Atharva Veda 8.2

This verse is not included in this edition.

To prolong some one's life

Take thou hold. on this bundle (?) of immortality; unsevered length of life be thine; I bring back thy life, [thy] life-time; go not to the welkin (rájas), to darkness; do not perish.

avamuñcan mṛtyupāśān aśastiṃ drāghīya āyuḥ prataraṃ te dadhāmi

Come thou hitherward unto the light of the living; I take thee in order to life for a hundred autumns; loosening down the fetters of death, imprecation, I set for thee further a longer life-time.

vātāt te prāṇam avidaṃ sūryāc cakṣur ahaṃ tava yat te manas tvayi tad dhārayāmi saṃvitsvāṅgair vada jihvayālapan

From the wind have I found thy breath, from the sun I thy sight; what is thy mind, that I maintain in thee; be in concord with thy limbs; speak with thy tongue, not babbling.

prāṇena tvā dvipadāṃ catuṣpadām agnim iva jātam abhi saṃ dhamāmi namas te mṛtyo cakṣuṣe namaḥ prāṇāya te 'karam

I blow together upon thee with the breath of bipeds [and] quadrupeds as upon [new-] born fire; homage, O death, to thy sight, homage to thy breath have I made.

ayaṃ jīvatu mā mṛtemaṃ sam īrayāmasi kṛṇomy asmai bheṣajaṃ mṛtyo mā puruṣaṃ vadhīḥ

Let this man live; let him not die; him we send together; I make a remedy for him; death, do not slay the man.

jīvalāṃ naghāriṣāṃ jīvantīm oṣadhīm aham trāyamāṇāṃ sahamānāṃ sahasvatīm iha huve 'smā ariṣṭatātaye

The lively, by-no-means-harming, living herb, the preserving, overpowering, powerful, do I call hither, for this man's freedom from harm.

adhi brūhi mā rabhathāḥ sṛjemaṃ tavaiva sant sarvahāyā ihāstu bhavāśarvau mṛḍataṃ śarma yacchatam apasidhya duritaṃ dhattam āyuḥ

Bless thou [him]; do not take hold; let him loose; even being thine, let him be one of completed years (?) here; O Bhava-and-Çarva, be ye gracious; yield protection; driving away difficulty, bestow ye life-time.

asmai mṛtyo adhi brūhīmaṃ dayasvod ito 'yam etu ariṣṭaḥ sarvāṅgaḥ suśruj jarasā śatahāyana ātmanā bhujam aśnutām

Bless thou this man, O death; pity him; let him go up from here; unharmed, whole-limbed, well-hearing, hundred-yeared by old age, let him attain enjoyment with himself.

devānāṃ hetiḥ pari tvā vṛṇaktu pārayāmi tvā rajasa ut tvā mṛtyor apīparam

Let the missile of the gods avoid thee; I make thee pass from the welkin (rájas); I have made thee pass up out of death; removing afar the flesh-eating Agni, I set for thee an enclosure in order to living.

yat te niyānaṃ rajasaṃ mṛtyo anavadharṣyam patha imaṃ tasmād rakṣanto brahmāsmai varma kṛṇmasi

The down-going in the welkin, not to be ventured down upon, which is thine, O death—from that road defending this man, we make bráhman a covering (varman) for him.

kṛṇomi te prāṇāpānau jarāṃ mṛtyuṃ dīrgham āyuḥ svasti vaivasvatena prahitān yamadūtāṃś carato 'pa sedhāmi sarvān

I make for thee breath-and-expiration, old age as [mode of] death, long life-time, welfare; all the messengers of Yama, sent forth by Vivasvant's son, moving about, I drive away.

This verse is not included in this edition.

Afar niggardliness, perdition, away seizure (grā́hi), the flesh-eating piçācás, every demon that is of evil nature—that we smite away, as it were into darkness.

agneṣ ṭa prāṇam amṛtād āyuṣmato vanve jātavedasaḥ yathā na riṣyā amṛtaḥ sajūr asas tat te kṛṇomi tad u te sam ṛdhyatām

Thy breath I win from immortal Agni, from long-lived Jātavedas, that thou mayest take no harm, mayest be immortal in alliance [with him]: that I make for thee; let that prove successful for thee.

śive te stāṃ dyāvāpṛthivī asaṃtāpe abhiśriyau śaṃ te sūrya ā tapatu śaṃ vāto vātu te hṛde śivā abhi kṣarantu tvāpo divyāḥ payasvatīḥ

Let heaven-and-earth be propitious to thee, not distressing, conferring fortune (? abhiçrī́); let the sun burn weal unto thee; let the wind blow weal to thy heart; let the heavenly waters, rich in fatness (páyas), flow propitious upon thee.

śivās te santv oṣadhaya ut tvāhārṣam adharasyā uttarāṃ pṛthivīm abhi tatra tvādityau rakṣatāṃ sūryācandramasāv ubhā

Propitious to thee be the herbs; I have caught thee up from the lower unto the upper earth; there let both the Ādityas, sun and moon, defend thee.

yat te vāsaḥ paridhānaṃ yāṃ nīviṃ kṛṇuṣe tvam śivaṃ te tanve tat kṛṇmaḥ saṃsparśe 'rūkṣṇam astu te

What enveloping (paridhā́na) garment thou hast, what inner wrap (nīví) thou makest for thyself, that we make propitious unto thy body; be it not harsh to thy touch.

yat kṣureṇa marcayatā sutejasā vaptā vapasi keśaśmaśru śubhaṃ mukhaṃ mā na āyuḥ pra moṣīḥ

In that with a dangerous (? marcáyant) very sharp (sutejás) razor thou, a hair-dresser, shearest hair and beard, adorning the face, do not thou steal away our life-time.

śivau te stāṃ vrīhiyavāv abalāsāv adomadhau etau yakṣmaṃ vi bādhete etau muñcato aṃhasaḥ

Propitious to thee be rice and barley, free from balā́sa, causing no burning (?); these drive off the yákṣma; these free from distress.

yad aśnāsi yat pibasi dhānyaṃ kṛṣyāḥ payaḥ yad ādyaṃ yad anādyaṃ sarvaṃ te annam aviṣaṃ kṛṇomi

What thou eatest (aç), what thou drinkest, of grain, milk of the plowing—what should be eaten, what should not be eaten—all food I make for thee poisonless.

ahne ca tvā rātraye cobhābhyāṃ pari dadmasi arāyebhyo jighatsubhya imaṃ me pari rakṣata

Both to day and to night, to them both we commit thee. Defend ye this man for me from the arā́yas that seek to devour [him].

śataṃ te 'yutaṃ hāyanān dve yuge trīṇi catvāri kṛṇmaḥ indrāgnī viśve devās te 'nu manyantām ahṛṇīyamānāḥ

A hundred, a myriad years, two periods (yugá), three, four, we make for thee; let Indra-and-Agni, let all the gods, approve thee, not showing enmity.

This verse is not included in this edition.

Unto autumn, unto winter, unto spring, unto summer, we commit thee; [be] the rains pleasant to thee, in which the herbs grow.

mṛtyur īśe dvipadāṃ mṛtyur īśe catuṣpadām tasmāt tvāṃ mṛtyor gopater ud bharāmi sa mā bibheḥ

Death is master of bipeds; death is master of quadrupeds; from that death, lord of kine, I bear thee up; ⌊so⌋ do thou not be afraid.

so 'riṣṭa na mariṣyasi na mariṣyasi mā bibheḥ na vai tatra mriyante no yanti adhamaṃ tamaḥ

Thou, unharmed one, shalt not die; thou shalt not die, be not afraid; [men] die not there, nor go to lowest darkness.

sarvo vai tatra jīvati gaur aśvaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ yatredaṃ brahma kriyate paridhir jīvanāya kam

Every one, verily, lives there—ox, horse, man, beast—where this charm (bráhman) is performed, a defense (paridhí) unto living.

pari tvā pātu samānebhyo 'bhicārāt sabandhubhyaḥ amamrir bhavāmṛto 'tijīvo mā te hāsiṣur asavaḥ śarīram

Let it protect thee from thy fellows, from witchcraft, from thy kinsmen; be thou undying, immortal, surviving; let not thy life-breaths (ásu) leave thy body.

This verse is not included in this edition.

The deaths that are a hundred and one, the perditions (nāṣṭrā́) that are to be over-passed—from that let the gods free thee, from Agni Vāiçvānara.

agneḥ śarīram asi pārayiṣṇu rakṣohāsi sapatnahā atho amīvacātanaḥ pūtudrur nāma bheṣajam

Agni's body art thou, successful (pārayiṣṇú); demon-slayer art thou, rival-slayer, likewise expeller of disease, a remedy pūtúdru by name.