Vedic Mythology c6.s2.3

c6.s2.3

In a few passages of the RV. the word *atharvan* appears to have the appellative meaning of 'priest'. Thus it is an attribute of Bṛhaddiva, the composer of a hymn (10, 120⁹ cp. ⁸). In this sense it seems to be an epithet of Agni, when a seer is described as pouring the libation on the Atharvan (8, 9⁷). The word also means priest when it is said that the Atharvans mix Soma (9, 4²) or that they receive a hundred cows from a patron (6, 47²⁴). That this is the original sense is borne out by the fact that the cognate Avestan word *āthravan* signifies 'fire-priest', which is also the etymological sense; for *ātar* (for *āthar*), fire, is the same as the Vedic *athar-*¹, which also occurs in *athar-yú*, flaming (said of Agni, 7, 1¹). This old name must then have been mythologically applied to designate an ancient priestly race of a semi-divine character, generally represented in the singular by their chief.