A report on Vedas, Atharvaveda and Samhita

Four Vedas
Four Vedas
The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.
A page from the Atharva Veda Samhita, its most ancient layer of text.
Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari
Rishi Caraka (above), the author of Caraka Samhita credits Atharvaveda as an inspiration.
A page from the Taittiriya Samhita, a layer of text within the Yajurveda

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

- Atharvaveda

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

- Samhita

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

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

- Samhita

The Samhita layer of the text likely represents a developing 2nd millennium BCE tradition of magico-religious rites to address superstitious anxiety, spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by demons, and herbs- and nature-derived potions as medicine.

- Atharvaveda
Four Vedas

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The four Vedas

Rigveda

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Ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas).

Ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas).

The four Vedas
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 Samhita (hymns to the deities, the oldest part of the Rigveda)

Four Vedas

Yajurveda

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Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.

Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.

Four Vedas
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 earliest and most ancient layer of Yajurveda samhita includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.

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

Brahmana

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A 17th-century manuscript page of Sadvimsha Brahmana, a Pañcaviṃśa-Brāhmaṇa supplement (Sanskrit, Devanagari). It is found embedded in the Samaveda.
Page form the Mimamsa sutra of Jaiminimi, who also recorded the Jaiminiya Brahmana and other works.
Extract from a 13th-century manuscript of the Shatapatha Brahmana (Khanda 14).
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Atharva-Veda samhita page.

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

Four Vedas

Samaveda

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Veda of melodies and chants.

Veda of melodies and chants.

Four Vedas
Geography of the Early Vedic period. Samaveda recensions from the Kauthuma (north India) and Jaiminiya (central India) regions are among those that have survived, and their manuscripts have been found in different parts of India.
The veena (vīṇā) is mentioned in Samaveda.

One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,875 verses.

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 Vedic Sanskrit, between c. 1200 and 1000 BCE or "slightly rather later," roughly contemporary with the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda.

He estimates the composition of the samhita layer of the text chronologically after the Rigveda, and in the likely range of 1200 to 1000 BCE, roughly contemporary with the Atharvaveda and the Yajurveda.

God of Fire

Agni

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God of Fire
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.

Agni, state these Samhitas, is the same as the Brahman, the truth, the eye of the manifested 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.