A report on Atharvaveda, Vedas and Brahmana

A 17th-century manuscript page of Sadvimsha Brahmana, a Pañcaviṃśa-Brāhmaṇa supplement (Sanskrit, Devanagari). It is found embedded in the Samaveda.

A page from the Atharva Veda Samhita, its most ancient layer of text.

The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.

Page form the Mimamsa sutra of Jaiminimi, who also recorded the Jaiminiya Brahmana and other works.

Rishi Caraka (above), the author of Caraka Samhita credits Atharvaveda as an inspiration.

Extract from a 13th-century manuscript of the Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 14).

A page from the Taittiriya Samhita, a layer of text within the Yajurveda

The Brahmanas (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मणम्, Brāhmaṇam) are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas.

- Brahmana

The text is the fourth Veda, and is a late addition to the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism.

- Atharvaveda

There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda.

- Vedas

Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras 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).

- Vedas

Along with the Samhita layer of text, the Atharvaveda includes a Brahmana text, and a final layer of the text that covers philosophical speculations.

- Atharvaveda

6 related topics with Alpha

Rigveda

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Ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas).

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. After a scribal benediction ('), the first line has the first pada, RV 1.1.1a ('). The pitch-accent is marked by underscores and vertical overscores in red.

A map of tribes and rivers mentioned in the Rigveda.

Geographical distribution of the Late Vedic Period. Each of major regions had their own recension of Rig Veda (Śākhās), and the versions varied.

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

Devi sukta, which highlights the goddess tradition of Hinduism is found in Rigveda hymns 10.125. It is cited in Devi Mahatmya and is recited every year during the Durga Puja festival.

The hymn 10.85 of the Rigveda includes the Vivaha-sukta (above). Its recitation continues to be a part of Hindu wedding rituals.

It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas.

Book 10 contributes the largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda, or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text.

the Brahmanas, commentaries on the hymns

Yajurveda

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Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.

A page from the Vajasneyi samhita found in the Shukla Yajurveda (Sanskrit, Devanagari script). This version of the manuscript opens with salutations to Ganesha and Sadashiva (Shaivism).

Yajurveda text describes formula and mantras to be uttered during sacrificial fire (yajna) rituals, shown. Offerings are typically ghee (clarified butter), grains, aromatic seeds, and cow milk.

Ashvamedhika parva of the Mahabharata describes the year long ceremony according to Yajurveda.

Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, and one of the scriptures of Hinduism.

The exact century of Yajurveda's composition is unknown, and estimated by Witzel to be between 1200 and 800 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

The middle layer includes the Satapatha Brahmana, one of the largest Brahmana texts in the Vedic collection.

Upanishads

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The Upanishads (उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts of Hindu philosophy which supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.

Impact of a drop of water, a common analogy for Brahman and the Ātman

Adi Shankara, expounder of Advaita Vedanta and commentator (bhashya) on the Upanishads

German 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, impressed by the Upanishads, called the texts "the production of the highest human wisdom".

They are the most recent part of the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and deal with meditation, philosophy, consciousness and ontological knowledge; earlier parts of the Vedas deal with mantras, benedictions, rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices.

The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation and passed down orally.

All Upanishads are associated with one of the four Vedas—Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda (there are two primary versions or Samhitas of the Yajurveda: Shukla Yajurveda, Krishna Yajurveda), and Atharvaveda.

Samhita

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Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses".

Saṃhitā also refers to the most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting of mantras, hymns, prayers, litanies and benedictions.

Vedic Samhita refer to mathematically precise metrical archaic text of each of the Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda).

The Vedas have been divided into four styles of texts – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Brahmanas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Aranyakas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).

Brahman

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In Hinduism, Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.

A drop in the ocean: an analogy for Ātman merging into Brahman.

Swan (Hansa, हंस) is the symbol for Brahman-Atman in Hindu iconography.

Brahman is a key concept found in the Vedas, and it is extensively discussed in the early Upanishads.

A brāhm a ṇ a (ब्राह्मण) (masculine, same pronunciation as above), means priest; in this usage the word is usually rendered in English as "Brahmin". This usage is also found in the Atharva Veda. In neuter plural form, Brahmāṇi. See Vedic priest.

The concept is found in various layers of the Vedic literature; for example: Aitareya Brahmana 1.18.3, Kausitaki Brahmana 6.12, Satapatha Brahmana 13.5.2.5, Taittiriya Brahmana 2.8.8.10, Jaiminiya Brahmana 1.129, Taittiriya Aranyaka 4.4.1 through 5.4.1, Vajasaneyi Samhita 22.4 through 23.25, Maitrayani Samhita 3.12.1:16.2 through 4.9.2:122.15.

Agni

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Agni (fire) is a part of major rites-of-passage rituals such as weddings and cremation in Indian religions.

A pre-3rd century CE, Kushan Empire era red-stone Agni statue. Art of Mathura.

Agni with an aura of flames, seated on ram.

Saptapadi, a Hindu wedding ritual, around Agni in progress.

Agni is a part of the ritual grammar in many Hindu festivals. Above Holika for Holi, includes Agni.

Agni god in southeast corner of the 11th-century Rajarani Temple in Bhubaneshwar Odisha. The ram is carved below him.

Agni seated on a ram, 14th–15th century Indonesia.

Agni (right) with his son Skanda (Karttikeya), about 1st-century CE.

The Buddhist Fire God "Katen" (火天) in Japanese art. Dated 1127 CE, Kyoto National Museum.

Agni ( English:, अग्नि) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism.

In the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas, such as in section 5.2.3 of Shatapatha Brahmana, Agni represents all the gods, all concepts of spiritual energy that permeates everything in the universe.

According to Atharvaveda, it is Agni that conveys the soul of the dead from the pyre to be reborn in the next world or life.