Atharva Veda · 433 of 724

HYMN VII

A charm to restore a sick man to health 1. The tawny-coloured, and the pale, the variegated and the red,   The dusky-tinted, and the black,—all Plants we summon hither-    ward. 2. This man let them deliver from Consumption which the Gods    have sent.   The father of these Herbs was Heaven, their mother Earth, the   Sea their root. 3. The Waters are the best, and heavenly Plants.   From every limb of thine have they removed Consumption    caused by sin. 4. I speak to Healing Herbs spreading, and bushy, to creepers, and    to those whose sheath is single,   I call for thee the fibrous and the reed-like, and branching.   Plants, dear to the Visve Devas, powerful, giving life to men. 5. The conquering strength, the power and might which ye, victo-    rious Plants, possess,   Therewith deliver this man here from this Consumption, O ye   Plants: so I prepare the remedy. 6. The living Plant that giveth life, that driveth malady away,   Arundhatr, the rescuer, strengthening, rich a sweets I call, to free    this man from scath and harm. 7. Hitherward let the sapient come, the friendly sharers o f my    speech.   That we may give this man relief and raise him from his evil    plight. 8. Germ of the Waters, Agni’s food, Plants ever growing fresh and    new,   Sure, healing, bearing thousand names, let them be all collected    here. 9. Let Plants whose soul is water, girt with Avakās, piercing with    their sharp horns expel the malady. 10. Strong, antidotes of poison, those releasers, free from Varuna,   And those that drive away Catarrh, and those that frustrate    magic arts, let all those Plants come hitherward. 11. Let purchased Plants of mightier power, Plants that are praised    for excellence.   Here in this village safely keep cattle and horses, man and beast. 12. Sweet is their root, sweet are these Plants’ top branches, sweet    also is their intermediate portion;   Sweet is their foliage, and sweet their blossom, combined with    sweetness is their taste of Amrit: food, fatness let them yield,    with kine preceding. 13. These Plants that grow upon the earth, whate’er their number    and their size,   Let these with all their thousand leaves free me from Death and    misery. 14. May the Plants’ Tiger-amulet, protective, guardian from the    curse,   Beat off the brood of demons, drive all maladies afar from us. 15. Before the gathered Plants they fly and scatter, as though a lion’s    roar or fire dismayed them.   Expelled by Plants, let men’s and kine’s Consumption pass from    us to the navigable rivers. 16. Emancipated from the sway of Agni, of Vaisvānara, go, covering    the earth, ye Plants whose ruler is Vanaspati. 17. May these be pleasant to our heart, auspicious, rich in store of    milk,   These Plants of the Angirases which grow on mountains and on    plains. 18. The Plants I know myself, the plants that with mine eye I look    upon,   Plants yet unknown, and those we know, wherein we find that    power is stored, 19. Let all the congregated Plants attend and mark mine utterance,   That we may rescue this man here and save him from severe    distress. 20. Asvattha, Darbha, King of Plants, is Soma, deathless sacrifice   Barley and Rice are healing balms, the sons of Heaven who    never die. 21. Lift yourselves up, ye Healing Plants, loud is the thunder’s crash    and roar.   When with full flow Parjanya, ye Children of Prisni! blesseth;    you. 22. We give the essence of that stream of nectar of this man to    drink:   So I prepare a remedy that he may live a hundred years. 23. Well doth the wild boar know a Plant, the mungoose knows the   Healing Herb.   I call, to aid this man, the Plants which Serpents and Gandhar-    vas know. 24. Plants of Angirases which hawks, celestial Plants which eagles.    know;   Plants known to swans and lesser fowl, Plants known to all the    birds that fly.   Plants that are known to sylvan beasts,—I call them all to aid    this man. 25. The multitude of herbs whereon the Cows whom none may    slaughter feed, all that are food for goats and sheep,   So many Plants, brought hitherward, give shelter and defence to    thee! 26. Hitherward unto thee I bring the Plants that cure all maladies,   All Plants wherein physicians have discovered health-bestowing    power. 27. Let Plants with flower and Plants with bud, the fruitful and the    fruitless, all,   Like children of one mother, yield their stores for this man’s    perfeet health. 28. From the Five-arrowed, from the Ten-arrowed have I delivered    thee,   Freed thee from Yama’s fetter and from all offence against the   Gods,