Water with which they bathe the dead, And that with which they wet his beard, The gods assigned thee as thy share, Oppressor of the Brahman priest (v. 19, 14). Another group of charms is concerned with women, being intended to secure their love with the aid of various potent herbs. Some of them are of a hostile character, being meant to injure rivals. The following two stanzas belong to the former class:-- As round this heaven and earth the sun Goes day by day, encircling them, So do I go around thy mind, That, woman, thou shalt love me well, And shalt not turn away from me (vi. 8, 3). 'Tis winged with longing, barbed with love, Its shaft is formed of fixed desire: With this his arrow levelled well Shall Kama pierce thee to the heart (iii. 25, 2). Among the auspicious charms of the Atharva there are many prayers for long life and health, for exemption from disease and death:-- If life in him declines or has departed, If on the very brink of death he totters, I snatch him from the lap of Dissolution, I free him flow to live a hundred autumns (iii. 11, 2). Rise up from hence, O man, and straightway casting Death's fetters from thy feet, depart not downward; From life upon this earth be not yet sundered, Nor from the sight of Agni and the sunlight (viii. 1, 4). Another class of hymns includes prayers for protection from dangers and calamities, or for prosperity in the house or field, in cattle, trade, and even gambling. Here are two spells meant to secure luck at play:-- As at all times the lightning stroke Smites irresistibly the tree: So gamesters with the dice would I Beat irresistibly to-day (vii. 5, 1). O dice, give play that profit brings, Like cows that yield abundant milk: Attach me to a streak of gain, As with a string the bow is bound (vii. 5, 9). A certain number of hymns contain charms to secure harmony, to allay anger, strife, and discord, or to procure ascendency in the assembly. The following one is intended for the latter purpose:-- O assembly, we know thy name, "Frolic" [9] truly by name thou art: May all who meet and sit in thee Be in their speech at one with me (vii. 12, 2). A few hymns consist of formulas for the expiation of sins, such as offering imperfect sacrifices and marrying before an elder brother, or contain charms for removing the defilement caused by ominous birds, and for banishing evil dreams. If waking, if asleep, I have Committed sin, to sin inclined, May what has been and what shall be Loose me as from a wooden post (vi. 115, 2). A short hymn (vi. 120), praying for the remission of sins, concludes with this stanza:-- In heaven, where our righteous friends are blessèd, Having cast off diseases from their bodies, From lameness free and not deformed in members, There may we see our parents and our children.