The Vedas

upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.

The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.

There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).Gavin Flood (1996), ''An Introduction to Hinduism'', Cambridge University Press, , pp. 35–39A Bhattacharya (2006), ''Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology'', , pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, , p. 285Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship). The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox ''sramana''-traditions.

Vedas are ' ("what is heard"), distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called ' ("what is remembered"). Hindus consider the Vedas to be '' apauruṣeya'', which means "not of a man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless," revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient sages after intense meditation.

The Vedas have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques. The mantras, the oldest part of the Vedas, are recited in the modern age for their phonology rather than the semantics, and are considered to be "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."

The various Indian philosophies and Hindu denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas; schools of Indian philosophy which acknowledge the primal authority of the Vedas are classified as "orthodox" ( āstika). Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Charvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism, and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" ( nāstika) schools."astika"
an
"nastika"
''Encyclopædia Britannica Online'', 20 April 2016.

Etymology and usage

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

The noun is from Proto-Indo-European ', cognate to Greek "aspect", "form" . This is not to be confused with the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense ', cognate to Greek ''(w)oida'' "I know". Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English ''wit'', etc., Latin ''videō'' "I see", German ''wissen'' "to know" etc.

The Sanskrit term ' as a common noun means "knowledge". The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the ''Rigveda'', means "obtaining or finding wealth, property", while in some others it means "a bunch of grass together" as in a broom or for ritual fire.

Vedas are called ''Maṛai'' or ''Vaymoli'' in parts of South India. Marai literally means "hidden, a secret, mystery". But the Tamil Naan Marai mentioned in Tholkappiam is not Sanskrit Vedas.John Carman (1989), The Tamil Veda: Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli, University of Chicago Press, , pp. 259–261 In some parts of South India (e.g. the Iyengar communities), the word ''veda'' is used in the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints. Such writings include the Divya Prabandham (aka Tiruvaymoli).Vasudha Narayanan (1994), The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation, and Ritual, University of South Carolina Press, , pp. 43, 117–119

Vedic texts

Vedic Sanskrit corpus

The term "Vedic texts" is used in two distinct meanings:
# Texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit during the Vedic period ( Iron Age India)
# Any text considered as "connected to the Vedas" or a "corollary of the Vedas"

The corpus of Vedic Sanskrit texts includes:
* The Samhitass"). There are four "Vedic" Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and Atharva-Veda, most of which are available in several recensions ('). In some contexts, the term ''Veda'' is used to refer only to these Samhitas, the collection of mantras. This is the oldest layer of Vedic texts, which were composed between circa 1500–1200 BCE (Rig Veda book 2–9), and 1200–900 BCE for the other ''Samhitas''. The Samhitas contain invocations to deities like Indra and Agni, "to secure their benediction for success in battles or for welfare of the clan." The complete corpus of Vedic mantras as collected in Bloomfield's ''Vedic Concordance'' (1907) consists of some 89,000 padas (metrical feet), of which 72,000 occur in the four Samhitas.
* The Brahmanas are prose texts that comment 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 Shatapatha Brahmana), were complete by about 700 BCE.Michael Witzel, "Tracing the Vedic dialects" in ''Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes'' ed. Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97–265.Biswas et al (1989), Cosmic Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, , pp. 42–43 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 ceremonies, from ritualistic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view. It is frequently read in secondary literature.
* Older Mukhya Upanishads ( , Chandogya, , Kena, Aitareya, and others),.. composed between 800 BCE and the end of the Vedic period. The Upanishads 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 Hinduism.Wendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , 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."
* 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 Upanishads and the Sutra literature, such as Shrauta Sutras and Gryha Sutras, which are smriti texts. Together, the Vedas and these Sutras form part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.

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 Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads, among other things, interpret and discuss the Samhitas), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, one of the major trends of later Hinduism. 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 Adi Shankara to classify each Veda into ''karma-kanda'' (कर्म खण्ड, action/sacrificial ritual-related sections, the ''Samhitas'' and ''Brahmanas''); and ''jnana-kanda'' (ज्ञान खण्ड, knowledge/spirituality-related sections, mainly the Upanishads').

Śruti and smriti

Vedas are ' ("what is heard"), distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called ' ("what is remembered"). This indigenous system of categorization was adopted by Max Müller and, while it is subject to some debate, it is still widely used. As Axel Michaels explains:

Among the widely known śrutis include the Vedas and their embedded texts—the Samhita (4th c. BCE) wrote the ''Nirukta'', which reflects the concerns about the loss of meaning of the mantras, while Pāṇinis (4th c. BCE) ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'' is the most important surviving text of the Vyākaraṇa traditions. Mimamsa scholar Sayanas (14th c. CE) major ''Vedartha Prakasha'' is a rare commentary on the Vedas, which is also referred to by contemporary scholars.

Yaska and Sayana, reflecting an ancient understanding, state that the Veda can be interpreted in three ways, giving "the truth about gods, ''dharma'' and parabrahman." The ''pūrva-kāņda'' (or ''karma-kanda''), the part of the Veda dealing with ritual, gives knowledge of ''dharma'', "which brings us satisfaction." The ''uttara-kanda'' (or '' jnana-kanda''), the part of the Veda dealing with the knowledge of the absolute, gives knowledge of ''Parabrahma'', "which fulfills all of our desires." According to Holdrege, for the exponents of ''karma-kandha'' the Veda is to be "inscribed in the minds and hearts of men" by memorization and recitation, while for the exponents of the ''jnana-kanda'' and meditation the Vedas express a transcendental reality which can be approached with mystical means.

Holdrege notes that in Vedic learning "priority has been given to recitation over interpretation" of the Samhitas. Galewicz states that Sayana, a Mimamsa 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 (''artha'') of the Veda as the "''artha'' of carrying out sacrifice," giving precedence to the ''Yajurveda''. 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 Śrauta rituals are not performed in the modern era, and those that are, are rare.

Mukherjee notes that the Rigveda, and Sayana's commentary, contain passages criticizing as fruitless mere recitation of the ''Ŗik'' (words) without understanding their inner meaning or essence, the knowledge of ''dharma'' and ''Parabrahman''. Mukherjee concludes that in the Rigvedic education of the mantras "the contemplation and comprehension of their meaning 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, ''akshara-praptī'', is followed by ''artha- bodha'', perception of their meaning." Mukherjee explains that the Vedic knowledge was first perceived by the ''rishis'' and ''munis''. 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 Truth" and the knowledge of ''paramatman'' as revealed to the ''rishis'' is the real aim of Vedic learning, and not the mere recitation of texts. The supreme knowledge of the Absolute, ''para Brahman- jnana'', the knowledge of '' rta'' and ''satya'', can be obtained by taking vows of silence and obedience sense-restraint, ''dhyana'', the practice of '' tapas'' (austerities), and discussing the Vedanta.

Vedic schools or recensions

The four Vedas were transmitted in various s (branches, schools).. Each school likely represented an ancient community of a particular area, or kingdom. Each school followed its own canon. Multiple recensions 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 Videha, in modern north Bihar, south of Nepal.Jamison and Witzel (1992)
Vedic Hinduism
Harvard University, p. 6 The Vedic canon in its entirety consists of texts from all the various Vedic schools taken together.

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 have been corrupted at a later date. The Vedas each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or '.

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 ''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 ' (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 ''Rigveda'', as redacted into a single text during the ''Brahmana'' period, without any variant readings within that school.

The Vedas were orally transmitted by memorization for many generations and was written down for the first time around 1200 BCE. However, all printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century CE.

Four Vedas

The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (') viz.,
# Rigveda (RV)
# Yajurveda (YV, with the main division TS vs. VS)
# Samaveda (SV)
# Atharvaveda (AV)

Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called "'"; that is, "the triple science" of reciting hymns (Rigveda), performing sacrifices (Yajurveda), and chanting songs (Samaveda). The Rig Veda most likely was composed between 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.

Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhita

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