# Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book III/Hymn 1

1. Against enemies.
[Atharvan.—senāmohanam. bahudevatyam. trāiṣṭubham: 2. virāḍgarbhā bhurij; 3, 6. anuṣṭubh; j. virāṭpurauṣṇih.]
Found in Pāipp. iii., next after the one which here follows it. In Kāuç. (14. 17), this hymn and the next are called mohanāni 'confounders,' and are used in a rite (14. 17-21) for confounding an enemy's army; its details have nothing to do with those of the hymns.
Translated: Ludwig, p. 518; Weber, xvii. 180; Griffith, i. 81; Bloomfield, 121, 325.
1. Let Agni, knowing, go against our foes, burning against the imprecator, the niggard; let him confound (mohaya-) the army of our adversaries (pára); and may Jātavedas make them handless.
Ppp. makes çatrūn and vidvān in a change places. SPP. reports that the text used by the comm. reads ṇaḥ after agnir both here and in 2. 1 a. The comm. signalizes the beginning of the book by giving absurd etymologies of agni at the length of nearly a page. Pāda c lacks a syllable, unless we allow ourselves to resolve sé-na-ām.
2. Ye, O Maruts, are formidable for such a plight; go forward upon [them], kill, overcome! The Vasus have killed [them]; suppliant [are] these; for let Agni, their messenger, go against [their foes], knowing.
3. The army of enemies, O bounteous one, playing the foe against us—do ye (two), O Vṛtra-slaying Indra, Agni also, burn against them.
The verse is found also as SV. ii. 1215, which reads chatruyatī́m in b, and begins c with ubhāú tā́m (tā́m is read by the comm., and is called for as an emendation in our verse); it also has the correct accent amitrasenā́m, which is found in only two of our mss. (O. Op.) and three of SPP's; both editions read -sénām. In our text, āgníç in d is a misprint for agníç. ⌊SPP. combines asmā́n ch-, badly: cf. i. 19. 4, note.⌋
4. Impelled, O Indra, forwards (? pravátā) by thy (two) bays—let thy thunderbolt go forth, slaughtering (pra-mṛ) the foes; smite the on-coming, the following, the fleeing (párāñc); scatter their actual intent.
The verse is RV. iii. 30. 6; which, however, reads at the beginning prá sū́ te (as does also the comm.), accents in c pratīcó anūcáḥ (and the comm. claims the same for our text), and has for d víçvaṁ satyáṁ kṛṇuhi viṣṭám astu, which is even more unintelligible than our text. Weber proposes viṣvaksatyám as a compound, "turning itself in every direction"; this, however, makes nothing out of -satyam. Ludwig translates "fulfil their design in all [both] directions," which is not very clear. Ppp. reads viçvaṁ viṣṭaṁ kṛṇuhi satyam eṣām; also quite obscure. The comm. takes satyam as "established, settled," and viṣvak kṛṇuhi as "scatter, unsettle, make uncertain." One would like to take viṣvak- as something like 'contrariwise,' with the general sense "turn their plans against themselves." Ppp. has further nūaḥ for anūcas in c.
5. O Indra, confound the army of our enemies; with the blast of fire, of wind, make them disappear, scattering.
The defective first half-verse is completed by Ppp. in this form: manomohanaṁ kṛṇva (i.e. kṛṇavas?) indrā ’mitrebhyas tvam. The second half-verse is also 2. 3 c, d. The comm. explains dhrājyā by dahanaviṣaye yā vegitā gatis tathāvidhayā vegagatyā tayor eva vā gatyā.
6. Let Indra confound the army; let the Maruts slay with force; let Agni take away its eyes; let it go back conquered.
All the mss. read índra, vocative, at the beginning of the verse; but SPP's text, as well as ours, emends to índraḥ s-; and this the comm. also has. The comm. further in c dhattām instead of dattām.