अथर्वाङ्गिरसः

यन्त्रोपारोपितकोशांशः

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

पृष्ठभागोऽयं यन्त्रेण केनचित् काले काले मार्जयित्वा यथास्रोतः परिवर्तयिष्यते। तेन मा भूदत्र शोधनसम्भ्रमः। सज्जनैः मूलमेव शोध्यताम्।

Atharvāṅgirasaḥ.--This is the collective name of the Atharvaveda in several passages of the later Brāhmaṇas. It occurs once in the Atharvaveda itself, while the term Atharvaveda is not found before the Sūtra period. The compound seems, according to Bloomfield, to denote the two elements which make up the Atharvaveda. The former part refers to the auspicious practices of the Veda (bheṣajāni); the latter to its hostile witchcraft, the yātu or abhi-cāra. 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. Moreover, the term bhesajā (‘remedies’) designates in the Atharvaveda that Veda itself, while in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 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.