"Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – 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 (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge). The Upanishads are a collection of Hindu texts which contain some of the central philosophical concepts of Hinduism. The Upanishads are commonly referred to as ""Vedānta"", variously interpreted to mean either the ""last chapters, parts of the Veda"" or ""the object, the highest purpose of the Veda""."
"for Indo-European studies was also recognized in the early 19th century. English translations of the Samhitas were published in the later 19th century, in the ""Sacred Books of the East"" series edited by Müller between 1879 and 1910. Ralph T. H. Griffith also presented English translations of the four Samhitas, published 1889 to 1899. Voltaire regarded Vedas to be exceptional, he remarked that: Rigveda manuscripts were selected for inscription in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007. Vedas The Vedas (; Sanskrit: """", ""knowledge"") are a large body of religious texts originating in the ancient India. Composed in Vedic"
"culture which predates the Vedic religion. The documented history of Indian religions begins with the historical Vedic religion, the religious practices of the early Indo-Iranians, which were collected and later redacted into the ""Vedas"". The period of the composition, redaction and commentary of these texts is known as the Vedic period, which lasted from roughly 1750–500 BCE. The philosophical portions of the Vedas were summarized in Upanishads, which are commonly referred to as ""Vedānta"", variously interpreted to mean either the ""last chapters, parts of the Veda"" or ""the object, the highest purpose of the Veda"". The early Upanishads all predate"
"organisation. The Vedas constitute the oldest work of Sanskrit literature and form the basis of religious, ethic and philosophic ideas in South Asia. They are widely, but not exclusively regarded the basics and scriptural authority on worship, rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices, meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge for the future Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. Commentaries and discussions also focus on the development of valid political ideas and concepts of societal progress and ethic conformity. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are major world religions that originate in South Asia. These arguably represent the furthest reaching, most profound and permanent South Asian ideas on"
"cults. The Vedic was itself likely the product of ""a composite of the indo-Aryan and Harappan cultures and civilizations"". David Gordon White cites three other mainstream scholars who ""have emphatically demonstrated"" that Vedic religion is partially derived from the Indus Valley Civilizations. Their religion was further developed when they migrated into the Ganges Plain after c. 1100 BCE and became settled farmers, further syncretising with the native cultures of northern India. The composition of the Vedic literature began in the 2nd millennium BCE. The oldest of these Vedic texts is the Rigveda, composed between c. 1500-1200 BCE, though a wider"
"that he was considered as a Hindu Deity. Inclusion of Vetal in the hindu Pantheon is only a recent phenomena to co-opt and obliterate the oral history of the local indigenous lower caste people of India. The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the ""Father of the Rudras"", a group of storm gods. Furthermore,"
"Vedas-based orthodox schools are a part of the Hinduism traditions and they are traditionally classified into six ""darsanas"": Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta. The Vedas as a knowledge source were interpreted differently by these six schools of Hindu philosophy, with varying degrees of overlap. They represent a ""collection of philosophical views that share a textual connection"", according to Chadha. They also reflect a tolerance for a diversity of philosophical interpretations within Hinduism while sharing the same foundation. Some of the earliest surviving Hindu mystical and philosophical texts are the Upanishads of the later Vedic period (1000–500 BCE). Hindu"
"distinct cultural identity during this period. The Vedic culture is described in the texts of Vedas, still sacred to Hindus, which were orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas are some of the oldest extant texts in India. The Vedic period, lasting from about 1500 to 500 BCE, contributed the foundations of several cultural aspects of the Indian subcontinent. In terms of culture, many regions of the Indian subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age in this period. Historians have analysed the Vedas to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain. Most"
"Tholkappiam isn't Sanskrit Vedas. In some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts. The Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BCE, and the ""circum-Vedic"" texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BCE, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BCE, or the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Vedic period reaches its peak only after the composition of the mantra texts, with"
"Yajurveda The Yajurveda (Sanskrit: यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning ""worship"", and ""veda"" meaning ""knowledge"") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals. An ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, it is a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire. 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 scholars to be around 1200 to 1000 BCE, contemporaneous with Samaveda and Atharvaveda. The Yajurveda is broadly grouped into"
"Upanishads The Upanishads (; ), a part of the Vedas, are ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts and ideas of Hinduism, some of which are shared with religious traditions like Buddhism and Jainism. Among the most important literature in the history of Indian religions and culture, the Upanishads played an important role in the development of spiritual ideas in ancient India, marking a transition from Vedic ritualism to new ideas and institutions. Of all Vedic literature, the Upanishads alone are widely known, and their central ideas are at the spiritual core of Hindus. The Upanishads"
"Vaishnavism include the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Pancaratra (Agama) texts and the Bhagavata Purana. An estimated 200 million Vaishnavas live in India. Although Vishnu was a Vedic solar deity, he is mentioned less often compared to Agni, Indra and other Vedic deities, thereby suggesting that he had a minor position in the Vedic religion. Other scholars state that there are other Vedic deities, such as water deity Nara (also mentioned as Narayana-Purusha in the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas), who together form the historical roots of Vaishnavism. In the late-Vedic texts (~1000 to 500 BCE), the concept"
"Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge). Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship). The various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their scriptural authority are classified as ""orthodox"" (āstika). Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authorities, are referred to as ""heterodox"" or ""non-orthodox"" (nāstika) schools. Despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts"
"Samaveda The Samaveda (Sanskrit: सामवेद, ""sāmaveda"", from ' ""song"" and ' ""knowledge""), is the Veda of melodies and chants. It is an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, and part of the scriptures of Hinduism. One of the four Vedas, it is a liturgical text which consists of 1,549 verses. All but 75 verses have been taken from the Rigveda. Three recensions of the Samaveda have survived, and variant manuscripts of the Veda have been found in various parts of India. While its earliest parts are believed to date from as early as the Rigvedic period, the existing compilation dates from the"
"as well as panegyrics, prayers, litanies and benedictions petitioning nature or Vedic deities. 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 Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices), and the Upanishads (text discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge). The Samhitas are sometimes identified as ""karma-kanda"" (कर्म खण्ड, action/ritual-related section), while the Upanishads are identified as ""jnana-kanda"" (ज्ञान खण्ड, knowledge/spirituality-related section). The Aranyakas and"
"the textual evidence suggests significant differences between the two. The Vedic religion is described in the Vedas and associated voluminous Vedic literature preserved into the modern times by the different priestly schools. The Vedic religion texts are cerebral, orderly and intellectual, but it is unclear if the theory in diverse Vedic texts actually reflect the folk practices, iconography and other practical aspects of the Vedic religion. The evidence suggests that the Vedic religion evolved in ""two superficially contradictory directions"", state Jamison and Witzel. One part evolved into ever more ""elaborate, expensive, and specialized system of rituals"", while another part questioned"
"were transmitted by oral tradition alone until the advent, in the 4th century AD, of the Pallava and Gupta period and by a combination of written and oral tradition since then. The Hindu samskaras The earliest text of the Vedas is the Rigveda, a collection of poetic hymns used in the sacrificial rites of Vedic priesthood. Many Rigvedic hymns concern the fire ritual (Agnihotra) and especially the offering of Soma to the gods (Somayajna). Soma is both an intoxicant and a god itself, as is the sacrificial fire, Agni. The royal horse sacrifice (Ashvamedha) is a central rite in the"
"preserved since ancient times. In the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were skillfully created by ""Rishis"" (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot. According to tradition, ""Vyasa"" is the compiler of the Vedas, who arranged the four kinds of ""mantras"" into four ""Samhitas"". There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the"
"date to the Vedic period are mainly the four ""Vedas"", but the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and the older Upanishads as well as the oldest Śrautasutras are also considered to be Vedic. The ""Vedas"" record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas. The rishis, the composers of the hymns of the ""Rigveda"", were considered inspired poets and seers (in post-Vedic times understood as ""hearers"" of an eternally existing ""Veda"", ""Śrauta"" means ""what is heard""). The mode of worship was the performance of sacrifices (Yajna) which included the chanting of Rigvedic"
"of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century AD. The canonical division of the Vedas is fourfold ("") viz., 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 Rigveda is the oldest work, which Witzel states are probably from the period of 1900 to 1100 BCE. Witzel, also notes that it is the Vedic period itself, where incipient lists divide the Vedic texts into three (trayī) or four"
"about the Aryans comes mostly from the ""Rigveda-samhita"", i. e. the oldest layer of the ""Vedas"", which was composed c. 1500–1200 BCE. They brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was ""a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements"", which borrowed ""distinctive religious beliefs and practices"" from the"
"literary tradition of the Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva) composed in 2nd millennium BCE to the early centuries of the 1st millennium BCE. These Vedic branches split into various other schools (""shakhas"") possibly for a variety of reasons such as geography, specialization and disputes. Each Veda is further divided into two categories namely the Saṃhitā which is a collection of mantra verses and the Brahmanas which are prose texts that explain the meaning of the Samhita verses. The Brāhmaṇa layer expanded and some of the newer esoteric speculative layers of text were called Aranyakas while the mystical and philosophical"
"Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit is an Indo-European language, more specifically one branch of the Indo-Iranian group. It is the ancient language of the Vedas of Hinduism, texts compiled over the period of the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It was orally preserved, predating the advent of Brahmi script by several centuries. Vedic Sanskrit is an archaic language, whose consensus translation has been challenging. Extensive ancient literature in the Vedic Sanskrit language has survived into the modern era, and this has been a major source of information for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Indo-Iranian history. Quite early in the pre-historic era, Sanskrit separated"
"religion. Many of our countrymen think that they are Hindus. When you call yourself a Hindu you admit Aryan principles. The words Hindu and Hinduism were not used by our forefathers in any of their works. Historians of world religions say that the sacred books of the Hindus are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Agamas, the Puranas and the Itihasas. You will notice that none of the ancient religious works of the Dravidians have been included among those religious books. A careful study of the Vedas, etc., proves beyond doubt that they were written with a view to disgrace, enslave"
"Aranyaka The Aranyakas (; Sanskrit: """" ) constitutes the philosophy behind ritual sacrifice of the ancient Indian sacred texts, the Vedas. They typically represent the later sections of Vedas, and are one of many layers of the Vedic texts. The other parts of Vedas are the Samhitas (benedictions, hymns), Brahmanas (commentary), and the Upanishads (spirituality and abstract philosophy). ""Aranyakas"" describe and discuss rituals from various perspectives, but some include philosophical speculations. For example, the Katha Aranyaka discusses rituals connected with the ""Pravargya"". The Aitareya Aranyaka includes explanation of the ""Mahavrata"" ritual from ritualisitic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view. ""Aranyakas"","
"with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity. The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the ""Father of the Rudras"", a group of storm gods. The hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that deity Rudra has two natures, one wild and cruel (rudra), another that is kind and tranquil (shiva). The Vedic"
"Vedanga The Vedanga ( "", ""limbs of the Veda"") are six auxiliary disciplines in Vedic culture that developed in ancient times, and have been connected with the study of the Vedas. These are: The character of the Vedangas has roots in ancient times, and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mentions it as an integral part of the Brahmanas layer of the Vedic texts. Individually, these auxiliary disciplines of study are traceable to the 2nd millennium BCE, and the 5th-century BCE scholar Yaska quotes the Vedangas. However, it is unclear when and where a list of six Vedangas were first conceptualized. The Vedangas"
"while the surviving Agamas can be traced to 1st millennium of the common era. The Vedic literature, in Shaivism, is primary and general, while Agamas are special treatise. In terms of philosophy and spiritual precepts, no Agama that goes against the Vedic literature, states Dhavamony, will be acceptable to the Shaivas. Similarly, the Vaishnavas treat the Vedas along with the Bhagavad Gita as the main scripture, and the Samhitas (Agamas) as exegetical and exposition of the philosophy and spiritual precepts therein. The Shaktas have a similar reverence for the Vedic literature and view the Tantras (Agamas) as the fifth Veda."
"Vedic Samhitas: the Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda and the Yajur-Veda. The Vedic texts were the texts of the elite, and do not necessarily represent popular ideas or practices. Of these, the Rig-Veda is the oldest, a collection of hymns composed between ca. 1500-1200 BCE. The other two add ceremonial detail for the performance of the actual sacrifice. The Atharva-Veda may also contain compositions dating to before 1000 BCE. It contains material pertinent to domestic ritual and folk magic of the period. These texts, as well as the voluminous commentary on orthopraxy collected in the Brahmanas compiled during the early 1st millennium BCE,"
"known works of literature, originally passed down via the oral tradition. Many scholars like Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati state that the Vedas originated at the beginning of this cycle of creation 1.97 billion (197 crore) years before, as per Soorya Sidhantha derived from Atharva Veda. It is popularly believed (by scholars like Shankara) that Vedas consists of four parts - Vedas consists of Mantra Samhithas only, which believed to be Apourusheya (Sanskrit ) - not of human origin but divine creation. Brahmanas and Aranyakas are basically the same and Upanishads are written by sages (ancient scholars) as interpretation of Vedas. The"
"BCE. According to Jan Gonda, the final codification of the four Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and early Upanishads took place in pre-Buddhist times (ca. 600 BCE). The Brahmana are a layer of texts in Vedic Sanskrit embedded within each Veda, and form a part of the ""śruti"" literature of Hinduism. They are primarily a digest incorporating mythology and Vedic rituals and in some cases speculations about natural phenomenon or philosophy. The ""Brahmanas"" layer of Vedic literature contain the exposition of the Vedic rites and rituals. For example, the first chapter of the Chandogya Brahmana, one of the oldest Brahmanas, includes eight"
"is knowledge or ""hidden doctrine"" text that belongs to the corpus of Vedanta literature collection presenting the philosophical concepts of Hinduism and considered the highest purpose of its scripture, the Vedas. According to Cheever Mackenzie Brown – a professor of Religion at the Trinity University, this important Tantric and Shaktism text was probably composed sometime between the ninth and fourteenth centuries CE. The Devi Upanishad is part of the five Atharva Shiras Upanishads, each of which are named after the five main deities or shrines (""panchayatanan"") of Ganapati, Narayana, Rudra, Surya and Devi. Its philosophy is also found in the"
"Vedic period The Vedic period, or Vedic age (), is the period in the history of the northwestern Indian subcontinent between the end of the urban Indus Valley Civilisation and a second urbanisation in the central Gangetic Plain which began in BCE. It gets its name from the Vedas, which are liturgical texts containing details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrated into the northwestern regions of"