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Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895], at sacred-texts.com
1Seize to thyself this trust of life for ever: thine be longevity
which nothing shortens.
Thy spirit and thy life again I bring thee: die not, nor vanish
into mist and darkness.
2Come to the light of living men, come hither: I draw thee to a
life of hundred autumns.
Loosing the bonds of Death, the curse that holds thee, I give thee
age of very long duration.
3Thy breath have I recovered from the Wind, thy vision from the
Sun.
Thy mind I stablish and secure within thee: feel in thy members,.
use thy tongue, conversing.
4I blow upon thee with the breath of bipeds and quadrupeds, as
on a fire new-kindled.
To thee, O Death, and to thy sight and breath have I paid
reverence.
5Let this man live, let him not die: we raise him, we recover him.
I make for him a healing balm. O Death, forbear to slay this
man. p. a325
6Here for sound health I invocate a living animating plant,
Preserving, queller of disease, victorious, full of power and
might.
7Seize him not, but encourage and release him: here let him stay,
though thine, in all his vigour.
Bhava and Sarva, pity and protect him: give him full life and
drive away misfortunes.
8Comfort him, Death, and pity him: let him arise and pass away,
Unharmed, with all his members, hearing well, with old, may he
through hundred years win profit with his soul.
9May the Gods' missile pass thee by. I bring thee safe from the
mist: from death have I preserved thee.
Far have I banished flesh-consuming Agni: I place a rampart
for thy life's protection.
10Saving him from that misty path of thine which cannot be
defined.
From that descent of thine, O Death, we make for him a shield
of prayer.
11I give thee both the acts of breath, health, lengthened life, and
death by age.
All Yama's messengers who roam around, sent by Vaivasvata,
I chase away.
12Far off we drive Malignity, Destruction, Pisāchas banqueters on
flesh, and Grāhi.
And all the demon kind, the brood of sin, like darkness, we
dispel.
13I win thy life from Agni, from the living everlasting Jātavedas.
This I procure for thee, that thou, undying, mayst not suffer
harm, that thou mayst be content, that all be well with thee.
14Gracious to thee be Heaven and Earth, bringing no grief, and
drawing nigh!
Pleasantly shine the Sun for thee, the Wind blow sweetly to
thy heart!
Let the celestial Waters full of milk flow happily for thee.
15Auspicious be the Plants to thee! I have upraised thee, borne
thee from the lower to the upper earth:
Let the two Sons of Aditi, the Sun and Moon, protect thee there.
16Whatever robe to cover thee or zone thou makest for thyself,
We make it pleasant to thy frame: may it be soft and smooth
to touch. p. a326
17When, with a very keen and cleasing razor, our hair and beards
thou shavest as a barber,
Smoothing our face steal not our vital forces.
18Auspicious unto thee be rice and barley, causing no painful sick-
ness or consumption, these deliver from calamity.
19Thy food, thy drink, whate'er they be corn grown by cultivation,
milk,
Food eatable, uneatable, I make all poisonless for thee.
20We give thee over as a charge to Day and Night, in trust to
both.
Keep him for me from stingy fiends, from those who fain would
feed on him.
21A hundred, yea, ten thousand years we give thee, ages two,
three, four.
May Indra, Agni, all the Gods, with willing favour look on thee.
22To Autumn we deliver thee, to Winter, Spring and Summer's
care.
We trust thee with auspicious years wherein the plants and herbs
grow up.
23Death is the lord of bipeds, Death is sovran lord of quadrupeds.
Away I bear thee from that: Death the ruler: be not thou
afraid.
24Thou, still uninjured, shalt not die: be not afraid; thou shalt
not die.
Here where I am men do not die or go to lowest depths of
gloom.
25Here verily all creatures live, the cow, the horse, the man, the
beast,
Here where this holy prayer is used, a rampart that protecteth
life.
Let it preserve thee from thy peers, from incantation, from thy
friends.
26Live very long, be healthy, be immortal: let not the vital breath
forsake thy body.
27One and a hundred modes of death, dangers that may be over-
come,
May Gods deliver thee from this when Agni, dear to all men,
bids.
28Body of Agni prompt to save, slayer of fiends and foes art thou,
Yea, banisher of malady, the healing balm called Pūtudru.