Named after Rishi Atharva, the Athrava Veda Sanhita does not pertain to the hymns of ritual ^sacrifice rather it provides with the mantras that are meant to be recited to remove the influence of evil spirits during the ritual sacrifice or yajna.
Named after Rishi Atharva, the Athrava Veda Sanhita does not pertain to the hymns of ritual ^sacrifice rather it provides with the mantras that are meant to be recited to remove the influence of evil spirits during the ritual sacrifice or yajna.
Sam Veda Sanhita is a combination of wisdom, witchcraft, poetry and charms for exorcising evil spirits. The prominent teacher of Atharva Veda is Sumantu.
In all, there are nine branches of this Sanhita:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
(i) Pipplad, (ii) Shaunak, (iii) Mandnahamashya, (iv) Staud, (v) Jajal, (vi) Jalad, (vii) Brahma Veda, (viii) Devadarsh and (ix) Charan Vaidya.
However, in the present time only Pipplad and Shaunak are available. Of these two Shaunak is more popular and its volumes namely Shaunak Sanhita, Gopath Brahman, two Upanishads and two Sutra Granth are available while on the contrary the only book available of Pipplad is Prashnoparishad.
The entire Atharva Veda Sanhita is classified into 20 divisions called Kand, which include 34 prapathak, 111 anuvak, 739 sukta, 5,849 mantra or Richayen. Among these richayen, 1200 are those that have been taken from Rig Veda. The sixth Kand or division of Athrava Veda is in prose form.