Hymns of the Atharva-Veda — SBE Vol. 42 (Clarendon Press, 1897) — second scan

ishads mention the fourth Veda along with the other three more frequently than the corresponding tracts of the other schools, that the Atharvan is quietly added to the trayi, whether other literary forms like the itihasapura^am, &c, appear in the sequel, or not. Even these Upanishads, however, occasionally lapse into the more frequent habit of the bulk of the Vedic literature, and fail to refer to the Atharvan, whether consciously or not,, it seems impossible to telL Thus the Mu^aka Up. I, i, 5 counts the four Vedas (Atharvan included) along with the Angas as the lesser science, above which towers the science of Brahma : rz'gvedo, ya^urveda/^, samavedo *tharvaveda// .riksha, &c. But in II, i, 6 the list is, rikâk sama ya^u^shi diksha ya^a^a. The Praiiia Up. II, 8 says of the Pra^a, c life's breath ' (personified), rishbiam karltam satyam atharvangirasam asi, which seemingly contains an allusion to the Atharvan writings, but in IT, 6 we have, pra//e sarva/^ pratish/Zntam riko ya^umshi samani ydLgnah kshatra;/z brahma £a 3. See also Mahanaraya^a Up. 22. This betrays the usual preoccupation with the traividya, which is not quite effaced by the possible allusion to the Atharvan in II, 8. The Nrzsi^hapurvatapani Up.

1 See Ind. Stud. I, 296; IX, 51.

2 See Ind. Stud. I, 453, note, and cf. Bohtlingk's critical edition of the Prajna in the Proceedings of the Royal Saxon Academy, November, 1890.

3 It would have been easy to substitute for the last four words, atharvan' girasaj ka. ye, or the like. Cf. also Prajna V, 5, alluded to above.

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I, 2 has, ngya^u/zsamatharvaTza.? £atvaro veda// ; I, 4, rigya^u^samatharvarupa^ surya/i ; II, 1 ( = Nrzsi//zhottaratapant Up. 3 ; Atharva^ikha Up. 1), rigbhik rigvedak, ya^oirbhir ya^urveda/z, samabhi^ samaveda/z, atharva/zair mantrair atharvaveda/^ ; in V, 9 it falls into the broader style of reference, rikah, ya^u^shi, samani, atharva^am, angirasam, sakhafc, pura//ani, kalpan, gatha^, narasamsik, leading up finally to pra;/avam, the Om which embraces all (sarvam). But in V, % we have rtgmayam ya^urmaya;^ samamayaw brahmamayam amr/tamayam, where brahmamayam obviously refers to the brahmavidya, the holy science, not to the fourth Veda, the Brahmaveda l. And thus the Brahmavidya Up. 5 fif. recounts the merits of the traividya, culminating in the Om, without reference to the Atharvan. It seems clear that even the Atharvan Upanishads as a class are engaged neither in defending the Atharvan from attack, nor in securing for it any degree of prominence.

counts the merits of the traividya, culminating in the Om, without reference to the Atharvan. It seems clear that even the Atharvan Upanishads as a class are engaged neither in defending the Atharvan from attack, nor in securing for it any degree of prominence. Other references to the Atharvan occur in Atharvajiras 1, rig aham yagm aham sama*ham atharvangiraso*ham ; Muktika Up. 12-14, rzgveda, yagv/i, saman, atharva;*a ; ibid. 1, atharvavedagatanam . . . upanishadam ; Maha. Up. 3, gayatram khaxida rzgveda//, traish/ubha^/ Mando ya^urveda^, gâgatam khaxidah samaveda/z, anushAibha^z £/zando*tharvaveda^. Cf. also /ifulika Up. 10, 13, 14.

On turning to the Grzhya-sutras it would be natural to anticipate a closer degree of intimacy with the Atharvan, and hence a more frequent and less formulaic in the reference to its writings. For the subject-

Gr/hya- matter of these texts is itself, broadly speaking, Atharvanic, besides being dashed strongly with many elements of vidhana or sorcery-practice, i.e. Atharvanic features in the narrower sense and by distinction2. Many verses quoted in the Grzhya-sutras are xliv HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.

1 The Upanishads do not designate the fourth Veda as Brahmaveda, unless we trust certain doubtful variants and addenda, reported by Weber, Ind. Stud. I, 301, note. The earliest occurrence of Brahmaveda is at .Sankh. Grih. I, 16, 13 (see above, p. xxvii).

2 Cf., e.g. the use of roots, Par. I, 13, 1 ; .Sankh. I, 19, 1 ; 23, 1 ; the battlecharm, Asv. Ill, 12 (cf. p. 117 ff. of this volume) ; the bhaisha^yani, ' remedial charms/ Asv. Ill, 6, 3 ff. ; Par. I, 16, 24 ff.; 111,6; Hir. II, 7;

identical with, or variants of those contained in the Atharvasa/zzhita. But even the Grzhya-rites, popular, nay vulgar, as they must have been in their untrammelled beginnings, were, so to speak, Rishified, and passed through in due time a process of school-treatment which estranged them as far as possible from the specifically Atharvanic connections, and assimilated them, as far as possible, to the Rigveda. Sama-veda, and Ya^ur-veda, as the case may be. Thus the battle-charm, Asv. Ill, is, instead of drawing upon the very abundant mantras of this kind, contained in the AV. (see p. 117 ff.), is decked out with the scattering material of this sort that may be extracted from the RV. (see the notes to Stenzler's and Oldenberg's translations). In general the preference for mantras of the particular school is nearly if not quite as great as in the 5rautasutras.

out with the scattering material of this sort that may be extracted from the RV. (see the notes to Stenzler's and Oldenberg's translations). In general the preference for mantras of the particular school is nearly if not quite as great as in the 5rautasutras. The anticipation of a marked degree of literary relationship with the Atharvan is not materialised. The Grzhya-sutras of the Sama-veda (Gobhila and Khadira), and Apastamba1, do not seem to mention the Atharvan at. all; Awalayana (III, 3, 1-3), on the occasion of the svadhyaya, the daily recitation of the Veda, recommends the Atharvan, but the mention of this text is that which we have found to be the normal one in the 5rauta-literature, i.e. preceded by rik, ya^u^, and saman ; followed by brahma/za, kalpa, gatha, nara^az/zsi, itihasa, and pura^a 2. Similarly Hira/zyake.rin (II, 19, 6), in connection with a long list of deities, mentions in order rzgveda, ya^urveda, samaveda, and itihasapura;za ; in vSankhayana I, 24, 8 the Atharvan is even omitted in a similar list, which catalogues

Apast. VII, 18 (cf. p. 1 ff.) ; the sawmanasyani, 'charms to secure harmony,' Par. Ill, 7; Apast. Ill, 9, 4 ff. ; VIII, 23, 6. 7; Hir. I, 13, 19 ff. (cf. p. 134 ff.), &c. See in general the list of miscellaneous Grz'hya-rites in Oldenberg's index to the Gr/hya-sutras, Sacred Books, vol. xxx, p. 306 ff.

1 This Sutra mentions neither rik, saman, nor atharvan, a probably unconscious preoccupation with the yaguh that must not be construed as intentional chauvinism against the other Vedas. The mantra-materials quoted and employed do not differ in their general physiognomy from those of the other Sutras, but they are always referred to as ya^-uyfc.

a The passage contains in slightly different arrangement the list of Vedic texts presented by the Tait. Ar. II, 9 and 10, above ; cf. also 6at. Br. XI, 5,7.5-6.

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rigveda, ya^oirveda, samaveda, vakovakyam, itihasapura- ^am, and finally sarvan vedan (cf. the same grouping, Sat. Br. XI, 5, 7, 6 ff.). But in 5ankh. I, 16, 3 (brahmaveda) ; Hir. II, 3, 9 (atharvangirasa//) ; II, 18, 3; 20, 9 (atharvaveda) ; Par. II, 10, 7 (atharvaveda) ; II, 10, 21 (atharva^am) there is a distinct advance along the line of later development in the familiar mention of the fourth Veda ; this is not balanced altogether by the restriction to the trayi, vSarikh. I, 22, 15 ; 24, 2 ; Hir. I, 5, 13; II, 13, 1, or the restriction to two Vedas, Gobh. I, 6, 19 ; III, 2, 48 ; Asv. I, 7, 6— Par. I, 6, 3 = 5ankh.