IV. CHARMS PFRTAINING TO WOMEN (STRiKARATkV1).

II, 36. Charm to obtain a husband.

1. May, O Agni, a suitor after our own heart come to us, may he come to this maiden with our fortune! May she, agreeable to suitors, charming at festivals, promptly obtain happiness through a husband!
2. Agreeable to Soma, agreeable to Brahma, arranged by Aryaman, with the unfailing certainty of god Dhâtar, do I bestow upon thee good fortune, the acquisition of a husband.
3. This woman shall obtain a hnsband, since king Soma makes her lovely! May she, begetting sons, become a queen; may she, going to her husband, shine in loveliness!
4. As this comfortable cave, O Maghavan (Indra), furnishing a safe abode, hath become pleasing to animals, thus may this woman be a favourite of fortune (Bhaga), beloved, not at odds with her husband!
5. Do thou ascend the full, inexhaustible ship of Bhaga (fortune); upon this bring, hither the suitor who shall be agreeable (to thee)!
6. Bring hither by thy shouts, O lord of wealth, the suitor, bend his mind towards her; turn thou the right side of every agreeable suitor towards (her)!
7. This gold and bdellium, this balsam, and Bhaga (fortune), too; these have prepared thee for husbands, that thou mayest obtain the one that is agreeable.
8. Hither to thee Savitar shall lead the husband that is agreeable! Do thou, O herb, bestow (him) upon her!

VI, 60. Charm for obtaining a husband.

1. This Aryaman (wooer) with loosened crest of hair comes hither in front (of the procession), seeking a husband for this spinster, and a wife for this wifeless man.
2. This maid, O Aryaman, has wearied of going to the wedding-feasts of other women. Now shall, without fail, O Aryaman, other women go to her wedding-feast!
3. Dhâtar (the creator) supports (didhhra) this earth, Dhâtar supports the heavens, and the sun. May Dhatar furnish this spinster with a husband after her own heart).

VI, 82. Charm for obtaining a wife.

1. I call the name of him that comes here, that hath come here, and is arriving; I crave (the name) of Indra, Vritra's slayer, the Visava, of hundredfold strength.
2. The road by which the Asvins carried away as a bride Sûryâ, Savitar's daughter,'by that road,' Bhaga (fortune) told me, 'thou shalt bring here a wife'!
With thy wealth-procuring, great, golden hook, O Indra, husband of Sakî, procure a wife for me that desireth a wife!

VI, 78. Blessing for a married couple.

1. Through this oblation, that causes prosperity, may this man flourish anew; may he excel the wife that they have brought to him with his sap!
2. May he excel in strength, excel in royalty! May this couple be inexhaustible in wealth that bestows thousandfold lustre!
3. Tvashtar begot (for thee) a wife, Tvashtar for her begot thee as a husband. May Tvashtar bestow upon you two a thousand lives, may he bestow upon you long life!

VII, 36. Love-charm spoken by a bridal couple.

1. The eyes of us two shine like honey, our foreheads gleam like ointment. Place me within thy heart; may one mind be in common to us both!

VII, 37. Charm pronounced by the bride over the bridegroom.

1. I envelope thee in my garment that was produced by Manu (the first man), that thou shalt be mine alone, shalt not even discourse of other women!

VI, 81. A bracelet as an amulet to ensure conception.

1. A holder art thou, holdest both hands, drivest off the Rakshas. An acquirer of offspring and wealth this bracelet hath become!
2. O bracelet, open up the womb, that the embryo be put (into it)! Do thou, O limit (-setting bracelet), furnish a son, bring him here (A gamaya), thou that comest here (Agame)!
3. The bracelet that Aditi wore, when she desired a son.Tvashtar shall fasten upon this woman, intending that she shall beget a son.

III, 23. Charm for obtaining a son (pumsavanam).

1. That which has caused thee to miscarry do we drive away from thee, that very thing do we deposit outside of thee, away in a far place.
2. Into thy womb shall enter a male germ, as an arrow into a quiver! May a man be born there, a son ten months old!
3. A male son do thou produce, and after him a male shall be born! Thou shalt be the mother of sons, of those who are born, and those whom thou shalt bear!
4. By the effective seed which bulls put forth do thou obtain a son; be a fruitful milch-cow!
5. Pragâpati's (the lord of creatures) work do I perform for thee: may the germ enter into thy womb! Obtain thou, woman, a son who shall bring prosperity to thee, and bring thou pi-osperity to him!
6. The plants whose father was the sky, whose mother the earth, Whose root the (heavenly) ocean--may those divine herbs aid thee in obtaining a son!

VI, 11. Charm for obtaining a son (pumsavanam).

1. The asvattha (ficus religiosa) has mounted the samî (mimosa suma): then a male child was produced. That, forsooth, is the way to obtain a son; that do we bring to (our) wives.
2. In the male, forsooth, seed doth grow, that is poured into the female. That, forsooth, is the way to obtain a son; that has been told by Pragâpati.
3. Pragâpati, Anumati, and Sinîvâlî have fashioned him. May he (Pragâpati) elsewhere afford the birth of a female, but here he shall bestow a man!

VII, 35. An incantation to make a woman sterile.

1. The other enemies conquer with might; beat back, O Gâtavedas, those that are not yet born! Enrich this kingdom unto happiness, may all the gods acclaim this man!
2. Of these hundred entrails of thine, as well as of the thousand canals, of all these have I closed the openings with a stone.
3. The upper part of the womb do I place below, there shall come to thee neither offspring nor birth! I render thee sterile and devoid of offspring; a stone do I make into a cover for thee.

VI, 17. Charm to prevent miscarriage.

1. As this great-earth conceives the germs of the beings, thus shalt thy embryo be-beld fast, to produce a child after pregnancy!
2. As this great earth holds these trees, thus shall thy embryo be held fast, to produce a child after pregnancy!
3. As this great earth holds the mountains and the peaks, thus shall thy embryo be held fast, to produce a child after pregnancy!
4. As this great earth holds the animals scattered far, thus shall thy embryo be held fast, to produce a child after pregnancy!

I, 11. Charm for easy parturition.

1. Aryaman as active hotar-priest shall utter for thee the vashat-call at this (soma-) pressing, O Pûshan! May (this) woman, (herself) begotten in
the proper way, be delivered, may her joints relax, that she shall bring forth!
2. Four directions has the heaven, and also four the earth: (from these) the gods created the embryo. May they open her, that she shall bring forth!
3. May Sûshan open: her womb do we cause to gape. Do thou, O Sûshan, loosen the womb, do thou, O Bishkalâ, let go (the ernbryo)!
4. Attached not at all to the flesh, nor to the fat, not at all to the marrow, may the splotched, moist, placenta come down to be eaten by a dog! May the placenta fall down!
5. I split open thy vagina, thy womb, thy canals; I separate the mother and the son, the child along with the placenta. May the placenta fall down!
6. As flies the wind, as flies the mind, as fly the winged birds, so do thou, O embryo,. ten months old, fall along with the placenta! May the placenta fall down!

I, 34. Charm with licorice, to secure the love of a woman.

1. This plant is born of honey, with honey do we dig for thee. Of honey thou art begotten, do thou make us full of honey!
2. At the tip of my tongue may I have honey, at my tongue's root the sweetness of honey! In my power alone shalt thou then be, thou shalt come up to my wish!
3. Sweet as honey is my entrance, sweet as honey my departure. With my voice do I speak sweet as honey, may I become like honey!
4. I am sweeter than honey, fuller of sweetness than licorice. Mayest thou, without fail, long for me alone, (as a bee) for a branch full of honey!
5. I have surrounded thee with a clinging sugarcane, to remove aversion, so that thou shalt not be averse to me!

II, 30. Charm to secure the love of a woman.

1. As the wind tears this grass from the surface of the earth, thus do I tear thy soul, so that thou, woman, shalt love, shalt not be averse to me!
2. If ye, O two Asvins, shall unite and bring together the loving pair-united are the fortunes of,both of you (lovers), united the thoughts, united the purposes!
3. When birds desire to chirp, lustily desire to chirp, may my call go there, as an arrow-point upon the shaft!
4. What is within shall be without, what is without shall be within! Take captive, O herb, the, soul of the maidens endowed with every chai-m!
5. Longing for a husband this woman hath come, I have come longing for a wife, As a loudly neighing horFe I have attained to my good fortune!

VI, 8. Charm to secure the love of a woman.

1. As the creeper embraces the tree on all sides, thus do thou embrace me, so that thou, woman, shalt love me, so that thou shalt not be averse to me!
2. As the eagle when he flies forth presses his wings against the earth, thus do I fasten down thy mind, so that thou, woman, shalt love me, so that thou shalt not be averse to me.
3. As the sun day by day goes about this heaven and earth, thus do I go about thy mind, so that thou, woman, shalt love me, so that thou shalt not be: averse to me.

VI, 9. Charm to secure the love of a woman.

1. Hanker thou after my body, my feet, hanker after my eyes, my thighs! The eyes of thee, as thou lustest after me, and thy hair shall be parched with love?
2. I make thee cling to my arm, cling to my heart, so that thou shalt be in my power, shalt come up to my wish!
3. The cows, the mothers of the ghee, who lick their young, in whose heart love is planted, shall make yonder woman bestow love upon:me!

VI, 102. Charm to secure the love of a woman.

1. As this draught animal, O ye Asvins, comes on, and proceeds, thus may thy soul come on, and proceed to me!
2. 1 draw to myself thy mind, as the leading stallion the female side-horse. As the stalk of grass torn by the wind, thus shall thy mind fasten itself upon me!
3. A coaxing mixtLire of salve, of sweet wood, of kushtha, and of spikenard, do I deftly pick out with the hands of Bhaga (good fortune).

III, 25. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a woman.

1. May (love), the disquieter, disquiet thee; do not hold out upon thy bed! With the terrible arrow of Kâma (love) do I pierce thee in the heart.
2. The arrow, winged with longing, barbed with love, whose shaft is undeviating desire, with that, well-aimed, Kâma shall pierce thee in the heart!
3. With that well-aimed arrow of Kâma which parches the spleen, whose plume flies forward, which burns up, do I pierce thee in the heart.
4. Consumed by burning ardour, with parched mouth, do thou (woman) come to me, pliant, (thy) pride laid aside, mine alone, speaking sweetly and to me devoted!
5. I drive thee with a goad from thy mother and thy father, so that thou shalt be in my power, shalt come up to my wish.
6. All her thoughts do ye, O Mitra and Varuna, drive out of her! Then, having deprived her of her will,.put her into my power alone!

VII, 139. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a woman.

1. Clinging to the ground thou didst grow, (O plant), that producest bliss for me; a hundred branches extend from thee, three and thirty grow down from thee: with this plant of a thousand leaves thy heart do I parch.
2. Thy heart shall parch (with love) for me, and thy mouth shall parch (with love for me)! Languish, moreover, with love for me, with parched mouth pass thy days!
3. Thou that causest affection, kindlest (love), brown, lovely (plant), draw (us) together; draw together yonder woman and myself, our hearts make the same!
4. As the mouth of him that hath not drunk dries tip, thus languish thou with love for me, with parched mouth pass thy days!
5. As the Ichneumon tears the serpent, and joins him together again, thus, O potent (plant), join together what hath been torn by love!

VII, 38. Charm to secure the love of a man.

1. This potent herb do I dig out: it draws toward me the eve, causes (love's) tears. It brings back him who has gone to a distance, rejoices him that approaches me.
2. By (the plant) with which the Âsurî allured Indra away from the gods, by that do I subject thee, that I may be well-beloved of thee!
3. Thy face is turned towards Soma (the nioon), thy face is turned towards Sûrya (the sun), thy face is turned towards all the gods: 't is tliee here that we do invoke.
4. My speech, not thine, (in this matter) hath weight: in the assembly, forsooth, do thou speak! To me alone shalt thou belong, shalt not even discourse of other women!
5. Whether thou art beyond the haunts of men, or whether across the river, this very herb, as if a captive bound, shall bring, thee back to me!

VI, 130. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.

1. This yearning love comes from the Apsaras, the victorious, imbued with victory. Ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me!
2. My wish is, he shall long for me, devoted he shall long for me! Ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me!
3. That yonder man shall long for me, (but) I for him nevermore, ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me!
4. Do ye, O Maruts, intoxicate him (With love); do thou, O mid-air, intoxicate him; do thou, O Agni, intoxicate him! May yonder man burn after me!

VI, 131. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.

1. From thy head unto thy feet do I implant (love's) longing into thee. Ye gods, send forth the yearning love: may yonder man burn after me!
2. Favour this (plan), Anumati; fit it tooether, Âkûti! Ye gods, send forth the yearning love may yonder man burn after me!
3. If thou dost run three leagues away, (or even) five leagues, the distance coursed by a horseman, from there thou shalt again return, shalt be the father of our sons!

VI, 132. Charm to arouse the passionate love of a man.

1. Love's consuming longing, together with yearning, which the gods have poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuna!
2. Love's consuming longing, together with yearning, which the all-gods (visve devâh) have poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuna!
3. Love's consuming longing, together with yearning, which Indrâni has poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuna!
4. Love's consuming longing, together with yearning, which Indra and Agni have poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuna!
5. Love's consuming longing, together with yearning, which Mitra and Varuna have poured into the waters, that do I kindle for thee by the law of Varuna!

IV, 5. Charm at an assignation.

1. The bull with a thousand horns who rose out of the sea, with the aid of him, the mighty one, do we put the folks to sleep.
2. The wind blows not over the earth. No one looks on. Do thou then, befriended of Indra, put all women and dogs to sleep!
3. The women that lie upon couches and upon beds, and they that rest in litters, the women all that exhale sweet fragrance, do we put to sleep.
4. Every moving thing I have held fast. Eye and breath I have held fast. I have held fast all limbs in the deep gloom of the night.
5. Of him that sits, and him that walks, of him that stands and looks about, of these the eyes we do shut, just as these premises (are shut).
6. The mother shall sleep, the father shall sleep, the dog shall sleep, the lord of the house shall sleep! All her relations shall sleep, and these people round about shall sleep!
7. O sleep, put thou to sleep all people with the magic that induces sleep! Put the others to sleep until the sun rises; may I be awake until the dawn appears, like Indra, unharmed, uninjured!

VI, 77. Charm to cause the return of a truant woman.

1. The heavens have stood, the earth has stood, all creatures have stood. The mountains have stood upon their foundation, the horses in the stable I have caused to stand.
2. Him that has control of departure, that has control of coming home, return, and turning in, that shepherd do I also call.
3. O Gâtavedas (Agni), cause thou to turn ill; a hundred way's hither shall be thine, a thousand modes of return shall be thine: with these do thou restore us again!

VI, 18. Charm to allay jealousy.

1. The first impulse of jealousy, moreover the one that comes after the first, the fire, the heart-burning, that do wc waft away from thee.
2. As the earth is dead in spirit, in spirit more dead than the dead, and as the spirit of him that has died, thus shall the spirit of the jealous (man) be dead!
3. Yon fluttering little spirit that has been fixed into thy heart, from it the jealousy do I remove, as air from a water-skin.

VII, 45. Charm to allay jealousy.

1. From folk belonging to all. kinds of people, from the Sindhu (Indus) thou hast been brought hither: from a distance, I ween, has been fetched the very remedy for jealousy.
2. As if a fire is burning him, as if the forest-fire burns in various directions, this jealousy of his do thou quench, as a fire (is quenched) with water!

I, 14. A woman's incantation against her rival.

1. I have taken unto myself her fortune and her glory, as a wreath off a tree. Like a mountain with broad foundation may she sit a long time with her parents!
2. This woman shall be subjected to thee as thy wife, O king Yama; (till then) let her be fixed to the house of her mother, or her brother, or her father!
3. This woman shall be the keeper of thy house, O king (Yama), and her do we make over to thee! May she long sit with her relatives, until (her hair) drops from her head!
4. With the incantation of Asita, of Kasyapa, and of Gaya do I cover up thy fortune, as women cover (something) within a chest.

III, 18. Charm of a woman against a rival or co-wife.

1. I dig up this plant, of herbs the most potent, by whose power rival women are overcome, and husbands are obtained.
2. O thou (plant) with erect leaves, lovely, do thou, urged on by the gods, full of might, drive away my rival, make my h usband mine alone!
3. He did not, forsooth, call thy name, and thou shalt not delight in this' husband! To the very farthest distance do we drive our rival.
4. Superior am I, O superior (plant), superior, truly, to superior (women). Now shall my rival be inferior to those that are inferior!
5. I am overpowering, and thou, (O plant), art completely overpowering. Having both grown full of power, let us overpower my rival!
6. About thee (my husband) I have placed the overpowering (plant), upon thee placed the very overpowering one. May thy mind run after me as a calf after the cow, as water along its course!

VI, 138. Charm for depriving a man of his virility.

1. As the best of the plants thou art reputed, O herb: turn this man for me to-day into a eunuch that wears his hair dressed!
2. Turn him into a eunuch that wears his hair dressed, and into one that wears a hood! Then Indra with a pair of stones shall break his testicles both!
3. O eunuch, into a eunuch thee I have turned;O castrate, into a castrate thee I have turned; O weakling, into a weakling thee I have turned! A hood upon his head, and a hair-net do we place.
4. The two canals, fashioned by the gods, in which man's power rests, in thy testicles . . . . . . . . . . . . I break them with a club.
5. As women break reeds for a mattress with a stone, thus do I break thy member

I, 18. Charm to remove evil bodily characteristics from a woman.

1. The (foul) mark, the lalâmî (with spot on the forehead), the Arâti (grudging demon), do we drive out. Then the (signs) that are auspicious (shall remain) with us; (yet) to beget offspring do we bring the Arâti!
2. May Savitar drive out uncouthness from her feet, may Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman (drive it) out from her hands; may Anumati kindly drive it out for us! For happiness the gods have created this woman.
3. The fierceness that is in thyself, in thy body, or in thy look, all that do we strike away with our charm. May god Savitar prosper thee!
4. The goat-footed, the bull-toothed, her who scares the cattle, the snorting one, the vilîdhî (the driveling one), the lalâmî (with spot on the forehead), these do we drive from us.

VI, 110. Expiatory charm for a child born under an unlucky star.

1. Of yore, (O Agni), thou wast worthy of supplication at the sacrifice; thou wast the priest in olden times, and now anew shalt sit (at our sacrifice)! Delight, O Agni, thy own body, and, sacrificing, bring good fortune here to us!
2. Him that hath been born under the (constellation) gyeshihaghnî ('she that slays the oldest'), or under the vikritâu ('they that uproot'), save thou from being torn up by the root by Yama (death)! May be (Agni) guide him across all misfortunes to long life, to a life of a hundred autumns!
3. On a tiger (-like) day the hero was born; born under a (good) constellation he becometh a mighty hero. Let him not slay, when he grows up, his father, let him not injure the mother that hath begotten him!

VI, 140. Expiation for the irregular appearance of the first pair of teeth.

1. Those two teeth, the tigers, that have broken forth, eager to devour father and mother, do thou, O Brahmanaspati Gâtavedas, render auspicious!
2. Do ye eat rice, eat barley, and eat, too, beans, as well as sesamum! That, O teeth.. is the share deposited for your enrichment. Do not injure father and mother!
3. Since ye have been invoked, O teeth, be ye in unison kind and propitious! Elsewhere, O teeth, shall pass away the fierce (qualities) of your body! Do not injure father and mother!