- collection of:
- hymns
- mythological accounts
- poems
- prayers
Origin & Authorship
- authorship not clear
- transmitted orally over many generations before eventually being committed to writing
- written between 1500 and 100 BCE
- written in Sanskrit
- written in present-day Pakistan and northwest India
Content & Structure
- Vedic texts are the Samhita (collections) of the four Vedas:
- Rig-Veda - “Knowledge of the Hymns of Praise”, for recitation
- Sama-Veda - “Knowledge of the Melodies”, for chanting
- Yajur-Veda - “Knowledge of the Sacrificial Formulas”, for liturgy
- Athara-Veda - “Knowledge of the Magic Formulas”, named after a group of priests
- Rig-Veda
- largest of the Vedic Samhita
- includes 1028 hymns
- divided into 10 books called mandalas
- written in obscure style, filled with metaphors and allusions
- Samu-Veda
- has verses almost entirely from Rig-Veda, but are arranged differently for chanting
- Yajur-Veda
- divided into the White and Black Yajur-Veda
- contains explanatory commentary on how to perform religious rituals and sacrifices
- Atharva-Veda
- contains charms and magical incantations
- written in a folkloristic style
- the Vedas have a strong priestly bias, as the priestly class had the monopoly in the edition and transmission of these texts
- the Vedas present a multitude of gods, most of them related to natural forces such as storms, fir, and wind
- the Vedas contain multiple creation stories, most of them inconsistent with each other
- the Vedas refer to a particular god as the greatest god of all, and later another god will be regarded as the greatest god of all
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