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Introduction to VedaHarappan CivilizationRig VedaSama VedaYajur VedaAtharva VedaBrahmanasAranyakasEarly UpanishadsKena Katha Isha and MundakaLater UpanishadsMore About UpanishadsVedantaVedanta2Learn SanskritSanskrit DictionarySanskritSection OneSection Two|
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| Atharva Veda |
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The latest and fourth Veda is in a different category. For a long time many referred to only three Vedas, by which complete ceremonies could be conducted with the Rig hotr reciting, the Sama udgatri singing, and the Yajur adhvaryu performing the ritual. Even later the Atharvan Brahman's part was often performed unaccompanied by the other three priests. Also much of it draws from the customs and beliefs of pre-Aryan or pre-Vedic India. The Atharva Veda is much longer than the Sama and Yajur and only about a sixth of it is from the Rig Veda. The Atharva Veda is primarily magical spells and incantations. The line between prayer and magic and between white and black magic is usually drawn by ethical considerations. The bheshajani are for healing and cures using herbs to treat fever, leprosy, jaundice, dropsy, and other diseases. The Aryans looked down on doctors and medicine, probably because the natives were more skilled in these than they. Other more positive spells were for successful childbirth, romance, fecundity, virility, etc. The negative or bewitching spells were called abhichara and attempted to cause diseases or harm to enemies; often they were aimed at serpents and demons. The sorcery is ascribed to one of the authors, Angiras, whose name is related to Agni (Cf. Latin ignis), the divine messenger and possibly a distant cognate of the Greek word for messenger, angel. Another author, Atharvan, derives from the old Iranian root, atar, meaning fire. The third author, Bhrigu, was the name of a tribe which opposed Sudas in the battle of ten kings in the Rig Veda, and his name has also been related to a Greek word for fire. The fourth author is Brahman, the name which was given to the Atharvan priest, which eventually became so sacred that it was used as a name not only for the priestly caste but even for God the Creator. In addition to physicians the Vedic Aryans also held in contempt Atharvan astrologers as well as magic, but from this came not only astrology but also the beginning of Ayurvedic medicine. Like most ancient peoples they also believed that the main cause of disease was evil spirits, possession, or what we would call psychological factors. The magical elements, particularly the abhicara, and the subjects of healing, herbs, and cooking, which were mostly in the woman's domain, made the Atharva Veda obnoxious to many Vedic priests. However, these rituals were very popular, and the brahman priest's share of the fees soon became equal to the other three priests' combined. Eventually this shamanic tradition had to be incorporated into the Vedic religion, especially later when it faced the new challenges of Jainism and Buddhism. The Brahmin caste became even stronger, and their wealth can be seen by the belief that the cow by right belonged exclusively to them. Taxes were collected probably by the warrior Kshatriya caste from the Vaisya artisans, farmers, and merchants. The Sudra workers were too poor to be taxed, and the Brahmins were exempt. One verse (Atharva Veda 3:29:3) describes heaven as "where a tax is not paid by a weak man for a stronger." Marriage ceremonies are included. Here is a brief example: I am he; you are she. I am song; you are verse. I am heaven; you are earth. Let us two dwell together here; let us generate children.8 According to the Atharva Veda (5:17:8-9), a brahman could take a wife from the husband of any other caste simply by seizing her hand. Book 18 contains only funeral verses. There are coronation rites for kings, though the prayer is that the people will choose the king, usually already selected by heredity or the council. Philosophy and abstraction are creeping in, as there are two hymns to the deity of time, and kama (love, desire, pleasure) is praised as "the first seed of the mind" that generated heaven. (Atharva Veda 19:52) Let us conclude this section on the Atharva Veda with some selections from its beautiful hymn to the Earth as a sample of the more positive expression of the Vedas: High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration, Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual uphold the Earth, may she, the ruling Mistress of what has been and what will come to be, for us spread wide a limitless domain. Untrammeled in the midst of men, the Earth, adorned with heights and gentle slopes and plains, bears plants and herbs of various healing powers. May she spread wide for us, afford us joy! On whom are ocean, river, and all waters, on whom have sprung up food and plowman's crops, on whom moves all that breathes and stirs abroad - Earth, may she grant to us the long first draught! To Earth belong the four directions of space. On her grows food; on her the plowman toils. She carries likewise all that breathes and stirs. Earth, may she grant us cattle and food in plenty! On whom the men of olden days roamed far, on whom the conquering Gods smote the demons, the home of cattle, horses, and of birds, may Earth vouchsafe to us good fortune and glory! Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare, sustaining mother, Earth the golden-breasted who bears the Sacred Universal Fire, whose spouse is Indra - may she grant us wealth! Limitless Earth, whom the Gods, never sleeping, protect forever with unflagging care, may she exude for us the well-loved honey, shed upon us her splendor copiously! Earth, who of yore was Water in the oceans, discerned by the Sages' secret powers, whose immortal heart, enwrapped in Truth, abides aloft in the highest firmament, may she procure for us splendor and power, according to her highest royal state! On whom the flowing Waters, ever the same, course without cease or failure night and day, may she yield milk, this Earth of many streams, and shed on us her splendor copiously! May Earth, whose measurements the Asvins marked, over whose breadth the foot of Vishnu strode, whom Indra, Lord of power, freed from foes, stream milk for me, as a mother for her son! Your hills, O Earth, your snow-clad mountain peaks, your forests, may they show us kindliness! Brown, black, red, multifarious in hue and solid is this vast Earth, guarded by Indra. Invincible, unconquered, and unharmed, I have on her established my abode. Impart to us those vitalizing forces that come, O Earth, from deep within your body, your central point, your navel, purify us wholly. The Earth is mother; I am son of Earth. The Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us blessings! The Earth on which they circumscribe the altar, on which a band of workmen prepare the oblation, on which the tall bright sacrificial posts are fixed before the start of the oblation - may Earth, herself increasing, grant us increase! That man, O Earth, who wills us harm, who fights us, who by his thoughts or deadly arms opposes, deliver him to us, forestalling action. All creatures, born from you, move round upon you. You carry all that has two legs, three, or four. To you, O Earth, belong the five human races, those mortals upon whom the rising sun sheds the immortal splendor of his rays. May the creatures of earth, united together, let flow for me the honey of speech! Grant to me this boon, O Earth. Mother of plants and begetter of all things, firm far-flung Earth, sustained by Heavenly Law, kindly and pleasant is she. May we ever dwell on her bosom, passing to and fro!... Do not thrust us aside from in front or behind, from above or below! Be gracious, O Earth. Let us not encounter robbers on our path. Restrain the deadly weapons! As wide a vista of you as my eye may scan, O Earth, with the kindly help of Sun, so widely may my sight be never dimmed in all the long parade of years to come! Whether, when I repose on you, O Earth, I turn upon my Right side or my left, or whether, extended flat upon my back, I meet your pressure from head to foot, be gentle, Earth! You are the couch of all! Whatever I dig up of you, O Earth, may you of that have quick replenishment! O purifying One, may my thrust never reach Right into your vital points, your heart! Your circling seasons, nights succeeding days, your summer, O Earth, your splashing rains, your autumn, your winter and frosty season yielding to spring--- may each and all produce for us their milk!... From your numberless tracks by which mankind may travel, your roads on which move both chariots and wagons your paths which are used by the good and the bad, may we choose a way free from foes and robbers! May you grant us the blessing of all that is wholesome! She carries in her lap the foolish and also the wise. She bears the death of the wicked as well as the good. She lives in friendly collaboration with the boar, offering herself as sanctuary to the wild pig.... Peaceful and fragrant, gracious to the touch, may Earth, swollen with milk, her breasts overflowing, grant me her blessing together with her milk! The Maker of the world sought her with oblations when she was shrouded in the depth of the ocean. A vessel of gladness, long cherished in secret, the earth was revealed to mankind for their joy. Primeval Mother, disperser of men, you, far-flung Earth, fulfill all our desires. Whatever you lack, may the Lord of creatures, the First-born of Right, supply to you fully! May your dwellings, O Earth, free from sickness and wasting, flourish for us! Through a long life, watchful, may we always offer to you our tribute! O Earth, O Mother, dispose my lot in gracious fashion that I be at ease. In harmony with all the powers of Heaven set me, O Poet, in grace and good fortune!9 |
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