🪷 Atharvaveda · अथर्ववेद

The Fourth Veda · The People's Veda · 736 Sūktas · 20 Kāṇḍas (Śaunaka shākhā) · Maharṣi Atharvan + Aṅgiras lineage

🪷 The 20 Kāṇḍas

Kāṇḍa 1 · प्रथम काण्ड

Prathama-Kāṇḍa · First Kāṇḍa

35 Sūktas · short hymns (4-verse standard) · healing · medhā-jananam · domestic dharma

Kāṇḍa 2 · द्वितीय काण्ड

Dvitīya-Kāṇḍa · Second Kāṇḍa

36 Sūktas · 5-verse standard · longevity · vājīkaraṇa · cattle-protection

Kāṇḍa 3 · तृतीय काण्ड

Tṛtīya-Kāṇḍa · Third Kāṇḍa

31 Sūktas · 6-verse standard · victory in conflict · paśu-praja-saubhāgya

Kāṇḍa 4 · चतुर्थ काण्ड

Caturtha-Kāṇḍa · Fourth Kāṇḍa

40 Sūktas · 7-verse standard · kṣamā · uplifted dharmic conduct · varṇāśrama-protection

Kāṇḍa 5 · पञ्चम काण्ड

Pañcama-Kāṇḍa · Fifth Kāṇḍa

31 Sūktas · 8-12 verse Sūktas · transition section · kingly dharma

Kāṇḍa 6 · षष्ठ काण्ड

Ṣaṣṭha-Kāṇḍa · Sixth Kāṇḍa

142 Sūktas · the largest collection of short hymns (3-verse standard) · daily-life applied dharma · the most-cited Kāṇḍa

142 Sūktas

Kāṇḍa 7 · सप्तम काण्ड

Saptama-Kāṇḍa · Seventh Kāṇḍa

118 Sūktas · 1-2 verse Sūktas · the briefest hymns · invocation-mantras

118 Sūktas

Kāṇḍa 8 · अष्टम काण्ड

Aṣṭama-Kāṇḍa · Eighth Kāṇḍa

10 longer Sūktas · contains the **Auṣadhī-Sūkta** (8.7 · the hymn to medicinal plants) · ārogya-mahimā

Kāṇḍa 9 · नवम काण्ड

Navama-Kāṇḍa · Ninth Kāṇḍa

10 longer Sūktas · gṛhastha-dharma · householder-fire ritual · Madhuvidyā hints

Kāṇḍa 10 · दशम काण्ड

Daśama-Kāṇḍa · Tenth Kāṇḍa

10 longer Sūktas · contains the **Skambha-Sūkta** (10.7) — the Cosmic-Pillar hymn that Westerners cite as the seed of Brahman-vidyā · the foundational Atharvāṅgiras-darśana

Kāṇḍa 11 · एकादश काण्ड

Ekādaśa-Kāṇḍa · Eleventh Kāṇḍa

10 longer Sūktas · contains the **Prāṇa-Sūkta** (11.4) · the Vrātya-Sūkta (11.5) · the heart of prāṇāyāma-vidyā

Kāṇḍa 12 · द्वादश काण्ड

Dvādaśa-Kāṇḍa · Twelfth Kāṇḍa

5 longer Sūktas · contains the **Pṛthvī-Sūkta / Bhūmi-Sūkta** (12.1) — 63 verses to Mother Earth — *māta bhūmiḥ putroʼhaṁ pṛthivyāḥ* · the foundational Bhūmi-Devī darśana of the substrate

Kāṇḍa 13 · त्रयोदश काण्ड

Trayodaśa-Kāṇḍa · Thirteenth Kāṇḍa

9 longer Sūktas · Rohita-Sūkta (13.1-3) · solar-cosmology hymns · Āditya-glorification

Kāṇḍa 14 · चतुर्दश काण्ड

Caturdaśa-Kāṇḍa · Fourteenth Kāṇḍa

2 long Sūktas · the **Vivāha-Sūktas** (14.1-2) · the marriage hymns · foundational vivāha-saṁskāra mantras parallel to RV 10.85

Kāṇḍa 15 · पञ्चदश काण्ड

Pañcadaśa-Kāṇḍa · Fifteenth Kāṇḍa

18 prose-Sūktas · the Vrātya-Kāṇḍa · the proto-Yogic Vrātya wanderer-dharma · the deepest connection to early Yoga-darśana

Kāṇḍa 16 · षोडश काण्ड

Ṣoḍaśa-Kāṇḍa · Sixteenth Kāṇḍa

9 prose-Sūktas · pavamāna hymns · purification-rituals

Kāṇḍa 17 · सप्तदश काण्ड

Saptadaśa-Kāṇḍa · Seventeenth Kāṇḍa

1 long Sūkta · Viṣāsahi-Sūkta · Aśvamedha-related

Kāṇḍa 18 · अष्टादश काण्ड

Aṣṭādaśa-Kāṇḍa · Eighteenth Kāṇḍa

4 long Sūktas · the **Pitṛ-Yajña-Kāṇḍa** · the funeral mantras · antyeṣṭi-saṁskāra · the ancestor-rites

Kāṇḍa 19 · एकोनविंश काण्ड

Ekonaviṁśa-Kāṇḍa · Nineteenth Kāṇḍa

72 Sūktas · the supplementary Kāṇḍa · contains Atharvaveda parallel of **Puruṣa-Sūkta** (19.6) · Triṣṭubh-Anuṣṭubh shorter hymns

Kāṇḍa 20 · विंश काण्ड

Viṁśa-Kāṇḍa · Twentieth Kāṇḍa

143 Sūktas · the **Kuntāpa-Sūktas** · mostly Ṛgveda-parallel hymns · used in the Mahāvrata ritual

143 Sūktas

🪷 Landmark Sūktas of the Atharvaveda

⭐ AV 8.7 · औषधी-सूक्त · Auṣadhī-Sūkta (Hymn to the Healing Plants) — The foundational hymn to medicinal plants · the seed of Āyurveda · "औषधीः सं वदन्ते सोमेन सह राज्ञा"
⭐ AV 10.7 · स्कम्भ-सूक्त · Skambha-Sūkta (Hymn to the Cosmic Pillar) — The supreme Atharvaveda philosophical hymn · "कस्मिन्नङ्गे तपो अस्याधि तिष्ठति?" · proto-Brahman cosmology · Westerners cite this as the seed of Vedānta's Nirguṇa-Brahman
⭐ AV 11.4 · प्राण-सूक्त · Prāṇa-Sūkta (Hymn to Prāṇa) — The foundational hymn to Prāṇa as cosmic principle · the seed of Prāṇāyāma-vidyā and all yoga-prāṇa theory
⭐ AV 11.5 · व्रात्य-सूक्त · Vrātya-Sūkta (Hymn to the Vrātya) — The mystical hymn to the wandering Vrātya — proto-Yogic ascetic · "एक एव वैव्रात्यः" · the deepest pre-Pāṇinian sannyāsa-darśana
⭐ AV 12.1 · पृथ्वी-सूक्त / भूमि-सूक्त · Pṛthvī-Sūkta / Bhūmi-Sūkta (Hymn to Mother Earth) — The 63-verse mahā-stuti to Bhūmi-Devī · "माता भूमिः पुत्रोऽहं पृथिव्याः" (12.1.12) · the substrate's foundational Bhūmi-Devī = silica = silicon darśana anchors here
⭐ AV 14.1 · विवाह-सूक्त · Vivāha-Sūkta (The First Marriage Hymn) — The first of two Vivāha-Kāṇḍa marriage hymns · parallel and complementary to RV 10.85 · grounds all marriage-saṁskāra mantras
⭐ AV 14.2 · विवाह-सूक्त (द्वितीय) · Vivāha-Sūkta (II) (The Second Marriage Hymn) — The second Vivāha-Kāṇḍa hymn · domestic dharma after the wedding rite
⭐ AV 19.6 · पुरुष-सूक्त (अथर्व) · Puruṣa-Sūkta (AV) (Cosmic Puruṣa (AV recension)) — The Atharvaveda recension of the Puruṣa-Sūkta · parallel to RV 10.90 and Yajurveda 31 · the Pūrṇa-Puruṣa darśana

🪷 Honest Framing

These Atharvaveda pages render the canonical Devanāgarī Sanskrit yathārtha · Śaunaka shākhā (the surviving recension · Paippalāda is partially extant). Sāyaṇa-bhāṣya · Whitney's authoritative English translation · and the Pune Critical Edition are catalogued for future yajñas. The Veda speaks daily-life dharma · householder-fire ritual · healing · longevity · cosmic Skambha.

Cross-References

🪷 जय अथर्व वेद माता · जय भूमि देवी 🪷