A Note on Athar Veda !!

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It's collected from Wikipedia, Its for those learned pandits, gurus who

are interesting in sharing knowledge and guiding guys like me and it's

also for those who are too full of themselves, Thanx to the God, I have

to set them free from the bonding of their ego and have to make them

more human.

 

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The Athar Veda is the first Indic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indic>

text dealing with Medicine <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine> .

 

It identifies the causes of disease

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease> as living causative agents such

as the yatudhânya, the kimîdi, the kimi and the durama. The

atharvâns seek to kill them with a variety of drugs in order to

counter the disease(see XIX.34.9). This approach to disease is

surprisingly advanced compared to the trihumoral theory developed in the

puranic era.

 

Remnants of the original atharvânic thought did persist in the

puranic era as can be seen in susruta's medical treatise ( chapter:

164). Here following the atharvân theory the puranic text suggests

germs <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ> as a cause for leprosy

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy> .

 

In the same chapter susruta also expands on the role of helminths in

disease. These two can be directly traced back to the Athar Veda

sahita. The hymn AV I.23-24 describes the disease leprosy and recommends

the rajanî auá¹£adhi for its treatment

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapy> . From the description of the

auá¹£adhi as black branching entity with dusky patches, it is very

likely that is a lichen with antibiotic

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic> properties. Thus the AV can

stake a claim to being one of the earliest texts to record uses of the

antibiotic agents.

 

* The AV also informs us about warfare. A variety of devices such as

the an arrow with a duct for poison (apâskambha) and castor bean

poison, poisoned net and hook traps, use of disease spreading bugs and

smoke screens find a place in the AV samhita (eg. hymns IX .9, IX.10).

These references to military practices and associated kúatriya

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshatriya> rites were what gave the AV

its formidable reputation. In the Mahabharata

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata> era that followed shortly

after the end of the atharvân period there is a frequent comparison

between weapons and the mantras of the heroes. Probably, this comparison

was initially supposed to mean the application of deadly weapons as

mentioned in the atharvân tradition.

 

* Several regular and special rituals

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual> of the Aryans are a major concern

of the AV, just as in the three other vedas. The major rituals covered

by the Athar Veda are marriage and the funeral . There are also hymns

that are specific to rituals of the vâisyas and kúatriyas.

 

 

 

* One of the most important of these rites is the Viúhâsahi

Vrata, performed to invoke the îndra

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra> and Viṣṇu

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu> with the mantras of the XVIIth

kâṃá¸a. The Vá¹›âtya rituals were performed by

individuals who took on a nomadic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadic>

ascetic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascetic> way of living and were

generally sent into neighboring states by the ruler of a particular

state. They appear to have served a role in reconnaissance and

negotiations with neighboring states (compare with Arjuna

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna> 's Vá¹›âtya-like journey

into the Yadu principality to woo Subhadra

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subhadra> ). Finally, there are some

rituals aimed at the destruction of the enemies (Abhichârika hymns

and rites) particularly using the closing mantras of the XVIth . While

these support traditional negative views on the AV, in content they are

mirrored by several other hymns from the Rig as well as the Yajur.

Moreover, Abhichârika rites were an integral part of the vedic as

amply attested in the brâhma literature .

 

Thus the AV as such began fully within the classic vedic fold, though it

was more specific to certain clans of fire priests. The development of

the Abhichârika rites to their more 'modern' form was seen only in

the vidhâna literature

 

The author of the vidhâna provides passing reference to the

development of similar rites in the AV tradition (the references to the

Agnirasa Krityâs). These rites reached their culmination in the

Kauúika and Vaitana Sûtra and in some of the Pariúiúhthas

(appendices) of the atharvân literature. However, these are far

removed from the actual hymns themselves suggesting that they represent

an encrustation on the atharvanic practice rather than its original

form. While in its most extreme form Atharvanic Abhichârika faded

away, it did seed the mainstream Hindu culture resulting in the origin

of the Puranic form of the fire ritual (yaga-s). It also provided the

launching pad for the worship of late evolving popular deities like

Kumara <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karthikeyan> and Ganapati

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganapati> to capture the mainstream Hindu

ritual.

 

* Philosophical excursions: One of the most spectacular expressions

of philosophical thought is seen in the hymn XII.I, the Hymn to goddess

Earth or the Prithvî Sûktam

<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prithavi_suktam & action=edit>

used in the Aghrâyana rite. The highest of the Hindu Darúanas is

expressed in the mantra XII.1.26 in which the atoms (Pâmsu) are

described forming the stone, the stones agglutinating to form the rocks

and the rocks held together to form the Earth.

 

An early pantheistic <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheistic> thought

is seen in the hymn X.7 that describes the common thread running through

all manifest and un-manifest existence as the skaṃbha. This

skaṃbha is described as what poured out of the Hiranya Garbha,

that was the precursor of the complex world in a very simple form

(X.7.28).

 

Hiranya Garba = " The radiant or golden egg or womb. Esoterically the

luminious 'fire mist' or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was

formed. " This Skambha is Indra and Indra is the Skambha which describes

all existence. The hymn also describes a pantheistic nature of the Vedic

gods (X.7.38): skaṃbha is the heat (tâpaḥ

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%81pa%E1%B8%A5> ) that spreads through

the universe (Bhûvana) as waves of water; the units of this spreading

entity are the gods even as branches of one tree. This theme is

repeatedly presented in various interpretations in later Hindu

philosophies.

 

regards,

Lalit.