atharvāṅgirasaḥ

Atharvāṅgirasaḥ (pl.), a kind of ṛṣis? (II, 437;

= Atharvaveda?).

Atharvāṅgirasaḥ. — This is the collective name of the Athar-

vaveda in several passages¹ of the later Brāhmaṇas. It occurs

once in the Atharvaveda itself,² while the term Atharvaveda

is not found before the Sūtra period.³ The compound seems,

according to Bloomfield,⁴ to denote the two elements which

make up the Atharvaveda. The former part refers to the aus-

picious practices of the Veda (bheṣajāni);⁵ the latter to its hostile

witchcraft, the yātu⁶ or abhi-cāra.⁷ This theory is supported by

the names of the two mythic personages Ghora Āṅgirasa and

Bhiṣaj Ātharvaṇa, as well as by the connection of Atharvāṇaḥ

and Ātharvaṇāni with healing (bheṣaja) in the Pañcaviṃśa

Brāhmaṇa.⁸ Moreover, the term bhesajā (‘remedies’) designates

in the Atharvaveda⁹ that Veda itself, while in the Śatapatha

Brāhmaṇa¹⁰ yātu (‘sorcery’) conveys the same meaning. The

evidence, however, being by no means convincing, it remains

probable that there existed no clear differentiation between the

two sages as responsible for the Atharvaveda as a whole. [Footnote] 1) Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 12, 8, 2;

Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, ii. 9; 10; Śata-

patha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 5, 6, 7; Bṛhad-

āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, ii. 4, 10; iv. 1, 2;

5, 11; Chāndogya Upaniṣad, iii. 4, 1. 2;

Taittirīya Upaniṣad, ii. 3, 1. [Footnote] 2) x. 7, 20. [Footnote] 3) Śāṅkhāyana Srauta Sūtra, xvi. 2, 9,

etc. [Footnote] 4) Journal of the American Oriental

Society, 11, 387 et seq.; Hymns of the

Atharvaveda, xviii. et seq. [Footnote] 5) Av. xi. 6, 14. [Footnote] 6) Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, x. 5, 2, 20. [Footnote] 7) Kauśika Sūtra, 3, 19. [Footnote] 8) xii. 9, 10; xvi. 10, 10. [Footnote] 9) x. 6, 14. [Footnote] 10) x. 5, 2, 20.

Cf. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie,

2, 177.