ଶ୍ରୀ ପ୍ରତ୍ଯଂଗିରା ସୂକ୍ତମ୍ (ଅଥର୍ଵଵେଦୋକ୍ତମ୍)

The first hymn of the tenth book of the Atharvaveda, called in its own colophon the hymn for the removal of witchcraft, and the oldest and plainest of the Pratyangira texts in this corpus. Kritya, the hostile rite, is addressed directly and told to go back to the one who made it: as the wind fells trees, strike them down; do not leave them cow or horse or man; turn the makers back from here. Nothing in it is a goddess and nothing in it is a hymn of praise. The later Pratyangira, the lion-faced form invoked against another's mantras, is a personification of exactly this — which the two Rigvedic recensions here make plainer still.