Herbert William Magoun - The Asuri Kalpa A Witchcraft Practice of the Atharva Veda (2.0 MB)
Book downloads: 493
The ritual literature of the Atharva-Veda, like that of the other Vedas, has attached to itself certain parifistas, or supplements. Of these, the thirty-fifth, according to the best accessible MS, is the Asurl-Kalpa, an abhicara, or witchcraft practice, containing rites to be used in connection with the asurl-plant. The question as to what this plant was will be discussed below. The use of the word kalpa for such a text is explained by a passage in the Atharvanlya-Paddhati, which states, on the authority of Uparvarsa,' that ... More >>>Book can be downloaded.
Note that, unfortunately, not all my books can be downloaded or ordered on CD due to the restrictions of copyright. However, most of the books on this site do not have copyright restrictions. If you find any copyright violation, please contact me at 
. I am very attentive to the issue of copyright and try to avoid any violations, but on the other hand to help all fans of magic to get access to information.
If you are having difficulty downloading books, or you are looking for a book that is not on the site (but maybe it is in my home library), please write me a email to
and I will try to help, I can send the book by e-mail
Since darkbooks.org began in early 2008, visitors have downloaded thousands of free ebooks. While I am happy to donate my time to providing you this resource, I do pay monthly web server/files storage costs to keep this site on the air. Please consider making a donation to help me offset these costs and continue to provide free ebooks. Even a small contribution helps :)
The ritual literature of the Atharva-Veda, like that of the other Vedas, has attached to itself certain parifistas, or supplements. Of these, the thirty-fifth, according to the best accessible MS, is the Asurl-Kalpa, an abhicara, or witchcraft practice, containing rites to be used in connection with the asurl-plant. The question as to what this plant was will be discussed below. The use of the word kalpa for such a text is explained by a passage in the Atharvanlya-Paddhati, which states, on the authority of Uparvarsa,' that in addition to the five AV. kalpas--Kau9ika, Vaitana, Naksatra, ^anti, and Angirasa -- which are called ' inspired,' there are certain other kalpas which are to be considered as smrti ' handed down by tradition.'
Three MSS have been consulted in preparing this paper. Two of them are copies ofjhe parifistas of the AV. the third is a commentary to the Asuri-Kalpa. All three are loans to Dr. Bloomfield from the British Government in India, Just here I may say that I am greatly indebted to Dr. Bloomfield for the use of these MSS, for the encouragement and assistance which he has given me, and for his kindness in looking over my work. (Herbert William Magoun)
