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According to Hindu tradition, the Vedas are apauruṣeya "not human compositions"[3], being supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti ("what is heard").[4][5] Vedic mantras are recited at Hindu prayers, religious functions and other auspicious occasions. Philosophies and sects that developed in the Indian subcontinent have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as "orthodox" (āstika). Two other Indian philosophies, Buddhism and Jainism, did not accept the authority of the Vedas and evolved into separate religions. In Indian philosophy these groups are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-Vedic" (nāstika) schools.[6] Etymology and usageThe Sanskrit word véda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". This is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning "see" or "know".[7]As a noun, the word appears only in a single instance in the Rigveda, in RV 8.19.5, translated by Griffith as "ritual lore":
In its narrowest sense, the term Veda is used to refer to the Samhitas (collection of mantras, or chants) associated with the four canonical Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharavaveda) though typically the reference also includes the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads attached to the Samhitas. In post-Vedic speculation, the term was further extended to refer to Itihasas (epics) and Puranas, each of which is sometimes designated as the "fifth Veda"; and in its widest interpretation, Veda can subsume "potentially all brahmanical texts, teachings and practices."[9] In its primary meaning, as a common noun meaning "knowledge"", veda can also be used to refer to fields of study unrelated to liturgy or ritual, freely compounded e.g. in agada-veda "medical science", sasya-veda "science of agriculture" or sarpa-veda "science of snakes"; durveda means "without knowledge, ignorant". DatingThe Vedas are arguably the oldest sacred texts that are still used. Most Indologists agree that an oral tradition existed long before a literary tradition gradually sets in from about the 2nd century BCE.[10] Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years. The oldest surviving manuscripts of the Rigveda are dated to the 11th century. The Vedic period lasts for at least a millennium, spanning the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. sums up mainstream estimates, according to which the Rigveda was composed from as early as 1200 BCE over a period of several centuries. The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with the establishment of the various shakhas all over Northern India which annotated the mantra samhitas with Brahmana commentaries, and reaches its end in the age of Panini and Buddha and the rise of the Mahajanapadas (archaeologically, Northern Black Polished Ware). Michael Witzel gives a time span of c. 1500 BCE and c. 500-400 BCE. Witzel makes special reference to the Mitanni material of ca. 1400 BCE is the only epigraphic record of Indo-Aryan that may date to the Rigvedic period, admitting this does still not allow for an absolute dating of any Vedic text. He gives 150 BCE (Patanjali) as a terminus ante quem for all Vedic Sanskrit literature, and 1200 BCE (the early Iron Age) as terminus post quem for the Atharvaveda.[11] Categories of Vedic textsVedic texts are traditionally categorized into four classes: the Saṃhitās (mantras), Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads.[12][13] Also classified as "Vedic" is certain Sutra literature, i.e. the Shrautasutras and the Grhyasutras.
These classifications are often not tenable for linguistic and formal reasons: There is not only one collection at any one time, but rather several handed down in separate Vedic schools; Upanişads ... are sometimes not to be distinguished from Āraṇyakas...; Brāhmaṇas contain older strata of language attributed to the Saṃhitās; there are various dialects and locally prominent traditions of the Vedic schools. Nevertheless, it is advisable to stick to the division adopted by Max Müller because it follows the Indian tradition, conveys the historical sequence fairly accurately, and underlies the current editions, translations, and monographs on Vedic literature."[15] The Shrauta Sutras, regarded as belonging to the smriti, are late Vedic in language and content, thus forming part of the Vedic Sanskrit corpus.[16][17] The composition of the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras (ca. 6th century BC) marks the end of the Vedic period , and at the same time the beginning of the flourishing of the "circum-Vedic" scholarship of Vedanga, introducing the early flowering of classical Sanskrit literature in the Maurya period. While production of Brahmanas and Aranyakas ceases with the end of the Vedic period, there is a large number of Upanishads composed after the end of the Vedic period. While most of the ten mukhya Upanishads can be considered to date to the Vedic or Mahajanapada period, most of the 108 Upanishads of the full Muktika canon date to the Common Era. The Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads often interpret the polytheistic and ritualistic Samhitas in philosophical and metaphorical ways to explore abstract concepts such as the Absolute (Brahman), and the soul or the self (Atman), introducing Vedanta philosophy, the basis of later Hinduism. Vedic schools or recensionsStudy of the extensive body of Vedic texts has been organized into a number of different schools or branches (Sanskrit śākhā, literally "branch" or "limb") each of which specialized in learning certain texts.[18] Multiple recensions are known for each of the Vedas, and each Vedic text may have a number of schools associated with it. Elaborate methods for preserving the text were originally based on memorizing by heart instead of writing. Specific techniques for parsing and chanting the texts were used to assist in the memorization process. (See also: patha) Exegetical literature developed in the Vedic schools but comparatively few early medieval commentaries have survived. Sayana, from the 14th century, is known for his elaborate commentaries on the Vedic texts. While some evidence suggests that every member of the upper three classes (varna) was allowed to study the Vedas and that none but a few Vedic authors (Rishis) were women, the later dharmashastras, from the Sutra age, dictate that women and Shudras were neither required nor allowed to study the Veda. These dharmashastras regard the study of the Vedas a religious duty of the three upper varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas). The Four VedasThe canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold (turīya) viz.,[19] Of these, the first three were the principal original division, also called trayī, "the triple Vidyā", that is, "the triple sacred science" of reciting hymns (RV), performing sacrifices (YV), and chanting (SV).[20][21] This triplicity is so introduced in the Brahmanas (ShB, ABr and others), but the Rigveda is the only original work of the three with the other two largely borrowing from it.Thus, the Mantras are properly of three forms: 1. Ric, which are verses of praise in metre, and intended for loud recitation; 2. Yajus, which are in prose, and intended for recitation in a lower tone at sacrifices; 3. Sāman, which are in metre, and intended for chanting at the Soma ceremonies. The Yajurveda and Samaveda are not so much independent collections of prayers and hymns as special prayer- and hymn-books intended as manuals for the Adhvaryu and Udgatr priests respectively. Subsequently, the Atharvaveda was added as the fourth Veda. Its status was probably not completely accepted till after Manusmrti, which often speaks of the three Vedas, calling them trayam-brahma-sanātanam, "the triple eternal Veda". The Atharvaveda like the Rigveda, is a collection of original hymns mixed up with incantations, borrowing little from the Rig and having no direct relation to sacrifices, but supposed by mere recitation to produce long life, to cure diseases, or effect the ruin of enemies. Each of the four Vedas consists of the metrical Mantra or Samhita and the prose Brahmana part, giving directions for the detail of the ceremonies at which the Mantras were to be used and explanations of the legends connected with the Mantras. Both these portions are termed shruti, heard but not composed or written down by men. Each of the four Vedas seems to have passed through numerous Shakhas or schools, giving rise to various recensions of the text. They each have an Index or Anukramani, the principal work of this kind being the general Index or Sarvānukramaṇī. The Rig-VedaThe Rig-Veda Samhita is the oldest significant extant Indian text.[22] It is a collection of 1,028 Vedic Sanskrit hymns and 10,600 verses in all, organized into ten books (Sanskrit: mandalas).[23] The hymns are dedicated to Rigvedic deities.[24] The books were composed by sages and poets from different priestly groups over a period of at least 500 years, which Avari dates as 1400 BCE to 900 BCE, if not earlier[25] According to Max Müller, based on internal evidence (philological and linguistic), the Rigveda was composed roughly between 1700–1100 BCE (the early Vedic period) in the Punjab (Sapta Sindhu) region of the Indian subcontinent.[26] Michael Witzel believes that the Rig Veda must have been composed more or less in the period 1450-1350 BCE.[27] There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rigveda and the early Iranian Avesta, deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times, often associated with the Andronovo culture; the earliest horse-drawn chariots were found at Andronovo sites in the Sintashta-Petrovka cultural area near the Ural mountains and date to ca. 2000 BCE.[28] The Yajur-VedaThe Sama-VedaIts purpose was liturgical and practical, to serve as a songbook for the "singer" priests who took part in the liturgy. A priest who sings hymns from the Sama-Veda during a ritual is called an udgātṛ, a word derived from the Sanskrit root ud-gai ("to sing" or "to chant").[32] A similar word in English might be "cantor". The styles of chanting are important to the liturgical use of the verses. The hymns were to be sung according to certain fixed melodies; hence the name of the collection. The Atharva-VedaThe Atharva-Veda Saṃhitā has 760 hymns, and about one-sixth of the hymns are in common with the Rig-Veda.[35] Most of the verses are metrical, but some sections are in prose.[36] It was compiled around 900 BCE, although some of its material may go back to the time of the Rig Veda,[37] and some parts of the Atharva-Veda are older than the Rig-Veda.[38] The Atharvana-Veda is preserved in two recensions, the Paippalāda and Śaunaka.[39] According to Apte it had nine schools (shakhas).[40] The Paippalada version is longer than the Saunaka one; it is only partially printed and remains untranslated. Unlike the other three Vedas, the Atharvana-Veda has less connection with sacrifice.[41][42] Its first part consists chiefly of spells and incantations, concerned with protection against demons and disaster, spells for the healing of diseases, and for long life.[43][44] The second part of the text contains speculative and philosophical hymns. R. C. Zaehner notes that: "The latest of the four Vedas, the Atharva-Veda, is, as we have seen, largely composed of magical texts and charms, but here and there we find cosmological hymns which anticipate the Upanishads, -- hymns to Skambha, the 'Support', who is seen as the first principle which is both the material and efficient cause of the universe, to Prāna, the 'Breath of Life', to Vāc, the 'Word', and so on.[45] In its third section, the Atharvaveda contains Mantras used in marriage and death rituals, as well as those for kingship, female rivals and the Vratya (in Brahmana style prose). Gavin Flood discusses the relatively late acceptance of the Atharva-Veda as follows: "There were originally only three priests associated with the first three Saṃhitās, for the Brahman as overseer of the rites does not appear in the Ṛg Veda and is only incorporated later, thereby showing the acceptance of the Atharva Veda, which had been somewhat distinct from the other Saṃhitās and identified with the lower social strata, as being of equal standing with the other texts."[46] Brahmanas
Vedanta
The Vedas in post-Vedic literatureVedanga"N. of a certain class of works regarded as auxiliary to the Vedas and designed to aid in the correct pronunciation and interpretation of the text and the right employment of the Mantras in ceremonials."[47] These subjects are treated in Sutra literature dating from the end of the Vedic period to Mauryan times, seeing the transition from late Vedic Sanskrit to Classical Sanskrit. The six subjects of Vedanga are:
PuranasA traditional view given in the Vishnu Purana (likely dating to the Gupta period[48]) attributes the current arrangement of four Vedas to the mythical sage Vedavyasa.[49]. Puranic tradition also postulates a single original Veda that, in varying accounts, was divided into three or four parts. According to the Vishnu Purana (3.2.18, 3.3.4 etc) the original Veda was divided into four parts, and further fragmented into numerous shakhas, by Vishnu in the form of Vyasa, in the Dvapara Yuga; the Vayu Purana (section 60) recounts a similar division by Vyasa, at the urging of Brahma. The Bhagavata Purana (12.6.37) traces the origin of the primeval Veda to the syllable aum, and says that it was divided into four at the start of Dvapara Yuga, because men had declined in age, virtue and understanding. In a differing account Bhagavata Purana (9.14.43) attributes the division of the primeval veda (aum) into three parts to the monarch Pururavas at the beginning of Treta Yuga. The Mahabharata (santiparva 13,088) also mentions the division of the Veda into three in Treta Yuga.[50]Other "Vedas"The term upaveda ("secondary knowledge") is used in traditional literature to designate the subjects of certain technical works.[51][52] They have no relation to the Vedas, except as subjects worthy of study despite their secular character. Lists of what subjects are included in this class differ among sources. The Charanavyuha mentions four Upavedas:
Some post-Vedic texts, including the Mahabharata, the Natyasastra and certain Puranas, refer to themselves as the "fifth Veda".[53] The earliest reference to such a "fifth Veda" is found in the Chandogya Upanishad. "Dravida Veda" is a term for canonical Tamil Bhakti texts. Notes1. ^ see e.g. ; Sanskrit literature (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accesed 2007-08-09 2. ^ see e.g. ; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: 3. ^ Apte, pp. 109f. has "not of the authorship of man, of divine origin" 4. ^ 5. ^ 6. ^ 7. ^ ; 8. ^ see e.g. Pokorny's 1959 Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch s.v. u̯(e)id-². 9. ^ 10. ^ For written texts during second century BCE see: Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: ; For composition and oral transmission for "many hundreds of years" before being written down, see: . 11. ^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: 12. ^ . 13. ^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: . 14. ^ 37,575 are Rigvedic. Of the remaining, 34,857 appear in the other three samhitas, and 16,405 are known only from Brahmanas, Upanishads or Sutras) 15. ^ . 16. ^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: . 17. ^ For a table of all Vedic texts see Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: . 18. ^ . 19. ^ ; Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: 20. ^ 21. ^ Witzel, M., "The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu" in 22. ^ For Rig Veda as the "oldest significant extant Indian text" see: . 23. ^ For 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses and division into ten mandalas, see: . 24. ^ For characterization of content and mentions of deities including Agni, Indra, Varuna, and Surya, see: . 25. ^ For composition over 500 years dated 1400 BCE to 900 BCE, see: . 26. ^ India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge by F. Max Müller; World Treasures of the Library of Congress Beginnings by Irene U. Chambers, Michael S. Roth. 27. ^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: . 28. ^ Drews, Robert (2004). Early Riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe. New York: Routledge, 50. 29. ^ . 30. ^ . 31. ^ For 1875 total verses, see numbering given in Ralph T. H. Griffith edition. Griffith's introduction mentions the recension history for his text. Repetitions may be found by consulting the cross-index in Griffith pp. 491-99. 32. ^ . 33. ^ . 34. ^ Mayrhofer, EWAia I.60 35. ^ . 36. ^ . 37. ^ . 38. ^ . 39. ^ . 40. ^ . 41. ^ . 42. ^ Witzel, Michael, "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in: . 43. ^ . 44. ^ . 45. ^ . 46. ^ . 47. ^ . 48. ^ dates it to the 4th century CE. 49. ^ Vishnu Purana, translation by Horace Hayman Wilson, 1840, Ch IV, [1] 50. ^ 51. ^ . [2] Accessed 5 April 2007. 52. ^ . 53. ^ References
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The hydra of the Romancero and some other hybrid forms, the Vedas and the Nibelungen bristle further on. The Vedas say, "All intelligences awake with the morning. |
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Vedas
