s inculcated and formulated in
the Atharvan were the stronghold of a certain class of priests, or
that such priests were feared and employed by the laity, openly by the
low classes, secretly by the intelligent.

In respect of the name the magical cult was referred, historically
with justice, to the fire-priests, Atharvan and Angiras, though little
application to fire, other than in _soma_-worship, is apparent. Yet
was this undoubtedly the source of the cult (the fire-cult is still
distinctly associated with the Atharva Veda in the epic), and the name
is due neither to accident nor to a desire to invoke the names of
great seers, as will Weber.[11] The other name of Brahmaveda may have
connection with the 'false science of Brihaspati,' alluded to in a
Upanishad.[12] This seer is not over-orthodox, and later he is the
patron of the unorthodox C[=a]rv[=a]kas. It was seen above that the
god Brihaspati is also a novelty not altogether relished by the Vedic
Aryans.

From an Aryan point of view how much weight is to be placed on
comparisons of the formulae in the Atharvan of India with those of
other Aryan nations? Kuhn has compared[13] an old German magic formula
of healing with one in the Atharvan, and because each says 'limb to
limb' he thinks that they are of the same origin, particularly since
the formula is found in Russian. The comparison is interesting, but it
is far from convincing. Such formulae spring up independently all over
the earth.

Finally, it is to be observed that in this Veda first occurs the
implication of the story of the flood (xix. 39. 8), and the saving of
Father Manu, who, however, is known by this title in the Rik. The
supposition that the story of the flood is derived from Babylon,
seems, therefore, to be an unnecessary (although a permissible)
hypothesis, as the tale is old enough in India to warrant a belief in
its indigenous origin.[14]

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: XV. 15.]

[Footnote 2: X. 2.]

[Footnote 3: VII. 69. Compare RV. VII. 35, and the epic
(below).]

[Footnote 4: X. 173.]

[Footnote 5: V. 30.]

[Footnote 6: XI. 2. 28.]

[Footnote 7: XI. 9; VIII. 6 and 7, with tree-worship.]

[Footnote 8: V. 24. 4-5. On 'the one god' compare X. 8. 28;
XIII. 4. 15. Indra as S[=u]rya, in VII. 11; cf. xiii. 4;
XVII. 1. 24. Pantheism in X. 7. 14. 25. Of charms, compare
ii. 9, to rest