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Some persons feel
that the veda samhitās or collections are only three and
Atharvaveda was a later addition and hence not sacred as the other
thee. We disagree. The tradition of vedās being four is supported
explicitly by major upanishads such as Bŗhadāraņyaka [2.4.10]
and the Mundaka [1.1.5],
Mahābhārata, Vişhņu purāņa and the great grammarian Pātanjali in
his Mahābhāşhya in his commentary on the Rig Vedic verse
(4.48.6)
beginning with Chatvāri Shŗnga. Major Upanishads like Mundaka,
Māndūkya and Praşhņa etc., belong to the Atharva Veda.
The phrase ‘Vedās
are Three’ occurring in some places means that there are only
three types of mantrās namely rik, yajus and sāma, as mentioned in
the essay ‘About the four vedās’. Atharvaveda refers to three
types of mantrās in AV
(10.7.14).
Most of the mantrās in Atharvaveda are classified as riks since
they are metrical.
The sanctity of
the Atharvaveda samhita is also apparent in another way. As
mentioned earlier, every veda samhita has additional brāhmaņa and
upanishad books associated with it. Of the ten major Upanishads
used in vedāntic discussion, three of them namely Māndukya,
Mundaka and Prashņa are associated with Atharvaveda. The word
Munda means shaved head, a mark of the wandering sanyāsin. The
great teacher Shankara states in his commentary on the Mundaka
upanishad that the vow of the spiritual aspirant shaving the head
is traced to the Atharva.
Atharvaveda calls
itself by other names such as Brahma Veda AV
(15.6.8)
and Atharva-Āngiirasa Veda AV (10.7.20)
and the Veda of healing or Bhaishajya Veda AV
(11.6.14).
Shatapatha Brāhmana calls it as the Kşhatra Veda [the Veda dealing
with polity and governance of society] AV
(14.8.14)
and also as Āngīro Veda (13.4.3).
The appropriateness of these names comes from the fact that AV
Samhita has a large number of hymns on the associated topics. |
