Questions of King Milinda Part 01

SR No.: 007681
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1890
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 1492

INTRODUCTION.
xlix
first place we may remark that the conspicuous omission of this Veda which characterises the srauta-literature, without pronounced disapproval of the Atharvan, is continued in the dharma-texts. Thus notably in the prohibition of the recital of the other Vedas while the sound of the Såmans is heard, these texts mention only the rik and the yaguh; see Gaut. XVI, 21; Vas. XIII, 30; Vishnu XXX, 26 ; Manu IV, 123. 124. At Baudh. IV, 5, 29; Manu XI, 263–66, the recitation of the traividya is recommended as a most efficient means of purification and release from sin. In the cosmogonic account, Manu I, 23, only rik, yaguh, and såman are derived from the primeval creation. In Baudh. II, 8, 14, 4. 5; Manu III, 145, the traividya and its adherents only appear at the funeral-offerings (sråddha), though the Atri-samhita singles out Atharvans skilled in astronomy on that very occasion (see above, p. xlviii). At Manu XII, 112 (cf. Yagñav. I, 9) adherents of the three Vedas are recommended as an assembly (parishad) to decide points of law; at Yågñav. II, 211 punishment is declared for him that abuses one skilled in the three Vedas; at Yagñav. I, 310 the king is urged to devote himself to the study of the trayî (vidya); his chaplain, on the other hand, must be skilled in the manipulation of the atharvangirasam (ib. I, 312). The inferiority of the Atharvan is stated outright at À past. II, 11, 29, 10, 11, where it is said that the knowledge of women and Sudras is a supplement of the Atharvaveda (cf. Bühler, Sacred Books, vol. ii, p. xxix); and yet more brusquely Vishnu V, 191 counts him that recites a deadly incantation from the Atharva-veda as one of the seven kinds of assassins.
Still more frequently, performances which imply the knowledge and use of the Atharvan are decried and punished, though the writings of the Atharvan are not expressly mentioned. Thus magic rites with intent to harm enemies, and sorceries and curses in general, cause impurity, and are visited with severe penances at Åpast. I, 9, 26, 7; 10, 29, 15; Baudh. II, 1, 2, 16; Gaut. XXV, 7; Vishnu XXXVII, 26; LIV, 25; Manu IX, 290; XI, 198; Yagñav. III, 289. Yet the other side of the coin is turned [42]
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