The Atharva Veda is an amalgamation of the primitive religion that predated Vedic thought and the philosophy of the earlier Riga, Yajur and Sama Vedas.
Before the Vedic thought began to evolve on the banks of the River Saraswati, there existed among the people a “primitive” religion. Like all primitive religions this was steeped in sorcery and witchcraft. For a long time Vedic seers were able to keep their way of life untouched by primitive culture, and therefore both evolved independently. But it was only a matter of time before interaction took place. The common people found the Vedic thought mystic and the primitive religion practical and wanted to be a part of both.
The Atharva Veda is an amalgamation of these two ways of life. In a sense parts of the Atharva Veda predate the Riga Veda because they speak about practices that existed before the composition of the hymns of the Riga Veda. However the actual amalgamation and the composition of the hymns of the Atharva Veda took place much after the Riga, Yajur and Sama Vedas were composed. In fact the hymns of what is now known as the Atharva Veda were looked down upon initially and were given the status of a Veda only much later.
Certain hallmarks of Hinduism are seen in the Atharva Veda. The spirit of tolerance, co-existence, compromise and a sympathetic understanding of other points of view are all present. Even today Hinduism is an inclusive religion that accepts that there are other ways to reach God.
From the primitive religion the Atharva Veda introduces sorcery, witchcraft and superstitions. Incantations are offered as solutions to problems involving disease, misfortune and even death. Such incantations even today remain a part of the Hindu culture among the uneducated rural population. It must be said for the amalgamation process that curative incantations were preferred over the ones that promised revenge on or destruction of ones enemies. The concept of Hell or Naraka is introduced in the Atharva Veda. This is similar to the Christian concept of Hell, where the sinners and criminals go to after death to face an eternity of torture. Though this concept of Heaven (reward) and Hell (punishment) does not exist in the law of Karma, which is mainstream Hindu philosophy, it does enjoy a common popularity.
From the Vedic part, the Atharva Veda contains concepts that lead to the evolution of Hindu philosophy and theology. The ultimate principle that encompasses space, time, knowledge and morality is one of them. It is given different names like Brahma, Prajapati and Purusha. Of importance is the worship of time known as Kaal, which eventually consumes everything. Later, as mentioned in the Gita, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra Krishna manifests Himself as Kaal to show Arjun the awesome spectacle of a creature with many heads. From some of the heads a multitude of galaxies are emerging and in others a multitude of them being destroyed. Living creatures are being continuously consumed by some of the heads, while being born through some of the others. The Atharva Veda also introduces the Pranas or the life giving principles of nature. On the theological part there is the evolution of Rudra into Pashupati the Lord of the beasts who in later theology is transformed into Shiva, one of the Hindu Trinity.
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