book. The names here given deviate considerably from those mentioned in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā, appearing mostly in a later form. The passage in which this list is found is, however, a late addition.
The language of the Atharva is, from a grammatical point of view, decidedly later than that of the Rigveda, but earlier than that of the Brāhmaṇas. In vocabulary it is chiefly remarkable for the large number of popular words which it contains, and which from lack of opportunity do not appear elsewhere.
It seems probable that the hymns of the Atharva, though some of them must be very old, were not edited till after the Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda were composed.
On examining the contents of the Atharva-veda more in detail, we find that the hostile charms it contains are directed largely against various diseases or the demons which are supposed to cause them. There are spells to cure fever (takman), leprosy, jaundice, dropsy, scrofula, cough, ophthalmia, baldness, lack of vital power; fractures and wounds; the bite of snakes or injurious insects, and poison in general; mania and other ailments. These charms are accompanied by the employment of appropriate herbs. Hence the Atharva is the oldest literary monument of Indian medicine.
The following is a specimen of a charm against cough (vi. 105):—
- Just as the soul with soul-desires
- Swift to a distance flies away,
- So even thou, O cough, fly forth
- Along the soul's quick-darting course.
- Just as the arrow, sharpened well,
- Swift to a distance flies away,
- So even thou, O cough, fly forth
- Along the broad expanse of earth.
