The hymn to the Earth

Atharvaveda 12.1 praises the Earth in sixty-three verses as mother; the Rigveda has a three-verse hymn and a funeral verse.

The story, beat by beat

1. The speaker says truth, law, fervour, prayer and sacrifice uphold the Earth.
2. He praises her heights, plains, sea, rivers, fields, cattle, birds and forests.
3. He praises her brown, black and red soil and says he stands on her unharmed.
4. He declares that the Earth is his mother, he her son, and Parjanya his father.
5. He asks to share her scent, found in lotus, people, horses and maidens.
6. He notes that she bears peoples of many languages and customs.
7. He notes her patience: she bears fool and sage, good and evil, and the wild boar.
8. He asks that what he digs may grow again and that he may not pierce her heart.
9. He asks not to stumble, to sleep safely on her, and for kind seasons.
10. He promises to speak well of her in every village and assembly.
11. He asks his Mother Earth to set him in a safe place.

earth mother praise farming burial