The Language Of The Atharva Veda

Since the publication of the Atharva-Veda by Roth and Whitney in 1856, it has been subjected to various types of studies- interpretative, historical, religious and cultural. But a comparative study embracing all the aspects of the language of the Atharva-Veda has so far remained untouched. The present work is a grammatical study of the language of the fourth Veda. Though mainly concerned with the Saunaka recenison of the Atharva-Veda, the author has also taken note of the linguistic peculiarities found in the paippalad recension. The authro has taken great pains to make a comprehensive and scholarly study of this important Hindu Scripture contributing in no small measure to the field of language and linguistics.

Elizarenkova, perhaps the greatest living scholar of the Rgveda and certainly its greatest linguist, explains here the relationships between a very complicated grammatical system and the peculiarities of style of the archaic religious poetry. The laudatory hymn is treated as an act of verbal communication between the poet Rsi and the deity, with the hymn itself transmitting certain information from man to god. From this viewpoint, the hymn is used as a means to maintain a circular exchange of gifts between the Rsis and their gods.

Since the publication of the Atharva-Veda by Roth and Whitney in 1856, it has been subjected to various types of studies- interpretative, historical, religious and cultural. But a comparative study embracing all the aspects of the language of the Atharva-Veda has so far remained untouched. The present work is a grammatical study of the language of the fourth Veda. Though mainly concerned with the Saunaka recenison of the Atharva-Veda, the author has also taken note of the linguistic peculiarities found in the paippalad recension. The authro has taken great pains to make a comprehensive and scholarly study of this important Hindu Scripture contributing in no small measure to the field of language and linguistics.

Description: Preface (A. Griffiths and J.E.M. Houben) Introduction (J.E.M. Houben) PART I: TEXTUAL HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION - S.S. Bahulkar: The Apocryphal (?) Hymn to Pratyangira in the Paippalada Tradition - T.N. Dharmadhikari: Re-editing the Maitrayani Samhita: a Desideratum - Gerhard Ehlers: Old and New Manuscripts of the Jaiminiya-Brahmana - Shingo Einoo: Notes on the vrsotsarga - Arlo Griffiths: Paippalada Mantras in the Kausikasutra - Konrad Klaus: On the Sources of the Asvalayana-Srautasutra - François Voegeli: On the Kathaka Samhita Hapax pasuyajna and its Relationship with the saddhotr Mantra PART II: LANGUAGE AND STYLE - Dipak Bhattacharya: On yat, tat, uttarat and Similar Forms - Abhijit Ghosh: Problems in Determining Austric Lexical Elements in Sanskrit: a Case from the Atharva-Veda - Stephanie W. Jamison: Poetry and Purpose in the Rgveda: Structuring Enigmas - Jared S. Klein: Nominal and Adverbial AAmre.ditas and the Etymology of Rgvedic nana - Werner Knobl: The Nonce Formation: A more-than-momentary look at the Augenblicksbildung - Georges-Jean Pinault: On the Usages of the Particle iva in the Rgvedic Hymns - Ulrike Roesler: The Theory of Semantic Fields as a Tool for Vedic Research PART III: RITUAL AND RELIGION - Joel P. Brereton: Brahman, Brahman, and Sacrificer - Silvia D?Intino: Vision and Battle in Vedic Hymns: A Remark on the Theme of Battle in the Symbolism of Poetic Creation - Cezary Galewicz: Katavallur Anyonyam: a Competition in Vedic Chanting? - Jan E.M. Houben: Memetics of Vedic Ritual, Morphology of the Agnistoma - Mieko Kajihara: The Upanayana and Marriage in the Atharvaveda - David M. Knipe: Ritual Subversion: Reliable Enemies and Suspect Allies - Charles Malamoud: A Note on abistaka (Taittiriya Aranyaka I) - Sofía Moncó Taracena: Dawn and Song in the Vedic Hymns - Asko Parpola: From Archaeology to a Stratigraphy of Vedic Syncretism: The banyan tree and the water buffalo as Harappan-Dravidian symbols of royalty, inherited in succession by Yama, Varu.na and Indra, divine kings of the first three layers of Aryan speakers in South Asia - Stephanie W. Jamison: Response to Parpola, From Archaeology to a Stratigraphy of Vedic Syncretism - Frits Staal: From pranmukham to sarvatomukham: A Thread through the Srauta Maze - G.U. Thite: Vicissitudes of Vedic Ritual - Jarrod L. Whitaker: Ritual Power, Social Prestige, and Amulets (mani) in the Atharvaveda - Michael Witzel: The Rgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents List of Contributors Index of Authors General Index

The present volume is an unabridged edition of the Atharvaveda, part of a five volume set of the complete Veda Samhitas. Each Veda has been proofed and all Sanskrit terms updated and synced between versions. An index is provided at the close of each volume for all Sanskrit terms that were left untranslated. -- Volumes available in this set: 1. Rigveda 978-1542459075; 2. White Yajurveda 978-1542459105; 3. Black Yajurveda 978-1542462525; 4. Samaveda 978-1542463379; 5. Atharvaveda 978-1542464222. -- A single volume edition of all Vedas is also available: 978-1541294714 - - From the foreword: The Vedas (from the root vid, "to know," or "divine knowledge") are the most ancient of all the Hindu scriptures. There were originally three Vedas-the Laws of Manu always speaks of the three, as do the oldest (Mukhya) Upanishads-but a later work called the Atharvaveda has been added to these, to now constitute the fourth. The name Rigveda signifies "Veda of verses," from rig, a spoken stanza; Samaveda, the "Veda of chants," from saman, a song or chant; Yajurveda, the "Veda of sacrificial formulas," from yajus, a sacrificial text. The Atharvaveda derives its name from the sage Atharvan, who is represented as a Prajapati, the edlest son of Brahma, and who is said to have been the first to institute the fire-sacrifices. The complex nature of the Vedas and the array of texts associated with them may be briefly outlined as follows: "The Rig-Veda is the original work, the Yajur-Veda and Sama-Veda in their mantric portions are different arrangements of its hymns for special purposes. The Vedas are divided into two parts, the Mantra and Brahmana. The Mantra part is composed of suktas (hymns in verse); the Brahmana part consists of liturgical, ritualistic, exegetical, and mystic treatises in prose. The Mantra or verse portion is considered more ancient than the prose works; and the books in which the hymns are collected are called samhitas (collections). More or less closely connected with the Brahmanans (and in a few exceptional cases with the Mantra part) are two classes of treatises in prose and verse called Aranyaka and Upanishad. The Vedic writings are again divided into two great divisions, exoteric and esoteric, the former called the karma-kanda (the section of works) and the latter the jnana-kanda (section of wisdom)." (Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary) The great antiquity of the Vedas is sufficiently proven by the fact that they are written in such an ancient form of Sanskrit, so different from the Sanskrit now used, that there is no other work like them in the literature of this "eldest sister" of all the known languages, as Prof. Max Muller calls it. Only the most learned of the Brahman Pundits can read the Vedas in their original. Furthermore, the Vedas cannot be viewed as singular works by singular authors, but rather as compilations, assembled over a great and unknown period of time. "Almost every hymn or division of a Veda is ascribed to various authors. It is generally believed that these subdivisions were revealed orally to the rishis or sages whose respective names they bear; hence the body of the Veda is known as sruti (what was heard) or divine revelation. The very names of these Vedic sages, such as Vasishtha, Visvamitra, and Narada, all of which belong to men born in far distant ages, shows that millennia must have elapsed between the different dates of their composition." (Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary) It is generally agreed that the Vedas were finally arranged and compiled around fourteen centuries before our era; but this interferes in no way with their great antiquity, as they are acknowledged to have been long taught and passed down orally, perhaps for thousands of years, perhaps for far longer, before being finally compiled and recorded (the latter is traditionally said to have occurred on the shores of Lake Manasarovara, beyond the Himalayas).