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Hymns of the Atharva Veda, by Ralph T.H. Griffith, [1895], at sacred-texts.com


p. a379

HYMN VIII

A charm for the cure of various diseases connected with Consumption

1Each pain and ache that racks the head, earache, and erysipelas,.
  All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our
   spell.
2From both thine ears, from parts thereof, thine earache, and the
   throbbing pain,
  All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our
   spell.
3So that Consumption may depart forth from thine ears and from.
   thy mouth,
  All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our
   spell.
4The malady that makes one deaf, the malady that makes one
   blind,
  All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our
   spell.
5The throbbing pain in all thy limbs that rends thy frame with
   fever-throes,
  All malady that wrings thy brow we charm away with this our
   spell.
6The malady whose awful look makes a man quiver with alarm,
  Fever whom every Autumn brings we charm away with this our
   spell. p. a380
7Disease that creeps about the thighs and, after, reaches both the
   groins,
  Consumption from thine inward parts we charm away with this
   our spell.
8If the disease originates from love, from hatred, from the heart,
  Forth from the heart and from the limbs we charm the wasting
   malady.
9The yellow Jaundice from thy limbs, and Colic from the parts
   within,
  And Phthisis from thine inward soul we charm away with this
   our spell.
10Let wasting malady turn to dust, become the water of disease.
  I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.
11Forth from the hollow let it run, and rumbling sounds from
   thine inside.
  I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.
12Forth from thy belly and thy lungs, forth from thy navel and
   thy heart.
  I have evoked the poison taint of all Consumptions out of thee.
13The penetrating stabs of pain which rend asunder crown and
   head,
  Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming
   not.
14The pangs that stab the heart and reach the breast-bone and
   connected parts,
  Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming
   not.
15The stabs that penetrate the sides and pierce their way along the
   ribs,
  Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming
   not.
16The penetrating pangs that pierce thy stomach as they shoot
   across,
  Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming
   not.
17The pains that through the bowels creep, disordering the inward
   parts,
  Let them depart and pass away, free from disease and harming
   not. p. a381
18The pains that suck the marrow out, and rend and tear the bones
   apart,
  May they speed forth and pass away, free from disease and
   harming not.
19Consumptions with their Colic pains which make thy limbs
   insensible
  I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.
20Of piercing pain, of abscesses, rheumatic ache, ophthalmia—
  I have evoked the poison-taint of all Consumptions out of thee.
21I have dispelled the piercing pains from feet, knees, hips, and
   hinder parts,
  And spine, and from the neck and nape the malady that racked
   the head.
22Sound are the skull-bones of thy head and thy heart's beat is
   regular.
  Thou, Sun, arising with thy beams hast chased away the head's
   disease, hast stilled the pain that racked the limbs.


Next: Hymn 9: Enunciation of mystico-theological and cosmological doctrine