The Four Vedas

This body of spells and hymns is traditionally associated with two old mythic priestly families, the Atharvans and Angiras, their names, in the plural, serving either singly or combined (Atharvan girasas) as the oldest appellation of the collection. The two families or classes of priests are by tradition connected with the service of the sacred fire ; but whilst the Atharvans seem to have devoted themselves to the auspicious aspects of the fire-cult and the performance of propitiatory rites, the Angiras, on the other hand, are represented as having been mainly engaged in the un canny practices of sorcery and exorcism. The current text of the Atharva-samhitd—apparently the recension of the aunaka school —consists of some 75o different pieces, about five-sixths of which is in various metres, the remaining portion being in prose. The whole mass is divided into twenty books. The principle of dis tribution is for the most part a merely formal one, in books i.-xiii. pieces of the same or about the same number of verses being placed together in the same book. The next five books, xiv.-xviii., have each its own special subject: xiv. treats of marriage and sexual union; xv., in prose, of the Vratya, or religious vagrant; xvi. consists chiefly of prose formulas of conjuration; xvii. of a lengthy mystic hymn ; and xviii. contains all that relates to death and funeral rites. Of the last two books no account is taken in the Atharva-pratigakhya, and they indeed stand clearly in the relation of supplements to the original collection. The nineteenth book evidently was the result of a subsequent gleaning of pieces similar to those of the earlier books, which had probably escaped the collectors' attention ; while the last book, consisting almost entirely of hymns to Indra taken from the Rik-sarnhita, is nothing more than a liturgical manual of recitations and chants required at the Soma sacrifice; its only original portion being the ten so called kuntdpa hymns (127-136), consisting partly of laudatory recitals of generous patrons of sacrificial priests and partly of riddles and didactic subjects.

The Atharvan has come down to us in a much less satisfactory state of preservation than any of the other Samhitas. The dis covery in Kashmir of a second recension of the Atharva-sarnhita, contained in a single birch-bark ms., written in the Sarada char acter, has provided further material for its study. This new re cension, ascribed to the Paippalada school, consists likewise of twenty books (kanda), but in textual matter and arrangement it differs very much from the current text. While lacking much of the latter the new version offers a good deal of fresh matter, amounting to about one-sixth of the whole. From the Maha bhashya and other works quoting as the beginning of the Atharva samhita a verse that coincides with the first verse of the sixth hymn of the current text, it has long been known that at least one other recension must have existed ; but the first leaf of the Kash mir ms. having been lost, it cannot be determined whether the new

recension (as seems all but certain) corresponds to the one re ferred to in those works.

Atharvaveda-brahmana.

The only Brahmana of the Athar van, the Gopatha-brama?w, is one of the most modern and least important works of its class. It consists of two parts, the first of which contains cosmogonic speculations, interspersed with legends, mostly adapted from other Brahmanas, and general instructions on religious duties and observances ; while the second part treats, in a very desultory manner, of various points of the sacrificial ceremonial.

Atharvaveda-sutras.

The Kalpa-sutras belonging to this Veda comprise both a manual of grauta rites, the Vaitana-siitra, and a manual of domestic rites, the Kauscika-siara. The teacher Kau gika is repeatedly referred to in the work on points of ceremonial doctrine. The last sutra-work to be noticed in connection with this Veda is the gazinakiya Chaturadhydyikd, being a Pratiga khya of the Atharva-samhita, so called from its consisting of four lectures (adhyaya). Although Saunaka can hardly be credited with being the actual author of the work, considering that his opinion is rejected in the only rule where his name appears, there is no reason to doubt that it chiefly embodies the phonetic theories of that teacher, which were afterwards perfected by members of his school. Whether this Saunaka is identical with the writer of that name to whom the final redaction of the Sakalapratgakhya of the Rik is ascribed is not known.

Upanishads.

Another class of writings traditionally con nected with the Atharvaveda are the numerous Upanishads which do not specially attach themselves to one or other of the Samhitas or Brahmanas of the other Vedas. The Atharvana upanishads, mostly composed in glokas, may be roughly divided into two classes: those of a purely speculative or general pan theistic character, treating chiefly of the nature of the supreme spirit, and the means of attaining to union therewith, and those of a sectarian tendency. Of the former category, a limited number— such as the Pragna, Mundaka and Mandukya-upanishads—have probably to be assigned to the later period of Vedic literature; whilst the others presuppose more or less distinctly the existence of some fully developed system of philosophy, especially the Ve danta or the Yoga. The sectarian Upanishads, on the other hand —identifying the supreme spirit either with one of the forms of Vishnu (such as the Narayana, Nrisirnha-tapaniya, Rama-tapa niya, Gopala-tapaniya Upanishads), or with diva (e.g., the Rudra upanishad), or with some other deity—belong to post-Vedic times.