The A Witchcraft Practice of the Atharva-Veda (Classic Reprint)

The ritual literature of the A tharva-V eda like that of the other Vedas, has attached to itself cotain pari9istas, or supplements. Of these, the thirty-fifth, according to the best accessible MS, is the A suri-K alpa, an abhicara, or witchcraft practice, containing rites to be used in connection with the Js urirplant The question as to what this plant was will be discussed below. The use of the word kcdpa for such a text is explained by a passage in the A tharvaniya-P addhati, which states, on the authority of Uparvarsa, that in addition to the five AV. ioio Kau9ikay Vaitana, Naksatra, Cajiti, and A ngirasa which are called pTM? inspired, there are certain other kalpas which are to be considered as smrti handed down by tradition. Three MSS have been consulted in preparing this paper. Two of them are copies ofjthe pari9istas of the AV.; the third is a commentary to the A suri-K alpa. All three are loans toD r. Bloomfield fi-om theB ritish Government in I ndia. Just here I may say that I am greatly indebted toD r. Bloomfield for the use of these MSS, for the encouragement and assistance which he has given me, and for his kindness in looking over my work. The MSS are as follows: JL, large sheets of light yellow pa( er, bound in book form, written lengthwise in a large dea) hand and with considerable care. It is a modem copy. ,narrow sheets of light blue pa( er, bound in book form, written lengthwise, text fuller in places than the preceding, but in a poor hand and with numerous errors. It must be a very recent copy. Both of these Mare numbered 23. 8(S choliast), much older than either of the preceding, single sheets of light brown paper grown dark at the edges, written lengthwise as the other MSS, but in a vfiy poor, though large, A mimansa (purva-) teacher. See Life andE ssays of H. T. Colebrooke, Vol. II, pp. 319-49. Cf. J.A.O.S. XI 377, Bloomfield, On the P
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)