3 Issues of note

The AV is the first Indian text dealing with medicine: It is surprisingly advanced for its age and outlines a clear germ theory. That is, it identifies the causes of disease as living causative agents such as the yatudhAnya, the kimIdi, the kR^imi and the durNama. The atharvANs seek to kill them with a variety of drugs in order to counter the disease( see XIX.34.9). This approach to disease is surprisingly advanced compared to the trihumoral theory developed in the pauraNic era. Remnants of the original atharvanic thought did persist in the paurANic era as can be seen in sushruta's medical treatise (garuDa purANa, karma kANDa chapter 164). Here following the atharvAN theory the pauRANic text suggests germs as a cause for leprosy. In the same chapter sushruta also expands on the role of helminths in disease. These two can be directly traced back to the AV saMhita. The hymn AV I.2 describes the disease leprosy and recommends the rajanI oshadhi for it treatment. From the description of the oshadhi as black branching entity with dusky patches it is very likely that is a lichen with antibiotic properties. Thus the AV can stake the claim for being one of the earliest texts to record uses of the antibiotic agents. Furthermore an understanding of the helminth caused diseases and their anatomy is exhibited in AV V.23. The importance of the brain as a critical organ was also understood by the AtharvANs as suggested by mantra AV X.2.26. {Details on this will follow in later editions}

The AV also informs us about Indo-Aryan warfare: A variety of devices such as the an arrow with a duct for poison (apAskambha) and castor bean poison, poisoned net and hook traps, use of disease spreading bugs and smoke screens find a place in the AV saMhita (eg. hymns IX .9, IX.10, the trishaMdi and nyArbudi hymns). These references to military practices and associated kshatriya rites were what gave the AV its formidable reputation. In the mahAbharata era that shortly followed after the end of the AtharvAN period there is a frequent comparison to between weapons and the mantras of the heroes. Probably, this comparison was initially supposed to mean the application of deadly weapons as mentioned in the AtharvAN tradition. Later of course this association added to the negative connotations of the AV. {Details on this will follow in later editions}

The Aryan ritual cycles: Several regular and special rituals of the Aryans are a major concern of the AV just as the 3 other vedas. The major regular rituals covered by the atharva veda are marriage in kANDa XIV and the funeral in kANDa XVIII. There are also a range of hymns that are specific to rituals of the bhR^igu-a~ngirasas, vR^Atyas and kshatriyas. One of the most important of these rites is the VishhAsahi Vrata that it is performed to invoke the indra and vishNu with the mantras of the XVIIth kANDa. The vR^Atya rituals were performed by individuals who took on a nomadic ascetic way of living and were generally sent into neighboring states by the ruler of a particular state. They appear to have served a role in reconnaissance and negotiations with neighboring states (compare with Arjuna's Vratya like journey into the yadu principality to woo subhadrA). Finally, there are some rituals aimed at the destruction of the enemies (Abhicharika hymns and rites) particularly using the closing mantras of the XVIth Kanda. While these are a factor for traditional negative views on the AV it should be noted that in content they are mirrored by several other hymns from the Rig as well as the Yajushes. Moreover, Abhicharika rites were an integral part of the vedic as amply attested in the brAhmaNa literature (see the tale of YavakrdDa in the Jaiminiya brAhmaNa). Thus the AV as such began fully within the classic vedic fold though it was more specific to certain clans of fire priests. The development of the abhichArika rites to their more 'modern' form was seen only in the vidhAna literature and in fact began within the Rigvedic tradition in the form of the RigvidhAna. The author of the RigvidhAna provides passing reference to the development of similar rites in the AV tradition (the references to the Angirasa KrityAs). These rites reached their culmination in the Kaushika and Vaitana Sutra and in some of the Parishishhthas (appendices) of the Atharvan literature. However, these are far removed from the actual hymns themselves suggesting that they represent an encrustation on the atharvanic practice rather than its original form. While in its most extreme form Atharvanic Abhicharika faded away it did seed the mainstream Hindu culture resulting in the origin of the Pauranic form of the fire ritual (yaga-s). It also provided the launching pad for the worship of late evolving popular deities like Kumara and Ganapati to capture the mainstream Hindu ritual.

Philosophical excursions: The AV made the most important contributions to Aryan philosophical thought of all the Samhitas. One of the most spectacular expressions of this is seen in the hymn XII.I, the hymn to the earth or the Prithivi SuktaM. It is used in the Aghrayana rite and expresses in profound terms the oneness of human life and nature. Everything in existence is described as conglomerated system encompassing all the smallest to the largest entities. The foundations of Vaishheshika, the highest of the Hindu Darshanas is expressed in the mantra XII.1.26 in which the atoms (Paamsu) are described forming the stone, the stones agglutinating to form the rocks and the rocks held together to form the Earth. An early pantheistic thought (somewhat convergent to the latter day Vishhishthadvaitins) is seen in the hymn X.7 that describes the common thread running through all manifest and un-manifest existence as the skaMbha. This Skambha is described as what poured out of the Hiranyagarbha, that was the precursor of the complex world in a very simple form (X.7.28). This Skambha is indra and Indra is the Skambha which describes all existence. The hymn also describes the pantheistic nature of the Vedic gods (X.7.38): Skambha is the heat (tapaH) that spreads through the universe (Bhuvana) as waves of water; the units of this spreading entity are the gods even as branches of one tree. This one theme that repeatedly presents itself in various interpretations that abounded in later Hindu philosophies and can be considered one of the most fundamental expression of Vedic thought.

Thus rather than being a backward, folk form of the religion, the atharva veda covers a great spectrum of early Aryan thought. From internal astronomical references (hymn XI.7) one might infer that the Atharvanic period included the time when the Pleiades occupied the spring equinox (~2200BC). Further we have evidence that pippalAda one of the early collators, and vaidharbiH one of the late contributors associated with the Atharvanic text lived during the reign of prince Hiranyanabha of the Ikshvaku dynasty. This allows us to state to that the core AV composition was at least complete by 1500 BC. Thus the AV is not particularly recent in the Vedic Samhita tradition and falls well within the range of the second phase of vedic creativity- the classic mantra period that followed the Rigvedic period. Not surprisingly there are some similarities in the Yajur and Atharva collections.

We may conclude that despite the Atharva Veda's gradual fading from active Hindu religious culture its contribution is central to the other Vedic Samhitas.

4 External link

• Hymns of the Atharva-veda

Hindu texts

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