The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of the Indo-Aryans. It derives it name from Atharvan, a term which is usually taken to mean a fire priest in the old Indo-Aryan language. More specfically, the Atharva Veda was mainly composed by two clans of fire priests known as the Bhrigus (also called Atharvans) and Angirasas. Additionally, it also includes composition of certain other Indo-Aryan clans such as the Kaushikas, Vasishthas and Kashyapas.
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2 The atharva veda and its circum-vedic material 3 Issues of note 4 External link |
Traditionally 9 schools of the atharvAn literature are supposed to have existed. One can reconstruct their names using the charaNavyUhas as below:
These are:
From the paurANic text we may propose the following evolutionary history of the atharvAn texts:
There are two main circum-vedic texts associated with the AV 1) the vaitAna sUtra and 2) the kaushika sUtra. These serve the same purpose as the vidhAna of the R^igveda and are of greater value in studying the paurANo-vedic link than the atharvAN lore itself.
There are several upanishhats that are appended to the AV but appear to be relative additions to the tradition. The most important amongst these are the munDaka and the prashna. The former contains a important reference to shaunaka a shakha-kR^it of the AV while the latter one to paippalAda.
The contents of the saMhita itself have some important bearing on the development Hindu thoughtPopular misconceptions
Some popular misconceptions regarding the atharva veda (AV)
None of these notions are entirely correct and stem from both incomplete and unthinking analyses of the texts as well as native bias. The Jaina and Bauddha texts are considerably more hostile to the AV (they call it Aggvana or Ahavana veda) than they are to the other vedas. They even call it a non-Aryan veda concocted by Paippalada for human sacrifices. The hindu texts too have taken a less than charitable view and have on occasions omitted the reference to the atharvAn text in the context of vedic literature. The Atharvan ParishishhThas themselves state that specific priests of the mauda and jalada schools should be avoided. It is even stated that women associated with atharvAns may suffer from abortions (avatoka). These views, however, are more suggestive of the lack of familiarity of these authors with the AV or its technical contents. The atharva veda and its circum-vedic material
The schools of the atharva veda
Additionally from the vishNu and vAyu purANa it may be possible to glean a few more ancient schools that were not listed in the charaNavyUhas.
At least some of these may have evolved into the other schools mentioned in the list of the charaNavyUhas. saMhitavidhi, shAntikalpa and nakshatrakalpa are the 5 kalpa texts adduced to the shaunakiya tradition and not separate schools of their own. vyAsa pArAsharya
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sumantu
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kabandha AtharvaN-a~Ngirasa
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pathya____ devadarsha
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kumuda jAjala shaunakiya mauda | | |
| / | paippalAda | brahmavada
| babhravya saindhavAyana | | \\
|(?) | |(?) shaulkAyana |(?)
jalada munjakesha stauda chAraNavidyA
Of these only the texts of the shaunaka and paippalada schools are extant. On this page henceforth we shall be referring to the shaunaka text.