The Vedas

Shyam Narayan Shukla, Ph.D. (President, BSNA)

The scriptures of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism are Bible, Koran and Dhammapada,
respectively. Unlike these religions, which have a single scripture, Hinduism has more than one
scripture. In the beginning, thousands of years ago, perhaps the Vedas were the only scriptures.
With time, to satisfy the needs of people of different classes, more scriptures were added to the
Hindu religion. Today, in addition to the Vedas, we have the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita, the
Puranas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as the principal scriptures. The Bhagvadgita or Gita
is, of course, a part of the Mahabharata, but has achieved an independent stature as a scripture.

The Hindu Shastras or scriptures deal with God, our relation to Him, the ways to realize Him, the
actions we should perform, the actions we should refrain from and the ways we should behave on
this earth to make our life and others’ lives happy.

As stated above, the Vedas are the oldest and the most sacred scriptures of the Hindus. They are
perhaps the oldest written works of the civilized world. The modern scholars have estimated the
time when the Vedas were written. Max Muller believed that they were written in 1200 B.C. It
seems that this was only his guess. According to the Bible, God created this earth only 3000 years
before Christ! Therefore, Max Muller, a staunch Christian, had difficulty assuming the Vedas
older than the earth. Today’s scientists have estimated the earth’s age as six billion years. At
certain places, the Vedas mention the planetary position of some stars. Based on the astronomical
calculations it has been calculated that this could have taken place 6000 B.C.

The word ‘Veda’ is derived from Sanskrit verb ‘vid’, which means to know. Also Veda means
knowledge. The Vedas were written in the valley of the Sapta Sindhu rivers, which included the
seven rivers, namely, Sindhu (the Indus), Chandrabhaga (the Chinab), Iravati (the Ravi), Shatadru
(the Satlaj), Vipasa (the Bias), Vitasta (the Jhelam) and Saraswati.

The Vedic scholars believe that the essential purpose of the Vedas is to ensure the well being of
the universe by spreading the sound of Vedic chants and ensuring the performance of Vedic rites.
It is understood that the Vedas are vast and what is available to us as Vedas is only a small
portion revealed to the sages. The Vedas state that they are endless (Ananta vai Vedah). The
resonance of the breath of the Paramatman (the Supreme Being), which inspired Brahma to
undertake creation, still exists in space. Every Brahma who comes after the Pralaya (the great
deluge) undertakes creation with the help of these vibrations of the Veda mantras.

There are four Vedas, namely, Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda. Each of these
Vedas can be divided into four parts. They are: Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads.
Samhita means collection, that is, collection of the prayers of different gods. When somebody
does Veda recitation, he is chanting the verses in the Samhita part of a Veda. The Brahmana part
of a Veda contains the mantra and methods to perform different sacrifices (yajnas). The name
Aranyaka is derived from the word Aranya, which means forest, where they were written. At a
certain time in the Vedic period the Rishis (sages) felt that there was too much of distractions in
their research on Brahman if they lived in cities and villages. Therefore, they moved to forests
where they pondered over the nature of Brahman and how to achieve Him. Their philosophical
writings were called Aranyakas and the part in which they described their experiences of god-
realization was named Upanishads.
The Vedas are also divided into two parts, namely, the Karmakanda and the Jnanakanda.
Karmakanda deals with rituals and sacrifices whereas Jnanakanda deals with the Vedanta
philosophy. For thousands of years only Karmakanda was more popular as the real Veda.
Vedanta part of the Vedas was meant only for the sanyasins (monks). It was Shri Shankaracharya
who wrote Bhashyas (commentaries) on a few selected Upanishads, called the Principal
Upanishads, and made their studies popular.

Modern scholars believe that the Rig Veda was written first and then came the other Vedas. But
Rig Veda itself contains references to Yajus and Sama Vedas in many places. Purusha Sukta,
which occurs in the tenth Mandala of Rig Veda refers to other Vedas as well.

Rig Veda
In the Vedic period the word ‘Rik’ meant mantra, shloka or verse. The whole Rig Veda Samhita
is in the form of Riks or hymns, in praise of different gods. A number of Riks constitute a
“Sukta”. The Samhita portion of the Rig Veda contains 10,170 Riks, in 1028 Suktas or collection
of hymns. The Samhitas of all the four Vedas contain 20,500 mantras. The Rig Veda samhita
starts with a sukta on Agni and also ends with it. Here Agni actually represents glow of the
Atman.

The Hindu (or the Vedic) marriage rites performed today are based on those described in the
marriage of Surya’s daughter. Rig Veda is given the first place amongst all the four Vedas
because the actions Yajurveda predicates and the musical ragas Sama Veda dictates emerge from
the Rig Veda.

Yajur Veda
The word “yajus” is derived from the root verb “yaj” in Sanskrit, which means to worship. The
word “yajna” is also derived from it. “Yajus” means spelling out the procedure for performing
“yajnas”. The chief purpose of Yajur Veda is to give the mantras in Rig Veda appearing in the
form of hymns a practical shape in the form of yajna or worship. It also describes in prose the
details for performing of different yajnas.

Rig Veda has two main branches - Shukla Yajur Veda and Krishna Yajur Veda. There is an
interesting story about how Shukla Yajur Veda was created. Sage Vaishampayana, who was the
scholar of Yajur Veda, was given the responsibility of preserving and propagating the Veda. He
had many students studying this Veda under his guidance. His nephew (sister’s son) Yajnavalkya
was also one of his disciples. One time Yajnavalkya annoyed his uncle Vaishampayana by using
derogatory language for his other disciples. Vaishampayana was so enraged by his nephew’s
remarks that he ordered him to regurgitate all the knowledge of the Yajur Veda that he had taught
him. Though Yajnavalkya complied, he was very upset and prayed to god Surya (Sun) to teach
him the Veda in a different version.

The new version of Yajur Veda is called Shukla Yajur Veda. Since it was brought by Sage
Yajnavalkya to the world after learning it from Sun (Vajasani) it is also called Vajasaneyi
Samhita. Since this new version was called Shukla Yajur Veda, the original was called Krishna
Yajur Veda. Shukla Yajur Veda is more popular in North India whereas Krishna Yajur Veda is
popular in South India.

Sama Veda
“Sama” means to bring peace to the mind. Many of the mantras of Rig Veda are set to music in
melodious tune in Sama Veda. Sama Gana is the basis and source of the seven notes (Swaras) of
the Indian classical music systems. In Indian classical music all the songs are devotional because
the purpose of the music is to please the gods.

In yajnas a special priest called “udgata” chants Sama Veda, to ensure the grace of the Gods. In
Bhagavadgita Shri Krishna says, I am the Sama Veda of the Vedas (Vedanam Samavedosmi. Gita
X-22).

Atharva Veda
Atharvan means priest (purohit). There was a Rishi by that name who brought this Veda to light.
This Veda contains mantras designed to ward off evil and hardship and to destroy enemies. It also
contains many hymns dealing with creation (e.g. Prithvi Suktam). Three out of the ten principal
Upanishads, Prashna, Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads belong to Atharva Veda.

Gayatri, the greatest of all mantras, is said to be the essence of the three Vedas, namely, Rig,
Yajur and Sama. Obviously, Atharva Veda has a separate Gayatri mantra. Therefore, before
undertaking the study of Atharva Veda a separate Upanayana ceremony should be performed.

Unfortunately, there are only a few scholars of Atharva Veda in North India. In South India there
is hardly anyone.