Hymns for daily life
The Atharvaveda is the Veda of ordinary life. Alongside hymns to the gods, it holds verses for healing, for a peaceful home, for a long life and for the land that feeds everyone.
A different kind of Veda
The Ṛgveda, Sāmaveda and Yajurveda centre on the great public sacrifices. The Atharvaveda is closer to the household. Its hymns were used at births and weddings, in illness and in quarrels, for crops, cattle and safe journeys.
It survives in two recensions, the Śaunaka and the Paippalāda. The Śaunaka version, the one most often printed, has twenty books with about 730 hymns and some 6,000 verses.
Healing
Many hymns ask for relief from fever, cough, wounds and other troubles, often naming healing plants. They show how people of the time understood illness and the body, and they are among the oldest records of Indian medicine.
Harmony at home
A well-known hymn on harmony (Atharvaveda 3.30) asks that a family be of one heart and one mind: that son follow father, that husband and wife speak gently, that brothers and sisters not quarrel. It is still recited at family gatherings today.
Long life
Hymns for long life ask for a full span of a hundred autumns, for strong limbs, clear sight and a clear mind. They were spoken at rites of passage, from a child’s first haircut to a young person’s first study of the Veda.
The hymn to the Earth
The Pṛthivī Sūkta (Atharvaveda 12.1) is a long hymn of 63 verses to the Earth as a mother who carries mountains, rivers, forests and people of many languages and customs. Its line “the Earth is my mother, I am her child” is often quoted in writing about care for the environment.
Reading it on Vedyatra
The Atharvaveda is planned for a later phase of Vedyatra, after the Ṛgveda and the two epics. Its Storyteller story and full text will appear in the Library as soon as they are ready.