IV, 18. Charm with the apâmârga-plant, against sorcerers and demons.
1. Night is like unto the sun, the (starry) night is similar to day. The truth do I engage for help: the enchantments shall be devoid of force!
2. He, O ye gods, who prepares a spell, and carries it to the house of one that knows not (of it), upon him the spell, returning, shall fasten itself like a suckling calf upon its mother!
3. The person that prepares evil at home, and desires with it to harm another, she is consumed by fire, and many stones fall upon her with a loud crash.
4. Bestow curses, O thou (apâmârga), that hast a thousand homes, upon the (demons) visikha (‘crestless’), and vigrîva (‘crooked-neck’)! Turn back the spell upon him that has performed it, as a beloved maid (is brought) to her lover!
5. With this plant I have put to naught all spells, those that they have put into thy field, thy cattle, and into thy domestics.
6. He that has undertaken them has not been able to accomplish them: he broke his foot, his toe. He performed a lucky act for us, but for himself an injury.
7. The apâmârga-plant shall wipe out (apa mârshtu) ‘inherited ills, and curses; yea, it shall wipe out all witches, and all grudging demons (arâyî)!
8. Having wiped out all sorcerers, and all grudging demons, with thee, O apâmârga, we wipe all that (evil) out.
IV, 19. Mystic power of the apâmârga-plant, against demons and sorcerers.
1. On the one hand thou deprivest of kin, on the other thou now procurest kinfolk. Do thou, moreover, cut the offspring of him that practises spells, as a reed that springs up in the rain!
2. By a Brâhmana thou hast been blest, by Kanva, the descendant of Nrishad. Thou goest like a stronor army; where thou hast arrived, O plant, there there is no fear.
3. Thou goest at the head of the plants, spreading lustre, as if with a light. Thou art on the one hand the protector of the weak, on the other the slayer of the Rakshas.
4. When of yore, in the beginning, the gods drove out the Asuras with thee, then, O plant, thou wast begotten as apâmârga (‘wiping out’).
5. Thou cuttest to pieces (vibhindatî), and hast a hundred branches; vibhindant (‘cutting to pieces’) is thy father’s name. Do thou (turn) against, and cut to pieces (vi bhindhi) him that is hostile towards us!
6. Non-being arose from the earth, that goes to heaven, (as) a great expansion. Thence, verily, that, spreading vapours, shall turn against the performer (of spells)!
7. Thou didst grow backward, thou hast fruit which is turned backward. Ward off from me all curses, ward off very far destructive weapons!
8. Protect me with a hundredfold, guard me with a thousandfold (strength)! Indra, the strong, shall put strength into thee, O prince of plants!
VII, 65. Charm with the apâmârga-plant, against curses, and the consequences of sinful deeds.
1. With fruit turned backward thou verily didst grow, O apâmârga: do thou drive all curses quite far away from here!
2. The evil deeds and foul, or the sinful acts which we have committed, with thee, O apâmârga, whose face is turned to every side, do we wipe them out (apa mrigmahe).
3. If we have sat together with one who has black teeth, or diseased nails, or one who is deformed, with thee, O apâmârga, we wipe all that out (apa mrigmahe).
X, 1. Charm to repel sorceries or spells.
1. The (spell) which they skilfully prepare, as a bride for the wedding, the multiform (spell), fashioned by hand, shall go to a distance: we drive it away!
2. The (spell) that has been brought forward by the fashioner of the spell, that is endowed with head, endowed with nose, endowed with ears, and multiform, shall go to a distance: we drive it away!
3. (The spell) that has been prepared by a Sadra, prepared by a Râga, prepared by a woman, prepared by Brahmans, as a wife rejected by her husband, shall recoil upon her fabricator, (and) his kin!
4. With this herb have I destroyed all spells, that which they have put into thy field, into thy cattle, and into thy men.
5. Evil be to him that prepares evil, the curse shall recoil upon him that utters curses: back do we hurl it against him, that it may slay him that fashions the spell.
6. Pratikîna (‘ Back-hurler’), the descendant of Angiras, is our overseer and officiator (purohita): do thou drive
back again (pratîkîh) the spells, and slay yonder fashioners of the spells!
7. He that has said to thee (the spell): ‘go on’! upon that enemy, that antagonist do thou turn, O spell: do not seek out us, that are harmless!
8. He that has fitted together thy joints with skill, as the wagoner (Ribhu) the joints of a chariot, to him go, there is thy course: this person here shall remain unknown to thee!
9. They that have prepared thee and taken hold of thee, the cunning wizards-this is what cures it, destroys the spell, drives it back the opposite way – with it do we bathe thee.
10. Since we have come upon tile wretched (spell), as upon (a cow) with a dead calf, flooded away (by a river), may all evil go away from me, and mav possessions come to me!
11. If (thy enemies) have made (offerings) to thy Fathers, or have called thy name at the sacrifice, may these herbs free thee from every indigenous evil!
12. From the sin of the gods, and that of the fathers, from mentions of (thy) name, from (evil schemes) concocted at home, may the herbs free thee with might, through (this) charm, (and these) stanzas, (that are) the milk of the Rishis!
13. As the wind stirs up the dust from the earth, and the cloud from the atmosphere, thus may all misfortune, driven by my charm, go away from me!
14. Stride away (O spell), like a loudly braying she-ass, that has been loosened (from the tether); reach those that have fabricated thee, driven from here by (my) forceful charm!
15. ‘This is the way, O spell,’ with these words do we lead thee. Thee that hast been sent Out against us do we send back again. Go this way like a crushing army, with heavy carts, thou that art multiform, and crowned by a crest(?)!
16. In the distance there is light for thee, hitherward there is no road for thee; away from us take thy course! By another road cross thou ninety navigable streams, hard to cross! Do not injure, go away!
17. As the wind the trees, crush down and fell (the enemy), leave them neither cow, nor horse, nor serving-man! Turn from here upon those that have fabricated thee, O spell, awaken them to childlessness!
18. The spell or the magic which they have buried against thee in the sacrificial straw (barhis), in the field, (or) in the burial-ground, or if with superior skill they have practised sorcery against thee, that art simple and innocent, in thy household fire,–
19. The hostile, insidious instrument which they have brought hither has been discovered; that which has been dug in we have detected. It shall go whence it has been brought hither; there, like a horse, it shall disport itself, and slay the offspring of him that has fashion’ed the spell!
20. Swords of good brass are in our house: we know how many joints thou hast, O spell! Be sure to rise, go away from hence! O stranger, what seekest thou here?
21. I shall hew off, O spell, thy neck, and thy feet: run away! May Indra and Agni, to whom belong the children (of men), protect us!
22. King Soma, who guards and pities us, and the lords of the beings shall take pity on us!
23. May Bhava and Sarva cast the lightning, the divine missile, upon him that performs evil, fashions a spell, and does wrong!
24. If thou art come two-footed, (or) four-footed, prepared by the fashioner of the spell, multiform, do thou, having become eight-footed, again go away from here, O misfortune!
25. Anointed, ornamented, and well equipped, go away, carrying every misfortune! Know, O spell, thy maker, as a daughter her own father!
26. Go away, O spell, do not stand still, track (the enemy) as a wounded (animal)! He is the game, thou the hunter: he is not able to put thee down.
27. Him that first hurls (the arrow), the other, laying on in defence, slays with the arrow, and while the first deals the blow, the other returns the blow.
28. Hear, verily, this speech of mine, and then return whence thou camest, against the one that fashioned thee!
29. Slaughter of an innocent is heinous, O spell: do not slay our cow, horse, or serving-man! Wherever thou hast been put down, thence thee do we remove. Be lighter than a leaf!
30. If ye are enveloped in darkness, covered as if by a net–we tear all spells out from here, send them back again to him that fashioned them.
31. The offspring of them that fashion the spell, practise magic, or plot against us, crush thou, O spell, leave none of them! Slay those that fashion the spell!
32. As the sun is released from darkness, abandons the night, and the streaks of the dawn, thus every misery, (every) device prepared by the fashioner of the spell, (every) misfortune, do I leave behind, as an elephant the dust.