Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 42.djvu/53

 INTRODUCTION. xllx

��first place we may remark that the conspicuous omission of this Veda which characterises the j-rauta-litcrature, with- out 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 Samans is heard, these texts mention only the riV and the yzgwh ; see Gaut. XVI, 21; Vas. XIII, 30; Vish;/u XXX, 26; Manu IV, 123. 124. At Baudh. IV, 5, 29; Manu XI, 26^-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 r/k. ysigwh, and saman are deri\'ed from the primeval creation. In Baudh. II, <S, 14, 4. 5; Manu III, 145, the traividya and its adherents only appear at the funeral-offerings (.yraddha), though the Atri-sawhit^ singles out Atharvans skilled in astronomy on that very occasion (see above, p. xlviii). At Manu XII, 112 (cf Ya^//av. I, 9) adherents of the three Vedas are recommended as an assembly (parishad) to decide points of law; at Ya^;^av. II, 21 1 punishment is declared for him that abuses one skilled in the three Vedas ; at Ya^;7av. I, 310 the king is urged to devote himself to the study of the trayi (vidya) ; his chaplain, on the other hand, must be skilled in the manipulation of the atharvarigirasam (ib. I, 312). The inferiority of the Atharvan is stated outright at Apast. II, II, 29, 10. II, where it is said that the know- ledge of women and 6"udras is a supplement of the Atharva- veda (cf Biihler, Sacred Books, vol. ii, p. xxix) ; and yet more brusquely Vish//u V, 191 counts him that recites a deadly incantation from the Atliarva-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 Apast. I, 9, 26, 7; 10, 29, 15; Baudh. II. i, 2, 16 ; Gaut. XXV, 7; Vish;m XXXVII, 26; LIV, 25; Manu IX. 290; XI, 198; YkgiidM. Ill, 289. Yet the other side of the coin is turned

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