Vedas - Knowledge

53: 3225: 3214: 3093: 4244:: "the bulk of the RV represents only 5 or 6 generations of kings (and of the contemporary poets)24 of the Pūru and Bharata tribes. It contains little else before and after this “snapshot” view of contemporary Rgvedic history, as reported by these contemporary “tape recordings.” On the other hand, the whole Rgvedic period may have lasted even up to 700 years, from the infiltration of the Indo-Aryans into the subcontinent, c. 1900 B.C. (at the utmost, the time of collapse of the Indus civilization), up to c. 1200 B.C., the time of the introduction of iron which is first mentioned in the clearly post-vedic hymns of the Atharvaveda." 2414:(branches, schools). Each school likely represented an ancient community of a particular area, or kingdom. Each school followed its own canon. Multiple recensions (revisions) are known for each of the Vedas. Thus, states Witzel as well as Renou, in the 2nd millennium BCE, there was likely no canon of one broadly accepted Vedic texts, no Vedic “Scripture”, but only a canon of various texts accepted by each school. Some of these texts have survived, most lost or yet to be found. Rigveda that survives in modern times, for example, is in only one extremely well preserved school of Śåkalya, from a region called 10756: 934: 3308:(fire) on the occasion of a marriage, and the hymn prays for prosperity of the couple getting married. The second hymn wishes for their long life, kind relatives, and a numerous progeny. The third hymn is a mutual marriage pledge, between the bride and groom, by which the two bind themselves to each other. The sixth through last hymns of the first chapter in Chandogya Brahmana are ritual celebrations on the birth of a child and wishes for health, wealth, and prosperity with a profusion of cows and 4087: 12062: 3361:, variously interpreted to mean either the "last chapters, parts of the Vedas" or "the object, the highest purpose of the Veda". The central concern of the Upanishads are the connections "between parts of the human organism and cosmic realities." The Upanishads intend to create a hierarchy of connected and dependent realities, evoking a sense of unity of "the separate elements of the world and of human experience them into a single form." The concepts of 2101:, etymological compendia, were developed to preserve and clarify the original meaning of many Sanskrit words. According to Staal, as referenced by Holdrege, though the mantras may have a discursive meaning, when the mantras are recited in the Vedic rituals "they are disengaged from their original context and are employed in ways that have little or nothing to do with their meaning." The words of the mantras are "themselves sacred," and "do not constitute 12072: 12051: 155: 12509: 1367: 10502: 3130:), the Black Yajurveda intersperses the Samhita with Brahmana commentary. Of the Black Yajurveda, texts from four major schools have survived (Maitrayani, Katha, Kapisthala-Katha, Taittiriya), while of the White Yajurveda, two (Kanva and Madhyandina). The youngest layer of Yajurveda text is not related to rituals nor sacrifice, it includes the largest collection of primary Upanishads, influential to various schools of 12082: 3373:, and knowing the correspondence between Ātman and Brahman as "the fundamental principle which shapes the world" permits the creation of an integrative vision of the whole. The Upanishads are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions, and of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads have influenced the diverse traditions of Hinduism. 4073: 4101: 10494: 191: 7670:"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." 4303:) prepared from 1930 under Vishva Bandhu, and published in five volumes in 1935–1965. Its scope extends to about 400 texts, including the entire Vedic Sanskrit corpus besides some "sub-Vedic" texts. Volume I: Samhitas, Volume II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas, Volume III: Upanishads, Volume IV: Vedangas; A revised edition, extending to about 1800 pages, was published in 1973–1976. 2554: 2046:(hand signs). This provided an additional visual confirmation, and also an alternate means to check the reading integrity by the audience, in addition to the audible means. Houben and Rath note that a strong "memory culture" existed in ancient India when texts were transmitted orally, before the advent of writing in the early first millennium CE. According to 2026:(Vedic study) of sound as uttered in a Vedic recitation, mastering the texts "literally forward and backward in fully acoustic fashion." Houben and Rath note that the Vedic textual tradition cannot simply be characterized as oral, "since it also depends significantly on a memory culture." The Vedas were preserved with precision with the help of elaborate 2110:

In the Brahmanical perspective, the sounds have their own meaning, mantras are considered as "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer. By reciting them the cosmos is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base. As long as the purity of the sounds is preserved, the recitation of the

1695:; 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." 2500:(literally "mesh recitation") in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated in the original order. That these methods have been effective, is attested to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the 3115:. Unlike the Samaveda which is almost entirely based on Rigveda mantras and structured as songs, the Yajurveda samhitas are in prose, and they are different from earlier Vedic texts linguistically. The Yajur Veda has been the primary source of information about sacrifices during Vedic times and associated rituals. 1518:, "wilderness texts" or "forest treaties", were composed by people who meditated in the woods as recluses and are the third part of the Vedas. The texts contain discussions and interpretations of ceremonies, from ritualistic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view. It is frequently read in secondary literature. 8027:, p. 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth , in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism". 5565:, p. 3; Quote: "Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth , in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism". 4426:

in the modern sense was Panini's grammar). These early Indian methods allowed the construction of discrete, potentially infinite generative systems. Remarkably, these early linguistic systems were codified orally, though writing was then used to develop them in some way. The formal basis for Panini's

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rites to address superstitious anxiety, spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by demons, and herbs- and nature-derived potions as medicine. The text, states Kenneth Zysk, is one of oldest surviving record of the evolutionary practices in religious medicine and reveals the "earliest forms of

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sounds, "means to an end." Holdrege notes that there are scarce commentaries on the meaning of the mantras, in contrast to the number of commentaries on the Brahmanas and Upanishads, but states that the lack of emphasis on the "discursive meaning does not necessarily imply that they are meaningless."

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the ultimate reality is nothing other than the eternal words of the Vedas. They did not accept the existence of a single supreme creator god, who might have composed the Veda. According to the Mimamsa, gods named in the Vedas have no existence apart from the mantras that speak their names. The power

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village. Vedas are recited by these Brahmins, and even their parrots are mentioned in the poem as those who sing the Vedic hymns. People in these Vedic villages did not eat meat, nor raise fowls. They ate rice, salad leaves boiled in ghee, pickles and vegetables. Apart from the Sanskrit Vedas there

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Each of the four Vedas were shared by the numerous schools, but revised, interpolated and adapted locally, in and after the Vedic period, giving rise to various recensions of the text. Some texts were revised into the modern era, raising significant debate on parts of the text which are believed to

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The Vedangas developed towards the end of the vedic period, around or after the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. These auxiliary fields of Vedic studies emerged because the language of the Vedas, composed centuries earlier, became too archaic to the people of that time. The Vedangas were sciences

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In the Samaveda, some of the Rigvedic verses are repeated. Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith. Two major recensions have survived, the Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya. Its purpose was liturgical, and they were the

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notes that the rituals, rites and ceremonies described in these ancient texts reconstruct to a large degree the Indo-European marriage rituals observed in a region spanning the Indian subcontinent, Persia and the European area, and some greater details are found in the Vedic era texts such as the

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at pp. 1–5: "The Vedas are divided in two parts, the first is the karma-kanda, the ceremonial part, also (called) purva-kanda, and treats on ceremonies; the second part is the jnana kanda, the part which contains knowledge, also named uttara-kanda or posterior part, and unfolds the knowledge of

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books. Just as in the Rigveda, the early sections of Samaveda typically begin with hymns to Agni and Indra but shift to the abstract. Their meters shift also in a descending order. The songs in the later sections of the Samaveda have the least deviation from the hymns derived from the Rigveda.

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The Vedas were written down only after 500 BCE, but only the orally transmitted texts are regarded as authoritative, given the emphasis on the exact pronunciation of the sounds. Witzel suggests that attempts to write down the Vedic texts towards the end of 1st millennium BCE were unsuccessful,

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The Atharva veda has been a primary source for information about Vedic culture, the customs and beliefs, the aspirations and frustrations of everyday Vedic life, as well as those associated with kings and governance. The text also includes hymns dealing with the two major rituals of passage –

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and other gods, all arranged according to decreasing total number of hymns in each deity collection; for each deity series, the hymns progress from longer to shorter ones, but the number of hymns per book increases. Finally, the meter too is systematically arranged from jagati and tristubh to

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will be efficacious, irrespective of whether their discursive meaning is understood by human beings." Frazier further notes that "later Vedic texts sought deeper understanding of the reasons the rituals worked," which indicates that the Brahmin communities considered study to be a "process of

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Several authors refer to the Chinese Buddhist Monk I-Tsing, who visited India in the 7th century to retrieve Buddhist texts and gave examples of mnemonic techniques used in India: "In India there are two traditional ways in which one can attain great intellectual power. Firstly by repeatedly

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Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself a Hindu," and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no regard for the contents of the text." Some Hindus

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Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; Atharvaveda dedicates over 30 chapters to love relationships, sexuality and for conceiving a child, see e.g. chapters 1.14, 2.30, 3.25, 6.60, 6.78, 6.82, 6.130–6.132; On peaceful social and family

3172:– have survived into the modern times. The Atharvaveda was not considered as a Veda in the Vedic era, and was accepted as a Veda in late 1st millennium BCE. It was compiled last, probably around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rigveda, or earlier. 2276:

scholar, "thinks of the Veda as something to be trained and mastered to be put into practical ritual use," noticing that "it is not the meaning of the mantras that is most essential but rather the perfect mastering of their sound form." According to Galewicz, Sayana saw the purpose

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are prose texts that comment on and explain the solemn rituals as well as expound on their meaning and many connected themes. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas or its recensions. The oldest dated to about 900 BCE, while the youngest Brahmanas (such as the

4473:(ca. 500 BCE), a work devoted to an etymology of Vedic words that were no longer understood by ordinary people, held that the word of the Veda was no longer perceived as meaningful "normal" speech but as a fixed sequence of sounds, whose meaning was obscure beyond recovery." 4403:

Staal: "by far the more remarkable , not merely because it is characteristically Indian and unlike anything we find elsewhere, but also because it has led to scientific discoveries that are of enduring interest and from which the contemporary West still has much to learn."

2339:. Only the perfect language of the Vedas, as in contrast to ordinary speech, can reveal these truths, which were preserved by committing them to memory. According to Mukherjee, while these truths are imparted to the student by the memorized texts, "the realization of 4635:(a hymn that is widely cited in the Upanishads as the parable of the Body and the Soul): "Two birds with fair wings, inseparable companions; Have found refuge in the same sheltering tree. One incessantly eats from the fig tree; the other, not eating, just looks on."; 5518:, pp. 2–3; Quote: "The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they alone of the Vedic corpus are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus." 2134:

has argued for an earlier literary tradition, concluding that the Vedas bear hallmarks of a literate culture along with oral transmission, but Goody's views have been strongly criticised by Falk, Lopez Jr,. and Staal, though they have also found some support.

2054:-Watt hypothesis "according to which literacy is more reliable than orality," this tradition of oral transmission "is closely related to Indian forms of science," and "by far the more remarkable" than the relatively recent tradition of written transmission. 2291:. For Sayana, whether the mantras had meaning depended on the context of their practical usage. This conception of the Veda, as a repertoire to be mastered and performed, takes precedence over the internal meaning or "autonomous message of the hymns." Most 1557:

are largely philosophical works, some in dialogue form. They are the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought and its diverse traditions. Of the Vedic corpus, they alone are widely known, and the central ideas of the Upanishads are still influential in

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committing to memory the intellect is developed; secondly the alphabet fixes (to) one's ideas. By this way, after a practice of ten days or a month, a student feels his thoughts rise like a fountain, and can commit to memory whatever he has heard once."

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Only one version of the Rigveda is known to have survived into the modern era. Several different versions of the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda are known, and many different versions of the Yajur Veda have been found in different parts of South Asia.

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Let drama and dance (Nātya, नाट्य) be the fifth vedic scripture. Combined with an epic story, tending to virtue, wealth, joy and spiritual freedom, it must contain the significance of every scripture, and forward every art. Thus, from all the Vedas,

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consists of 1549 stanzas, taken almost entirely (except for 75 mantras) from the Rigveda. While its earliest parts are believed to date from as early as the Rigvedic period, the existing compilation dates from the post-Rigvedic Mantra period of

4518:= to grow, to become great, was originally identical with the Vedic word, that makes people prosper: words were the pricipan means to approach the gods who dwelled in a different sphere. It was not a big step from this notion of "reified 3481:

Vedangas developed as ancillary studies for the Vedas, but its insights into meters, structure of sound and language, grammar, linguistic analysis and other subjects influenced post-Vedic studies, arts, culture and various schools of

2007:. Only this tradition, embodied by a living teacher, can teach the correct pronunciation of the sounds and explain hidden meanings, in a way the "dead and entombed manuscript" cannot do. As Leela Prasad states, "According to 4758: 2517:

The Vedas were orally transmitted by memorization, and were written down only after 500 BCE, All printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century CE.

3340:, however, neither are homogeneous in content nor in structure. They are a medley of instructions and ideas, and some include chapters of Upanishads within them. Two theories have been proposed on the origin of the word 4600:

Mookerji also refers to the Uśanā smriti (81-2), which "states that mastery of mere text of Veda is to be followed up by its meaning" by discussing the Vedanta. where-after they were able to engage in doscourses on the

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The Samaveda samhita has two major parts. The first part includes four melody collections (gāna, गान) and the second part three verse “books” (ārcika, आर्चिक). A melody in the song books corresponds to a verse in the

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rules explicitly forbidding the writing down of the Vedas. 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

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For 1875 total verses, see the numbering given in Ralph T. H. Griffith. Griffith's introduction mentions the recension history for his text. Repetitions may be found by consulting the cross-index in Griffith pp.

3507:"supplement, appendix" is the term applied to various ancillary works of Vedic literature, dealing mainly with details of ritual and elaborations of the texts logically and chronologically prior to them: the 3126:). The term "black" implies "the un-arranged, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "white" (well arranged) Yajurveda. The White Yajurveda separates the Samhita from its Brahmana (the 3262:

The Brahmanas are commentaries, explanation of proper methods and meaning of Vedic Samhita rituals in the four Vedas. They also incorporate myths, legends and in some cases philosophy. Each regional Vedic

9216: 8000:, p. 39; Quote: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self."; 5535:, p. 39; Quote: "The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self."; 3344:. One theory holds that these texts were meant to be studied in a forest, while the other holds that the name came from these being the manuals of allegorical interpretation of sacrifices, for those in 3884:

mentions that Tamil Nadu was a land of Vedas and a place where everyone knew the Vedas. The Vedas are also considered as a text filled with deep meaning which can be understood only by scholars. The

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Prodigious energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity. For example, memorization of the sacred

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rituals, performed with the coronation of a king, "set in motion cyclical regenerations of the universe." In terms of substance, the nature of hymns shift from praise of deities in early books to

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poets. It has about 760 hymns, and about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rigveda. Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose. Two different versions of the text – the

1511:), were complete by about 700 BCE. 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. 12118: 1613:. In other parts, they show evolution of ideas, such as from actual sacrifice to symbolic sacrifice, and of spirituality in the Upanishads. This has inspired later Hindu scholars such as 3644:("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The 4480:(800-600 BCE) describe a legend about priests and it criticizes how they go about reciting verses and singing hymns without any idea what they mean or the divine principle they signify. 2317:

was considered as more important and vital to education than their mere mechanical repetition and correct pronunciation." Mookei refers to Sayana as stating that "the mastery of texts,

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1500 BCE and 1200 BCE. Witzel notes that it is the Vedic period itself, where incipient lists divide the Vedic texts into three (trayī) or four branches: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva.

4339:"As a skilled craftsman makes a car, a singer I, Mighty One! this hymn for thee have fashioned. If thou, O Agni, God, accept it gladly, may we obtain thereby the heavenly Waters". – 3980:

for example, states that "the wise man should not elect as his authority the word of the Vedas, which is full of impurity, produces but scanty and transitory fruits and is limited."

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mentions that the four Vedas were chanted by the priests of Ancient Tamilakam, this shows chanting of Vedas and growing sacred fires are part of the Tamil culture. Vedas are called

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is a vast genre of encyclopedic Indian literature about a wide range of topics particularly myths, legends and other traditional lore. Several of these texts are named after major

4766: 3269:(school) has its own operating manual-like Brahmana text, most of which have been lost. A total of 19 Brahmana texts have survived into modern times: two associated with the 2789:"; that is, "the triple science" of reciting hymns (Rigveda), performing sacrifices (Yajurveda), and chanting songs (Samaveda). The Rig Veda most likely was composed between 4615:, "What is the ultimate limit of the earth?", "What is the center of the universe?", "What is the semen of the cosmic horse?", "What is the ultimate source of human speech?" 4177:

1400 BCE. The oldest available text is estimated to be from 1200 BCE. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium:

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consists of prose mantras. It is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the

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framed the Nātya Veda. From the Rig Veda he drew forth the words, from the Sama Veda the melody, from the Yajur Veda gesture, and from the Atharva Veda the sentiment.

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The substance of the Brahmana text varies with each Veda. For example, the first chapter of the Chandogya Brahmana, one of the oldest Brahmanas, includes eight ritual

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There are similarities between the mythology, rituals and linguistics in Rigveda and those found in ancient central Asia, Iranian and Hindukush (Afghanistan) regions.

2015:) has as much authority as the written Shastra," explaining that the tradition "bears the authority to clarify and provide direction in the application of knowledge." 3941:

have taken differing positions on the authority of the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which acknowledge the authority of the Vedas are classified as "orthodox" (

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folk healing of Indo-European antiquity". Many books of the Atharvaveda Samhita are dedicated to rituals without magic, such as to philosophical speculations and to

12111: 2804:(text on rituals, ceremonies such as newborn baby's rites of passage, coming of age, marriages, retirement and cremation, sacrifices and symbolic sacrifices), the 4418:, had completely mastered methods of linguistic theory not rediscovered again until the 1950s and the applications of modern mathematical logic to linguistics by 3523:. Naturally classified with the Veda to which each pertains, Parisista works exist for each of the four Vedas. However, only the literature associated with the 9224: 4058: 1581:

While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceased with the end of the Vedic period, additional Upanishads were composed after the end of the Vedic period. The

1745:, which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless." The Vedas, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient 1561:

The texts considered "Vedic" in the sense of "corollaries of the Vedas" are less clearly defined, and may include numerous post-Vedic texts such as the later

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The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with the first Pali Canon written many centuries after the death of the Buddha.

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The rituals became increasingly complex over time, and the king's association with them strengthened both the position of the Brahmans and the kings. The

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Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana, (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II.1.b.) Strassburg 1899; Gonda, J.

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Vedas finds its earliest literary mention in the Sangam literature dated to the 5th century BCE. The Vedas were read by almost every caste in ancient

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have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy that acknowledge the importance or primal authority of the Vedas comprise

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Broo, Mans (2016), "Rites of Burial and Immersion: Hindu Ritual practices on Disposing of Sacred Texts in Vrindavan", in Myrvold, Kristina (ed.),

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Holdrege notes that in Vedic learning "priority has been given to recitation over interpretation" of the Samhitas. Galewicz states that Sayana, a

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Galewicz, Cezary (2011), "Why Should the Flower of Dharma be Invisible? Sayana's Vision of the Unity of the Veda", in Squarcini, Federico (ed.),

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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

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1500 and 1200 BCE, while book 10 of the Rig Veda, and the other Samhitas were composed between 1200 and 900 BCE more eastward, between the

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Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press; see also chapters 3.11, 3.31, 4.10, 5.30, 19.26;

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Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al.), State University of New York Press,

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Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al), State University of New York Press,

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collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads are sometimes not to be distinguished from

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of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the

5296: 5280: 2040:, "matching physical movements (such as nodding the head) with particular sounds and chanting in a group" and visualizing sounds by using 10030: 2723: 2572: 1464:

is used to refer only to these Samhitas, the collection of mantras. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, which were composed between

8940: 8121: 1483:, "to secure their benediction for success in battles or for welfare of the clan." The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in 4355:

sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was compiled from as early as 1500 BCE over a period of several centuries.

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authority by a Hindu orthodox school." This differentiation between epistemic and deontic authority is true for all Indian religions.

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was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the

3300:(hymns) for the ceremony of marriage and rituals at the birth of a child. The first hymn is a recitation that accompanies offering a 2221:

Yaska and Sayana, reflecting an ancient understanding, state that the Veda can be interpreted in three ways, giving "the truth about

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A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages

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Sullivan, B. M. (Summer 1994), "The Religious Authority of the Mahabharata: Vyasa and Brahma in the Hindu Scriptural Tradition",

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Galewicz, Cezary (2004), "Changing Canons: What did Sayana think he commented upon", in Balcerowicz, Piotr; Mejor, Marek (eds.),

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challenge the authority of the Vedas, thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states Lipner.

3905: 6451: 5333:, "Hindus themselves often use the term to describe anything connected to the Vedas and their corollaries (e.g. Vedic culture)." 1354:, means "obtaining or finding wealth, property", while in some others it means "a bunch of grass together" as in a broom or for 6087: 3972:

Certain traditions which are often seen as being part of Hinduism also rejected the Vedas. For example, authors of the tantric

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The Atharvaveda is sometimes called the "Veda of magical formulas", an epithet declared to be incorrect by other scholars. The

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beliefs where "there is an absolute reality that goes beyond the gods and that includes or transcends everything that exists."

1172:, which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless", revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient 9941: 3976:

tradition, like Siddha Mukundadeva, rejected the Vedas' authority. Likewise, some tantric Shaiva Agamas reject the Vedas. The

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The Aranyakas layer of the Vedas include rituals, discussion of symbolic meta-rituals, as well as philosophical speculations.

3224: 2095:) of the mantras. Already at the end of the Vedic period their original meaning had become obscure for "ordinary people," and 2018:

The emphasis in this transmission is on the "proper articulation and pronunciation of the Vedic sounds", as prescribed in the

10483: 10452: 10237: 10191: 10097: 10077: 10059: 9989: 9971: 9953: 9931: 9881: 9863: 9835: 9815: 9779: 9769: 9743: 9690: 9670: 9635: 9608: 9588: 9570: 9552: 9516: 9498: 9480: 9462: 9408: 9390: 9368: 9350: 9332: 9307: 9277: 9259: 9206: 9185: 9161: 9121: 9094: 9076: 9058: 9038: 9017: 8924: 8876: 8771: 8683: 8640: 8623: 8603: 8579: 8562: 8545: 8525: 8501: 8484: 8462: 8437: 8420: 8335: 8308: 8171: 8024: 8007: 7997: 7980: 7908: 7891: 7856: 7807: 7773: 7732: 7715: 7658: 7641: 7621: 7568: 7523: 7469: 7310: 7192: 7165: 6522: 6435: 6409: 6221: 5562: 5542: 5532: 5515: 5488: 5447: 5422: 5212: 4948: 4928: 4920: 4883: 4655: 4642: 4187: 3312:. However, these verses are incomplete expositions, and their complete context emerges only with the Samhita layer of text. 2265:

the Veda is to be "inscribed in the minds and hearts of men" by memorization and recitation, while for the exponents of the

5326: 4620:, "Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?", "How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?" 1191:, and are considered to be "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer. By reciting them the 8196: 1901:. The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various 7283: 5660: 5265: 3213: 1951:

of the 14th century BCE, the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period. He gives 150 BCE (

906: 8766:

Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press,

8432:

Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press,

4660: 11147: 7718:, pp. 277–280, Quote: "It would be incorrect to describe the Atharvaveda Samhita as a collection of magical formulas". 5849:, p. 69; For oral composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being written down, see: 675: 10362: 9908: 8191: 8072: 7692: 7585: 6926: 6775: 6546: 3486:. The Kalpa Vedanga studies, for example, gave rise to the Dharma-sutras, which later expanded into Dharma-shastras. 1948: 11979: 6490: 5205: 12892: 7047:, p. 69, "... almost all printed editions depend on the late manuscripts that are hardly older than 500 years" 2145: 1749:

after intense meditation, and texts that have been more carefully preserved since ancient times. In the Hindu Epic

8635:

BN Krishnamurti Sharma (2008), A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and Its Literature, Motilal Banarsidass,

8037: 7289: 2301:

notes that the Rigveda, and Sayana's commentary, contain passages criticizing as fruitless mere recitation of the

11967: 11498: 10355:

The Vedas : texts, language & ritual: proceedings of the Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002

9286:

Filliozat, Pierre-Sylvain (2004), "Ancient Sanskrit Mathematics: An Oral Tradition and a Written Literature", in

6944:

Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their religion and institutions, Vol. 1

2947:

The Rigveda is structured based on clear principles. The Veda begins with a small book addressed to Agni, Indra,

2716: 2353:

is the real aim of Vedic learning, and not the mere recitation of texts. The supreme knowledge of the Absolute,

12085: 11796: 8067:

James Lochtefeld (2002), "Vedanga" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing,

643: 7547:

CL Prabhakar (1972), The Recensions of the Sukla Yajurveda, Archiv Orientální, Volume 40, Issue 1, pp. 347–353

7233:

For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, Soma, Surya, etc. see:

2130:

recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st century BCE; however oral tradition of transmission remained active.

12538: 11925: 8415:

John Carman (1989), The Tamil Veda: Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli, University of Chicago Press,

8231: 3092: 1870:

1700–1100 BCE has also been given. The other three Samhitas are considered to date from the time of the

10332: 2963:

with questions such as, "what is the origin of the universe?, do even gods know the answer?", the virtue of

2313:. Mukherjee concludes that in the Rigvedic education of the mantras "the contemplation and comprehension of 1294:"aspect", "form" . This is not to be confused with the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense 11974: 9713: 8186:

BR Modak, The Ancillary Literature of the Atharva-Veda, New Delhi, Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, 1993,

5510:

Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press,

4267:, p. 62 This differentiation between epistemic and deontic authority is true for all Indian religions. 2909:

The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of several centuries between

1926: 9645:

Mahadevan, T.M.P (1952), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan; Ardeshir Ruttonji Wadia; Dhirendra Mohan Datta (eds.),

8869:

Travellers in Faith: Studies of the Tablīghī Jamāʻat as a Transnational Islamic Movement for Faith Renewal

5749: 3893: 3431:

that focused on helping understand and interpret the Vedas that had been composed many centuries earlier.

12779: 11989: 10266: 8997:

The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World

8699: 2148:

has a Rigveda manuscript from the 14th century; however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in

631: 10023:, Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie voor Wetenschappen, North Holland Publishing Company 9534:

Kumar, Jay (2014), "Ayurveda and Early Indian Medicine", in Johnston, Lucas F.; Bauman, Whitney (eds.),

9131: 8750: 7146: 57:

Rigveda manuscript page, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9 (Sanskrit, Devanagari script)

12016: 11508: 11085: 10541: 10514: 10286: 8928: 3918: 3355:

The Upanishads reflect the last composed layer of texts in the Vedas. They are commonly referred to as

3233:

Manuscripts of the Vedas are in the Sanskrit language, but in many regional scripts in addition to the

2709: 2426:. The Vedic canon in its entirety consists of texts from all the various Vedic schools taken together. 2331:, perception of their meaning." Mukherjee explains that the Vedic knowledge was first perceived by the 2269:

and meditation the Vedas express a transcendental reality which can be approached with mystical means.

869: 670: 2202: 1577:, which are smriti texts. Together, the Vedas and these Sutras form part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus. 12422: 12036: 10962: 10476: 7560: 4806: 4119: 3837: 3111:

includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in

1234:, which did not regard the Vedas as authoritative, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" ( 71: 10615: 10441: 10122: 7445: 6121: 12531: 11830: 11488: 11412: 11118: 10900: 10875: 10338: 9917: 7305:, in The Vedas – Texts, Language and Ritual, Editors: Griffiths and Houben (2004), Brill Academic, 4650:, A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Volume 1, Part 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 4291: 4035: 2383: 1526: 1019: 794: 789: 354: 334: 10650: 7768:

Kenneth Zysk (1993), Religious Medicine: The History and Evolution of Indian Medicine, Routledge,

7184: 3965:, which do not regard the Vedas as authorities, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" ( 3200:. The Atharva Veda also dedicates significant portion of the text asking the meaning of a ritual. 12924: 12587: 12558: 12157: 11666: 11526: 11197: 10737: 10680: 8450: 8235: 4637:

Sources: (a) Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man,

4029:

drew attention to Vedic texts, specifically the Upanishads. The importance of Vedic Sanskrit for

1673:

These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only

892: 774: 725: 11561: 1119:

traditions. The Samhitas and Brahmanas describe about daily rituals and are generally meant for

12637: 12009: 11962: 11172: 10895: 10200: 9709: 8397: 8206: 6116: 5306: 5290: 5225: 4191: 3670: 1492: 1179:

The Vedas have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE with the help of elaborate

700: 494: 359: 35: 10461: 10373: 9760:

India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge

8515: 7921: 7903:

AB Keith (2007), The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, Motilal Banarsidass,

7839: 7367: 7302: 6500: 4522:" to that "of the speech-act being looked at implicitly and explicitly as a means to an end." 12798: 12329: 12096: 12031: 11984: 11957: 11920: 11177: 10232:, vol. 1, Veda and Upanishads, Wiesnaden: Harrassowitz: A History of Indian literature, 9942:"Redefining the authority of scripture: The rejection of Vedic infallibility by Brahmo Samaj" 9731: 8944: 8673: 8593: 7869: 6459: 6425: 5759: 4923:, pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, 4030: 2298: 1574: 933: 705: 606: 31: 17: 11493: 9378: 7759:

Maurice Bloomfield (Translator), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 42, Oxford University Press;

7710:(1975), Vedic Literature: Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, Vol 1, Fasc. 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 7176: 6227: 4899:: I.1 Vedic literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas); I.2 The Ritual Sutras. Wiesbaden 1975, 1977 1348:

as a common noun means "knowledge". The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the

12919: 12791: 12631: 12269: 12147: 12004: 11999: 11994: 11915: 11392: 10885: 10870: 10522: 10469: 8125:. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 501–513, see page 505. 7433: 6095: 5383: 4427:

methods involved the use of "auxiliary" markers, rediscovered in the 1930s by the logician

4044: 3387:(spirituality section). In an alternate classification, the early part of Vedas are called 2888: 2816:(short ritual worship-related sections) are considered by some scholars as the fifth part. 2530: 2183: 2106: 1522: 779: 344: 301: 174: 9847:

Technology, Literacy, and the Evolution of Society: Implications of the Work of Jack Goody

6539:

Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture.

4676:

authorities in absolute sense and may be disobeyed, but are recognized as a deontological

4259:

authorities in absolute sense and may be disobeyed, but are recognized as a deontological

3495: 3293:, the final codification of the Brahmanas took place in pre-Buddhist times (ca. 600 BCE). 1858:. The bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region (Punjab) of the 1597:

in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (

8: 12850: 12785: 12722: 12667: 12444: 12192: 12054: 12021: 11900: 11791: 11726: 11576: 11435: 11315: 11187: 11015: 10952: 10905: 9009: 8557:

Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge,

8479:

Greg Bailey (2001), Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (Editor: Oliver Leaman), Routledge,

7975:

PT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University of New York Press,

7787: