Vanaspati: Plants and Plant-Life as in Indian Treatises and Traditions c6.t3.23

c6.t3.23

"If anybody enquires from which of the four Vedas—Rik, Sāma, Yaju and Atharva, Āyurveda, i.e., the Veda of life emanates? What is life? Why the treatise is called the Science of life? Is it transient or permanent? What are the sub divisions of the Science of life, to whom it is open for study and why? A physician when thus interrogated, of all the four Vedas should mention the Atharva Veda emphatically as the Veda of life, i.e., should point out the Āyurveda as a part of the Atharva Veda for this reason that the Atharva Veda has prescribed treatment by gift, expiation, sacrifice, atonement and fast, as well as incantations, and has prescribed treatment solely as conducive to the welfare of life, etc."