Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda or Atharva Veda or is the "knowledge storehouse of atharvans, the procedures for everyday life". The text is the fourth <a href="/facts/Veda/yQgc8B2x">Veda</a>, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of <a href="/facts/Hinduism/oxV9YvQh">Hinduism</a>.
The language of the Atharvaveda is different from <a href="/facts/Rigvedic/7dyqIlsJ">Rigvedic</a> Sanskrit, preserving pre-Vedic Indo-European <a href="/facts/Archaisms/fs11Vfza">archaisms</a>. It is a collection of 730 <a href="/facts/Music_of_India/yFwovhbY">hymns</a> with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books. About a sixth of the Atharvaveda texts adapt verses from the <a href="/facts/Rigveda/7dyqIlsJ">Rigveda</a>, and except for Books 15 and 16, the text is mainly in verse deploying a diversity of Vedic meters. Two different recensions of the text – the Paippalāda and the Śaunakīya – have survived into modern times. Reliable <a href="/facts/Manuscripts/A6XNmrTd">manuscripts</a> of the Paippalada edition were believed to have been lost, but a well-preserved version was discovered among a collection of palm leaf manuscripts in <a href="/facts/Odisha/ofAWpAgu">Odisha</a> in 1957.
The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of <a href="/facts/Magical_formula/xmEGE3qm">magical formulas</a>", a description considered incorrect by other scholars. In contrast to the 'hieratic religion' of the other three Vedas, the Atharvaveda is said to represent a 'popular religion', incorporating not only formulas for <a href="/facts/Magic_(supernatural)/ttcCLh3A">magic</a>, but also the daily rituals for initiation into learning (upanayana), marriage and funerals. Royal rituals and the duties of the court priests are also included in the Atharvaveda.
The Atharvaveda was likely compiled as a Veda contemporaneously with <a href="/facts/Samaveda/vvKqhL9U">Samaveda</a> and <a href="/facts/Yajurveda/XS4Hepvu">Yajurveda</a>, or about 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE. Along with the Samhita layer of text, the Atharvaveda includes a <a href="/facts/Brahmana/pan0H4CS">Brahmana</a> text, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations. The latter layer of Atharvaveda text includes three primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of <a href="/facts/Hindu_philosophy/rudCa0wA">Hindu philosophy</a>. These include the <a href="/facts/Mundaka_Upanishad/ToQT8upr">Mundaka Upanishad</a>, the <a href="/facts/Mandukya_Upanishad/7hlqXQl3">Mandukya Upanishad</a> and the <a href="/facts/Prashna_Upanishad/JcLKUAJw">Prashna Upanishad</a>.

Atharvaveda open-in-new

Atharvaveda