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Vedas

"Veda" and "Vedic" redirect here. For other uses, see Veda (disambiguation) and Vedic (disambiguation).

Vedas
Four Vedas
Rigveda manuscript page, Mandala 1, Hymn 1 (Sukta 1), lines 1.1.1 to 1.1.9 (Sanskrit, Devanagari script)
Information
ReligionHistorical Vedic religion
Hinduism
LanguageVedic Sanskrit
PeriodVedic period
c. 1500–1200 BCE (Rigveda),[1][note 1]
c. 1200–900 BCE (Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda)[1][2]
Verses20,379 mantras[3]
Full text
The Vedas at English Wikisource
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The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the Atharvaveda.

The Vedas (/ˈveɪdəz/[4] or /ˈviːdəz/,[5] IAST: veda, Sanskrit: वेदः, lit. 'knowledge') are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.[6][7][8]

There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda.[9][10] Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions), the Brahmanas (commentaries on and explanation of rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices - Yajnas), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).[9][11][12] Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas (worship).[13][14] The texts of the Upanishads discuss ideas akin to the heterodox sramana traditions.[15] The Samhitas and Brahmanas describe about daily rituals and are generally meant for Brahmacharya and Grihastha stages of the Chaturasrama system, while the Aranyakas and Upanishads are meant for the Vānaprastha and Sannyasa stages, respectively.

Vedas are śruti ("what is heard"),[16] distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered"). Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means "not of a man, superhuman"[17] and "impersonal, authorless",[18][19][20] revelations of sacred sounds and texts heard by ancient sages after intense meditation.[21][22]

The Vedas have been orally transmitted since the 2nd millennium BCE with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques.[23][24][25] The mantras, the oldest part of the Vedas, are recited in the modern age for their phonology rather than the semantics, and are considered to be "primordial rhythms of creation", preceding the forms to which they refer.[26] By reciting them the cosmos is regenerated, "by enlivening and nourishing the forms of creation at their base."[26]

The various Indian philosophies and Hindu sects have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy that acknowledge the importance or primal authority of the Vedas comprise Hindu philosophy specifically and are together classified as the six "orthodox" (āstika) schools.[note 2] However, śramaṇa traditions, such as Charvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism, and Jainism, which did not regard the Vedas as authoritative, are referred to as "heterodox" or "non-orthodox" (nāstika) schools.[15][27]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Flood 2003 69 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Flood 1996, p. 37.
  3. ^ "Construction of the Vedas". VedicGranth.Org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Veda". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
  5. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed 8 April 2023)
  6. ^ see e.g. Radhakrishnan & Moore 1957, p. 3; Witzel 2003, p. 68; MacDonell 2004, pp. 29–39.
  7. ^ Sanskrit literature (2003) in Philip's Encyclopedia. Accessed 2007-08-09
  8. ^ Sanujit Ghose (2011). "Religious Developments in Ancient India" in World History Encyclopedia.
  9. ^ a b Gavin Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0, pp. 35–39
  10. ^ Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana, (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II.1.b.) Strassburg 1899; Gonda, J. A history of Indian literature: I.1 Vedic literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas); I.2 The Ritual Sutras. Wiesbaden 1975, 1977
  11. ^ A Bhattacharya (2006), Hindu Dharma: Introduction to Scriptures and Theology, ISBN 978-0-595-38455-6, pp. 8–14; George M. Williams (2003), Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-533261-2, p. 285
  12. ^ Jan Gonda (1975), Vedic Literature: (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas), Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 978-3-447-01603-2
  13. ^ Bhattacharya 2006, pp. 8–14.
  14. ^ Holdrege 1995, pp. 351–357.
  15. ^ a b Flood 1996, p. 82.
  16. ^ Apte 1965, p. 887.
  17. ^ Apte 1965, "apauruSeya".
  18. ^ Sharma 2011, pp. 196–197.
  19. ^ Westerhoff 2009, p. 290.
  20. ^ Todd 2013, p. 128.
  21. ^ Pollock 2011, pp. 41–58.
  22. ^ Scharfe 2002, pp. 13–14.
  23. ^ Wood 2007.
  24. ^ Hexam 2011, p. chapter 8.
  25. ^ Dwyer 2013.
  26. ^ a b Holdrege 1996, p. 347.
  27. ^ "astika" and "nastika". Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 20 April 2016.


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