Four Vedas: What they tell us

Four Vedas are the earliest Hindu sacred texts composed in the North Indian Region. The literal meaning of Vedas is “knowledge”, written in ancient Sanskrit language (different from the contemporary Sanskrit language). Vedas are one of the oldest scriptures of the Hindu religion, believed to be composed by Aryans. Four Vedas have been composed near the region of Saptasindhu rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj and Saraswati), Ganga and Yamuna river, as these river names were mentioned many times in these four Vedas. The name of Saptasindhu was mentioned many times, while the Ganga and Yamuna were mentioned one or two times. The Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda are the four Vedic texts. Each Vedic text has four subdivisions – Samhitas comprise Mantras and benedictions, Aranyaks comprise rituals, sacrifices, Brahmanas comprise of commentaries on various type of rituals, sacrifices and Upanishads comprise of the text of meditation, spiritual knowledge and philosophical arguments. Some scholars believe that the one additional category named Upasanas comprises worship and Vedas. Vedas are the sruti which means what is heard, and Hindus consider that these texts are composed by superhumans or heard by ancient sages after meditation and composed of sacred sounds of the cosmos. It is believed that Vedas were orally transmitted from one generation to another. 

Scholars believe that the four Vedas were written down after the Indus valley civilisation between 3500 BCE to 2500 BCE. The four Vedas consist of hymns, rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices etc. and also describe that there were varna based divisions of society that prevailed, but not on birth basis, while on the professional basis. It is believed that the Varna system originated from the hymn of the deity Purusha in Vedas. The deity Purusha was sacrificed by other gods. After this sacrifice, the Mind of the deity Purusha became the moon, Eyes became Sun, heads became the sky, and feet became Earth. Moreover, other body parts of the deity Purusha indicate the Varna system of Vedic India, such as Brahmins came from Mouth, Kshatriya came from Arms, Vaishyas came from Thighs, and Shudras came from Feet. The Gods mentioned in Vedas are generally based on natural or cosmic powers such as God Agni (Fire), God Surya and Savitri (Sun), Goddess Usha (dawn), God Rudra (storm), God Indra (Rain)etc. 

The Rig-Veda

It is the oldest surviving text of Hindu religion and philosophy, also known as Mantra book, further divided into ten mandalas, and each has 1028 hymns for various deities worship. Vedic gods described in Rig Vedas are Angi, Indra, Rudra, Vishnu, Varuna, Goddess Usha etc. The Famous Gayatri mantra is the prayer of God Purusha Shukla is from Rig-Veda. Rig-veda is also a great source of the social, political, religious, economic background of Vedic people. Sapt- rishi or great seven sages also mentioned in Rig-veda names as Atri, Vashishta, Vishwamira, Kanwa, Gautama, Jamadagni and Bhardwaj. The hymns were dedicated to mainly thirty-three gods and one of the great chunks of mantras prepared for the worship of the Soma god (Air). 

The Sama Veda

The introductory verses of this Veda are taken from the Rig Veda, but arrangements of hymns were different from the Rig-Veda and chanted differently. The Sama Veda comprises 1549 stanzas. Samhita of Samaveda have two main parts, the first one is four melody collections, and the second one is 3 verse books. Order of devotion further shifts towards descending order. Some hymns in Sama Veda are repeated from the Rig Veda. Two major recessions of Sama Veda survived named as Gauthama or Ranayaniya and Jaiminiya. 

Yajurveda

The  vedas consist  of  mantras and a compilation of detailed rituals offered for the yajna. The priests pronounced these mantras during the offering made to God Agni in Yajna sacrifice. It is believed that the Yajur Veda was composed during the rule of the Kuru kingdom. Its Samhita includes 1875 verses based on the foundational verses of Rig Veda. It is the first text in the form of prose. There are two main groups of the text of Yajur Veda named as Black “Krishna.”

Moreover, the white one is “Shukla”. Balck has unarranged matter, and white has well-arranged matter. 

From black Yajur Veda, four major schools of Brahminism survived, such as Katha, Taittiriya, Kapisthalam, Maitrayani etc., while the white Yajur Veda’s only two schools survived Kanva and Madhyandina. Later the composed part of Yajurveda did not mention the rituals while it comprises various types of Hinduism philosophy.   

Atharvaveda

The youngest text among Four Vedas comprises charms magic written in folklore. It is believed that Atharv Veda was composed by the Atharvan sect of Brahmanism and compiled the magic, spell and charms of that time into texts. It has 760 hymns, and out of the 160 hymns were standard with Rig Veda. Verses mentioned in Atharva Veda were metrical, while some were prose. Two versions of this text survived named Paippalada and Saunakiya. The Atharva Veda has been considered the primary source of information about Vedic civilisation, customs, rituals and beliefs, aspirations and frustrations of everyday life, and governance. The ritual of marriage and cremation is described in this text.