Atharva Veda: Book 1 – Hymn 19
HYMN XIX
A prayer for protection from arrows and for the punishment of enemies
1 Let not the piercers find us, nor let those who wound discover
us.
O Indra, make the arrows fall, turned, far from us, to every
side.
2 Turned from us let the arrows fall, those shot and those that will
be shot.
Shafts of the Gods and shafts of men, strike and transfix mine
enemies:
3 Whoever treateth us as foes, be he our own or strange to us, a
kinsman or a foreigner,
May Rudra with his arrows pierce and slay these enemies of
mine.
4 The rival and non-rival, he who in his hatred curses us
May all the deities injure him! My nearest, closest mail is
prayer.