The Atharvaveda lived for a long time as a purely oral revelation, entrusted to carefully trained priestly lineages. Its transmission unfolded within the guru–śiṣya relationship, where a teacher guided the disciple through years of disciplined recitation until every syllable, accent, and pause was fixed in memory. This process was not casual memorization but a sacred craft, supported by precise phonetic rules, metrical patterns, and specialized recitation methods. Different families and schools, especially the Śaunaka and Paippalāda traditions, guarded their respective recensions, so that multiple, parallel lines of memory acted as a safeguard against loss or distortion. Constant repetition, group chanting, and ritual use further anchored the text in the living fabric of religious practice.

Over time, this orally sustained corpus began to be mirrored in written form, though writing remained secondary to the authority of memory. Manuscripts of the Atharvaveda were produced on materials such as palm leaves, birch bark, and later paper, and were written in the regional scripts of the areas where the tradition was maintained. These written versions did not replace the oral tradition but served as a kind of external support, a way of recording and codifying what had already been stabilized in recitation. Among the various recensions, the Śaunaka Saṃhitā became the most widely transmitted and copied, while the Paippalāda Saṃhitā survived more narrowly and was preserved only in certain regions. Through this interplay of living chant and fragile manuscript, the Atharvaveda was carried forward, its spells, rituals, and reflections safeguarded by both human memory and written trace.