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The Vedas (Sanskrit véda वेद "knowledge") are a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.

According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya "not human compositions", being supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard"). Vedic mantras are recited at Hindu prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions.

Philosophies and sects that developed in the Indian subcontinent have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika). Two other Indian philosophies, Buddhism and Jainism, did not accept the authority of the Vedas and evolved into separate religions. In Indian philosophy these groups are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-Vedic" (nāstika) schools.

Etymology and usage

The Sanskrit word véda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". This is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning "see" or "know".

As a noun, the word appears only in a single instance in the Rigveda, in RV 8.19.5, translated by Griffith as "ritual lore":

yáḥ samídhā yá âhutī / yó védena dadâśa márto agnáye / yó námasā svadhvaráḥ
"The mortal who hath ministered to Agni with oblation, fuel, ritual lore, and reverence, skilled in sacrifice."

The noun is from PIE *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek (ϝ)εἶδος "aspect, form". Not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek (ϝ)οἶδα (w)oida "I know". Root cognate are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, witness, German wissen, Latin video.

In its narrowest sense, the term Veda is used to refer to the Samhitas (collection of mantras, or chants) associated with the four canonical Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharavaveda) though typically the reference also includes the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads attached to the Samhitas. In post-Vedic speculation, the term was further extended to refer to Itihasas (epics) and Puranas, each of which is sometimes designated as the "fifth Veda"; and in its widest interpretation, Veda can subsume "potentially all brahmanical texts, teachings and practices." In its primary meaning, as a common noun meaning "knowledge"", veda can also be used to refer to fields of study unrelated to liturgy or ritual, freely compounded e.g. in agada-veda "medical science", sasya-veda "science of agriculture" or sarpa-veda "science of snakes"; durveda means "without knowledge, ignorant".

Dating

Main article: Vedic period

The Vedas are arguably the oldest surviving scriptures that are still used. Most Indologists agree that an oral tradition existed long before a literary tradition gradually sets in from about the 2nd century BCE. Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years. The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Rigveda are dated in the 11th century.

The Vedic period lasts for at least a millennium, spanning the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Flood (1996, p. 37) sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was composed from as early as 1200 BCE over a period of several centuries. The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over Northern India which annotated the mantra samhitas with Brahmana commentaries, and reaches its end in the age of Panini and Buddha and the rise of the Mahajanapadas (archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 BCE and c. 500-400 BCE.

Categories of Vedic texts

Vedic texts are traditionally categorized into four classes: the Saṃhitās (mantras), Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads. Also classified as "Vedic" is certain Sutra literature, i.e. the Shrautasutras and the Grhyasutras.

  • The Samhita (Sanskrit saṃhitā, "collection"), are collections of metric texts ("mantras"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions (śākhā). In some contexts, the term Veda is used to refer to these Samhitas. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, apart from the Rigvedic hymns, which were probably essentially complete by 1200 BC, dating to ca. the 12th to 10th centuries BC. The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's Vedic Concordance (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metric feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.
  • The Brahmanas are prose texts that discuss, in technical fashion, the solemn sacrificial rituals as well as comment on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions. The Brahmanas may either form separate texts or can be partly integrated into the text of the Samhitas. They may also include the Aranyakas and Upanishads.
  • The Aranyakas, or "wilderness texts", are the concluding part of the Brahmanas that contain discussions and interpretations of dangerous rituals (to be studied outside the settlement) and various sorts of additional materials.
  • The Upanishads are largely philosophical works in dialog form. They discuss question of nature philosophy and the fate of the soul, and contain some mystic and spiritual interpretations of the Vedas. For long, they hav been regarded as their putative end and essence, and are thus known as Vedānta ("the end of the Vedas"). Taken together, they are the basis of the Vedanta school.

This group of texts is called shruti (Sanskrit: śruti; "the heard"). Since post-Vedic times it has been considered to be revealed wisdom, as distinct from other texts, collectively known as smriti (Sanskrit: smṛti; "the remembered"), that is texts that are considered to be of human origin. This system of categorization was developed by Max Müller and, while it is subject to some debate, it is still widely used. As Axel Michaels explains:

These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only one collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads ... are sometimes not to be distinguished from Āraṇyakas...; Brāhmaṇas contain older strata of language attributed to the Saṃhitās; there are various dialects and locally prominent traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by Max Müller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic literature."

The Shrauta Sutras, regarded as belonging to the smriti, are late Vedic in language and content, thus forming part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus. The composition of the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras (ca. 6th century BC) marks the end of the Vedic period , and at the same time the beginning of the flourishing of the "circum-Vedic" scholarship of Vedanga, introducing the early flowering of classical Sanskrit literature in the Maurya period.

While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceases with the end of the Vedic period, there is a large number of Upanishads composed after the end of the Vedic period. While most of the ten mukhya Upanishads can be considered to date to the Vedic or Mahajanapada period, most of the 108 Upanishads of the full Muktika canon date to the Common Era. The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads often interpret the polytheistic and ritualistic Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, the basis of later Hinduism.

Vedic schools or recensions

Main article: Shakha

Study of the extensive body of Vedic texts has been organized into a number of different schools or branches (Sanskrit śākhā, literally "branch" or "limb") each of which specialized in learning certain texts. Multiple recensions are known for each of the Vedas, and each Vedic text may have a number of schools associated with it. Elaborate methods for preserving the text were originally based on memorizing by heart instead of writing. Specific techniques for parsing and chanting the texts were used to assist in the memorization process. (See also: patha)

Exegetical literature developed in the Vedic schools but comparatively few early medieval commentaries have survived. Sayana, from the 14th century, is known for his elaborate commentaries on the Vedic texts. While some evidence suggests that every member of the upper three classes (varna) was allowed to study the Vedas and that none but a few Vedic authors (Rishis) were women, the later dharmashastras, from the Sutra age, dictate that women and Shudras were neither required nor allowed to study the Veda. These dharmashastras regard the study of the Vedas a religious duty of the three upper varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas).

The Four Vedas

The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (turīya) viz.,

  1. Rigveda (RV)
  2. Yajurveda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS)
  3. Samaveda (SV)
  4. Atharvaveda (AV)

Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called trayī, "the triple Vidyā", that is, "the triple sacred science" of reciting hymns (RV), performing sacrifices (YV), and chanting (SV). This triplicity is so introduced in the Brahmanas (ShB, ABr and others), but the Rigveda is the only original work of the three with the other two largely borrowing from it.

Thus, the Mantras are properly of three forms, 1. Ric, which are verses of praise in metre, and intended for loud recitation; 2. Yajus, which are in prose, and intended for recitation in a lower tone at sacrifices; 3. Sāman, which are in metre, and intended for chanting at the Soma ceremonies. The Yajurveda and Samaveda are not so much independent collections of prayers and hymns as special prayer- and hymn-books intended as manuals for the Adhvaryu and Udgatr priests respectively.

Subsequently, the Atharvaveda was added as the fourth Veda. Its status was probably not completely accepted till after Manusmrti, which often speaks of the three Vedas, calling them trayam-brahma-sanātanam, "the triple eternal Veda". The Atharvaveda like the Rigveda, is a collection of original hymns mixed up with incantations, borrowing little from the Rig and having no direct relation to sacrifices, but supposed by mere recitation to produce long life, to cure diseases, or effect the ruin of enemies.

Each of the four Vedas consists of the metrical Mantra or Samhita and the prose Brahmana part, giving directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used and explanations of the legends connected with the Mantras. Both these portions are termed shruti, heard but not composed or written down by men. Each of the four Vedas seems to have passed through numerous Shakhas or schools, giving rise to various recensions of the text. They each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvānukramaṇī.

The Rig-Veda

Main article: Rigveda

The Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest significant extant Indian text. It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas). The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.

The books were composed by sages and poets from different preistly groups over a period of at least 500 years, which Avari dates as 1400 BCE to 900 BCE, if not earlier According to Max Müller, based on internal evidence (philological and linguistic), the Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent. Michael Witzel believes that the Rig Veda must have been composed more or less in the period 1450-1350 BCE.

There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rigveda and the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the Andronovo culture; the earliest horse-drawn chariots were found at Andronovo sites in the Sintashta-Petrovka cultural area near the Ural mountains and date to ca. 2000 BCE.

The Yajur-Veda

Main article: Yajurveda

The Yajur-Veda ("Veda of sacrificial formulas") consists of archaic prose mantras and also in part of verses borrowed from the Rig-Veda. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice but, unlike the Sama-Veda, it was compiled to apply to all sacrificial rites, not merely the Soma offering. There are two major recensions of this Veda known as the "Black" and "White" Yajur-Veda. The origin and meaning of these designations are not very clear. The White Yajur-Veda contains only the verses and sayings necessary for the sacrifice, while explanations exist in a separate Brahmana work. It differs widely from the Black Yajurveda, which incorporates such explanations in the work itself, often immediately following the verses. Of the Black Yajurveda four major recensions survive, all showing by and large the same arrangement, but differing in many other respects, notably in the individual discussion of the rituals but also in matters of phonology and accent.

The Sama-Veda

Main article: Samaveda

The Sama-Veda (Sanskrit sāmaveda ) is the "Veda of chants" or "Knowledge of melodies". The name of this Veda is from the Sanskrit word sāman which means a metrical hymn or song of praise. It consists of 1549 stanzas, taken entirely (except 78) from the Rig-Veda. Some of the Rig-Veda verses are repeated more than once. Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses numbered in the Sama-Veda recension published by Griffith. Two major recensions remain today, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya.

Its purpose was liturgical and practical, to serve as a songbook for the "singer" priests who took part in the liturgy. A priest who sings hymns from the Sama-Veda during a ritual is called an udgātṛ, a word derived from the Sanskrit root ud-gai ("to sing" or "to chant"). A similar word in English might be "cantor". The styles of chanting are important to the liturgical use of the verses. The hymns were to be sung according to certain fixed melodies; hence the name of the collection.

The Atharva-Veda

Main article: Atharvaveda

The Artharva-Veda is the "Knowledge of the (and Angirasa)". The Artharva-Veda or Atharvangirasa is the text 'belonging to the Atharvan and Angirasa' poets. Apte defines an atharvan as a priest who worshipped fire and Soma. The etymology of Atharvan is unclear, but according to Mayrhofer it is related to Avesta athravan (āθrauuan); he denies any connection with fire priests. Atharvan was an ancient term for a certain Rshi even in the Rigveda. (The older literature took them as priests who worshipped fire).

The Atharva-Veda Saṃhitā has 760 hymns, and about one-sixth of the hymns are in common with the Rig-Veda. Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.

It was compiled around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rig Veda, and some parts of the Atharva-Veda are older than the Rig-Veda.

The Atharvana-Veda is preserved in two recensions, the Paippalāda and Śaunaka. According to Apte it had nine schools (shakhas). The Paippalada version is longer than the Saunaka one; it is only partially printed and remains untranslated.

Unlike the other three Vedas, the Atharvana-Veda has less connection with sacrifice. Its first part consists chiefly of spells and incantations, concerned with protection against demons and disaster, spells for the healing of diseases, and for long life.

The second part of the text contains speculative and philosophical hymns. R. C. Zaehner notes that:

"The latest of the four Vedas, the Atharva-Veda, is, as we have seen, largely composed of magical texts and charms, but here and there we find cosmological hymns which anticipate the Upanishads, -- hymns to Skambha, the 'Support', who is seen as the first principle which is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, to Prāna, the 'Breath of Life', to Vāc, the 'Word', and so on.

In its third section, the Atharvaveda contains Mantras used in marriage and death rituals, as well as those for kingship, female rivals and the Vratya (in Brahmana style prose).

Gavin Flood discusses the relatively late acceptance of the Atharva-Veda as follows:

"There were originally only three priests associated with the first three Saṃhitās, for the Brahman as overseer of the rites does not appear in the Ṛg Veda and is only incorporated later, thereby showing the acceptance of the Atharva Veda, which had been somewhat distinct from the other Saṃhitās and identified with the lower social strata, as being of equal standing with the other texts."


Brahmanas

Further information: Brahmanas

The mystical notions surrounding the concept of "Veda" that would flower in Vedantic philosophy have their roots already in Brahmana literature, notably in the Shatapatha Brahmana. The Vedas are identified with Brahman, the universal principle (ŚBM 10.1.1.8, 10.2.4.6). Vāc "speech" is called the "mother of the Vedas" (ŚBM 6.5.3.4, 10.5.5.1). The knowledge of the Vedas is endless, compared to them, human knowledge is like mere handfuls of dirt (TB 3.10.11.3-5). The universe itself was originally encapsulated in the three Vedas (ŚBM 10.4.2.22 has Prajapati reflecting that "truly, all beings are in the triple Veda").

Vedanta

Further information: Vedanta, Upanishads, and Aranyakas

While contemporary traditions continued to maintain Vedic ritualism (Shrauta, Mimamsa), Vedanta renounced all ritualism and radically re-interpreted the notion of "Veda" in purely mysticist terms. The association of the three Vedas with the bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ mantra is found in the Aitareya Aranyaka: "Bhūḥ is the Rigveda, bhuvaḥ is the Yajurveda, svaḥ is the Samaveda" (1.3.2). The Upanishads reduce the "essence of the Vedas" further, to the syllable Aum (ॐ). Thus, the Katha Upanishad has:

"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of continence, I will tell you briefly it is Aum" (1.2.15)

The Vedas in post-Vedic literature

Vedanga

Main article: Vedanga

Six technical subjects related to the Vedas are traditionally known as vedāṅga "limbs of the Veda". V. S. Apte defines this group of works as:

"N. of a certain class of works regarded as auxiliary to the Vedas and designed to aid in the correct pronunciation and interpretation of the text and the right employment of the Mantras in ceremonials."

These subjects are treated in Sutra literature dating from the end of the Vedic period to Mauryan times, seeing the transition from late Vedic Sanskrit to Classical Sanskrit.

The six subjects of Vedanga are:

Puranas

A traditional view given in the Vishnu Purana (likely dating to the Gupta period) attributes the current arrangement of four Vedas to the mythical sage Vedavyasa.. Puranic tradition also postulates a single original Veda that, in varying accounts, was divided into three or four parts. According to the Vishnu Purana (3.2.18, 3.3.4 etc) the original Veda was divided into four parts, and further fragmented into numerous shakhas, by Vishnu in the form of Vyasa, in the Dvapara Yuga; the Vayu Purana (section 60) recounts a similar division by Vyasa, at the urging of Brahma. The Bhagavata Purana (12.6.37) traces the origin of the primeval Veda to the syllable aum, and says that it was divided into four at the start of Dvapara Yuga, because men had declined in age, virtue and understanding. In a differing account Bhagavata Purana (9.14.43) attributes the division of the primeval veda (aum) into three parts to the monarch Pururavas at the beginning of Treta Yuga. The Mahabharata (santiparva 13,088) also mentions the division of the Veda into three in Treta Yuga.

Other "Vedas"

The term upaveda ("secondary knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works. They have no relation to the Vedas, except as subjects worthy of study despite their secular character. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:

But Sushruta and Bhavaprakasha mention Ayurveda as an upaveda of the Atharvaveda. Sthapatyaveda (architecture), Shilpa shastra (arts and crafts) are mentioned as fourth upaveda according to later sources.

Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra and certain Puranas, refer to themselves as the "fifth Veda". The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad. "Dravida Veda" is a term for canonical Tamil Bhakti texts.

Notes

  1. see e.g. MacDonell 2004, p. 29-39; Sanskrit literature (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accesed 2007-08-09
  2. see e.g. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
  3. Apte, pp. 109f. has "not of the authorship of man, of divine origin"
  4. Apte 1965, p. 887
  5. Muller 1891, p. 17-18
  6. Flood 1996, p. 82
  7. Monier-Williams 2006, p. 1015; Apte 1965, p. 856
  8. see e.g. Pokorny's 1959 Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch s.v. u̯(e)id-².
  9. Holredge 1995, p. 7 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHolredge1995 (help)
  10. For written texts during second century BCE see: Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69; For composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being written down, see: Avari 2007, p. 76.
  11. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
  12. Michaels 2004, p. 51.
  13. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69.
  14. 37,575 are Rigvedic. Of the remaining, 34,857 appear in the other three samhitas, and 16,405 are known only from Brahmanas, Upanishads or Sutras)
  15. Michaels 2004, p. 51.
  16. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69.
  17. For a table of all Vedic texts see Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 100–101.
  18. Flood 1996, p. 39.
  19. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68
  20. MacDonell 2004, p. 29-39
  21. Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in Witzel 1997, p. 257-348
  22. For Rig Veda as the "oldest significant extant Indian text" see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  23. For 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses and division into ten mandalas, see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  24. For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, and Surya, see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  25. For composition over 500 years dated 1400 BCE to 900 BCE, see: Avari 2007, p. 77.
  26. India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge by F. Max Müller; World Treasures of the Library of Congress Beginnings by Irene U. Chambers, Michael S. Roth.
  27. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68.
  28. Drews, Robert (2004). Early Riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe. New York: Routledge. p. 50.
  29. Apte 1965, p. 981.
  30. Michaels 2004, p. 51.
  31. For 1875 total verses, see numbering given in Ralph T. H. Griffith edition. Griffith's introduction mentions the recension history for his text. Repetitions may be found by consulting the cross-index in Griffith pp. 491-99.
  32. Apte 1965, p. 271.
  33. Apte 1965, p. 37.
  34. Mayrhofer, EWAia I.60
  35. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  36. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  37. Flood 1996, p. 37.
  38. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  39. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  40. Apte 1965, p. 37.
  41. Flood 1996, p. 36.
  42. Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: Flood 2003, p. 76.
  43. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3.
  44. Michaels 2004, p. 56.
  45. Zaehner 1966, p. vii.
  46. Flood 1996, p. 42.
  47. Apte 1965, p. 387.
  48. Flood 1996, p. 111 dates it to the 4th century CE.
  49. Vishnu Purana, translation by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840, Ch IV, http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp/vp078.htm
  50. Muir 1861, pp. 20–31
  51. Monier-Williams 2006, p. 207. Accessed 5 April 2007.
  52. Apte 1965, p. 293.
  53. Sullivan 1994, p. 385

References

Literature

Overviews
  • J. Gonda, Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, A History of Indian literature. Vol. 1, Veda and Upanishads (1975), ISBN 9783447016032.
  • J. A. Santucci, An Outline of Vedic Literature (1976).
  • S. Shrava, A Comprehensive History of Vedic Literature — Brahmana and Aranyaka Works, Pranava Prakashan (1977).
Concordances
  • M. Bloomfield, A Vedic Concordance (1907)
  • Vishva Bandhu, Bhim Dev, S. Bhaskaran Nair (eds.), Vaidika-Pāda-Nukrama-Koṣa: A Vedic Word-Concordance, Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur, 1963-1965, revised edition 1973-1976.

See also

External links

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