A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.2042

Language: English

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The Atharva-veda, the fourth Veda, is of later origin than the others. This is acknowledged by the Brāhmans, and is proved by the internal evidence of the book itself. It is supposed to date from about the same period as the tenth Mandala of the *Rig-veda*, and as Manu speaks of only “the three Vedas,” the Atharva could hardly have been acknowledged in his time. Professor Whitney thinks its contents may be later than even the tenth Mandala of the *Rig*, although these two “stand nearly connected in import and origin.” There are reasons for supposing it to have had its origin among the Saindhavas on the banks of the Indus. One-sixth of the whole work is not metrical, “and about one-sixth (of the hymns) is also found among the hymns of the *Rig-veda*, and mostly in the tenth book of the latter; the rest is peculiar to the Atharva.” The number of the hymns is about 760, and of the verses about 6000. Professor Whitney, the editor of the Atharva, speaks of it thus: “As to the internal character of the Atharva hymns, it may be said of them, as of the tenth book of the *Rig*, that they are productions of another and a later period, and the expressions of a different spirit from that of the earlier hymns in the other Vedas. In the latter, the gods are approached with reverential awe indeed, but with love and confidence also; a worship is paid them that exalts the offerer of it;

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the demons embraced under the general name Rākshasa are objects of horror whom the gods ward off and destroy; the divinities of the Atharva are regarded rather with a kind of cringing fear, as powers whose wrath is to be deprecated and whose favour curried, for it knows a whole host of imps and hobgoblins, in ranks and classes, and addresses itself to them directly, offering them homage to induce them to abstain from doing harm. The Mantra prayer, which in the older Veda is the instrument of devotion, is here rather the tool of superstition; it wrings from the unwilling hands of the gods the favours which of old their good-will to men induced them to grant, or by simple magical power obtains the fulfilment of the utterer's wishes. The most prominent characteristic feature of the Atharva is the multitude of incantations which it contains; these are pronounced either by the person who is himself to be benefited, or more often by the sorcerer for him, and are directed to the procuring of the greatest variety of desirable ends; most frequently perhaps long life or recovery from grievous sickness is the object sought; then a talisman, such as a necklace, is sometimes given, or in very numerous cases some plant endowed with marvellous virtues is to be the immediate external means of the cure;

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farther, the attainment of wealth or power is aimed at, the downfall of enemies, success in love or in play, the removal of petty pests, and so on, even down to the growth of hair on a bald pate. There are hymns, too, in which a single rite or ceremony is taken up and exalted, somewhat in the same strain as the Soma in the Pāvamanya hymns of the Rig. Others of a speculative mystical character are not wanting; yet their number is not so great as might naturally be expected, considering the development which the Hindu religion received in the periods following after that of the primitive Veda. It seems in the main that the Atharva is of popular rather than of priestly origin; that in making the transition from the Vedic to modern times, it forms an intermediate step rather to the gross idolatries and superstitions of the ignorant mass than to the sublimated Pantheism of the Brāhmans." Such is the general character of the fourth Veda, but Max Müller has translated a hymn in his *Ancient Sanskrit Literature*, of which Professor Wilson said in the *Edinburgh Review*, "We know of no passage in Vedic literature which approaches its simple sublimity." This hymn is addressed to Varuna, "the great one who rules over these worlds, and beholds all as if he were close by; who sees all that is within and beyond heaven and earth," &c.