Source: here.
Acquiring the atharvaveda either requires you to be born as a scion of
the atharvan clan or acquire it through a separate upanayanam. The key
to this new upanayanam is the need for the student to chant the sUktaM
known as triShaptIyam (AV-S 1.1 or AV-P 1.6). Only by chanting the
triShaptIyam does the power of the atharvanic mantras enter him so that
he can use them. Thus the triShaptIyam is also used before commencing
practice of atharvanic recitation or svAdhyAyaH. For deploying an
atharvanic spell for protection one needs the first mantra of the
triShaptiyam to be recited. In the atharvanic upanayanam there is a
special ritual apparently not seen in other vedic traditions. The father
or teacher ties feathers of a shUka (parrot), a sAri (myna) and a
kR^isha (Wren warbler) with a yellow string around the students neck.
Then these are offered in the sacrificial fire with the triShaptIyaM. In
a more gory shaunaka rite of the past the tongues of these birds were
similarly tied and eaten. This qualifies him to start acquiring
atharvanic vidya.
AV-S 1.1
ye triShaptAH pariyanti vishvA rUpANi bibhrataH /
vAchaspatir balA teShAM tanvo adya dadhAtu me //1//
Three times seven that go around, bearing all forms;
let vAchaspati put their powers into my body’s [parts]
punar ehi vachaspate devena manasA saha /
vasoShpate ni ramaya mayy evAstu mayi shrutam //2//
Come here again vAchaspati with the mind of the devas;
lord of riches, make it stay in me, in myself the shruti.
ihaivAbhi vi tanUbhe ArtnI iva jyayA /
vAchaspatir ni yachhatu mayy evAstu mayi shrutam //3//
Just here stretch on, like the two ears of the bow with the bowstring;
Let vAchaspati hold in me, in myself the shruti.
upahUto vAchaspatir upAsmAn vAchaspatir hvayatAm /
saM shrutena gamemahi mA shrutena vi rAdhiShi //4//
vAchaspati is called upon, on us let vAchaspati call;
may we united with the shruti and not parted from the shruti.
The key rahasyas here are: the jaws are the Artni-s of the bow (1.1.2)
and the vocal cords are the jya or the bow-string.
The first mantra gives the most reduced form of the sounds of
saMskR^ita. It is from this most condensed set described as 3*7=21 that
all sounds of the shruti are derived by knowning this (as the
mantravit-s know it, not the plebeian) one gains the profound insight of
the shruti. Hence the kaushika calls it the medhAprajanana mantra.
Thus we have:
……………
- a -> A
- i->I
- u->U
- R^i->R^I, L^i, L^I
- e
- ai
- o
- au = all above svara
…………… - aH=visarga
…………… - ya, 11) ra, 12) la, 13) va =anthaHstha (half vowels)
…………… - ka->kha, ga, gha
- c-> cha, ja, jha
- T->Tha, Da, Dha->La
- ta-> tha, da, dha
- p->pha, ba, bha= all above sparsha
…………… - sa->sha, Sha = sibilants
…………… - ha = UShman
…………… - M->anunAsika+ma, na, Na, ~na, ~Na = nasals
……………
Thus the atharvan tradition condenses all the sounds of Chandas to a set
of 21 that are invoked to enter you in the triShaptIya rite. This marks
the beginning of Hindu linguistics where the principle of homologous
condensation was recognized. This is summed up by pata~njali in his
mahAbhAShya thus:
avarNAkR^itir upadiShTA sarvaM avarNa-kulaM grahIShyati,
tathevarNAkR^itiH tathovarNAkR^itiH |
The theoretical form of the a sound, when being taught, with contain the
whole family of a-like sounds, so also with the theoretical forms of i
and u sounds. Thus, the principle of homologous reduction stems from the
root of the vedic tradition itself and made explicit in atharvanic
education.