A History of Sanskrit Literature c10.32

c10.32

The existence of the *Atharva*, as a collection of some kind, when the last books of the *Çatapatha Brāh-* *maṇa* (xi., xiii., xiv.), the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa*, and the *Chhāndogya Upanishad* were composed, is proved by the references to it in those works. In Patanjali's *Mahābhāshya* the *Atharva* had already attained to such an assured position that it is even cited at the head of the Vedas, and occasionally as their only representative.