Atharva Veda 10.4

indrasya prathamo ratho devānām aparo ratho varuṇasya tṛtīya it ahīnām apamā ratha sthāṇum ārad athārṣat

Against snakes and their poison

Indra's [was] the first chariot, the gods' the after chariot, Varuna's the third one; the snakes' chariot, the furthest one (?), hath run against the pillar: then may it come to harm (?).

darbhaḥ śocis tarūṇakam aśvasya vāraḥ paruṣasya vāraḥ rathasya bandhuram

Darbhá-grass, brightness, young shoot (? tarū́ṇaka); horse's tail-tuft, rough-one's tail-tuft; chariot's seat (? bándhura).

ava śveta padā jahi pūrveṇa cāpareṇa ca udaplutam iva dārv ahīnām arasaṃ viṣaṃ vār ugram

Smite down, O white one, with the foot, both the fore and the hind; like water-floated wood, sapless [is] the snakes' poison, fierce water (vā́r).

araṃghuṣo nimajyonmajya punar abravīt udaplutam iva dārv ahīnām arasaṃ viṣaṃ vār ugram

The araṁghuṣá, having immerged, having emerged, said again: like water-floated wood, sapless is the snake's poison, fierce water.

paidvo hanti kasarṇīlaṃ paidvaḥ śvitram utāsitam paidvo ratharvyāḥ śiraḥ saṃ bibheda pṛdākvāḥ

Pāidva slays the kasarṇī́la (snake), Pāidva the whitish and the black; Pāidva hath split altogether the head of the ratharvī́, of the pṛdākū́.

paidva prehi prathamo 'nu tvā vayam emasi ahīn vy asyatāt patho yena smā vayam emasi

Go forth first, O Pāidva; we come after thee; cast thou out the snakes from the road by which we come.

idaṃ paidvo ajāyatedam asya parāyaṇam imāny arvataḥ padāhighnyo vājinīvataḥ

Here was Pāidva born; this [is] his going-away; these [are] the tracks of the snake-slaying vigorous steed.

saṃyataṃ na vi ṣparad vyāttaṃ na saṃ yamat asmin kṣetre dvāv ahī strī ca pumāṃś ca tāv ubhāv arasā

What is shut together may it not open; what is opened may it not shut together; in this field [are] two snakes, both a female and a male; those [are] both sapless.

arasāsa ihāhayo ye anti ye ca dūrake ghanena hanmi vṛścikam ahiṃ daṇḍenāgatam

Sapless here [are] the snakes, they that are near and they that are far; with a club (ghaná) I slay the stinger (vṛ́çcika), with a staff the snake that has come.

aghāśvasyedaṃ bheṣajam ubhayoḥ svajasya ca indro me 'him aghāyantam ahiṃ paidvo arandhayat

This is the remedy of both, of the ill-horse (aghāçvá) and of the constrictor; the mischievous (aghāy-) snake hath Indra, the snake hath Pāidva put in my power (randhay-).

paidvasya manmahe vayaṃ sthirasya sthiradhāmnaḥ ime paścā pṛdākavaḥ pradīdhyata āsate

We reverence Pāidva, the staunch one, of staunch abode (-dhā́man); here behind sit pṛ́dākus, plotting forth.

naṣṭāsavo naṣṭaviṣā hatā indreṇa vajriṇā jaghānendro jaghnimā vayam

Of lost lives, of lost poison [are they], slain by the thunderbolt-bearing Indra; Indra hath slain, we have slain.

hatās tiraścirājayo nipiṣṭāsaḥ pṛdākavaḥ darviṃ karikrataṃ śvitraṃ darbheṣv asitaṃ jahi

Slain [are] the cross-lined ones, crushed down the pṛ́dākus; slay thou the whitish [snake] that makes a great hood, the black snake, in the darbhá-grasses.

kairātikā kumārikā sakā khanati bheṣajam hiraṇyayībhir abhribhir girīnām upa sānuṣu

The little girl of the Kirātas, she the little one, digs a remedy, with golden shovels, upon the ridges (sā́nu) of the mountains.

āyam agan yuvā bhiṣak pṛśnihāparājitaḥ sa vai svajasya jambhana ubhayor vṛścikasya ca

Hither hath come the young physician, slayer of the spotted ones, unconquered; he verily is a grinder-up of both, the constrictor and the stinger.

indro me 'him arandhayan mitraś ca varuṇaś ca vātāparjanyobhā

Indra hath put the snake in my power, [also] both Mitra and Varuṇa, and Vāta ('wind') and Parjanya, both of them.

indro me 'him arandhayat pṛdākuṃ ca pṛdākvam svajaṃ tiraścirājiṃ kasarṇīlaṃ daśonasim

Indra hath put the snake in my power, the pṛ́dāku and the she-pṛ́dāku, the constrictor, the cross-lined one, the kasarṇī́la, the dáçonasi.

indro jaghāna prathamaṃ janitāram ahe tava teṣām u tṛhyamāṇānāṃ kaḥ svit teṣām asad rasaḥ

Indra hath slain first thy progenitor, O snake; of them, being shattered, what forsooth can be their sap?

saṃ hi śīrṣāṇy agrabhaṃ pauñjiṣṭha iva karvaram sindhor madhyaṃ paretya vy anijam aher viṣam

Since I have grasped together their heads, as a fisherman the kárvara; having gone away to the middle of the river, I have washed out the snake's poison.

ahīnāṃ sarveṣāṃ viṣaṃ parā vahantu sindhavaḥ hatās tiraścirājayo nipiṣṭāsaḥ pṛdākavaḥ

The poison of all snakes let the rivers carry away; slain [are] the cross-lined ones, crushed down the pṛ́dākus.

oṣadhīnām ahaṃ vṛṇa urvarīr iva sādhuyā nayāmy arvatīr ivāhe niraitu viṣam

I choose as it were the filaments of herbs successfully; I conduct as it were mares; O snake, let thy poison come out.

yad agnau sūrye viṣaṃ pṛthivyām oṣadhīṣu yat kāndāviṣaṃ kanaknakaṃ niraitv aitu te viṣam

What poison is in fire, in the sun, what in the earth, in herbs, kāndā-poison, kanáknaka—let thy poison come out; let it come.

ye agnijā oṣadhijā ahīnāṃ ye apsujā vidyuta ābabhūvuḥ yeṣāṃ jātāni bahudhā mahānti tebhyaḥ sarpebhyo namasā vidhema

Whichever of the snakes [are] fire-born, herb-born, whichever came hither (ā-bhū) [as] water-born lightnings; those of which the kinds are variously great—to those serpents would we pay worship with reverence.

taudī nāmāsi kanyā ghṛtācī nāma vā asi adhaspadena te padam ā dade viṣadūṣaṇam

Thou art a girl, tāúdī by name; verily thou art by name ghee-like (ghṛtā́cī); I take beneath thy poison-spoiling track.

aṅgādaṅgāt pra cyāvaya hṛdayam pari varjaya adhā viṣasya yat tejo 'vācīnaṃ tad etu te

Remove thou [it] from every limb; make [it] avoid the heart; then, what keenness (téjas) the poison has, let that go downward for thee.

āre abhūd viṣam araud viṣe viṣam aprāg api agnir viṣam aher nir adhāt somo nir aṇayīt daṃṣṭāram anv agād viṣam ahir amṛta

He (it ?) hath come to be afar; he hath obstructed the poison; he hath mixed poison in poison; Agni hath put out the snake's poison; Soma hath conducted [it] out; the poison hath gone after the biter; the snake hath died.