7. Review of Literature

A review of the works, both ancient and modern, which have enriched the Atharvavedic literature, has been furnished below.

The Atharvaveda has a prominent place in the Vedic literature and is considered to be the best source of cultural information of the Vedic period. For the understanding of the Veda, the commentary of Sāyaṇācārya is the best aid, which is known as Mādhavīyavedārthaprakāśa. Here, Sāyaṇācārya has dealt with the grammatical peculiarities with etymological derivations of the words. The Atharvavedasaṃhitā with the commentary of Sāyaṇācārya, in four volumes edited by Shankar Pandurang Pandit is published by the Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi in 1989. The Hindi translation of both the text and the commentary, edited by Ramswarup Sharma Gaud is much helpful in understanding of the Veda. However, in these two editions, the Śaunakīya recension of the Atharvaveda has been preserved. The Paippalāda recension of the Atharvaveda has also been published by The Asiatic Society in 1997. This recension, discovered by Durgamohan Bhattacharya, has been critically edited by Dipak Bhattacharya. The Kauśikasūtra, the Gṛhya manual of the Atharvaveda is indispensably necessary to know the ritualistic part of the Veda. The Atharvavedaprayogabhānu, authored by Raviśaṅkara Nāgar Dvija, edited by M.B.Kāṭhapa-saṃhitā Reddy, also serves as a guidebook in this regard. Yāska’s Nirukta is the another important treatise as it etymologizes the Vedic words.

The notes and the English translation of the Atharva-Veda-Saṃhitā by W. D. Whitney, published in two volumes are also the remarkable contributions. Translations of some selected hymns of the Atharvaveda by M. Bloomfield, published in the Sacred Books of East Vol. 42 edited by F. Max Müller, deserves special mention.

The Common life in the Ṛgveda and Atharvaveda by Chandra Chakravarty, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization by A. S. Altekar, Hindu Saṃskāras: SocioReligious Study of the Hindu Sacraments by Rajbali Pandey, The Atharvan Civilization, Its Place in Indo-Aryan Culture and The Atharvaveda and the Āyurveda by V. W. Karambelkar, are the works, dealing with the various aspects of the Atharvavedic society. M. Bloomfield’s The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha Brāhmaṇa, Jan Gonda’s Vedic Literature: [Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas], B. R. Modak’s The Anciliary Literature of the Atharvaveda-a Study with Special Reference to the Pariśiṣṭas are also worth mentioning. The Female Divinities in Hindu Mythology and Ritual by Shyam Kishore Lal is a comprehensive study of the female deities in the Vedic pantheon, the study of which is much relevant to the present work. Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women, by Julia Leslie, Glimpse of Vedic and Ancient Indian Civilization by Shashi Tiwari, Life and Society in the Vedic Age by Priti Mitra are also the works, having contribution to the field of Atharvavedic study. N. J. Shedhe, in his works, viz. The Foundation of Atharvanic Religion and The Religion and Philosophy of the Atharvaveda, has made an extensive study of the Atharvaveda from the religious and philosophical points of view, which are utilized for the sake of deriving materials for the present study.

For the study of women in the Atharvaveda, various articles, published in the first volume of Surabhāratī, the annual peer-reviewed research journal of the department of Sanskrit, Gauhati University are also dealt with.

Thus, it is noticed that there are a good number of works in the field of Atharvavedic study. For the sake of precision, all materials could not be traced here.