly regions,
Who propped the highest place of congregation, thrice setting
down his footstep, widely striding.
2 Loud boast doth Vishuu make of this achievement, like some
wild beast, dread, prowling, mountain-roaming.
May he approach us from the farthest distance.
54
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
3 Thou within whose three wide-extended paces all worlds and
creatures have their habitation,
Drink oil, thou homed in oil! promote the sacrificer more and more.
4 Through all this world strode Vishnu : thrice his foot he planted
and the whole
Was gathered in his footstep's dust.
5 Vishnu the guardian, he whom none deceiveth, made three steps,
thenceforth
Establishing these high decrees.
6 Look ye on Vishnu's works, whereby the friend of Indra, close-
allied,
Hath let his holy ways be seen.
7 The princes evermore behold that loftiest place where Vishnu is,
Like an extended eye in heaven.
8 From heaven, O Vishnu, or from earth, O Vishnu, or from the
great far-spreading air's mid-region,
Fill both thy hands full of abundant treasures, and from the
right and left bestow them freely.
Rudra.-Rudra, the Howler, the father of the Rudras, has
several references. He is represented in two characters-the Des-
troyer and the Healer. In several hymns deliverance from his
darts are asked, both with reference to men and cattle. On the
other hand, in Hymn 27, Book II., he is called "Lord of Healing."
In Hymn 90, Book VI., he is asked to cure a man who has been
poisoned, and in Hymn 57, Book VI., to cure a wound.
have been quoted.
Both
Maruts.-There are several references to the Maruts,
literally the smashers,' the terrible gods of battle, storm, and
tempest, and the gracious senders of refreshing rain. In Hymn 1,
Book XIII., they are said to form 9 troops of 7 each, and are called
the triple-seven. They are named the Rudras, as the sons of
Rudra. In Hymn 15, Book IV., and in others they are asked to
make the clouds pour down their waters. In Hymn 1, Book III.
they are asked, with Indra and Agni, to destroy enemies. Hymn
27, Book IV., is a prayer to them to save from grief and trouble.
The following are extracts:
1 I think upon the Maruts: may they bless me, may they assist
me to this wealth in battle.
I call them like swift well-trained steeds to help us. May they
deliver us from grief and trouble.
5 They who delight in nectar and in fatness, they who bestow
upon us health and vigour,
The Maruts who rain mighty with their waters, may they beliver
us from grief and trouble.
6 Whether with stormy might the Maruts stablished this all, or
Gods with their celestial power,
Ye, kindly Gods, are able to restore it. May they deliver us
from grief and trouble.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
55
7 Potent in battles is the Maruts' army, impetuous train, well-
known, exceeding mighty.
I, suppliant, praise and oft invoke the Maruts. May they deliver
us from grief and trouble.
GODDESSES.-In the Vedas the female deities occupy a very
subordinate position compared with later times. A few may be
briefly noticed.
Indrani.-This goddess is the wife of Indra. In Hymn 27,
Book I., she is asked to guide a traveller. In Hymn 126, Book XX.,
taken from the Rig-Veda X. 86, she boasts of her charms, &c.
She says to Indra:
6 No dame hath ampler charms than I, or greater wealth of love's
delights.
Indra acknowledges this:
8 Dame with the lovely hands and arms, with broad hair-plaits and
ample hips.
Sarasvati. In the Atharva-Veda she is a female divinity of
the upper region, guardian of the waters, and bestower of fertility.
She is also identified with Vach, the goddess of speech. In the
Puranas she is the wife of Brahmá, the patroness of learners.
Hymn 10, Book VII., a prayer to Sarasvatí taken with varia-
tions from the Rig-Veda, was used to soothe an infant, probably
when teething.
That breast of thine, exhaustless and delightful, good to invoke.
beneficent, free-giver,
Wherewith thou feedest all things that are choicest, bring that,
Sarasvati, that we may drain it.
Vak or Vach.-The Goddess of Speech has several references.
She is speech personified, the word, the first creation and represen-
tative of Spirit, and the means of communication between men
and gods. Hymn 30, Book IV., taken from Rig-Veda X. 125, is a
glorification of Vak. She thus states her claims:
2 I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful,
first of those who merit worship.
The Gods, making me enter many places, in divers spots have
set mine habitation.
3 .I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and
men alike shall welcome.
I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a
Rishi, and a Brahman.
7 On the world's summit I bring forth the Father: my home is in
the waters, in the ocean.
Thence I extend o'er all existing creatures, and touch even
yonder heaven with my forehead.
Note. The Father; Dyaus=Zens, Heaven or Sky produced from Vák,
identified with Paramátma, the supreme or universal soul.
56
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Sinivali, "broad-tressed," is the goddess of the day of new
moon; also of fecundity and easy birth like the Latin goddess
Lucina. In Hymn 25, Book V. she is asked to bless conception.
In Hymn 26, Book II. she is asked to guide the cattle home. In
Hymn 46, Book VII., quoted below, she is styled "Queen of Men,"
"Consort of Vishnu," and is asked to bestow children.
1 O broad-tressed Siníválí, thou who art the sister of the Gods,
Accept the offered sacrifice, and, Goddess, grant us progeny.
2 Present the sacrifice to her, to Siníválí, Queen of men,
Beautiful-fingered, lovely-armed, prolific, bearing many a child.
3 Thou who as Queen of men art Indra's equal, a Goddess coming
with a thousand tresses.
To thee our sacrifices are performed, O Consort of Vishnu: God-
dess, urge thy Lord to bounty!
Other goddesses are simply named; as Agnayí, Asviní, Rodasí,
wife of Rudra, and Varunaní in Hymn 49, Book VII.—a prayer to
the goddesses for children and booty.
PRAYERS FOR THE PARDON OF SIN.
One of the most deadly errors in the teaching of Swami
Vivekananda is his denial of man's sinfulness. In his Chicago
address he said:
"Children of immortal bliss,' what a sweet, what a hopeful name !
Allow me to call you, brethren, by that sweet name- heirs of immortal
bliss-yea, the Hindu refuses to call you sinners.
"Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and
perfect beings. Ye, divinities on earth, sinners? It is a sin to call a
man so."
It is only pride and ignorance that make a man deny that he
is a sinner. The holiest men are the first to acknowledge it.
Some Brahmans daily make this acknowledgment:
Pápo'ham pápakarmáham pápátma pápasambhavah.
"I am sin; I commit sin; my soul is sinful; I am conceived
in sin."
If men are "holy and perfect beings," what is the need of
bathing in the Ganges or other supposed sacred waters?
The teaching of the Swami is contradicted both by the Rig-
Veda and the Atharva-Veda. Some hymns from the latter on this
point will be quoted.
The hymn to Varuna (see page 48) acknowledges his
omnipresence and omniscience. "If one should flee afar beyond
the heaven, King Varuna would still be round about him."
twinklings of men's eyelids hath he counted.”
The
PRAYERS FOR THE PARDON OF SIN.
57
Sin is not thought to be limited to outward acts. Hymn 96,
Book VI. contains the following petition:
3 From every fault in look, in word, in spirit that we, awake or
sleeping, have committed,
May Soma, with his godlike nature, cleanse us.
Hymn 45, Book VI., also refers to mental sins and seeks
forgiveness:
1 Sin of the Mind, avaunt! begone! Why sayest thou what none
should say ?
Go hence away, I love thee not. Go to the forests and the trees.
My heart is in our homes and cows.
2 Whatever wrong we have committed, sleeping or waking, by
ill-wish, dislike, or slander,
All these offences, which deserve displeasure, may Agni take from
us and keep them distant.
3 Indra and Brahmanaspati ! whatever foolish deed we plan,
May provident Angirasa preserve us from the sin and woe.
NOTE.- Verses 2 and 3 are taken from Rig-Veda, X. 164.
Prayers for the pardon of sin an addressed to several gods,
especially Varuna.
1
2
To Varuna. Book VII. 83.
Stablished amid the waters is,
Thence let the Sovran who
binding cords.
King Varuna, thy golden home.
maintains the statutes loose all
Hence free thou us, King Varuna, from each successive bond
and tie.
As we have cried, O Varuna! have said, The Waters, they are
kine, thence set us free, O Varuna.
3 Loosen the bonds, O Varuna, that hold us, loosen the bond
above, between, and under.
So before Aditi may we be sinless under thy favouring auspices,
Aditya!
4 Varuna, free us from all snares that bind us, Varuna's bonds,
the upper and the lower.
1
2
Drive from us evil dream, drive off misfortune: then let us pass
into the world of virtue.
To the Visvedevas. Book VI. 115.
Whatever wrong we wittingly or in our ignorance have done,
Do ye deliver us therefrom, O all ye Gods, of one accord.
If I, a sinner, when awake or sleeping have committed sin,
Free me therefrom as from a stake, from present and from future
guilt.
3 As one unfastened from a stake, or cleansed by bathing after toil,
As butter which the sieve hath cleaned, so all shall purge me
from the sin.
8
58
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
。
To Plants ruled by Soma. Book VI. 96.
1 The many plants of hundred shapes and forms that Soma rules
as King,
Commanded by Brihaspati, deliver us from grief and woe!
2 Let then release me from the curse and from the noose of Varuna,
Free me from Yama's fetter, and from every sin against the Gods.
Note.-The concluding verse has already been quoted, see page 57.
To Agni. Book VII. 106.
Pardon is asked by priests for any error in conducting divine
service:
Each thoughtless ill that we have done, O Agni,
All error in our conduct, Játavedas!
Therefrom do thou, O sapient God, preserve us,
May we thy friends, for bliss, have life eternal.
In Hymn 120, Book VI., Agni Gárhapatya, the sacred fire
perpetually maintained by a householder, received from his father
and transmitted to his son, is asked for pardon :
1 If we have injured Air, or Earth, or Heaven, if we have wronged
our mother or our father,
May Agni Gárhapatya here absolve us, and bear us up into the
world of virtue.
Absolution for having offended Varuna. Book I. 10.
1 This Lord is the Gods' ruler; for the wishes of Varuna the King
must be accomplished.
Therefore, triumphant with the prayer I utter, I rescue this man
from the Fierce One's anger.
2 Homage be paid, King Varuna, to thine anger; for thou, dread
God, detectest every falsehood.
I send a thousand others forth together: let this thy servant live
a hundred autumns.
3 Whatever falsehood thou hast told, much evil spoken with the
tongue,
I liberate thee from the noose of Varuna the righteous King.
4. I free thee from Vaisvánara, from the great surging flood of sin.
Call thou thy brothers, Awful One! and pay attention to our
prayer.
NOTES. The hymn is supposed to be spoken by a priest after intercession with
Varuna. I send a thousand others forth he interceded only for this man; others
might be punished. The noose borne by Varuna to capture the evil-doer. Vaisvánara
ruling all men,-here Varuna. Call thy brothers: the other Adityas, that they may
see that this man has been pardoned.
REFERENCES TO A FUTURE STATE.
59
REFERENCES TO A FUTURE STATE.
Little is said directly about a place of punishment, although
suffering is frequently acknowledged as the just desert of sin.
The Pitris are supposed to avenge evil deeds as well as Varuna.
Hymn 1, Book XVIII. says:
52 Punish us not for any sin, O Fathers, which we, through human
frailty, have committed.
The place of punishment is said to be below. Hymn 128,
Book XX. says:
2
He who defiles a sister, he who willingly would harm a friend,
The fool who slights his elder, these, they say, must suffer
down below.
In Hymn 3, Book X. it is thus described:
9 Pass to the region void of light: to deepest darkness let them go.
The references to Svarga, heaven, are more numerous. The
belief in transmigration had not yet been developed, and worship-
pers hoped to join in heaven their departed relations. VI. 120.
2 Dyaus, Father, save us from the world of Fathers!
My world not lost, may I approach my kindred.
3 There where our virtuous friends, who left behind them their
bodily infirmities, are happy,
Free from distortion of the limbs and lameness, may we behold,
in heaven, our sons and parents.
In Hymn 34, Book IV. heaven is the reward of the Vishtárí
sacrifice, consisting chiefly of an oblation of mashed rice and milk.
The description given in it of heaven is quoted below:
5 Strongest is this, performed, of sacrifices: he hath reached heaven
who hath prepared Vishtárí.
6
The oval-fruited lotus spreads his fibre : there bloom the nenuphar
and water- lilies.
Abundant with their overflow of sweetness, these streams shall
reach thee in the world of Svarga, whole lakes with lotus-
blossom shall approach thee.
Full lakes of butter with their banks of honey, flowing with
wine, and milk, and curds, and water-
Abundant with their overflow of sweetness, these streams shall
reach thee in the world of Svarga, whole lakes with lotus-
blossom shall approach thee.
NOTE.-A more attractive account of Svarga is given in Rig-Veda, ix. 113.
Sacrifices go to heaven, and are stored up as merit to await
the sacrificer on his arrival. The victim sacrificed also goes to
heaven: hence the Buddhists advised them to sacrifice their
60
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
parents to secure their future happiness! Hymn 123, Book VI. is as
follows:
1 Ye who are present, unto you I offer this treasure brought to us
by Játavedas.
Happily will the sacrificer follow: do ye acknowledge him in
highest heaven.
2 Do ye acknowledge him in highest heaven: ye know the world
here present in assembly.
In
peace will he who sacrifices follow: show him the joy which
comes from pious actions.
3 Gods are the Fathers, and the Fathers Gods. I am the very man
I am.
4 I cook, I give, I offer up oblation. From what I gave let me not be
disparted.
5 0 King, take thou thy stand in heaven, there also let that gift
be placed.
Recognize, King, the gift which we have given, and be gracious,
God!
In Hymn 34, Book II. the slaughtered animal is thus
addressed:
5 Go to the sky. Stay there with all thy members.
By paths which Gods have travelled go to Svarga.
Although, in the great majority of cases, heaven is said to be
the result of sacrifice, some other actions have the same reward.
Hymn 6, Book IX. says: "9 With the couch that the men bring (for
a guest), he wins for himself the world of Svarga, "" 23 Now these
guests, as priests beloved or not beloved, bring one to the world
of Svarga.
""
REVIEW.
The ATHARVA, or FOURTH, VEDA, has been described in detail,
and many illustrative quotations have been given.
The book may be viewed under several aspects. It presents
a vivid picture of life in the times when it was composed. We can
trace the history of the people who then lived from their birth as
infants until, at the funeral pile, their spirits are addressed:
Go forth, go forth upon the homeward pathways whither our sires
of old have gone before us.
On many points we can sympathise with them. They had
their daily occupations, their bodily ailments, their hopes and fears,
their joys and sorrows, just like ourselves. The human race is
substantially the same. "He fashioneth their hearts alike.”
Compared with the times of the Rig-Veda, the Aryans had
advanced farther into India, occupying the plains of the Ganges
REVIEW.
61
and Jumna. Struggles with the Dasyus have not such a prominent
place. Most of the hymns addressed to the soma-drinking Indra
are taken from the Rig-Veda, and are later additions. A large
proportion of the hymns have reference to ordinary daily life.
The hymns about women show that, as in the times of the
Rig-Veda, the present system of infant marriage did not prevail.
Marriages were not simply arranged by parents; brides were
grown up, and expected to manage their households, instead of
being placed under mothers-in-law (see page 43.)
Among the points of difference the following may be noticed :
1. The Development of Caste.-In the Rig-Veda the four castes
are only once mentioned in a hymn of comparatively recent origin.
As represented in the Atharva-Veda, the system had made great
progress. The four castes are repeatedly mentioned. The
Brahmans had attained a high position. The sin and evil conse-
quences of injuring them in any way are shown in the strongest
terms.
2. Increased belief in Magic and Witchcraft.-It is true
that in the Rig-Veda, there are some charms and a reference to
sorceresses; but in the Atharva-Veda they are
much more
numerous. Madame Ragozin's opinion has been quoted, that the
change was brought about by contact with the aborigines.
Throughout the whole of Eastern Asia, demonolatry was the
original superstition. Nine classes of malignant spirits are enume-
rated at page 25.
Belief in charms is characteristic of a low state of civilization.
The negroes of West Africa have great faith in them. Anything
may be employed as a charm. It may be a bit of wood, a stone, a
piece of rag, a feather, a bone, hair, earth from a grave, &c. They
are generally tied up in a piece of cloth or leather, and worn around
the neck, arms, waist, or legs. A baby has one tied round him
soon after he is born, and as he grows in years he often adds charm
after charm, till his body is covered with them.
The Burmese can never lose their charms, for there are few
who have not charms of some kind tattooed on the arms, back,
chest, or even on the top of the head, which is shaved for the
purpose. These figures are of all kinds-lizards, birds, mystic
words and squares, rings, images of Buddha, and sometimes merely
a few scattered dots. The colouring matter is almost always red.
Some of these tattooed charms are supposed to prevent a
person from feeling pain when beaten, others guard against danger
from snake-bite, musket-shots, drowning, the spells of wizards, and
evil spirits. It does not matter to the Burmese although persons
having tattooed charms are shot or drowned. Their belief in their
efficacy is practically ineradicable.
The principal objects employed in the charms mentioned in the
Atharva-Veda were plants, the wood of certain trees, metals; &c.
62
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
All these are worthless; their powers are imaginary.
Belief in witchcraft is another characteristic of savages.
Among the Kafirs of South Africa, if a person gets sick, it
is believed that some enemy has bewitched him, and a witch-doctor
is employed to "smell out" the man who has caused the injury.
Until this is done, no one expects him to get better. No medicine
is given; they have only charms. Once a chief got a bad cold.
A witch-doctor said it was caused by a poor old man,
who was
forthwith killed.
The prevalence of witchcraft among the aboriginal tribes of
India has already been noticed (p. 13).
Uselessness of Charms.-This is shown in three ways:
1. Mere words have no power. What is considered the strongest
charm cannot hurt even a fly. People may trample charms under
foot, cut them in pieces, throw them into the fire. If they cannot
protect themselves, much less can they protect those who wear
them.
2. The demons of which the people of India stand so much in
dread have no existence. They are like the imaginary goblins by
which some ignorant parents try to frighten their children. There
are no such beings as Sitala Devi, Mari Amman, &c.
3. The nations of the world that suffer least from sickness and
live longest, who are the most prosperous, never use charms, while
they abound among savage tribes.
The belief in witchcraft is equally groundless.
THE GODS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The deities mentioned are much the same as those in the Rig-
Veda. Agni and Indra are the two most prominent. The other
gods and goddesses have been described.
Some good features of the hymns may first be noticed.
1. Recognition of God's Omniscience and Omnipresence.-
These are stated with great force and beauty in the hymn to Varuna
already quoted (pp. 47, 48).
2.
A Sense of Sin.-As already mentioned, the feeling is not
confined to outward acts. Faults in look or spirit, committed asleep or
awake, are acknowledged.
3. Prayer and Praise.-It is true that nearly all the petitions
refer merely to temporal benefits. The Morning Prayer' of Vasishtha,
one of the greatest of the Vedic Rishis, is as follows:
1 Agni at dawn, and Indra we invoke at dawn, and Varuna, and
Mitra, and the Asvins twain:
Bhaga at dawn, Pûsban, and Brahmanaspati, Soma at dawn,
and Rudra we invoke at dawn.
2 We call strong Bhaga, conqueror in the morning, the son of
Aditi, the great Disposer,
Whom each who deems himself poor, strong and mighty, a king,
addresses thus, Grant thou my portion!
REVIEW.
63
3. Bhaga, our guide, Bhaga whose gifts are faithful, favour this
hymn, and give us wealth, O Bhaga.
Bhaga, augment our store of kine and horses,
Bhaga, may we be rich in men and heroes.
4 So may felicity be ours at present, and when the Sun advances,
and at noontide;
And may we still, O Bounteous One, at sunset be happy in the
Gods' protecting favour.
5 May Bhaga verily be bliss-bestower, and through him, Gods!
may happiness attend us.
As such with all my might I call and call thee: as such be
thou our leader here, O Bhaga.
6 To this our sacrifice may the Dawns incline them, and come to
the pure place like Dadhikrávan.
As strong steeds draw a chariot may they bring me hitherward
Bhaga who discovers treasure.
7 May the kind Mornings dawn on us for ever with wealth of
kine, of horses, and of heroes.
Streaming with all abundance, pouring fatness. Do ye preserve
us evermore with blessings!
The above hymn, Book III. 16 of the Atharva-Veda, is taken
with slight variations from Book VII. 41, of the Rig-Veda. Bhaga
means blessed, adorable. He is here called "
conqueror in the
morning", as the early Sun overpowering Ushas, the Dawn.
A
It will be observed that there is not a single petition for spirit-
ual blessings. A hymn has been quoted in which deliverance is
asked from a debt contracted without intention of repayment; in
another the request is for success in gambling. Still, on the
whole, the feeling is commendable. In Hymn 19, Book I., the
acknowledgment is made, "Our choicest, closest armour
prayer."
THE ATHARVA-VEDA NOT A DIVINE REVELATION.
is
The common belief of the Hindus is that the Vedas are
entirely of divine origin, breathed out by Brahma after each
destruction of the universe. Of this there is not the slightest
proof, and an examination of the Atharva-Veda shows that the
belief is untenable.
1. The Polytheism of the Vedas disproves their divine origin.
-Polytheism is a belief in many gods; Monotheism, declares that
there is only one God. The former is held only by uncivilised or
half-civilised nations; the latter is the creed of enlightened people
throughout the world.
The simple-minded Aryans deified the common objects of
nature. Many of the Vedic hymns are invocations of the fire, the
water, the sky, the sun, the moon, &c. Fire, so useful to man, was
worshipped under the name of Agni, and became one of the most
64
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
prominent deities. He was second only to the Rain-god, called
Indra, with his thunderbolts, He smote the clouds, and compelled
them to give up their watery treasures. A deity so armed would
be able to render assistance in battle. Hence he was invoked in
struggles with the Dasyus, the aborigines. As soldiers sometimes
take strong drink before fighting to give them courage, so Indra was
supposed to quaff, like a thirsty stag, draughts of the intoxicating
soma juice. The sun, also, took an important place. He was
worshipped as Mitra, Súrya, and Savitri. Under the last name he
is still invoked in the Gáyatré, considered the most sacred prayer
of the Vedas. Vishnu, the wide-strider,' was originally a sun-god.
The dawn before sunrise was regarded as a goddess. The wind in
its gentler aspect was worshipped as Váyu; in storms it was the
Maruts or smashers.' So with other deities.
(
<
It is true that in one or two passages in the Vedas the gods
are spoken of as one under different names; but there is overwhelm-
ing evidence that the religion of the Vedas is polytheistic.
Whitney says:
"The great mass of Vedic hymns are absorbed in the praise and
worship of the multifarious deities of the proper Vedic pantheon, and
ignore all conception of a unity, of which these are to be accounted the
varying manifestations."*
The assertion that the Hindu gods are the same, though
worshipped under different names, is only an excuse for the folly
of polytheism put forward by those who are somewhat more
intelligent than the masses. Rammohun Roy says: "The Hindus
firmly believe in the real existence of innumerable gods and
goddesses who possess in their own departments full and independ-
ent powers, and to propitiate them, and not the true God, are
temples erected and ceremonies performed."
The one true God would not give a false revelation of Him-
self. The polytheism of the Vedas shows that they did not proceed
from Him.
""
In course of time the Vedic gods changed their character, and
were superseded by others. More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle,
a famous Greek philosopher, said, "Men create the gods after
their own image, not only with regard to their form, but also with
regard to their manner of life.' In Vedic times Indra is the
soma-drinking martial god who recovers the celestial cows from
the fort of Pani, and helps the Aryans in their wars against the
aborigines. When the Aryans had overcome their enemies and
were settled in India, Indra, as described in the Puranas,
a gorgeous king of a luxurious and somewhat voluptuous court,
where dance and music occupy most of his time." The gods of the
*Oriental Studies, &c. p. 94.
" is
REVIEW.
65
Puranas are Hindu Rajas, with their tastes and surroundings, but
possessed of superhuman powers.
Cicero, a celebrated Roman, says of his countrymen and the
Greeks, "Instead of the transfer to man of that which is divine,
they transferred human sins to their gods and experienced again
the necessary action."
Any book attributing evil passions to God shows that it was
not inspired by Him, but proceeded from the imagination of an evil
heart. Brahma is regarded as the Creator, but in the sacred books
of the Hindus themselves he is charged with lying, drunkenness,
and lust: his conduct was considered so vile, that he was deprived
of all worship. Vishnu and Siva are considered the greatest of the
gods; but the story of Mohini alone makes one regard their whole
history as a wicked invention. The same remark applies to Krishna
as described in the Bhagavata Purana. The conduct of the
Vallabhacháris shows its pernicious influence.
But educated Hindus now generally admit that the tales in the
Puranas are fictions; they adopt as their ideal the Krishna of the
Bhagavad Gita, and claim him as Supreme. For a full consi-
deration of his character the reader is referred to the treatise
mentioned below.*
It is fully admitted that the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita
stands on a far higher level than the Krishna of the Puranas. The
poem is exquisitely composed, and expresses some noble sentiments.
Nevertheless, an examination of it shows that it was written by a
Vaishnava Brahman, who had the ordinary Hindu polytheistic and
pantheistic ideas, who sought to uphold caste and the privileges of
his order, while he endeavoured to harmonise some doctrines of
Hindu philosophy, and give prominence to Krishna bhakti. A
blasphemous claim is made that "the Deity" spoke the words
which he wrote, and the book was foisted into the Mahábhárata to
get the support of its authority.
The Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita, like the Krishna of the
Bhagavata Purana, had no existence. His worship and that of the
other Hindu gods is not merely useless but sinful, for it is giving
them the honour due to the one true God, the Creator and Preserver
of the Universe.
2. The belief in Magic and Witchcraft proves that the
Atharva-Veda is not a Divine revelation.-It has already been
shown that such superstitions are characteristic of rude tribes.
The Atharva-Veda has been called the "Cursing Veda" from its
many charms, supposed to cause the destruction of enemies.
Bloomfield says that the "most salient teaching of the Atharva-
* The Bhagavad Gita, with an English Translation, Explanatory Notes, and an
Examination of its Doctrines. 8vo. 108 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As. Sold by Mr. A. T.
Scott, Tract Depôt, Madras.
9
66
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
Veda is sorcery," (p. 7.) All this shows that the Veda did not
proceed from God, but is the production of men in a rude state of
civilization.
Other Sacred Books of the Hindus.-The Vedas were followed
by the BRAHMANAS, the Brahmanas by the UPANISHADS, the founda-
tion of the Vedanta Philosophy. The BHAGAVAD GITA tried to
combine philosophical systems, in order to remove some of the
objections to which they were liable. The PURANAS are still more
modern, each written in praise of some particular deity.
Full accounts of these different works, with English transla-
tions in whole or in part, are given in the Series entitled THE
SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST DESCRIBED AND EXAMINED, a list of which
is appended.
THE TRUE VEDA.
The Hindu Sastras describe the earth as consisting of a vast
central mountain, called Meru, surrounded by seven continents
and seven seas. It does not follow because this account of the
earth is wrong, that there is no true Geography.
In like manner,
although the four Vedas of the Hindus are not true revelations,
such a revelation may exist. The most enlightened nations of
the world believe that this true revelation to be found in the BIBLE,
of which a short account will now be given.
Although the Bible is often bound in a single volume, it
consists of 66 different books, written at widely different periods in
the history of the world. God, at "sundry times and in divers
manners" made known His will to men. The Bible is the history of
the Divine education of the human race, from its childhood to its
manhood. The different books were given as they were needed:
step by step, man was led upwards in moral and religious progress.
The first sentence of the Bible contains a great truth, never
discovered by the wisdom of man: "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth." To create is to make out of
nothing. Hindus think that as a man cannot do this, neither can
God. They imagine therefore that the universe was formed out of a
pre-existing material, called prakriti. The Bible teaches that God,
by His almighty power, called the world into existence, and that it
was gradually made fit for the abode of man.
Hinduism asserts that souls are as eternal as Brahma himself.
The Bible teaches that we were made by God. He is our Father
by creation. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God
created us?" Christianity teaches us to address God as our "Father
in heaven." It is true that we have been disobedient, rebellious
children, but we are earnestly invited to return, asking forgiveness.
The ancestors of Europeans and Aryan Hindus once worshipped
the same God under the same name, Dyaush-Pitar, Heaven-Father.
Max Müller beautifully says:
REVIEW.
67
Thousands of years have passed away since the Aryan nations
separated to travel to the North and the South, the West and the East:
they have each formed their languages, they have each founded empires
and philosophies, they have each built temples and razed them to the
ground; they have all grown older, and it may be wiser and better; but
when they search for a name for that which is most exalted and yet
most dear to every one of us, when they wish to express both awe and
love, the infinite and the finite, they can but do what their old fathers
did when gazing up to the eternal sky, and feeling the presence of a Being
as far as far and as near as near can be; they can but combine the self-
same words and utter once more the primeval Aryau prayer, Heaven-
Father, in that form which will endure for ever, Our Father, which
art in heaven.'
But the Bible tells us that although God is our Father in
heaven, we have been ungrateful, disobedient children. God says,
by one of His prophets: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth:
for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth its owner and
the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth
not consider."
We may be compared to children who have left their father's
house to live among wicked companions. The Bible says that
"there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth
not;” “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We
sin in thought as well as in word and deed. The best men have
the deepest sense of their own sinfulness.
(6 The wages of sin is death." The whole human race is liable
to this penalty. God, in His great love, devised a plan by which
we may be saved from the punishment and power of sin.
All through the history of the world there has been the hope of
one who would deliver it from the evil which oppresses it. The
generations of man, weak and helpless in themselves, have ever
more been looking after ONE in whom they may find all they
look for vainly in themselves and in those around them.
The Hindu ideas of incarnation are well-known. Krishna says
in the Bhagavad Gita: "Whensoever religion fades and irreligion
prevails, then I produce myself." The expectation is general
that at the close of the Kali Yug, the Kalki avatára will come,
when Vishnu, on a white horse, will destroy the wicked, and
restore the earth to its original purity. These ideas, though
defective, recognise the hope of God descending to the level of the
fallen creature and becoming man to lighten the burden of pain
and misery under which the universe is groaning.
The Bible teaches that God became incarnate as Jesus Christ
for our redemption. He perfectly fulfilled the laws which we had
broken, and by His death on the cross He made an atonement for
68
THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
sin. Salvation is now freely offered to all who accept Him truly
as their Saviour, and strive to follow His example.
A general account of Christianity is given in the two little
books mentioned below:
Short Papers for Seekers after Truth. 12mo. 104 pp. 1 An.
Elements of Christian Truth. 12mo. 71 pp. 14 An. A series
of lectures by the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell.
A full account of the wonderful history of the Lord Jesus
Christ is given in the New Testament. A Hindu had best begin
with the Gospel of Luke, which was first written for a convert.
A copy of it may be obtained for half an anna at any Bible Depôt.
There is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke, by the same author, called
The Acts of the Apostles, describing the early history of the Christian
Church.
To assist in the study of these two books of Scripture, a little
work, The Beginnings of Christianity, has been published. Besides
an Introduction to the two books, it contains two coloured Maps,
and an explanatory Vocabulary of words presenting any difficulty.
Price 1 An. Post-free, 2 As.
The New Testament may form the next study. English
editions may be obtained at prices varying from 1 to 4 As.
An introduction to its study, called The Founder of Christianity,
intended specially for Indian students, is sold at 4 As. post-free.
The vernacular edition of the Scriptures would be helpful to many
in understanding their meaning. The complete Bible may after-
wards be studied, and even during the whole course portions of it
may be read, especially the Psalms.
Evidences of Christianity.-There is an excellent manual on
this subject by the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell, Letters to Indian
Youth on the Evidences of Christianity.-12mo., 280 pp., price
6 As. post-free.
Prayer for Light.-One of the greatest helps to arrive at
religious truth is to seek it earnestly from our Father in heaven.
The following short prayer may be offered :
"O all-wise, all-merciful God and Father, pour the bright beams of
Thy light into my soul, and guide me into Thy eternal truth."
The following longer prayer has been attributed to Augustine,
one of the greatest early Christian writers:
O Lord, who art the Light, the Way, the Truth, the Life; in
whom there is no darkness, error, vanity, nor death; the Light, without
which there is darkness; the Way, without which there is wandering;
the truth, without which there is error; the Life, without which there is
death; say, lord, 'Let there be light,' and I shall see light and eschew
darkness; I shall see the way and avoid wandering; I shall see the
truth and shun error; I shall see life and escape death. Illuminate,
O illuminate my blind soul, which sitteth in darkness and the shadow of
death; and direct my feet in the way of peace."
CATALOGUE
OF
GENERAL LITERATURE.
ENGLISH.
Descriptions of Countries and Peoples.
PICTORIAL TOUR ROUND INDIA. Imperial 8vo. 116 pp. 6 As. Post-free,
7 As.
An imaginary tour round India, with visits to Nepal and Cashmere, describing the
principal cities and other objects of interest. With 97 woodcuts illustrative of the
Himalayas, Calcutta, Benares, Agra, Delhi, Bombay, Madras, &c.
THE PRINCIPAL NATIONS OF INDIA. 8vo. 160 pp. 4 As. Post-free,
5 As.
An account of 42 Nations and Tribes of India, with specimens of some of their
languages, and 55 illustrations.
THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA AND THEIR PRINCES; WITH NOTICES OF
SOME IMPORTANT ZEMINDARIS. 4to. 100 pp. 5 As. Post-free, 6 As.
157 States are described, and 32 portraits are given. The little book will help to
enable Indians to understand the vast extent of their country, and what is being
done for its improvement.
KASI, OR BENARES, the Holy City of the Hindus. Imperial 8vo.
44 pp. 3 As. Post-free, 4 As.
An account of the city; its Sanskrit schools, ghats, temples, and pilgrimages;
with 23 illustrations.
THE GREAT TEMPLES OF INDIA, CEYLON, AND BURMA. Imperial 8vo.
104 pp. with 60 illustrations. 6 As. Post-free, 7½ Ās.
There are pictures and descriptions of some of the most celebrated Hindu, Sikh,
Jain, and Buddhist temples; as Puri, Budh-Gaya, Benares, Hurdwar, Gangotri, Ellora,
Elephanta, Amritsar, Gwalior, Tanjore, Srirangam, Kandy, Prome and Mandalay.
BURMA AND THE BURMESE. 4to. 54 pp. 21 As. Post-free, 3 As.
A description of the manners and customs of the Burmese; an account of their
government, religion, and history, with illustrative woodcuts, and portraits of King
Theebaw and his Queen.
LANKA AND ITS PEOPLE; or, A DESCRIPTION OF CEYLON. 4to. 72 pp.
3 As. Post-free, 3½ As.
The account of Lanka given in the Ramayana is first mentioned. Its history, and
present condition are then described, with numerous illustrative woodcuts.
TIBET: THE HIGHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. 4to. 62 pp. 21 As.
'An account of the country, its productions, the curious customs of the people,
their religion, and supposed living incarnations; with numerous illustrations.
70
GENERAL LITERATURE.
PICTURES OF CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE. 4to. 56 pp. 21 As. Post-free,
3 As.
Extent, History; Manners and Customs of the People; Schools, Examinations;
Industries; Travelling; Language and Literature; Government; Religious; India
and China compared; with 64 Illustrations.
24
JAPAN THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN. 4to. 68 pp. 2 As. Post-free,
:
3 As.
With 49 Illustrations. An interesting description of this beautiful country, and
an account of the remarkable changes which have taken place in it.
PICTORIAL TOUR ROUND BIBLE LANDS. Imperial 8vo. 100 pp. 6 As.
Post-free, 7 As.
The principal countries mentioned in the Bible and in ancient history are described;
as Palestine, Syria, Baylon, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy; with 104 Illustrations.
ARABIA, AND ITS PROPHET. 4to. 64 pp. 21 As.
4to. 64 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 3 As.
An account of the Arabs; with descriptions of Jeddah, Mecca, Medina; the History
of Muhammad and the early Caliphs; the Koran, Muslim Doctrines, Sects, Prayers,
Pilgrimage, &c.; with numerous illustrations.
PICTURES OF RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLES. Imperial 8vo. 83 pp. 5 As.
Post-free, 6 As.
A description both of European and Asiatic Russia, including an account of the
different races by which they are peopled, their manners and customs, the Govern-
ment, &c.; with 89 illustrations and maps.
EGYPT: THE LAND OF THE PYRAMIDS. Imperial 8vo. 80 pp. 5 As.
Post-free, 6 As.
A description of this interesting country, one of the oldest seats of civilization in
the world; its ancient religion, its famous temples and other buildings; the manners
and customs of the people, etc.; with numerous illustrations.
THE LAND OF SNOWS: with an account of Missions to Greenland.
4to. 56 pp. 21 As. Post-free, 3 As.
A description of Greenland, so different from India; giving an account of its
people, and the efforts to elevate them; with numerous illustrations.
THE OVERLAND JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 4to. 72 pp.
4to. 72 pp. 3 As.
A description of the principal places passed, with some account of the expense,
and directions on arrival in England: copiously illustrated.
PICTORIAL TOUR round England, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND. Imperial
8vo. 114 pp. 6 As. Post-free, 7 As.
Descriptions of the chief places of interest; Public Schools and Universities; Coal
Mines and Manufactures; the British Government; Home Life; England an example
and warning to India. With 104 woodcuts, and coloured engraving of the Queen-
Empress.
ITALY: ANCIENT AND MODERN. Imperial 8vo. 80 pp. 5 As. Post-
free, 6 As.
Remarkable events in the history of the country are described; accounts are given
of Rome, Vesuvius, the Buried Cities, and other places of interest; with numerous
illustrations.
PICTURES OF WOMEN IN MANY LANDS. Imperial 8vo. 112 pp. 6 As.
Post-free, 7 As.
Descriptions of women, beginning with the most degraded nations of the world,
and gradually ascending to the most enlightened; with suggestions, from the
review, for Indian women; with 172 illustrations.
ENGLISH.
71
Biographies.
STATESMEN OF RECENT TIMES.
8vo. 192 pp. 8 As. Post-free, 9 As.
Accounts are given of the leading Statesmen in the great countries of the world;
as Gladstone, Salisbury, Biemarck, and others. Special notice is taken of those
interested in India. In all 182 are mentioned, with 122 portraits.
THE GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF INDIA, First Series. By Henry Morris,
M. C. S. (retired) 8vo. 145 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As.
Contains sketches of the lives of Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, Sir John Shore,
Marquis Wellesley, the Earl of Minto, and the Marquis of Hastings, with portraits.
Interesting personal details are given, such as are not usually found in histories.
THE GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF INDIA, Second Series. By the same
author, 8vo. 175 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As.
Includes sketches of Lord Amherst, Lord William Bentinck, Lord Auckland, Lord
Ellenborough, Lord Hardinge, and the Marquis of Dalhousie.
The two Series, half bound in cloth, gilt title, 12 As.
SKETCHES OF INDIAN CHRISTIANS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
S. SATTHIANADHAN, M.A. 8vo. 268 pp. half cloth with gilt title,
10 As. Post-free, 11 As.
An account of 42 Indian Protestant Christians; Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, Mala-
yalam, Bengali, Hindustani, Panjabi, Afghan, Gujarati, Marathi, Parsi, and Karen ;
with several portraits.
ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHIES. By Henry Morris, MADRAS C. S. (Retired.)
8vo. 160 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As. Full cloth; gilt title,
8 As.
Lives of Sir Thomas Munro, Sir John Malcolm, Lord Metcalfe, Mountstuart
Elphinstone, James Thomason, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir James Outram, Sir Donald
Macleod, and Sir Bartle Frere, with portraits.
EMINENT FRIENDS OF MAN; or LIVES OF DISTINGUISHED PHILAN-
THROPISTS. 8vo. 158 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As. Full cloth,
gilt title, 10 As.
Sketches of Howard, Oberlin, Granville Sharp, Clarkson, Wilberforce, Buxton,
Pounds, Davies of Devauden, George Moore, Montefiore, Livesey, the Earl of
Shaftesbury, and others; with remarks on what might be done in India.
SOME NOTED INDIANS OF MODERN TIMES. 8vo. 164 pp. 4 As.
free, 5 As.
Post-
Sketches of Indian Religious and Social Reformers, Philanthropists, Scholars
Statesmen, Judges, Journalists, and others; with several portraits.
MARTIN LUTHER, THE GREAT EUROPEAN REFORMER. 8vo. 109 pp.
2 As. Post-free, 3 As.
The state of religion in Europe in the time of Luther is described; a full acconnt
is given of his undaunted efforts to bring about a reformation; the greater need
of a similar change in India is shown, and Luther is held up as an example.
15 illustrations.
BABA PADMANJI. An Autobiography. 8vo. 108 pp. 2 As. Post-free,
3 As.
An interesting account by himself of this popular Marathi author, describing his
conversion from Hinduism to Christianity.
72
GENERAL LITERATURE.
PICTURE STORIES OF NOBLE WOMEN. 4to. 50 pp. 21 As. Post-
free, 3 As.
Accounts of Cornelia, Agrippina, Padmani of Chittore, Lady Jane Grey, Ahaliya
Bai, Mrs. Fry, Princess Alice, Miss Carpenter, Maharani Surnomayi, Pandita
Ramabai, Miss Nightingale, and Lady Dufferin.
THE QUEEN-EMPRESS OF INDIA AND HER FAMILY. 43 pp. 3 As.
Post-free, 3 As.
Her early life; marriage; widowhood; children; progress in India during her
reign; traits of character and lessons from her life. With 27 illustrations, and
coloured portrait of the Empress.
SIR HERBERT EDWARDES. By Henry Morris. 8vo. 20 pp.
Anna.
He is described as the hero of Multan; the peacemaker among wild Afghan tribes ;
the true friend of India; the earnest Christian.
CHARLES GRANT: The Christian Director of the East
Company. By Henry Morris. 8vo. 48 pp. 1 Anna.
India
Mr. Grant was an esteemed Indian Civilian, who, after his retirement, became a
Director and Chairman for a time of the East India Company. Some very important
beneficial changes introduced by him are described. With a portrait.
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: "THE GOLDEN-MOUTHED." 4to. 52 pp. 2 As.
An account of the most eloquent Christian preacher in ancient times; with a
description of the age in which he lived, and the sufferings he endured. Illustrated
by engravings.
SOCIAL REFORM.
ON DECISION OF CHARACTER AND MORAL COURAGE. 8vo. 56 pp. 11 As.
Post-free, 2 As.
A reprint of Foster's Celebrated Essay, with some remarks on its application to
India.
SANITARY REFORM IN INDIA. 55 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 2 As.
How lakhs of Lives may be saved every year, and crores of cases of Sickness pre-
vented; Precautions against Fever, Cholera, Diabetes, &c.
IS INDIA BECOMING POORER OR RICHER? WITH REMEDIES FOR THE
EXISTING POVERTY. 8vo. 82 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 3 As.
The prevailing idea with regard to the increasing poverty of India shown to be
incorrect, and the true means of promoting its wealth explained.
DEBT AND THE RIGHT USE OF MONEY. 8vo. 32 pp. 1 Anna.
Prevalence of Debt in India; its Causes; Evils; how to get out of it; with Frank-
lin's Way to Wealth, &c.
PURITY REFORM. 8vo. 32 pp. 1 Anna.
The great need of this reform shown, and the means for its promotion.
TEMPERANCE REFORM IN INDIA. 8vo. 40 pp. 1½ As.
2 As.
Post-free,
Intoxicating liquors in Ancient India; Intemperance in England; Temperance
Reform in the West; spread of Intemperance in India; Temperance Reform in India;
how to promote Temperance Reform; with Portraits of Livesey, Father Mathew,
Sir Wilfred Lawson, Dean Farrar, Messrs. Samuel Smith and Caine.
CASTE. 8vo. 66 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 2 As.
Supposed and real origin of Caste; Laws of Caste according to Manu; its Effects;
Duty with regard to it.
ENGLISH.
73
THE WOMEN OF INDIA AND WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THEM. 8vo,
158 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5½ As.
Women in Hindu literature; Female Education; Marriage Customs; Widow
Marriage; means to be adopted to raise the position of Women.
THE ABOVE COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, 1 Rupee Net. Postage, 21 As.
PRIZE ESSAY ON THE PROMOTION OF INDIAN DOMESTIC REFORM. 8vo.
4 As. Post-free, 5 As.
144 pp.
The prize was gained by Ganpat Lakshman, of Bombay, in 1841. His Essay was
published with a Prefatory Note by the Rev. Dr. John Wilson, in which it is highly
commended as giving a graphic and correct picture of Hindu family life.
RELIGIOUS REFORM.
A RATIONAL REFUTATION OF THE HINDU PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS.
2nd Edition. 8vo. 208 pp. Price 10 As. net, Post-free.
By Nehemiah Nilakantha Sâstri Goreh. Translated from the original Hindi,
printed and manuscript, by Fitz-Edward Hall, D.C.L., Oxon., H. M.'s. Inspector of
Public Instruction for the Central Provinces.
HISTORY OF THE HINDU TRIAD. (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva)
8vo. 64 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 2 As.
An account is first given of the earliest gods of the Hindus; the changes which
afterwards took place are described; with the development of the Triad as given in
the Hindu sacred books.
POPULAR HINDUISM. 8vo. 96 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 34 As.
Review of the Hinduism, of the Epic Poems and Puranas, &c.; Rites and Obser-
vances; Effects of Hinduism, and Suggested Reforms.
PHILOSOPHIC HINDUISM. 8vo. 72 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 3 As.
The Upanishads; the Six Schools of Hindu Philosophy; the Miror Schools ;
Doctrines of Philosophic Hinduism; the Bhagavad Gita; Causes of the ailure of
Hindu Philosophy.
THE BRAHMA SAMAJ, AND OTHER MODERN ECLECTIC RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS.
108 pp. 3 As. Post-free, 4 As.
Modern Hindu Theism; Rammohun Roy; Debendranath Tagore; Keshub Chunder
Sen;
the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj; Madras Brahmoism; Prarthana Samajes.
INDIA HINDU, AND INDIA CHRISTIAN; OR, WHAT HINDUISM HAS DONE
FOR INDIA, AND WHAT CHRISTIANITY WOULD DO FOR IT.
8vo. 72 pp.
21 As. Post-free, 3 As.
Address to thoughtful Hindus, showing how much their country would benefit
from the religion which many of them now oppose.
KRISHNA AS DESCRIBED IN THE PURANAS AND BHAGAVAD GITA. 8vo.
72 pp. 21 As. Post-free, 3 As.
A full account is given of the Krishna Avatara, chiefly taken from the Vishnu
Purana, with some extracts from the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahábbárata; the
circumstances which led to the great war between the Pandus and Kurus are
described; and some of the doctrines of the Bhagavad Gita are examined in detail.
ACCOUNT OF THE TEMPLE OF JAGANNATH AT PURI. 8vo. 48 pp. 14 As.
The account is taken chiefly from Dr. Rajendralala Mitra's Antiquities of Orissa
Hunter's Gazetteer of India, Sterling's Orissa, &c. With views of the temple, pro-
cession, and images.
10
74
GENERAL LITERATURE.
CHRISTIANITY EXPLAINED TO A HINDU; OR, THE DOCTRINES OF CHRIS-
TIANITY AND HINDUISM COMPARED. 60 pp. 2 As.
Doctrines about God, Creation, the Soul, Karma, Transmigration, Sin, Incarnations,
Salvation, Prospects at death, and Comparative Effects.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA ON HINDUISM. 8vo. 96 pp. 3 As. Post-free, 4 As.
The Swami's Chicago Address is quoted in full and examined; important facts
are brought out which he omitted to state.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA AND HIS GURU. 8vo. 125 pp. 3 As. Post-
free, 4 As.
A history of the Swami and his Guru is given,; the Swami's boasted success in the
West is shown to be untrue by the letters of 45 prominent Americans; the Vedánta
philosophy is examined; portraits are given of Schopenhauer and Max Müller, with
an estimate of the importance to be attached to their approval of Vedántism.
THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA; WITH ITS PROSPECTS.
150 pp. 5 As. Post-free, 6 As.
8vo.
An account of the early Christian Missions, and the progress of Christianity among
the principal nations; with 35 illustrations, including portraits of some eminent
Missionaries.
TESTIMONIES OF GREAT MEN TO THE BIBLE AND CHRISTIANITY. 8vo.
45 pp. 1 As. Post-free, 2 As.
Opinions expressed by great writers, philosophers, scientists, lawyers and states-
men, showing that the Bible and Christianity are firmly believed by the most eminent
men of the time.
HOW THE PEOPLE OF ANCIENT EUROPE BECAME CHRISTIANS, AND THE
FUTURE RELIGION OF INDIA. dvo. 48 pp. 1½ As. Post-free, 2 As.
An account of the Eastern and Western Aryans; their common origin; resem-
blances in language and religion; how Christianity was first brought to Europe; the
opposition it encountered, and its final success, with the evidence that it will follow
a similar course in India.
CIVILIZATION, ANCIENT AND MODERN, COMPARED; WITH REMARKS ON
THE STUDY OF SANSKRIT. 8vo. 48 pp. 1 As. Post-free, 2 As.
DEVIL-DANCERS, WITCH-FINDERS, RAIN-MAKERS, AND MEDICINE MEN.
4to. 60 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 3 As.
A full account of these curious and degrading superstitions, prevalent among
backward nations in different parts of the world; with 36 illustrations.
TRANSMIGRATION. 12mo. 19 pp. By Rev. Dr. W. Hooper, 1 Anna.
DODDRIDGE'S RISE AND PROGRESS OF RELIGION IN THE SOUL. 12mo.
180 pp. 3 As. Post-free, 4 As.
This is an abridged edition of one of the most useful works on Christianity in the
English language,
BARROWS LECTURES. 8vo. 188
8vo. 188 pp. 6 As.
Seven Lectures, by the Rev. Dr. J. H. Barrows, on CHRISTIANITY, THE WORLD-WIDE
RELIGION.
1
4
Pice Papers on Indian Reform, Anna each.
Some are original; others are abridged from the foregoing for popular use.
1. CAUSES OF INDIAN POVERTY.
2. INDIAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
3.
Supposed and REAL CAUSES OF DISEASE.
4.
PATRIOTISM: FALSE AND True,
5. MANAGEMENT OF INFANTS.
ENGLISH.
75
6. DEBT, AND HOW TO GET Out of it.
7.
8.
9.
10.
THE PURDAH; OR THE SECLUSION OF INDIAN WOMEN.
CASTE: ITS ORIGIN AND EFFECTS.
ASTROLOGY.
WHAT HAS THE BRITISH GOVERNMEnt done for India ?
11. WHO WROTE THE VEDAS?
12.
13.
14.
15.
MANAVA-DHARMA SASTRA.
THE BHAGAVAD GITA.
THE SCIENCE OF THE HINDU SASTRAS.
FEVERS: THEIR CAUSES, Treatment AND PREVENTION.
16. CHOLERA and BoweL COMPLAINTs.
17.
ANIMAL WORSHIP.
18. EARLY MARRIAGE; ITS EVILS AND SUGGESTED REFORMS.
19. DUTY TO A WIFE.
20. THE FRUITS OF HINDUISM.
21. INDIAN Widows, and what should be DONE FOR THEM.
THE ADVANTAGES OF FEMALE EDUCATION.
HINDU AND CHRISTIAN WORSHIP COMPARED.
22.
23.
24. HINDU PILGRIMAGES.
25.
CHARITY: FALSE AND True.
26. THE TWO WATCHWORDS
CUSTOM AND Progress.
27. THE VALUE OF PURE WATER.
28. CHARMS, MANTRAS, AND OTHER SUPERSTITIONS.
29.
30.
31.
NAUTCHES.
IMPORTANCE OF CLEANLINESS.
How TO HAVE HEALTHY CHILDREN.
32. CAUSES OF INDIAN POVERTY.
33. INDIAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
ECLIPSES.
34.
35. FAMILY PRAYER.
36.
GIVING Abuse.
37.
SHRADDHAS.
38.
KARMA OR FATE.
39.
THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD.
40. THE BROTHERHOOD of Man.
41.
42.
HINDU AND CHRISTIAN IDEALS ON PIETY.
PRAYASCHITTA.
Complete in a volume, half bound, gilt title, 1 Re. Postage, 2 As.
43. AN APPEAL TO YOUNG INDIA.
No. 1.
Papers for Thoughtful Hindus.
8vo.
THE RELATION BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND HINDUISM.
32 pp. By the Rev. DR. KRISHNA MOHUN BANERJEA, late Sans-
krit Examiner to the Calcutta University. Anna.
The remarkable resemblances, in some respects, between ancient Hinduism and
Christianity are pointed out.
GENERAL LITERATURE.
76
No. 2. THE SUPPOSED AND REAL DOCTRINES OF HINDUISM, AS HELD BY
EDUCATED HINDUS. 8vo. 32 pp.
By the Rev. Nehemiah
(Nilakanth) Goreh. Anna.
It is shown that the belief of educated Hindus with regard to God, His Attributes
Creation, &c., are not found in the Vedas; but have been derived from Christianity.
No. 3. MORAL COURAGE. 8vo. 32 pp.
A lecture by the Bishop of Bombay.
No. 4. THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION.
Anna.
8vo. 48 pp. 3 Anna.
An appeal to the young, by John Foster, author of Essays on Decision of Character.
No. 5. CHRISTIANITY, OR-WHAT? 8vo. 16 pp. 1 Anna.
Rev. H. Rice.
By the
Christianity is shown to be the only religion which meets the wants of man.
No. 6. THE SENSE OF SIN IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. A Lecture
by the Rev. F. W. KELLETT, M.A., Madras Christian College.
8vo. 20 pp. Anna.
It is shown that the deeper the sense of sin, the more mature the religious life.
No. 7. BISHOP CALDWELL ON KRISHNA AND THE BHAGAVAD GITA.
8vo. 32 pp. & Anna.
A reprint of Remarks on the late Hon. Sadagopah Charloo's introduction to a
Reprint of a Pamphlet entitled, "Theosophy of the Hindus;" with a preface by the
Rev. J. L. Wyatt.
No. 8. THE DUTIES OF EDUCATED YOUNG MEN TO THEIR COUNTRY. 8vo.
16 pp. Anna.
1
2
An address, by the Rev. H. Ballantine, at a Meeting of the Ahmednagar Debating
Society. Translated from the Marathi.
No. 9. CHRIST THE FULFILMENT OF HINDUISM. 8vo. 23 pp. Anna.
A lecture by the Rev. F. W. KELLETT, M.A., Madras Christian College.
No. 10. VEDANTISM. 8vo. 21 pp. Anna.
By the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with numerous Sanskrit quotations.
No. 11. THE DEFECTIVENESS OF BRAHMOISM.
A Lecture by the Rev. Lal Behari Day.
No. 12.
8vo. 24 pp. Anna.
PRELIMINARY DIALOGUES ON IMPORTANT QUESTIONS IN INDIA.
8vo. 74 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 2 As.
By a member of the Oxford Mission, Calcutta. Hindu and Christian Conceptions
of God, Theism versus Pantheism, Personality, Merit and Demerit, Sin, &c.
No. 13. HELPS TO TRUTH-SEEKERS. 8vo. 32 pp. 1 Anna.
By the Rev. H. Rice. Current objections to Christianity considered.
No. 14. HINDU PANTHEISM. 8vo. 18 pp. Anna.
From Anti-theistic Theories, by Professor Flint, an able writer.
Progress.
This is a monthly illustrated Periodical for the educated classes in
India and Ceylon. The subscription is only 8 As. a year,
with postage 14 As. Three copies may be sent for anna
postage.
The Periodical is specially recommended to TEACHERS. It would
give new ideas to their pupils, while the page for students
would be very useful to those preparing for examinations.
Orders to be addressed to Mr. A. T. Scorr, Tract Depôt, MADRAS.
8. P. C. K. PRESS, VEPERY, MADRAS-1897.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 02674 4287
THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST DESCRIBED AND
EXAMINED.
Attention is invited to the following volumes of the Series,
now available:
AN ACCOUNT OF THE VEDAS, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS, FROM THE
RIG-VEDA. 8vo. 166 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 6 As.
The principal divisions of the Vedas are described; with life in Vedic times, the
gods of the Vedas, the offerings and sacrifices. Through the kind permission of
Mr. K. T. H. Griffith, translations of some of the most important hymns in the Rig.
Veda are quoted in full.
THE ATHARVA-VEDA. 8vo. 76 pp. 2 As. Post-free, 3 As.
2
A classified selection of the Hymns is given, including charms to cure diseases,
expel demons, secure success in life, destroy enemies, &c. with a Review of the
whole.
THE BRAHMANAS OF THE VEDAS.
MACDONALD, M. A., D.D.,
8vo. 232 pp. BY THE REV. K. S.
Author of The Vedic Religion. 8 As.
Post-free. 10 As. Half cloth, 12 As.
Accounts are given of the Brahmanas of the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Black and
White Yajur Vedas, and the Atharva Veda, showing the development of Hinduism.
The state of Society, the Human, Horse, and other Sacrifices, the Gods and Religion
of the Brahmanas are described, with many interesting details.
SELECTIONS FROM THE UPANISHADS. 8vo. 120 pp. 4 As. Post-free,
5 As.
The Katha, Isa, and Svetásvatara, as translated into English by Dr. Roer, are
quoted in full, with the notes of Sankara Acharya and others; and there are copious
extracts from the Brihad Aranya and Chhándogya Upanishads.
STUDIES IN THE UPANISHADS. 8vo. 80 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 3 As.
Five interesting Lectures by the Rev. T. E. Slater.
THE BHAGAVAD GITA. 8vo. 108 pp. 4 As.
Post-free, 5 As.
An English Translation carefully revised; numerous Explanatory Notes, and an
Examination of its Doctrines.
THE VISHNU PURANA. 8vo. 96 pp. 3 As. Post-free, 4 As.
An abridgment is given, verbatim, from the English translation of H. H. Wilson,
Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford; with an examination of the book in the
light of the present day.
THE RAMAYANA. 8vo. 180 pp. 7 As. Post-free, 8 As. Half
cloth, 11 As.
A full abridgment of this celebrated poem is given in English, with explanatory
notes, where necessary.
YOGA SASTRA. 8vo. 78 pp. 24 As. Post-free, 3 As.
The Yoga Sútras of Patanjali examined, and the supposed Yoga powers shown to be
a delusion. The true Yoga Sastra is explained; with a notice of Swami Vivekananda's
Yoga Philosophy.
SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN. 8vo. 232 pp. 8 As. Post-free, 10 As.
Half cloth, 12 As.
Upwards of five hundred of the most important passages are given, with headings,
explanatory Notes where necessary, and a classified Index.
Orders to be addressed to Mr. A. T. SCOTT, Tract Depôt, MADRAS; or to
the Calcutta, Allahabad, Labore, Bombay, Bangalore, and Colombo Book
Depôts.