A report on Vedas, Atharvaveda and Agni

The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.

A page from the Atharva Veda Samhita, its most ancient layer of text.

Agni (fire) is a part of major rites-of-passage rituals such as weddings and cremation in Indian religions.

Rishi Caraka (above), the author of Caraka Samhita credits Atharvaveda as an inspiration.

A pre-3rd century CE, Kushan Empire era red-stone Agni statue. Art of Mathura.

A page from the Taittiriya Samhita, a layer of text within the Yajurveda

Agni with an aura of flames, seated on ram.

Saptapadi, a Hindu wedding ritual, around Agni in progress.

Agni is a part of the ritual grammar in many Hindu festivals. Above Holika for Holi, includes Agni.

Agni god in southeast corner of the 11th-century Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar Odisha. The ram is carved below him.

Agni seated on a ram, 14th–15th century Indonesia.

Agni (right) with his son Skanda (Karttikeya), about 1st-century CE.

The Buddhist Fire God "Katen" (火天) in Japanese art. Dated 1127 CE, Kyoto National Museum.

Agni ( English:, अग्नि) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism.

- Agni

The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.

- Atharvaveda

There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda.

- Vedas

The latter name Angiras which is linked to Agni and priests in the Vedas, states George Brown, may also be related to Indo-European Angirôs found in an Aramaic text from Nippur.

- Atharvaveda

The Samhitas (Sanskrit ', "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("mantras"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions ('). In some contexts, the term Veda is used to refer only to these Samhitas, the collection of mantras. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, which were composed between circa 1500–1200 BCE (Rig Veda book 2–9), and 1200–900 BCE for the other Samhitas. The Samhitas contain invocations to deities like Indra and Agni, "to secure their benediction for success in battles or for welfare of the clan." The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's Vedic Concordance (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metrical feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.

- Vedas

According to Atharvaveda, it is Agni that conveys the soul of the dead from the pyre to be reborn in the next world or life.

- Agni

4 related topics with Alpha

Brahmana

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Page form the Mimamsa sutra of Jaiminimi, who also recorded the Jaiminiya Brahmana and other works.

Extract from a 13th-century manuscript of the Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 14).

The Brahmanas (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मणम्, Brāhmaṇam) are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas.

Notably, Dalal adds that of the 53 teachers listed, the 'earliest teacher, Kashyapa, is said to have received the teaching from the god, Agni'.

Rigveda

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Ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas).

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction ('), the first line has the first pada, RV 1.1.1a ('). The pitch-accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red.

A map of tribes and rivers mentioned in the Rigveda.

Geographical distribution of the Late Vedic Period. Each of major regions had their own recension of Rig Veda (Śākhās), and the versions varied.

Rigveda manuscript page, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9 (Sanskrit, Devanagari script)

Devi sukta, which highlights the goddess tradition of Hinduism is found in Rigveda hymns 10.125. It is cited in Devi Mahatmya and is recited every year during the Durga Puja festival.

The hymn 10.85 of the Rigveda includes the Vivaha-sukta (above). Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals.

It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas.

Book 10 contributes the largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda, or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text.

The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Indra, a heroic god praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra; Agni, the sacrificial fire; and Soma, the sacred potion or the plant it is made from.

Samhita

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Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".

Saṃhitā also refers to the most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting of mantras, hymns, prayers, litanies and benedictions.

Vedic Samhita refer to mathematically precise metrical archaic text of each of the Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda).

A hymn in the Atharva Veda Samhita, for example, is a woman's petition to deity Agni, to attract suitors and a good husband.

Nagarjuna, known for the Madhyamaka (middle path), wrote the medical works The Hundred Prescriptions and The Precious Collection.

Ayurveda

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Alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent.

The three Doshas and the five elements from which they are composed.

An Ayurvedic practitioner applying oil using head massage

Ayurvedic preparations displayed in Dehli in 2016

Ayurvedic treatment set up used for applying oil to patients, Kerala, 2017

Practitioners in 2017 in Sri Lanka where Ayurveda spas are common.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Amsterdam in 1967

Statue of Charaka, ancient Indian physician, in Haridwar, India

earth, water, fire, air and ether.

In medieval taxonomies of the Sanskrit knowledge systems, Ayurveda is assigned a place as a subsidiary Veda (upaveda).

Some medicinal plant names from the Atharvaveda and other Vedas can be found in subsequent Ayurveda literature.