Vedas

Vedas
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"Veda" and "Vedic" redirect here. For other uses, see Veda (disambiguation) and Vedic
(disambiguation).
The Vedas (Sanskrit vda , "knowledge") are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed
in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of
Hinduism.
[1][2]
The Vedas are apaurueya ("not of human agency").
[3][4][5]
They are supposed to have been
directly revealed, and thus are called ruti ("what is heard"),
[6][7]
distinguishing them from other religious
texts, which are called smti ("what is remembered"). In Hindu tradition, the creation of Vedas is credited to
Brahma.
[8]
The Vedic texts or ruti are organized around four canonical collections of metrical material
known as Sahits, of which the first three are related to the performance of yajna (sacrifice) in historical
Vedic religion:
The Rigveda, containing hymns to be recited by the hotar, or presiding priest; 1.
The Yajurveda, containing formulas to be recited by the adhvaryu or officiating priest; 2.
The Samaveda, containing formulas to be sung by the udgatar or priest that chants; 3.
The Atharvaveda, a collection of spells and incantations, apotropaic charms and speculative hymns.
[9]
4.
The individual verses contained in these compilations are known as mantras. Some selected Vedic mantras
are still recited at prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions in contemporary Hinduism.
The various Indian philosophies and sects have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian
philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (stika). Other
traditions, notably Buddhism and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities are referred to by
traditional Hindu texts as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" (nstika) schools.
[10][11]
In addition to Buddhism
and Jainism, Sikhism
[12][13]
and Brahmoism,
[14]
many non-Brahmin Hindus in South India
[15]
do not accept
the authority of the Vedas. Certain South Indian Brahmin communities such as Iyengars consider the Tamil
Divya Prabandham or writing of the Alvar saints as equivalent to the Vedas.
[16]
Contents
1 Etymology and usage
2 Chronology
3 Categories of Vedic texts
3.1 Vedic Sanskrit corpus
3.2 Shruti literature
4 Vedic schools or recensions
5 Four Vedas
5.1 Rigveda
5.2 Yajurveda
5.3 Samaveda
5.4 Atharvaveda
6 Brahmanas
Vedas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
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7 Vedanta
8 In post-Vedic literature
8.1 Vedanga
8.2 Parisista
8.3 Puranas
8.4 Upaveda
8.5 "Fifth" and other Vedas
9 Western Indology
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 Literature
14 External links
Etymology and usage
The Sanskrit word vda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". This is reconstructed
as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u eid-, meaning "see" or "know".
[17]
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":
y samdh y hut / y vdena dada mrto agnye / y nmas svadhvar
"The mortal who hath ministered to Agni with oblation, fuel, ritual lore, and reverence, skilled in
sacrifice."
[18]
The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u eidos, cognate to Greek () "aspect", "form" . Not to be
confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense vda, cognate to Greek ()
(w)oida "I know". Root cognates are Greek , English wit, etc., Latin vide "I see", etc.
[19]
In English, the term Veda is often used loosely to refer to the Samhitas (collection of mantras, or chants) of
the four canonical Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda).
The Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means "knowledge", but can also be used to refer to fields of
study unrelated to liturgy or ritual, e.g. in agada-veda "medical science", sasya-veda "science of agriculture"
or sarpa-veda "science of snakes" (already found in the early Upanishads); durveda means "with evil
knowledge, ignorant".
[20]
Chronology
Main article: Vedic period
The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas date to roughly 15001000 BCE, and the
"circum-Vedic" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BCE, resulting in a Vedic
period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
[21]
The
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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 discussions of
their meaning, and reaches its end in the age of Buddha and Panini and the rise of the Mahajanapadas
(archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 BCE to c.
500-400 BCE. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BCE
the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period. He gives 150 BCE
(Patajali) as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BCE (the early Iron Age) as
terminus post quem for the Atharvaveda.
[22]
Transmission of texts in the Vedic period was by oral tradition alone, preserved with precision with the help
of elaborate mnemonic techniques. A literary tradition set in only in post-Vedic times, after the rise of
Buddhism in the Maurya period, perhaps earliest in the Kanva recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st
century BCE; however oral tradition predominated until c. 1000 CE.
[23]
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.
[24]
The Benares Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript
of the mid-14th century; however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in Nepal belonging to the
Vajasaneyi tradition that are dated from the 11th century onwards.
Categories of Vedic texts
The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:
Texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the Vedic period (Iron Age India) 1.
Any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas"
[25]
2.
Vedic Sanskrit corpus
The corpus of Vedic Sanskrit texts includes:
The Samhitas (Sanskrit sahit, "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 (kh). 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 BCE, dating to c. the 12th to 10th centuries BCE. 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.
[26]
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, "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 dangerous rituals (to be studied outside the settlement) and various sorts of additional materials. It
is frequently read in secondary literature.
Some of the older Mukhya Upanishads (Bhadrayaka, Chandogya, Kaha).
[27][28]
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Certain Stra literature, i.e. the Shrautasutras and the Grhyasutras.
The Shrauta Sutras, regarded as belonging to the smriti, are late Vedic in language and content, thus forming
part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.
[28][29]
The composition of the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras (c. 6th century
BCE) 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
Mauryan and Gupta periods.
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, one of the major trends of later Hinduism.
The Vedic Sanskrit corpus is the scope of A Vedic Word Concordance (Vaidika-Padnukrama-Koa)
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.
Shruti literature
Main article: Shruti
The texts considered "Vedic" in the sense of "corollaries of the Vedas" is less clearly defined, and may
include numerous post-Vedic texts such as Upanishads or Sutra literature. These texts are by many Hindu
sects considered to be shruti (Sanskrit: ruti; "the heard"), divinely revealed like the Vedas themselves. Texts
not considered to be shruti are known as smriti (Sanskrit: smti; "the remembered"), of human origin. This
indigenous system of categorization was adopted by Max Mller 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;
Upaniads ... are sometimes not to be distinguished from rayakas...; Brhmaas contain older
strata of language attributed to the Sahits; there are various dialects and locally prominent
traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by
Max Mller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly
accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic
literature."
[27]
The Upanishads are largely philosophical works in dialog form. They discuss questions of nature philosophy
and the fate of the soul, and contain some mystic and spiritual interpretations of the Vedas. For long, they
have been regarded as their putative end and essence, and are thus known as Vednta ("the end of the
Vedas"). Taken together, they are the basis of the Vedanta school.
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Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early
19th century
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 kh, literally "branch" or "limb") each of which specialized in learning certain texts.
[30]
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 based on memorizing by heart instead of writing.
Specific techniques for parsing and reciting the texts were used to assist in the memorization process. (See
also: Vedic chant)
Prodigous energy was expended by ancient Indian culture in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from
generation to generation with inordinate fidelity.
[31]
For example, memorization of the sacred Vedas included
up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. The texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing
the different recited versions. Forms of recitation included the ja-pha (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 again in the original order.
[32]
That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian
religious text, the Rigveda, as redacted into a single text during the Brahmana period, without any variant
readings.
[32]
Four Vedas
The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (turya)
viz.,
[35]
Rigveda (RV) 1.
Yajurveda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS) 2.
Samaveda (SV) 3.
Atharvaveda (AV) 4.
Of these, the first three were the principal original
division, also called "tray vidy", that is, "the triple
sacred science" of reciting hymns (RV), performing
sacrifices (YV), and chanting (SV).
[36][37]
This triplicity
is so introduced in the Brahmanas (ShB, ABr and
others), but the Rigveda is the older work of the three
from which the other two borrow, next to their own
independent Yajus, sorcery and speculative mantras.
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 lower voice at sacrifices; 3. Sman, which are in metre, and intended for singing at
the Soma ceremonies.
The Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda are independent collections of mantras and hymns intended as
manuals for the Adhvaryu, Udgatr and Brahman priests respectively.
The Atharvaveda is the fourth Veda. Its status has occasionally been ambiguous, probably due to its use in
sorcery and healing. However, it contains very old materials in early Vedic language. Manusmrti, which often
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speaks of the three Vedas, calling them trayam-brahma-santanam, "the triple eternal Veda". The
Atharvaveda like the Rigveda, is a collection of original incantations, and other materials borrowing
relatively little from the Rigveda. It has no direct relation to the solemn rauta sacrifices, except for the fact
that the mostly silent Brahmn priest observes the procedures and uses Atharvaveda mantras to 'heal' it
when mistakes have been made. Its recitation also produces long life, cures diseases, or effects the ruin of
enemies.
Each of the four Vedas consists of the metrical Mantra or Samhita and the prose Brahmana part, giving
discussions and directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used and
explanations of the legends connected with the Mantras and rituals. Both these portions are termed shruti
(which tradition says to have been heard but not composed or written down by men). Each of the four Vedas
seems to have passed to 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
Sarvnukrama.
Rigveda
Main article: Rigveda
The Rigveda Samhita is the oldest extant Indic text.
[38]
It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and
10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas).
[39]
The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic
deities.
[40]
The books were composed by poets from different priestly groups over a period of several centuries,
commonly dated to the period of roughly the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE (the early Vedic
period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent.
[41]
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 c. 2000 BCE.
[42]
Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007.
[43]
Yajurveda
Main article: Yajurveda
The Yajurveda Samhita consists of archaic prose mantras and also in part of verses borrowed and adapted
from the Rigveda. Its purpose was practical, in that each mantra must accompany an action in sacrifice but,
unlike the Samaveda, it was compiled to apply to all sacrificial rites, not merely the Somayajna. There are
two major groups of recensions of this Veda, known as the "Black" (Krishna) and "White" (Shukla)
Yajurveda (Krishna and Shukla Yajurveda respectively). While White Yajurveda separates the Samhita from
its Brahmana (the Shatapatha Brahmana), the e Black Yajurveda intersperses the Samhita with Brahmana
commentary. Of the Black Yajurveda four major recensions survive (Maitrayani, Katha, Kapisthala-Katha,
Taittiriya).
Samaveda
Main article: Samaveda
The Samaveda Samhita (from sman, the term for a melody applied to metrical hymn or song of praise
[44]
)
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consists of 1549 stanzas, taken almost entirely (except for 78 stanzas) from the Rigveda.
[27]
Like the
Rigvedic stanzas in the Yajurveda, the Samans have been changed and adapted for use in singing. Some of
the Rigvedic verses are repeated more than once. Including repetitions, there are a total of 1875 verses
numbered in the Samaveda recension translated by Griffith.
[45]
Two major recensions remain today, the
Kauthuma/Ranayaniya and the Jaiminiya. Its purpose was liturgical, as the repertoire of the udgt or
"singer" priests who took part in the sacrifice.
Atharvaveda
Main article: Atharvaveda
The Artharvaveda Samhita is the text 'belonging to the Atharvan and Angirasa poets. It has 760 hymns, and
about 160 of the hymns are in common with the Rigveda.
[46]
Most of the verses are metrical, but some
sections are in prose.
[46]
It was compiled around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the
time of the Rigveda,
[47]
and some parts of the Atharva-Veda are older than the Rig-Veda
[46]
though not in
linguistic form.
The Atharvaveda is preserved in two recensions, the Paippalda and aunaka.
[46]
According to Apte it had
nine schools (shakhas).
[48]
The Paippalada text, which exists in a Kashmir and an Orissa version, is longer
than the Saunaka one; it is only partially printed in its two versions and remains largely untranslated.
Unlike the other three Vedas, the Atharvanaveda has less connection with sacrifice.
[49][50]
Its first part
consists chiefly of spells and incantations, concerned with protection against demons and disaster, spells for
the healing of diseases, for long life and for various desires or aims in life.
[46][51]
The second part of the text contains speculative and philosophical hymns.
[52]
The Atharvaveda is a comparatively late extension of the "Three Vedas" connected to priestly sacrifice to a
canon of "Four Vedas". This may be connected to an extension of the sacrificial rite from involving three
types of priest to the inclusion of the Brahman overseeing the ritual.
[53]
The Atharvaveda is concerned with the material world or world of man and in this respect differs from the
other three vedas. Atharvaveda also sanctions the use of force, in particular circumstances and similarly this
point is a departure from the three other vedas.
Brahmanas
Further information: Brahmanas
The mystical notions surrounding the concept of the one "Veda" that would flower in Vedantic philosophy
have their roots already in Brahmana literature, for example in the Shatapatha Brahmana. The Vedas are
identified with Brahman, the universal principle (BM 10.1.1.8, 10.2.4.6). Vc "speech" is called the
"mother of the Vedas" (BM 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 (BM 10.4.2.22 has Prajapati reflecting that "truly, all beings are in the triple
Veda").
Vedanta
Further information: Vedanta, Upanishads and Aranyakas
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While contemporary traditions continued to maintain Vedic ritualism (rauta, Mimamsa), Vedanta renounced
all ritualism and radically re-interpreted the notion of "Veda" in purely philosophical terms. The association
of the three Vedas with the bhr bhuva sva mantra is found in the Aitareya Aranyaka: "Bh is the
Rigveda, bhuva is the Yajurveda, sva is the Samaveda" (1.3.2). The Upanishads reduce the "essence of the
Vedas" further, to the syllable Aum (). 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)
In post-Vedic literature
Vedanga
Main article: Vedanga
Six technical subjects related to the Vedas are traditionally known as vedga "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."
[54]
These subjects are treated in Stra 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:
Phonetics (ik)
Ritual (Kalpa)
Grammar (Vykaraa)
Etymology (Nirukta)
Meter (Chandas)
Astronomy (Jyotia)
Parisista
Main article: Parisista
Pariia "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
Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Sutras. 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
Atharvaveda is extensive.
The valyana Ghya Pariia is a very late text associated with the Rigveda canon.
The Gobhila Ghya Pariia is a short metrical text of two chapters, with 113 and 95 verses
respectively.
The Ktiya Pariias, ascribed to Ktyyana, consist of 18 works enumerated self-referentially in
the fifth of the series (the Caraavyha)and the Ktyyana rauta Stra Pariia.
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The Ka Yajurveda has 3 parisistas The pastamba Hautra Pariia, which is also found as the
second prana of the Satyasha rauta Stra', the Vrha rauta Stra Pariia
For the Atharvaveda, there are 79 works, collected as 72 distinctly named parisistas.
[55]
Puranas
Main article: Puranas
A traditional view given in the Vishnu Purana (likely dating to the Gupta period
[56]
) attributes the current
arrangement of four Vedas to the mythical sage Vedavyasa.
[57]
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 Lord 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.
[58]
Upaveda
The term upaveda ("applied knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain
technical works.
[59][60]
Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The
Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:
Medicine (yurveda), associated with the Rigveda
Archery (Dhanurveda), associated with the Yajurveda
Music and sacred dance (Gndharvaveda), associated with the Samaveda
Military science (Shastrashastra), associated with the Atharvaveda
But Sushruta and Bhavaprakasha mention Ayurveda as an upaveda of the Atharvaveda. Sthapatyaveda
(architecture), Shilpa Shastras (arts and crafts) are mentioned as fourth upaveda according to later sources.
"Fifth" and other Vedas
Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra and certain Puranas, refer to themselves
as the "fifth Veda".
[61]
The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad.
"Dravida Veda" is a term for canonical Tamil Bhakti texts.
Other texts such as the Bhagavad Gita or the Vedanta Sutras are considered shruti or "Vedic" by some Hindu
denominations but not universally within Hinduism. The Bhakti movement, and Gaudiya Vaishnavism in
particular extended the term veda to include the Sanskrit Epics and Vaishnavite devotional texts such as the
Pancaratra.
[62]
Western Indology
Further information: Sanskrit in the West
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The study of Sanskrit in the West began in the 17th century. In the early 19th century, Arthur Schopenhauer
drew attention to Vedic texts, specifically the Upanishads. The importance of Vedic Sanskrit for
Indo-European studies was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas
were published in the later 19th century, in the Sacred Books of the East series edited by Mller between
1879 and 1910.
[63]
Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published
1889 to 1899.
Voltaire regarded Vedas to be exceptional, he remarked that:-
The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the
East.
[64][65]
See also
Hindu Philosophy
Historical Vedic religion
Pandit
Shakha
Vedic chant
Notes
^ see e.g. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68;
MacDonell 2004, pp. 2939; Sanskrit literature (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-08-09
1.
^ Sanujit Ghose (2011). "Religious Developments in Ancient India (http://www.ancient.eu.com/article/230/)" in
Ancient History Encyclopedia.
2.
^ "Sound and Creation" (http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap7.htm). Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
Retrieved February 10, 2012.
3.
^ Late., Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. The Vedas.
Chennai, India: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai. pp. 3 to 7. ISBN 81-7276-401-4.
4.
^ Apte, pp. 109f. has "not of the authorship of man, of divine origin" 5.
^ Apte 1965, p. 887 6.
^ Mller 1891, pp. 1718 7.
^ Seer of the Fifth Veda: Kr a Dvaipyana Vysa in the Mahbhrata By Bruce M. Sullivan
(http://books.google.co.in/books?id=8XO3Im3OMi8C&pg=PA86&dq=brahma+created+vedas&hl=en&
sa=X&ei=W_MZUt71GMXJrAecvoCoCg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)
8.
^ Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana, (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und
Altertumskunde II.1.b.) Strassburg 1899; Gonda, J. A history of Indian literature: I.1 Vedic literature (Samhitas
and Brahmanas); I.2 The Ritual Sutras. Wiesbaden 1975, 1977
9.
^ Flood 1996, p. 82 10.
^ "The brahmin by caste alone, the teacher of the Veda, is (jokingly) etymologized as the 'non-meditator'
(ajjhyaka). Brahmins who have memorized the three Vedas (tevijja) really know nothing: it is the process of
11.
10 of 14 5/14/2014 12:16 PM
achieving Enlightenment what the Buddha is said to have achieved in the three watches of that night which
constitutes the true 'three knowledges.'" R.F. Gombrich in Paul Williams, ed., "Buddhism: Critical Concepts in
Religious Studies." Taylor and Francis 2006, page 120.
^ Chahal, Dr. Devindar Singh (JanJune 2006), "Is Sikhism a Unique Religion or a Vedantic Religion?",
Understanding Sikhism - the Research Journal 8 (1): 35.
12.
^ Aad Guru Granth Sahib, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, 1983 13.
^ "Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse, Brian Hatcher, OUP 1999" 14.
^ The Dravidian Movement by Gail Omvedt 15.
^ The Vernacular Veda by Vasudha Narayanan 16.
^ Monier-Williams 2006, p. 1015; Apte 1965, p. 856 17.
^ K.F. Geldner. Der Rig-Veda, Harvard Oriental Series 33-37, Cambridge 1951 18.
^ see e.g. Pokorny's 1959 Indogermanisches etymologisches Wrterbuch s.v. u (e)id-; Rix' Lexikon der
indogermanischen Verben, u ei d-.
19.
^ Monier-Williams (1899) 20.
^ Gavin Flood sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was compiled from as early as
1500 BCE over a period of several centuries. Flood 1996, p. 37
21.
^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68 22.
^ For the possibility of written texts during the 1st century BCE see: Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads",
in: Flood 2003, p. 69; For oral composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being
written down, see: Avari 2007, p. 76.
23.
^ Brodd, Jefferey (2003), World Religions, Winona, MN: Saint Mary's Press, ISBN 978-0-88489-725-5 24.
^ according to ISKCON, Hindu Sacred Texts (http://hinduism.iskcon.com/tradition/1105.htm), "Hindus
themselves often use the term to describe anything connected to the Vedas and their corollaries (e.g. Vedic
culture)".
25.
^ 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
26.
^
a

b

c
Michaels 2004, p. 51. 27.
^
a

b
Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, p. 69. 28.
^ For a table of all Vedic texts see Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, pp. 100101. 29.
^ Flood 1996, p. 39. 30.
^ (Staal 1986) 31.
^
a

b
(Filliozat 2004, p. 139) 32.
^
a

b

c
Nair 2008, pp. 84-227. 33.
^
a

b

c
Joshi 1994, pp. 91-93. 34.
^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, p. 68 35.
^ MacDonell 2004, pp. 2939 36.
^ Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu
(http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf)" in Witzel 1997, pp. 257348
37.
^ see e.g. Avari 2007, p. 77. 38.
^ For 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses and division into ten mandalas, see: Avari 2007, p. 77. 39.
^ For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, Soma, Surya, etc. see:
Avari 2007, p. 77.
40.
^ see e.g. Avari 2007, p. 77. Max Mller gave 17001100 BCE, Michael Witzel gives 1450-1350 BCE as
terminus ad quem.
41.
11 of 14 5/14/2014 12:16 PM
^ Drews, Robert (2004), Early Riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe, New York:
Routledge, p. 50
42.
^ http://hinduism.about.com/od/scripturesepics/a/rigveda.htm 43.
^ Apte 1965, p. 981. 44.
^ For 1875 total verses, see 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. 491-99.
45.
^
a

b

c

d

e
Michaels 2004, p. 56. 46.
^ Flood 1996, p. 37. 47.
^ Apte 1965, p. 37. 48.
^ Flood 1996, p. 36. 49.
^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniads", in: Flood 2003, p. 76. 50.
^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3. 51.
^ "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
Prna, the 'Breath of Life', to Vc, the 'Word', and so on." Zaehner 1966, p. vii.
52.
^ "There were originally only three priests associated with the first three Sahits, for the Brahman as overseer
of the rites does not appear in the g Veda and is only incorporated later, thereby showing the acceptance of the
Atharva Veda, which had been somewhat distinct from the other Sahits and identified with the lower social
strata, as being of equal standing with the other texts."Flood 1996, p. 42.
53.
^ Apte 1965, p. 387. 54.
^ BR Modak, The Ancillary Literature of the Atharva-Veda, New Delhi, Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan,
1993, ISBN 81-215-0607-7
55.
^ Flood 1996, p. 111 dates it to the 4th century CE. 56.
^ Vishnu Purana, translation by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840, Ch IV, http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/vp
/vp078.htm
57.
^ Muir 1861, pp. 2031 58.
^ Monier-Williams 2006, p. 207. [1] (http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0200/mw__0240.html)
Accessed 5 April 2007.
59.
^ Apte 1965, p. 293. 60.
^ Sullivan 1994, p. 385 61.
^ Goswami, Satsvarupa (1976), Readings in Vedic Literature: The Tradition Speaks for Itself, S.l.: Assoc
Publishing Group, pp. 240 pages, ISBN 0-912776-88-9
62.
^ Mller, Friedrich Max (author) & Stone, Jon R. (author, editor) (2002). The essential Max Mller: on
language, mythology, and religion. Illustrated edition. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-29309-7, ISBN
978-0-312-29309-3. Source: [2] (http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Q96EsUCVlLsC&printsec=frontcover&
dq=Max+M%C3%BCller&ei=SRjkS6LcI4TulQSj6InGCQ&cd=3#v=onepage&q&f=false) (accessed: Friday
May 7, 2010), p.44
63.
^ "A Critical Study of the Contribution of the Arya Samaj to Indian Education", p. 68. by Pandit, Saraswati S 64.
^ "Lectures on the science of language, delivered at the Royal institution of Great Britain in 1861 [and 1863],
Volume 1", by Max Muller, p. 148
65.
References
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Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965), The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary (4th revised & enlarged ed.), Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0567-4.
Avari, Burjor (2007), India: The Ancient Past, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-35616-9
Dundas, Paul (2002), The Jains, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-26605-5
Flood, Gavin (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-43878-0
Flood, Gavin, ed. (2003), The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Malden, MA: Blackwell,
ISBN 1-4051-3251-5
Glasenapp, Helmuth Von (1999), Jainism (http://books.google.com/books?id=WzEzXDk0v6sC&
pg=PA497), Motilal Banarsidass, pp. 494498, ISBN 978-81-208-1376-2
Holdrege, Barbara A. (1995), Veda and Torah, SUNY Press, ISBN 0-7914-1639-9
MacDonell, Arthur Anthony (2004), A History of Sanskrit Literature, Kessinger Publishing,
ISBN 1-4179-0619-7
Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism: Past and Present, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-08953-1
Monier-Williams, Monier, ed. (2006), Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, Nataraj Books,
ISBN 1-881338-58-4.
Muir, John (1861), Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and
Institutions of India (http://books.google.com/?id=_VCXTBk-PtoC), Williams and Norgate
Mller, Max (1891), Chips from a German Workshop (http://books.google.com/?id=J8Zo_rtoWAEC),
New York: C. Scribner's sons.
Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli; Moore, Charles A., eds. (1957), A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy (12th
Princeton Paperback ed.), Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01958-4.
Smith, Brian K., Canonical Authority and Social Classification: Veda and "Vara" in Ancient Indian
Texts-, History of Religions, The University of Chicago Press (1992), 103-125.
Sullivan, B. M. (Summer 1994), "The Religious Authority of the Mahabharata: Vyasa and Brahma in
the Hindu Scriptural Tradition", Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62 (1): 377401,
doi:10.1093/jaarel/LXII.2.377 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Fjaarel%2FLXII.2.377).
Witzel, Michael (ed.) (1997), Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the
Vedas, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora vol. 2, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Zaehner, R. C. (1966), Hindu Scriptures, London: Everyman's Library
Literature
Overviews
J. Gonda, Vedic Literature: Sahits and Brhmaas, A History of Indian literature. Vol. 1, Veda and
Upanishads (1975), ISBN 978-3-447-01603-2.
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
13 of 14 5/14/2014 12:16 PM
M. Bloomfield, A Vedic Concordance (1907)
Vishva Bandhu, Bhim Dev, S. Bhaskaran Nair (eds.), Vaidika-Padnukrama-Koa: A Vedic
Word-Concordance, Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur, 19631965, revised
edition 1973-1976.
Conference proceedings
Griffiths, Arlo and Houben, Jan E. M. (eds.), The Vedas : texts, language & ritual: proceedings of the
Third International Vedic Workshop, Leiden 2002, Groningen Oriental Studies 20, Groningen :
Forsten, (2004), ISBN 90-6980-149-3.
External links
Veda In Hindi & Sanskrit (http://www.aryasamajjamnagar.org/veda.htm)
GRETIL etexts (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil.htm#Veda)
The Vedas at sacred-texts.com (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/index.htm#vedas)
Vedas: Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva (http://www.comparative-religion.com/hinduism/vedas/)
Vedas and Upanishads Complete set (http://www.gayathrimanthra.com/Library.html)
Glimpses of Vedic Literature - Kireet Joshi (http://www.kireetjoshiarchives.com/indian_culture
/glimpses_vedic/)
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