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 1500

INTRODUCTION.
lvii
III. THE ATHARVA-VEDA IN THE VIEW OF ITS
RITUALISTIC LITERATURE.
It is but natural to expect, and the expectation nowhere meets with disappointment, that the Atharvan texts in
, general should allude with predilection, and The normal
estimate of in terms of praise, to their own kind of comthe A.V. in its positions, to the mythical sages who are own literature.
their reputed authors, and to the priests devoted to the practices that went hand in hand with the recitation of the Atharvans and Angiras. We found above, (pp. xxxii, xlii), a sufficiently marked tendency on the part of the Samhità itself and the Atharvan Upanishads to do this; there was occasion to note, too, that this tendency was followed out naturally and with moderation. Certainly there is no indication in these texts of any systematic attempt to make battle against the ancient threefold Veda, or to enter into polemics against the priests devoted to their respective duties while reciting or chanting its mantras. Similarly the ritual texts of the AV. allude preferably, and yet incidentally, to their own Veda, and as occasion offers, bring to the front the priests schooled in it. Thus Kaus. 139, 6 an oblation is offered to Bhrigu and Angiras along with other divinities, without mention, however, of any specific representatives of the other Vedas. The expression, Kaus. 125, 2, vedâbhigupto brahmanâ parivrito stharvabhih såntah', illustrates this passive preference for the Atharvan very well; cf. also 137, 25. Again, Kaus. 63, 3, four priests descended from Rishis, skilled in the bhrigvangirasah, are employed very naturally, and similarly allusion is made to Atharvan priests and Atharvan schools, Kaus. 59, 25; 73, 12; Vait. SQ. 1, 5; Ath. Paris. 46, 2 ; 73, 1; 77, 4. In the Atharva-parisishtas Bhrigu, Angiras, and Atharvan figure more frequently than any
The passage reflects also the Atharvanic connection of their Veda with Brahman and the brábma; cf. Ath. Paris. 2, 1, brahmane brahmavedaya ... namaskrity, and see below, p. lxii ff.
Digized by Google
Digitized by