The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s1.5

c9.s1.5

This passage is in many respects instructive. In the first place we infer from it that there are only three Vedas,¹ and that the hymns of the Atharvans and Angirases are not yet recognised as Veda. The first trace of such recognition is perhaps Bṛih. 5. 13, where, together with *uktham*, *yajus* and *sâman*, a fourth *kshatram* is named. This may denote the Atharvaveda, which stands in a closer relation to the warrior caste, and serves especially to ward off misfortune (*trâyate kshaṇitos*, as *kshatram* is etymologically explained). To the same purport is Bṛih. 6. 4. 13, where a son who has studied one, two, or three Vedas is distinguished from one who knows “all the Vedas,” *i.e.* probably all four. The *âtharvaṇa* first appears as a fourth veda in Chând. 7. 1. 2, and under the name *atharva-veda* in Muṇḍ. 1. 1. 5; the latter name therefore is first met with in the Atharva Upanishads.