A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s3.71

v1.c8.s3.71

The prayers for health and long life, called by the Indians āyuṣyāṇi sūktāni, *i.e.* "hymns achieving long life," which form the second class of the hymns of the Atharvaveda, are but little different from the magic spells for healing. These are prayers, as they were used chiefly at family festivals, such as the first hair-cutting of the boy, the first shaving of the youth, and the initiation (upanayana). The prayer for a great age, for a life of "a hundred autumns" or "a hundred winters," for deliverance from the 100 or 101 kinds of death, and for protection against all sorts of diseases, here recurs again and again in a rather monotonous manner. Book XVII, consisting of a single hymn of thirty stanzas, belongs to this class of hymns. As in the spells of healing, the healing herb which the magic-doctor uses is often invoked, so some of these prayers for long life are addressed to amulets which are to ensure health and long life to the wearer.