When Agni, having entered the waters, burned, where the (gods) who uphold the order (of the universe) rendered homage (to Agni), there, they say, is thy origin on high: do thou feel for us, and spare us, O takman!

This is the Ralph T. H. Griffith translation of the Atharvaveda. The Atharvaveda is a Vedic-era collection of spells, prayers, charms, and hymns. There are prayers to protect crops from lightning and drought, charms against venomous serpents, love spells, healing spells, hundreds of verses, some derived from the Rig veda, all very ancient.

The Rig Veda, core of the Hindu scriptural canon, is a collection of over a thousand hymns; above all it is a glorious song of praise to the gods, the cosmic powers at work in nature and in man.The presentation of the twelve hymns in this book makes available a portion of one of the major scriptures of humanity in contemporary idioms (English, French, German, and Spanish) that reflect the quality, substance, and form of the original.

Description: Are the Vedas three or four in number? The Western scholars basing their arguments on the Purusasukta and the word abhicara meaning sorcery and charms have concluded that the Vedas are three and Atharvaveda does not belong to the main body as it deals with black magic. This conclusion is wrong; for, the Atharvaveda deals with all those evils that have plagued mankind from the dawn of creation and suggests remedies in the form of medicines and prayers. From the point of view usefulness, the Atharvaveda is the best for man, as it has prayers for his well-being. longevity, progeny and happy domestic life. Devi Chand's translation is based on Swami Dayanand's interpretation. He has also made use of the commentaries of eminent Indian and foreign Vedic scholars. He has spared no pains to bring home the message of the Atharvaveda to contemporary man. The notes, index and the introduction add to the value of this book. All those interested to find solutions to the myriad problems that affect them everyday shall find this book highly useful.