Atharvan

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use Indian English|date=March 2016}} {{Infobox character | family = Brahma (father) | image = Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png | caption = Atharva Veda written by Atharvan | children = Dadhichi }} {{Contains special characters|Indic}} '''Atharvan''' ({{langx|sa|अथर्वन्}} {{IAST3|Atharvan}}, nominative singular: अथर्वा {{IAST3|Atharvā}}) is a legendary Vedic sage (rishi) of Hinduism, who along with Angiras, is supposed to have authored ("heard") the Atharvaveda. He is also said to have first instituted the fire-sacrifice or yajña. Sometimes he is also reckoned among the seven seers, the Saptarishi. His clan is known as the Atharvanas. Atharvan married Shanti, daughter of Prajapati Kardama, and had a great sage Dadhichi as a son. He is referred to as a member of the Bhrigu clan.

According to the Mundaka Upanishad and other texts, he was the eldest son and (Manasaputra) born from mind of the creator deity, Brahma.

== Etymology == Vedic ''atharvan'' is cognate with Avestan ''āθrauuan'' / ''aθaurun'', "priest", but the etymology of the term is not yet conclusively established. It was once thought to be etymologically related to the Avestan ''ātar'', but that is now considered unlikely (Boyce, 2002:16). It has been suggested by scholars that the Vedic and Avestan terms are not of Indo-European origin, and are derived from the BMAC substrate.<ref>ALEXANDER LUBOTSKY 1999, [https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2884808/view The Indo-Iranian substratum - Early Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations.] Papers presented at an international symposium held at the Tvärminne Research Station of the University of Helsinki 8-10 January 1999. (Mémoires de la Société Finno-ougrienne 242.) Chr. Carpelan, A. Parpola, P. Koskikallio (eds.). Helsinki 2001, 301-317.</ref>

==See also== *Vedic priesthood *Dadhichi *Manasaputra

== Notes == {{Reflist}}

==References== *Boyce, Mary (2002). "Āθravan". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Mazda Pub. pp. 16–17. Available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/atravan-priest (accessed on 30 December 2012). *{{cite book|first=A. |last=Lubotsky |author-link=Alexander Lubotsky |chapter=The Indo-Iranian Substratum |title=Early Contacts between Uralic and Indo-European: Linguistic and Archaeological Considerations |editor1-first= C. |editor1-last=Carpelan |editor2-first=A. |editor2-last=Parpola |editor3-first=P.|editor3-last=Koskikallio |location=Helsinki |publisher=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura |date=2001 |pages=301–317}} *Witzel, Michael (2003). "Linguistic Evidence for Cultural Exchange in Prehistoric Western Central Asia". ''Sino-Platonic Papers'' Volume 129. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.

Category:Rishis Category:Hindu mythology