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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1in this, that they have in charge, each in his own way, the general interests of their noble employers, whereas other priests are likely ordinarily to have had only subordinate charges, because of the technical charac- ter of their knowledge and occupation. RV. X, 71, 11 expresses clearly the existence of broader theological in- terests than the mere knowledge of the recitation and chanting of hymns and the mechanical service of the sacrifice (hotar, udgatar, and adhvaryu). This is the Brah- manship which later forks into two directions, on one side the general knowledge of the procedures at the sacrifice (the Brahman as fourth priest), and the theological specula- tions attaching (brahmavadin) ; on the other, the higher theosophy which leads ultimately to the brahmavidya of the Upanishads. It is natural that a divine thus qualified should at a very early time assume permanent and con- fidential relations to the noble ra^ianya in all matters that concerned his religious and sacrificial interests. His func- tions are those of chaplain and high-priest. It seems unlikely that this Brahman was in all cases, too, competent to attend to those more secular and practical needs of the king connected with the security of his kingdom, the fealty of his people, and the suppression of his enemies. These activities, ra^akarma/zi, as the Atharvan writings call them, must have called for different training and different talents — they represent rather the functions of a chancellor, or prime-minister, than those of a chaplain — and there is no warrant to assume that every Brahman possessed these necessary qualifications in addition to his expertness in systematic theology. On the other hand, conversely, there must have been purohitas incapable of assuming the charge of their employers' interests on the occasion of the more elaborate Vedic performances (.srauta), unless we conceive that in such cases the Brahman was a mere figure-head and his office a sinecure. And yet precisely here is to be found the measure of truth which we may suspect in the Atharvanist claim that the supervising Brahman shall be an adherent of the AV. In many cases the tribal king, or ra^a, might have had but e 3 lxx HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. one body-priest, well capable of attending to the kingdom's needs in all manner of charms and sorcery, and thus filling the paurohitya creditably with the entire armament of the Veda of charms and sorcery, himself an Atharvavedin.
2HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. one body-priest, well capable of attending to the kingdom's needs in all manner of charms and sorcery, and thus filling the paurohitya creditably with the entire armament of the Veda of charms and sorcery, himself an Atharvavedin. If the king had about him no systematic theologian re- splendent in his ^atavidya, if there was no adherent of that ideal fourth Veda, the sarvavidya that looms above the trayi vidya, the remoter applicability of the jrauta-practices to the weal and woe of everyday life, or confidence in the ability of hotar, adhvaryu, &c, to perform their duties correctly of themselves, would lead him to entrust the general supervision of the Vedic performances (in the nar- rower sense) to his Atharvan purohita. Thus the sweeping claim of the Atharvan priests may be founded at least upon a narrow margin of fact, and later the Atharvan priests are likely to have equipped themselves with a suffi- ciency of rather external and mechanical knowledge to perform the function of Brahman with a show of respecta- bility, witness the activity of the Brahman in the ^rauta- rites of the Vaitana-sutra. In very late times the ability of Atharvan priests to practise ^rauta-rites, and the canonicity of their .srauta- manual, the Vaitana-sutra, were recognised by other Vedic schools, if the matter-of-fact references to that Sutra on the part of the commentators to Katy&yana's vSrauta-sutras may be regarded as normal ; see Garbe in the preface to the edition of the Vait. Su., p. vi. We may remark, however, that the entire question of the relation of the AV. to .srauta-practices is a very obscure point in the history of Vedic literature, it Relation of . . 111 1 a 1 the AV. to being assumed generally that the Atharvan the jrauta- hac[ originally nothing to do with the larger Vedic ritual. The assumption in this broad form is at any rate erroneous, or defective. The existing Sa/^hitas of the AV. contain mantras which could have had no sense and purpose except in connection with jrauta- performances. A series of formulas, e. g. like AV. VI, 47 and 48, has no meaning except in connection with the three daily pressures of soma (savana), and the Vait. Su. INTRODUCTION. 1 XXI 21, 7 exhibits them, properly no doubt, as part of an ordi- nary ^rauta-rite, the agnish/oma.
3formulas, e. g. like AV. VI, 47 and 48, has no meaning except in connection with the three daily pressures of soma (savana), and the Vait. Su. INTRODUCTION. 1 XXI 21, 7 exhibits them, properly no doubt, as part of an ordi- nary ^rauta-rite, the agnish/oma. It would seem then that the Atharvavedins possessed the knowledge of, and prac- tised .srauta- rites prior to the conclusion of the present redactions of their hymns, and thus perhaps, after all, the purohita, in case of his being an Atharvan, was not altogether unequipped for taking a hand in the broader Vedic rites with the three fires and the usual assortment of priests. Again, the AV. contains hymns which are evidently expiatory formulas for faults committed at the sacrifice. Thus AV. VI, 114 presents itself in the light of an ordinary praya^itta- formula, and there are MSS. of the Vaitana-sutra which add six praya^itta chapters to the eight which make up the body of that text 1. The Gop. Br., more frequently than other Brahma/zas, refers to defects in the sacrifice (virish/a, una, yatayama) which are to be corrected (sa/^dhana) by certain hymns, stanzas, and for- mulas ; see 1, 1, 13 and 22. Possibly the germs of the corre- lation of the Atharvan and the Brahman, in his function as supervisor and corrector of the sacrifice, may also turn out to be traceable to a period prior to the present redaction of the Sa/^hitas. The present volume of translations comprises about one third of the entire material of the Atharva-veda in the text of the vSaunaka-school. But it represents the contents and spirit of the fourth Veda in a far greater measure than is indicated by this numerical statement. The twentieth book of the Sa^hita, with the exception of the so-called kuntapa- suktani (hymns 127-136 2), seems to be a verbatim repeti- tion of mantras contained in the Rig-veda, being employed in the Vaitana-sutra at the .rastras and stotras of the soma- sacrifice : it is altogether foreign to the spirit of the original 1 See Garbe, in the preface of his edition of the text, p. 5 ; Weber, Ver- zeichniss der Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften, II, 83 ; Kaimka, Introduction, p. xxxiii. 2 One of these, hymn 127, appears in the present volume, p. 197 ff. lxxii HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Atharvan. The nineteenth book is a late addendum1, in general very corrupt ; its omission (with the exception of hymns 26, 34, 35, 38, 39, 53, and 54) does not detract much from the general impression left by the body of the collec- tion. The seventeenth book consists of a single hymn of inferior interest.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1in this, that they have in charge, each in his own way, the general interests of their noble employers, whereas other priests are likely ordinarily to have had only subordinate charges, because of the technical charac- ter of their knowledge and occupation. RV. X, 71, 11 expresses clearly the existence of broader theological in- terests than the mere knowledge of the recitation and chanting of hymns and the mechanical service of the sacrifice (hotar, udgatar, and adhvaryu). This is the Brah- manship which later forks into two directions, on one side the general knowledge of the procedures at the sacrifice (the Brahman as fourth priest), and the theological specula- tions attaching (brahmavadin) ; on the other, the higher theosophy which leads ultimately to the brahmavidya of the Upanishads. It is natural that a divine thus qualified should at a very early time assume permanent and con- fidential relations to the noble ra^ianya in all matters that concerned his religious and sacrificial interests. His func- tions are those of chaplain and high-priest. It seems unlikely that this Brahman was in all cases, too, competent to attend to those more secular and practical needs of the king connected with the security of his kingdom, the fealty of his people, and the suppression of his enemies. These activities, ra^akarma/zi, as the Atharvan writings call them, must have called for different training and different talents — they represent rather the functions of a chancellor, or prime-minister, than those of a chaplain — and there is no warrant to assume that every Brahman possessed these necessary qualifications in addition to his expertness in systematic theology. On the other hand, conversely, there must have been purohitas incapable of assuming the charge of their employers' interests on the occasion of the more elaborate Vedic performances (.srauta), unless we conceive that in such cases the Brahman was a mere figure-head and his office a sinecure. And yet precisely here is to be found the measure of truth which we may suspect in the Atharvanist claim that the supervising Brahman shall be an adherent of the AV. In many cases the tribal king, or ra^a, might have had but e 3 lxx HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. one body-priest, well capable of attending to the kingdom's needs in all manner of charms and sorcery, and thus filling the paurohitya creditably with the entire armament of the Veda of charms and sorcery, himself an Atharvavedin.
2HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. one body-priest, well capable of attending to the kingdom's needs in all manner of charms and sorcery, and thus filling the paurohitya creditably with the entire armament of the Veda of charms and sorcery, himself an Atharvavedin. If the king had about him no systematic theologian re- splendent in his ^atavidya, if there was no adherent of that ideal fourth Veda, the sarvavidya that looms above the trayi vidya, the remoter applicability of the jrauta-practices to the weal and woe of everyday life, or confidence in the ability of hotar, adhvaryu, &c, to perform their duties correctly of themselves, would lead him to entrust the general supervision of the Vedic performances (in the nar- rower sense) to his Atharvan purohita. Thus the sweeping claim of the Atharvan priests may be founded at least upon a narrow margin of fact, and later the Atharvan priests are likely to have equipped themselves with a suffi- ciency of rather external and mechanical knowledge to perform the function of Brahman with a show of respecta- bility, witness the activity of the Brahman in the ^rauta- rites of the Vaitana-sutra. In very late times the ability of Atharvan priests to practise ^rauta-rites, and the canonicity of their .srauta- manual, the Vaitana-sutra, were recognised by other Vedic schools, if the matter-of-fact references to that Sutra on the part of the commentators to Katy&yana's vSrauta-sutras may be regarded as normal ; see Garbe in the preface to the edition of the Vait. Su., p. vi. We may remark, however, that the entire question of the relation of the AV. to .srauta-practices is a very obscure point in the history of Vedic literature, it Relation of . . 111 1 a 1 the AV. to being assumed generally that the Atharvan the jrauta- hac[ originally nothing to do with the larger Vedic ritual. The assumption in this broad form is at any rate erroneous, or defective. The existing Sa/^hitas of the AV. contain mantras which could have had no sense and purpose except in connection with jrauta- performances. A series of formulas, e. g. like AV. VI, 47 and 48, has no meaning except in connection with the three daily pressures of soma (savana), and the Vait. Su. INTRODUCTION. 1 XXI 21, 7 exhibits them, properly no doubt, as part of an ordi- nary ^rauta-rite, the agnish/oma.
3formulas, e. g. like AV. VI, 47 and 48, has no meaning except in connection with the three daily pressures of soma (savana), and the Vait. Su. INTRODUCTION. 1 XXI 21, 7 exhibits them, properly no doubt, as part of an ordi- nary ^rauta-rite, the agnish/oma. It would seem then that the Atharvavedins possessed the knowledge of, and prac- tised .srauta- rites prior to the conclusion of the present redactions of their hymns, and thus perhaps, after all, the purohita, in case of his being an Atharvan, was not altogether unequipped for taking a hand in the broader Vedic rites with the three fires and the usual assortment of priests. Again, the AV. contains hymns which are evidently expiatory formulas for faults committed at the sacrifice. Thus AV. VI, 114 presents itself in the light of an ordinary praya^itta- formula, and there are MSS. of the Vaitana-sutra which add six praya^itta chapters to the eight which make up the body of that text 1. The Gop. Br., more frequently than other Brahma/zas, refers to defects in the sacrifice (virish/a, una, yatayama) which are to be corrected (sa/^dhana) by certain hymns, stanzas, and for- mulas ; see 1, 1, 13 and 22. Possibly the germs of the corre- lation of the Atharvan and the Brahman, in his function as supervisor and corrector of the sacrifice, may also turn out to be traceable to a period prior to the present redaction of the Sa/^hitas. The present volume of translations comprises about one third of the entire material of the Atharva-veda in the text of the vSaunaka-school. But it represents the contents and spirit of the fourth Veda in a far greater measure than is indicated by this numerical statement. The twentieth book of the Sa^hita, with the exception of the so-called kuntapa- suktani (hymns 127-136 2), seems to be a verbatim repeti- tion of mantras contained in the Rig-veda, being employed in the Vaitana-sutra at the .rastras and stotras of the soma- sacrifice : it is altogether foreign to the spirit of the original 1 See Garbe, in the preface of his edition of the text, p. 5 ; Weber, Ver- zeichniss der Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften, II, 83 ; Kaimka, Introduction, p. xxxiii. 2 One of these, hymn 127, appears in the present volume, p. 197 ff. lxxii HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Atharvan. The nineteenth book is a late addendum1, in general very corrupt ; its omission (with the exception of hymns 26, 34, 35, 38, 39, 53, and 54) does not detract much from the general impression left by the body of the collec- tion. The seventeenth book consists of a single hymn of inferior interest.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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