Atharva-Veda Samhita/Book XII

Book XII.

⌊This twelfth book is the fifth and last of the second grand division of the Atharvan collection. For a general statement as to the make-up of the books of this division, page 471 may again be consulted. The Old Anukramaṇī describes the length of the artha-sūktas, hymns 1, 2, 3, and 4, by giving the overplus of each hymn over 60 verses. The assumed normal lengths in the case of books ix., x., xi., and xii. seem to be respectively 20, 30, 20, and 60 verses. The whole book has been translated by Victor Henry, Les livres X, XI et XII de l'Atharva-veda traduits et commentés, Paris, 1896. The bhāṣya is again lacking. The fifth or last hymn is made up of 7 paryāyas (see pages 471-2), which, if they be counted separately, make the hymns number 11 instead of 5: see page 611, top.⌋

⌊The anuvāka-division of the book (as noted above, page 472) is into five anuvākas of one hymn each. The "decad"-division likewise is as described on page 472. A tabular conspectus for this book also may be added:

Anuvākas	1	2	3	4	5
Hymns	1	2	3	4	5
Verses	63	55	60	53	73¶
	$\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad } }$	$\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad } }$	$\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad } }$	$\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad } }$	$\scriptstyle {\overbrace {\quad \quad \quad } }$
Decad-div.	5 tens + 13	5 tens + 5	6 tens	4 tens + 13	7 P

Here, as before, ¶ means "paragraph of a paryāya" (such as is numbered as a "verse" in the Berlin edition) and P means "paryāya." The last line shows the "decad" division. Of these "decads," anuvākas 1, 2, 3, and 4 contain respectively 6, 6, 6, and 5 (in all, 23 "decads"); while anuvāka 5 has 7 paryāyas. The sum is 23 "decad"-sūktas and 7 paryāya-sūktas or 30 sūktas. Cf. the summation at the end of hymn 5.⌋

Hymn- number		Page
XII. Book the twelfth
1	To the earth	660
2	The flesh-eating and the householder's fires	672
3	Cremation as a sacrifice	682
4	The cow (vaçā́) as belonging exclusively to the Brahmans	693
5	The Brahman's cow (fifth paryāya-hymn, with 7 paryāyas)	701