The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (Sanskrit: अथर्ववेद, IAST: Atharvaveda, from अथर्वन्, and वेद, "knowledge") or Atharvana Veda (Sanskrit: अथर्वणवेद, IAST: Atharvaṇaveda) is the "knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life".[3] The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.[4][5][6]
The language of the Atharvaveda is different from Rigvedic Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European archaisms.[7][6] It is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books.[6] About a sixth of the Atharvaveda texts adapts verses from the Rigveda, and except for Books 15 and 16, the text is mainly in verse deploying a diversity of Vedic meters.[6] Two different recensions of the text – the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into modern times.[8] Reliable manuscripts of the Paippalada edition were believed to have been lost, but a well-preserved version was discovered among a collection of palm leaf manuscripts in Odisha in 1957.[8]
The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of magical formulas",[3] a description considered incorrect by other scholars.[9] In contrast to the 'hieratic religion' of the other three Vedas, the Atharvaveda is said to represent a 'popular religion', incorporating not only formulas for magic, but also the daily rituals for initiation into learning (upanayana), marriage and funerals. Royal rituals and the duties of the court priests are also included in the Atharvaveda.[10]
The Atharvaveda was likely compiled as a Veda contemporaneously with Samaveda and Yajurveda, or about 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE.[11][12] Along with the Samhita layer of text, the Atharvaveda includes a Brahmana text, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations. The latter layer of Atharvaveda text includes three primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of Hindu philosophy. These include the Mundaka Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad and the Prashna Upanishad.[13][14]
^Flood 1996, p. 37; Witzel 2001.
^"Construction of the Vedas". VedicGranth.Org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
^ abLaurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, ISBN 0-415215277, page 38
^Carl Olson (2007), The Many Colors of Hinduism, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 978-0813540689, pages 13–14
^Laurie Patton (1994), Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: ys in Vedic Interpretation, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791419380, page 57
^ abcdMaurice Bloomfield, The Atharvaveda, Harvard University Press, pages 1-2
^Parpola 2015, p. 131.
^ abFrits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN 978-0143099864, pages 136-137
^Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, Vol 1, Fasc. 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3447016032, pages 277–280, Quote: "It would be incorrect to describe the Atharvaveda Samhita as a collection of magical formulas".
^Parpola, Asko (2015), "The Atharvaveda and the Vrātyas", The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization, Oxford University Press, Chapter 12, ISBN 978-0-19-022692-3
^Witzel 2001, pp. 5–6.
^M. S. Valiathan. The Legacy of Caraka. Orient Blackswan. p. 22.
^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8120814691, pages 605–609
^Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Prasna Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages xlii–xliii
The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda (Sanskrit: अथर्ववेद, IAST: Atharvaveda, from अथर्वन्, and वेद, "knowledge") or Atharvana Veda (Sanskrit: अथर्वणवेद, IAST:...
There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions)...
are also alternatively described as the daughters of Kashyapa. In the Atharvaveda (Shaunakiya recension, hymn 19.7) a list of 27 stars or asterisms is...
not counted in the list of seven great sages. In some manuscripts of Atharvaveda, the text is attributed to "Atharvangirasah", which is a compound of...
as a beautiful maiden. One hymn in the Rigveda and five hymns in the Atharvaveda are dedicated to her. In later Tantric texts she occupies an important...
Hindukush/Pamir. Atharvaveda-Parisista juxtaposes the Vedic Bahlikas with the Kambojas (i.e. Kamboja-Bahlika--). Besides Atharvaveda Parisista, several...
together. The most important source for the knowledge of Vedic magic is Atharvaveda. Those mantras of the Vedas that are meant for shanti, for allaying fears...
only shakha of the Atharvaveda for which both printed texts and an active oral tradition are known to still exist. For the Atharvaveda, both the Shaunakiya...
Vedic texts. For example, in one of several cosmology-related hymns of Atharvaveda (~1000 BCE), Kashyapa is mentioned in the allegory-filled Book XIX: Undisturbed...
Bloomfield, the following 9 shakhas – schools or branches – of the Atharvaveda are the: Paippalada, Paippaladaka, Paippaladi, Pippalada, or Paopalayana:...
Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad. The Gopal Bansa...
temples along with the other devas. The Pṛthvī Sūkta is a hymn of the Atharvaveda (12.1). Phra Mae Thorani – Mother Earth (goddess) of Buddhist mythology...
eternal Veda into four separate books—Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. The word "Vyasa" (Vyāsa) refers to "compiler", or, "arranger", and also...
sense of "exclamatory adoration, homage, salutation and worship" in the Atharvaveda, the Taittiriya Samhita, and the Aitareya Brahmana. It is an expression...
called Guhyadhipa ("Lord of the hidden"). The Atharvaveda calls him the "god of hiding". In the Atharvaveda—where he first appears—and the Shatapatha Brahmana...
(Acharyas) Major texts Śruti Smriti Vedas Rigveda Yajurveda Samaveda Atharvaveda Upanishads Principal Upanishads Minor Upanishads Other scriptures Bhagavad...
the grandson of Hiranyakashipu, the son of Prahlada (according to the Atharvaveda (VIII.10.22), and the father of Bali. Being the son of Prahlada, a staunch...
system Apple Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset Atharvaveda-Paippalada, a recension of Atharvaveda Alien vs. Predator (disambiguation) This disambiguation...
associated with the Atharvaveda. The text is associated with both the Shaunaka and the Paippalada recensions of the Atharvaveda. This text and the short...
the Rigveda, Vishnu is a close friend of Indra. Elsewhere in Rigveda, Atharvaveda and Upanishadic texts, Vishnu is equivalent to Prajapati, both are described...
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