Atharvaveda: Encyclopedia II - Atharvaveda - Status

Atharvaveda - Status

The Atharvaveda, while undoubtedly belonging to the core Vedic corpus, in some ways represents an independent parallel tradition to that of the Rigveda and Yajurveda.

The Jaina and Bauddha texts are considerably more hostile to the AV (they call it Aggvāna or Ahavāna Veda) than they are to the other Hindu texts. They even call it a non-Aryan Veda concocted by paippalāda for human sacrifices. The Hindu texts too have taken a less than charitable view and have on occasions omitted the reference to the "Atharvān" text in the context of Vedic literature, though some attribute this to the fact that the Atharvaveda was a later addition chronologically. The Atharvan Pariśiśhthas (appendices) themselves state that specific priests of the mauda and jalada schools should be avoided. It is even stated that women associated with Atharvān may suffer from abortions.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Status", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki