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The Atharvaveda is a part of the ancient religious texts called Vedas. The texts are considered to be the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Atharvaveda is composed in Vedic Sanskrit. This set of text is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books. About a sixth of the Atharvaveda text adapts verses from the Rigveda. The text is in the form of a poem deploying a diversity of Vedic meters. Two different recensions of the text – the Paippalada and the Saunakiya – have survived into modern times.

The Atharvaveda has three primary Upanishads embedded within it. The Mundaka Upanishad, embedded inside Atharvaveda, is a poetic style Upanishad, with 64 verses, written in the form of mantras. These mantras are not used during rituals. They are used for teaching and meditation on spiritual knowledge. The Mandukya Upanishad is the shortest of all the Upanishads, found in the Atharvaveda text. The syllable Om is discussed in it. The text presents the theory of four states of consciousness, asserts the existence and nature of Self. The Prashna Upanishad is from the Paippalada school of Atharvavedins.

The core text of the Atharvaveda falls within the classical Mantra period of Vedic Sanskrit. It is younger than the Rigveda and roughly contemporary with the Yajurveda mantras, the Rigvedic Khilani, and the Samaveda. There is no absolute dating of any Vedic text including the Atharvaveda.

 

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