Structure of Atharva Veda

Structure of Atharva Veda reveals the complexity of the ancient text. Atharva Veda is divided into twenty books.

Book	Hymns	Book	Hymns
1	35	11	10
2	36	12	5
3	31	13	4
4	40	14	2
5	31	15	18
6	142	16	9
7	118	17	1
8	10	18	4
9	10	19	72
10	10	20	143

Structure of Atharva Veda has resemblance to that of Rig Veda. Each of the twenty books contains numerous hymns. Again each hymn contains several verses. There are in all seven hundred and thirty one hymns. The total number of verses is 5987. The books from 8 to 18 contain lesser hymns as compared to other books. These hymns contain 50 to 60 verses.

Book six and seven were the last composed books of one half (book 1 to 7) of Atharva Veda while book 19 and 20 were the last composed books of the other half (8 to 20). Structure of Atharva Veda

There lies a possibility that the two halves of Atharva Veda followed 2 different Atharva Vedic traditions which has been merged later in order to form one single book. It is also considered that the first half is older than the second part.

The character and composition of book nineteen and twenty reveal that they were composed in the end. Book xx contains excerpts from the Rig-Veda.

There are two principles that form the base of the book. Firstly it is the subject unity and secondly it is the length of the hymn. The first can be divided again into short and long hymns. The first seven consists of short hymns. The next five books consist of long hymns. The next possess the subject unity. Unity of subject is clear in books fourteen and eighteen. The hymn division is secondary in books that range from thirteen to eighteen. Hymn division in these books have little critical value.

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