Atharva Veda · 538 of 724

HYMN XXIX

A charm for the destruction of enemies, continued from 28 1. Pierce thou my rivals, Darbha, pierce the men who fain would fight with me. Pierce all who wish me evil, pierce the men who hate me,. Amulet! 2. Split thou my rivals, Darbha, etc. (as in 1, with 'split' for 'pierce' throughout). 3. Check thou, etc. 4. Crush thou, etc. 5. Shake thou, etc. 6. Bruise thou, etc. 7. Burn thou, etc. 8. Consume, etc. 9. Slay thou my rivals. Darbha, slay the men who fain would fight with me. Slay all who wish me evil, slay the men who hate me, Amulet.

Insight

Hymn XXX is a charm with an amulet of darbha grass — sacred grass that becomes a key element of Hindu and (later) Buddhist ritual. Darbha (kuśa) is the grass on which the worshipper sits, with which the priest sprinkles the offering, which is used to make the seat of every consecrated person. The mat of darbha grass remains the canonical seat for meditation in living Hindu practice. The Buddha is said in the Pali sources to have sat under the Bodhi tree on a cushion of kuśa grass on the night of his awakening. Reading these Atharvan darbha-charms gives a glimpse of why a specific grass species took on millennia of ritual weight: it was the grass of the consecrating altar in the earliest period when the practice was being formed.Wave RR insight — darbha grass / Atharvan ritual origin / Buddhist Bodhi-mat continuity