{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/av/av08003.htm","path":"hin/av/av08003.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/av/av08003.htm","text":"Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895]\n1I balm with oil the mighty demon-slayer, to the most famous\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0friend I come for shelter.\n \u00a0\u00a0Enkindled, sharpened by our rites, may Agni protect us in the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0day and night from evil.\n 2O J\u0101tavedas, armed with teeth of iron, enkindled with thy flame,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0attack the demons.\n \u00a0\u00a0Seize with thy tongue the foolish gods' adorers: rend, put with-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in thy mouth the raw-flesh-eaters.\n 3Apply thy teeth, the upper and the lower, thou who hast both,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0enkindled and destroying.\n \u00a0\u00a0Roam also in the air, O King, around us, and with thy jaws\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0assail the wicked spirits.\n 4Pierce through the Y\u0101tudh\u0101na's skin, O Agni; let the destroying\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0dart with fire consume him.\n \u00a0\u00a0Rend his joints, J\u0101tavedas! let the eater of raw flesh, seeking\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0flesh, tear and destroy him.\n 5Where now thou seest, Agni J\u0101tavedas! a Y\u0101tudh\u0101na, standing\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0still or roaming.\n \u00a0\u00a0Or one that flieth through the air's mid-region, kindled to fury\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as an archer pierce him. p. a328\n 6Bending thy shafts through sacrifices, Agni! dipping thine\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0arrows in the hymn to point them,\n \u00a0\u00a0Pierce to the heart therewith the Y\u0101tudh\u0101nas, and break their\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0arms uplifted to attack thee.\n 7Rescue the captives also, J\u0101tavedas! yea, those whom Y\u0101tudh\u0101-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0nas' spears have captured.\n \u00a0\u00a0Strike down that fiend, blazing before him, Agni! Let spotted\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0carrion-eating kites devour him.\n 8Here tell this forth, O Agni: whosoever is, he himself, or acteth\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0as, a demon,\n \u00a0\u00a0Grasp him, O thou most youthful, with thy fuel: to the Man-\n \u00a0\u00a0Seer's eye give him as booty.\n 9With keen glance guard the sacrifice, O Agni: thou Sage, con-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0duct it onward to the Vasus.\n \u00a0\u00a0Let not the fiends, O Man-Beholder, harm thee burning against\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the R\u0101kshasas to slay them.\n 10Look on the fiend, 'mid men, as Man-Beholder: rend thou his\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0three extremities in pieces.\n \u00a0\u00a0Demolish with thy flame his ribs, O Agni: the Y\u0101tudh\u0101na's\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0root destroy thou triply.\n 11Thrice, Agni, let thy noose surround the demon who with his\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0falsehood injures holy Order.\n \u00a0\u00a0Loud roaring with thy flame, J\u0101tavedas, fetter him in the pre-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sense of the singer.\n 12Agni, what curse the pair this day may utter, what rude rough\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0word the worshippers have spoken,\n \u00a0\u00a0Each arrowy taunt sped from the angry spirit,\u2014pierce to the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0heart therewith the Y\u0101tudh\u0101nas.\n 13With fervent heat exterminate the demons: destroy the fiends\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with glow and flame, O Agni.\n \u00a0\u00a0Destroy with fire the foolish gods' adorers: destroy the insatiate\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0fiercely-burning creatures.\n 14May Gods destroy to-day the evil-doer: may uttered curses turn\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0again and strike him.\n \u00a0\u00a0Let arrows pierce the liar in his vitals, and Visva's net enclose\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the Y\u0101tudh\u0101na.\n 15The fiend who smears himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0horses and of human bodies,\n \u00a0\u00a0Who steals the milch-cow's milk away, O Agni,\u2014tear off the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0heads of such with fiery fury. p. a329\n 16Let the fiends steal the poison of the cattle: may Aditi cast off\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the evil-doers.\n \u00a0\u00a0May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and be their share\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of herbs and plants denied them.\n 17The cow gives milk each year, O Man-Beholder: let not the\n \u00a0\u00a0Y\u0101tudh\u0101na ever taste it.\n \u00a0\u00a0Agni, if one should glut him with the biestings, pierce with thy\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0flame his vitals as he meets thee.\n 18Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons: never have\n \u00a0\u00a0R\u0101kshasas in fight o'ercome thee.\n \u00a0\u00a0Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers: let none of them\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0escape thy heavenly arrow.\n 19Guard us, O Agni, from above and under, protect us from be-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0hind and from before us;\n \u00a0\u00a0And may thy flames, most fierce and never wasting, glowing\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with fervent heat, consume the sinner.\n 20From rear, from front, from under, from above us, Agni, pro-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0tect us as a sage with wisdom.\n \u00a0\u00a0Guard to old age thy friend as friend eternal: O Agni, as im-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0mortal, guard us mortals.\n 21Lend thou the worshipper that eye, O Agni, where with thou\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0lookest on the hoof-armed demons.\n \u00a0\u00a0With light celestial in Atharvan's manner burn up the fool who\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ruins truth with falsehood.\n 22We set thee round us as a fort, victorious Agni! thee, a sage,\n \u00a0\u00a0In conquering colour day by day, destroyer of the treacherous\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0foe.\n 23With deadly poison strike thou back the treacherous brood of\n \u00a0\u00a0R\u0101kshasas,\n \u00a0\u00a0O Agni, with thy sharpened glow, with rays that flash with\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0points of flame.\n 24Agni shines far and wide with lofty splendour, and by his great-\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ness makes all things apparent.\n \u00a0\u00a0He conquers godless and malign enchantments, and sharpens\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0both his horns to gore the ogres.\n 25Thy two unwasting horns, O J\u0101tavedas, keen-pointed weapons,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sharpened by devotion\n \u00a0\u00a0With these transfix the wicked-souled Kimidin, with fierce flame,\n \u00a0\u00a0J\u0101tavedas! when he meets thee. p. a330\n 26Bright, radiant, meet to be adored, immortal with refulgent\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0glow,\n \u00a0\u00a0Agni drives R\u0101kshasas away.","title":"Atharva Veda: Book 8: Hymn 3: A prayer for the destruction of demons","type":"page"}