A report on Vedas and Yajurveda

Four Vedas
Four Vedas
The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.
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).
Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari
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.
A page from the Taittiriya Samhita, a layer of text within the Yajurveda
Ashvamedhika parva of the Mahabharata describes the year long ceremony according to Yajurveda.

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

- Vedas

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

- Yajurveda
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.

A bulk of 1875 ritual-focussed verses of Yajurveda, in its numerous versions, also 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

Atharvaveda

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The "knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life".

The "knowledge storehouse of atharvāṇas, the procedures for everyday life".

Four Vedas
A page from the Atharva Veda Samhita, its most ancient layer of text.
Rishi Caraka (above), the author of Caraka Samhita credits Atharvaveda as an inspiration.

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

The Atharvaveda was likely compiled as a Veda contemporaneously with Samaveda and Yajurveda, or about 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE.

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.

Vyasa, the sage who, according to tradition, composed the Upanishads.

Upanishads

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

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

Vyasa, the sage who, according to tradition, composed the Upanishads.
Geography of the Late Vedic Period
A page of Isha Upanishad manuscript
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.

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 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 syllable Aum rendered with pluta

Vedic Sanskrit

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Ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family.

Ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family.

The syllable Aum rendered with pluta

It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE.

This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Ṛg·veda Khilani, the Samaveda Saṃhitā, and the mantras of the Yajurveda.

A page of the Jaiminiya Aranyaka Gana found embedded in the Samaveda palm leaf manuscript (Sanskrit, Grantha script).

Aranyaka

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A page of the Jaiminiya Aranyaka Gana found embedded in the Samaveda palm leaf manuscript (Sanskrit, Grantha script).

The Aranyakas (आरण्यक; IAST: ) are the part of the ancient Indian Vedas concerned with the meaning of ritual sacrifice.

Yajurveda

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Shatapatha Brahmana

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A miniature replica of the Falcon altar (with yajna utensils) used during Athirathram
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The Shatapatha Brahmana (शतपथब्राह्मण, meaning 'Brāhmaṇa of one hundred paths', abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda.

Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the Vedas), it contains detailed explanations of Vedic sacrificial rituals, symbolism, and mythology.

A yajna being performed

Yajna

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Yajna (यज्ञ) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.

Yajna (यज्ञ) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.

A yajna being performed
(clockwise from left top corner) Rishi, Pitri, Bhuta, Manushya and (centre) Deva yajnas
A miniature illustration of a falcon bird Athirathram yajna altar built using the square principle.
Typical sacrificial space used in Vedic yajnas with officiants

Yajna has been a Vedic tradition, described in a layer of Vedic literature called Brahmanas, as well as Yajurveda.